Don’t mind being told I’m no mechanic. Plain simple truth. Apart from the unbeatable driving experience, that’s why I have the thing. No time wasted (in my view; I know and appreciate that many enjoy the spanner work) on a precious day out. Just fill up – admittedly quite frequently – start up and go. Bit of oil on the chain once in a while; but those 428 chains are very hard-wearing.
Didn’t need to stick my engine in a suitcase, John. I went by car among other things to pick up a special trailer I bought in Germany (nothing like it available here). So taking the engine along was an obvious thing to do. The metal apex seals were still absolutely fine; this was a treat, not a necessity and certainly not a “rebuild”: Even I could have done that job, from the look of it!
But I don’t really have any specifics on costs either as neither I nor anyone I know has reached a rebuild point. My clutch got rather tired after the first 25 hours or so; the new plates are different in some way (“no mechanic, I”) and should go longer. Rebuild intervals supposedly around 200-300 hours, but I cannot substantiate that. The most hours anyone I know of has done without a problem so far is about 125. Not sure what you want to establish here, but will it cost less to buy and race over a given period than a Rotax? Unlikely, I would have thought, unless perhaps over a longer term. I maintain that it’s not competing with Rotax Max, anyway (DD2 possibly). Expanding on what Ian said; “There’s a market for [top] quality.” The point here surely is whether it makes a better karting proposition than the VT250 concept, while still being capable of meeting virtually any future emission restrictions. I can assure you that the affirmative answer to that has been widespread in the last couple of days and in light of the news that started this thread. (PM me if you’d like to know the other big factor behind that).
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