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If any of you have been reading ekartingnews lately, you might know about a clone class that Rob Howden has been promoting. We have been asked to produce a kart for this class. The idea is to produce an American made package for under $3,000. It can be done. Margay has done it and we are working on it now. We think we can produce one also.
The basic package is a simple two bearing kart with 40mm or 30mm axle and a Honda clone motor(6.5hp) from Harbor Freight (cost around $100). The class would be open to all karts.
My question, is there support around here for such a class?
Doug, I would rather run a World Formula or Animal engine with that type of chassis. A box stock clone would be painfully slow on our sprint tracks and I would not trust the stock flywheels with the governor removed either. The magnet has been known to come off and I don’t want my family to be anywhere near it if it does.
The clone are around 100 bucks when on sale. Usually around 160. Add in the labor needed to be done to make it race ready, a safer flywheel, and the clutch, you are now getting closer to what the new Animals cost. There is a new Briggs Animal motor that is factory sealed at the bottom end with a 6100 rev limiter to make a good box stock class for around $480. The info is here if anyone would like to check it out http://news.briggsandstratton.com/racing/index.cfm?ms_id=81&
I felt that the discussion was really about promoting the club level racers. Rob was discussing how much time was spent only on the national program, and it was time to cover the local scene. That turned into the desire to add more classes. Now a new clone kart.
We saw the clone engine last for maybe an hour at the 24 hour race. The local racing series here had 70 – 100 entries. I think it would be great to “cover” the racing that is happening right now, and promote how great it is with what we are using. Used TaG karts sell for what the new clone sells for. There are options to keep it affordable, but the stigma of “new” always gets in the way.
To compare the cost of dirt oval racing to asphalt sprint racing is apples and oranges. There is always something “cheaper” to bring into the mix, so we really need to look at what is being used, in our area, at the club level as our reference point.The Track at Centennial has not raised prices since we opened. I feel that helps in keeping your costs down.
We all know that once you race any item, the costs will increase greatly, and the perception of those who have more are winning. That “perception” has not changed ever, however, it would be great to go back and have the national news and web sites just say “hi” and “great job” in the articles about all of us who are out each weekend trying our best all summer long!
My .01 worth…
JimEasykart had a fast 125cc spec kart for $4k before the Euro went north and our dollar went south.
If only someone had the tooling to build a cheap, reliable 125cc or 100cc.
What are raw costs on an American made chassis? I see Pserra racing (http://www.pserraracing.com )makes a European one for $2400. That’s cheap, especially with the Euro-Dollar conversion. An American made chassis shouldn’t cost anymore than $2k period, otherwise whoever is building it makes a healthy margin on the product.
We should be able to make one right at $3k brand new. Problem is that there is very little margin, so why would a dealer bother, right?
$3000k for a 6.5 honda powered kart? Who the hell would buy it? It shouldn’t cost more than $2,000.
@Chuck D wrote:
$3000k for a 6.5 honda powered kart? Who the hell would buy it? It shouldn’t cost more than $2,000.
Honda clone at that.
I completely agree. $3k can get a decent TaG kart w/ spares. Of course, that’s not brand new, but its still a kart that performs a lot better.
I figure most the talk about chassis were for the new guy entering the sport and looking for some hand holding from a shop.
Anyone that is already a karter and looking at this class, will run a scraped up 2 year old chassis for $500-800.
After thinking about it a bit more and seeing the Briggs guy’s reply on ekn, it makes a lot of sense to use the LO 206. Especially if this does get some sort of support in more that a few clubs around the country.
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