4-cycle clone class

[thughes]

What are we racing this year guys. Some of you new guys to this class have forgotten how it all started, We all bought box stock motors and a guy named Stacy put seal on them, These motors are only $400.00 dollars in the states and can run 4 years before rebuild, This all worked great until someone wanted to change things and make more costly for us. Why would we buy clone motors and spend hundreds of dollars to go slower. The L 206 motors are much slower than we have now. Lets not let kart shop tell us what to run. Since we are already the slowest class in the club, why go any slower. Before we have a new class rep we must vote on it,, If we are changeing every year , I would be better to race Rotax which has 5 times the HP. Last year 10 guys bought box stock motors. if trying to keep costs down , go with what we have now,

[fastfood]

I think the new clone will be in the open class and the animal will be the 4 stroke.

I agree we need some consistency, I think we've cahnged every year for the past 3 years I've raced.

Vince

[John Kwong]

Hi Terry,

You have made many points. I will try to address each one as I can.

What are we racing this year guys.

This year the LO206 motor is more than likely going to be the new 4 cycle motor for ASN. The Honda in ASN's eyes will probably be phased out eventually or in short order it is hard to say right now given that Ontario doesn't want to change from the Honda. For the Senior 4 cycle class here, the Honda is hardly an issue. What we have locally is a class that has alot of potential to bring new members into the club but needs a little direction so that it is clear what the class is. I think all the 200cc OHV 4 cycle motors can be run together successfully with the right weight breaks. This past year the slightly modified Briggs Animals weighed in at 375lbs and the stock Briggs Animals weighed in at 350lbs. Denny(mod) and Markus(stock) ran very competitively with each other on a number of occasions and MyLaps will confirm this (http://www.mylaps.com/results/showrun.jsp?id=1726545). As well my stock clone could do competitive lap times as well at about 345lbs.

Some of you new guys to this class have forgotten how it all started, We all bought box stock motors and a guy named Stacy put seal on them, These motors are only $400.00 dollars in the states and can run 4 years before rebuild, This all worked great until someone wanted to change things and make more costly for us.

What needs to be addressed is what level of modification are the modded Briggs Animal motors(375lb) and to what rule set (WKA or IKF) spec have they been built. If it is a different cam, head or rod then we need to see the specs that the motor was built to so that all competitors know what the rules are. The Stock Animals like Markus and Vince have shown that they are front runners if everything is working correctly. I am not sure who that "someone" was that wanted to change things but this is where we are at right now with mods and stocks running together. If you are a driver that cannot come near the 350lb stock weight then the mod motor is the way to go for you.

Why would we buy clone motors and spend hundreds of dollars to go slower.

The clone was just on sale for $100, $20 cheaper than what I paid for the last clone I bought in the Summer. So far it is only slightly slower (see MyLaps link) and I have only been racing it for 6 racedays. If you have a Briggs, I don't think you should switch to a clone. I think we should run everything together and just have fun.

The LO 206 motors are much slower than we have now.

Actually, the LO206 motor is exactly the same as a stock Animal except for the ignition which has a 6100 rpm rev limiter. I drove my kart with this motor in early November on a dusty track(see video here: http://www.vimeo.com/16568600) and did a best of 56.9 within about a dozen laps. I am sure with some testing and on a regular raceday this motor will be competitive with what is already being run.

Lets not let kart shop tell us what to run.

No one is telling anyone what to run. There is a meeting on Saturday to further communication for anyone interested in running a 4 cycle kart.

If we are changeing every year , I would be better to race Rotax which has 5 times the HP. Last year 10 guys bought box stock motors. if trying to keep costs down , go with what we have now,

I agree that we should try and make what we have for equipment and drivers work for this next year and see how we can grow the 4 cycle class. The LO206 motor should fit in fine with the stock Animal and might need only a slight weight break to the regular stock Animal because of the 6100 rpm rev limited ignition but only maybe. It is hard to say how much more power there is with the stock cam after 6100 rpm, as I have never driven a regular stock Animal before. The current weight breaks seemed to work fine but clarity on the rules of what exactly a mod Animal is, needs to defined. As far as the clone goes, it will probably be relegated to the Open class as far as points are concerned but will run with the regular 4 cycle class due to time constraints and similar speed.

John K

[Dan Lazar]

dml

[John Kwong]

Dan,

As far as I know, there are some 4 cycle related meetings going on in early December in Ontario. We pre-arranged the meeting on Saturday with hopes of knowing more by then. The 4 cycle class may have shot themselves in the foot by not sticking to the supp. reg. mandated LO206 motors and being short on the average number of entries this past year. But...going forward is where we have to look not back.
The Honda clone motors will more than likely be viewed as a "new" class and according to our bylaws will have to enter through the Open Class in order to become a recognized class by averaging 6 entries over the course of the season. Unless there is overwhelming support for a new class like there was for RotaxMax, then the bylaws stand. Now, even though the Honda clones would be in the Open Class, they would still run on the track with the existing Senior 4 cycle karts due to similar speed and time constraints. I was the only one racing the clone last year and I had alot of fun re-learning the art of 4 cycle racing. This coming year I think there will be at least another 4 to 5 Honda Clone karts without even counting you in the mix. These are karts not formula cars, lets just have some fun.

John K

[Dan Lazar]

dml

[John Kwong]

Dan,

Page 15 of Supp Regs:

Senior Open Age15+
Any Engine or class structure not included above. A set of technical rules from a recognized Kart Sanctioning Body must be provided by
the competitor and adhered to. The minimum weight of the class must be strictly adhered to. Water cooled 100 cc 2stroke engines must
meet ASN Formula A rules for Rotary engines and ICA rules for reed engines.

I read the supplementary rules and the Open class is for any non-shifter type karts that didn't fit into any of the other classes offered by the club. An example of water-cooled 100cc engined karts was given as an example of the karts that could compete in the class but by no means was it restricted to only those. Vito raced his TKM 4 stroke motor in the last race of the year and if someone wanted to race some other kind of non-shifter engined kart, this is where they would be placed

I will be having fun while you are doing the Joey thing.

Jeez, I test drive one engine to give an opinion on and I am painted as a turncoat.

John K

[John Kwong]

FYI - I found the USAC rules referred to in our supp. regs for the Animal engines:

https://www.usacracing.com/assets/files ... ch1pt4.pdf

John K

[Dan Lazar]

dml

[John Kwong]

All in good fun. In any event I would like to see a larger grid of whatever next year. Even ICA and shifters in their day took a couple years to catch on.