Black slides for J2's

[CrazyRC]

Hello Everyone,

I've been having some casual discussions with parents and drivers. Everyone I've spoken to so far would be in favor of a specification change to run black slides in J2, but there are several of you that I have not spoken to.

• J2 is meant to be a progression from J1, yet we’re running nearly identical lap times.
• WCKC (Chilliwack) initiated this change last year.

Can everyone comment "for" or "against" and provide comments to support your reply. I'd like this to be an open discussion and I'm interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Ryan

[Christian R]

Thank you for suggesting it Ryan. I’m in favour of the change if it’s an option.

[phil]

I'll throw out some info as an outsider (been out of J2 since 2013). The reality is, there should be a progression from Kid Kart, which we now have, as Formula Kid Kart, running with a novice slide (purple I believe). There should then be a progression, which is J1, and then J2, and finally Sr (unless they keep growing, and become too heavy for Masters, as we currently are). The current status is that J1, J2, & Sr are all very close to the same times. Making J2 faster is not going to fix that. Making J1, and J2 possibly a little slower would accomplish what you are suggesting, but nobody ever wants their kids to go slower, so that's where the problem comes in. We were one of the first to run Briggs in Canada, back in 2011, I believe. At the time, the Honda class had been getting VERY expensive ($3000 for a J1 engine that would keep up). We introduced Briggs in the Western Canadian Championship, with a red slide, which was very competitive with most Honda's. My report back was that if we were going to see growth of the Briggs class, they would have to be faster than the Honda's, and I suggested a 0.020" reduction in the slide length in both J1, and J2. Briggs came back with a 0.050 change, which is what we have now. We also have a large gap between the novice slide, which has never changed, and the J1 slide, and I have noticed some struggle with the transition to J1. I would suggest, if anything, a change back to red, and blue for the slides, which would have an actual change in times between classes.
The other thing that could be considered is using the slide differences to offset some weight issues ie a J1 with a red slide at 220, a J1 with the green at 240, or a j1 with a red slide at 240, and a j1 at 260 allowed a red slide.

Just some food for thought. Also keep in mind there are national rules, and veering away from them puts our club at a disadvantage when we decide to go somewhere else to run.

Phil

[phil]

I also should point out, that by making them artificially faster in the younger classes, just makes them want to quit when they get to Sr, and go slower, so that doesn't help the club. At the end of the day, as long as they are all on the SAME slide, without people shaving extra off their caps, or leaving them loose (both which will get caught in tech), they are on an equal playing field, and we are seeing some great racing.


Phil

[franksartor]

Hi Guys,

The whole concept of Briggs racing classes is not speed but close competitive racing. For those speed enthusiasts Rotax or Shifter is the way to go

[John Kwong]

The Briggs Weekly Racing Series requires our club to run their National Rules Set to be eligible for their year end prizes which many of the CKRC club members have been enjoying since 2015. I would guess that if one of our classes is not running to this rule set it would then jeopardize the prize eligibility for the whole club. Briggs racing is about close competition not overall speed.

John K

[Murr15]

Moving up next year so will comment

Against,

1-we enjoy the Briggs Weekly Series and would like to remain.
2-the racing is pretty good in this class



Murray

[Mark]

By "Black Slide", are you referring to the Senior slide ?

This is a really worthwhile topic (There needs to be progression from J1 through Sr) but opens a whole can of worms since you really need to adjust slides and weights for ALL the classes and people seem to be unwilling to entertain this.

Starting at the bottom, J1 driver have stupid amounts of weight on their karts to make weight. Andrew isn't racing this year because he need 50 (FIFTY) lbs of lead. If we take weight off (and we should) then a top J1 would be faster than a Sr. So then you need to look at J2 and tweak there and so on and so forth.

I think we should look at the possibilities. I personally don't care about the briggs prize thing; it's nice but doesn't produce significant value to most racers.

[Jackmazury]

Is this really that big of an issue at the moment? If anything maybe slow the j1 down a bit by going back to a red slide? Weights aren’t something that should be played with in my opinion, while some junior drivers are very light and require a load of ballast, there are others who are heavier and require none. To put them at a disadvantage to accommodate others makes no sense. If changing the slide in j1 impacts the WRS then let’s not do anything about this as many racers enjoy the prizes that come annually from that series. This is a good discussion, I definitely think that the j1 should be slower than the j2, and the j2 slower than the senior as a progression needs to be present. however if this cannot be achieved without effecting the WRS or by making the j2 faster than the senior, so be it.

Just my .02