Anyone in to Karting?

[Littleblackflash]

Thanks again. Do you have any photos showing the difference between prevo an evo so I don't get caught out.

Is there a good time of year to buy? Soon is the best time to buy a race car because the season is ending and everyone is selling, hence prices are low. Do you think £1500 is enough for a useable kart?

 

[T6180]

Make sure it comes with a mag pick up for your laptimes and the temp sensor and lead which you'll screw into the cylinder head cover. It does sound fairly expensive though as I can remember buying one for about £100 15 years ago (the V1 model). A good place to look is ukkarting.co.uk as there is a free market place on there. It's nowhere near as busy as it used to be with people using facebook but often some good parts on that.

Don't get me wrong, it's not essential you get one straight away as you you can run the radiator uncovered this time of year, but in the colder months it's really handy to keep the engine running at the right temp (I'll check my set up notes for the optimum temperature which from memory is 50 - 55 degrees).

Chasing lap times is good fun though.

EDIT - Just looked at lap timer prices and they have clearly kept their value (I know my amb transponder is worth more now than what I paid for it new in 2007!) and I'm now feeling really guilty for pushing you into spending more money on top of what won't have been a cheap purchase. I do have a couple of spare rib protectors you can have for free though if you've not already got one.

Dont feel guilty mate, I'd seen them a bit cheaper but they all looked well used and this one looks half decent for the price.

 

[T6180]

@Mooncat this is what's included Inc. Delivery

 

[Mooncat]

@Mooncat this is what's included Inc. Delivery

View attachment 49300

That's everything you need - the coiled cable on the left includes the water sender and the one on the right has the sensor for the tracks pick up strips. Also the ignition pick up for RPM inside the left hand coiled cable.

 

[Mooncat]

Thanks again. Do you have any photos showing the difference between prevo an evo so I don't get caught out.

Is there a good time of year to buy? Soon is the best time to buy a race car because the season is ending and everyone is selling, hence prices are low. Do you think £1500 is enough for a useable kart?

If you look at T6180's third photo, where the exhaust joins the cylinder you'll see the round red power valve adjuster. On the Evo the red bit is smaller (although you need to be aware that very early Prevo engines looked similar) and it also has a tube connecting it to an electronic solenoid which is mounted to the rear or the engine on the left hand side. There's other things such as a covered battery box along with the switches and ECU as a single unit. The exhaust is two piece (the silencer in spring retained). Apart from painted engine casings the rest looks very similar to the older spec engine.

I was just looking at a new youtube upload comparing Evo and Prevo and its the barrels and exhaust that give these a slight performance increase over the majority of the older spec engines......but you could upgrade an older engine with these. I've had five different prevo engines and they all performed differently but one was significantly stronger than the other four. The Evo engines are now more consistent - this is something rotax have been trying to get right for years.

Like with race cars, we're getting to the point where people are at the end of a season and will change class or retire so in the next couple of months there should be lots of packages to choose from. £1500 should get you a good straight prevo package - it wouldn't get you to the front end of an MSA grid but would hold it's own mid pack in a club meeting and perfect for test days.

 

[Montecha]

Just noticed it's electric start! Wow that's moved on since my days, it was always a bump start - initially from my Dad, then a skill that you developed to bump yourself and jump in.....and ideally not running yourself over in the process

Although I'd love to have another go, I know the outcome would be the same, that I'm still slow. I stick to human powered racing in the form of bikes and boats for now!

 

[Mooncat]

Just noticed it's electric start! Wow that's moved on since my days, it was always a bump start - initially from my Dad, then a skill that you developed to bump yourself and jump in.....and ideally not running yourself over in the process

Although I'd love to have another go, I know the outcome would be the same, that I'm still slow. I stick to human powered racing in the form of bikes and boats for now!

That's racing at it's purest - 100cc air cooled direct drive engines screaming past 20,000rpm. I've never owned one but drove several and they are so light, nimble and completely engaging in every respect. If you were lucky enough to have a pusher to get it started, they were usually face planting on the tarmac when the engine fired up and the kart took off like a rocket in a haze of blue smoke. They still race them in historic/retro kart series at some circuits - great friendly racing with much less contact than your average current class race meetings.

 

[Davetom]

How did you get on Karting ? Planning something similar myself with a Rotax Max. I presume all karts of this era are similar widths and are slightly too wide to fit in a T6 with the wheels on ?

 

[dubber36]

I had a drive in a mates kart yesterday. I don't know what it was other than it being a 144cc 2 stroke, LC with a 6 speed gearbox.

It was too greasy to do any more than tickle the throttle unless it was dead straight. Plus it was over geared for the small track we'd gone to. We only got into 3rd and that was due to short shifting.