JA/JB 2013 engine regs

Adam Fuhs · Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:33 am Post subject:

Wow... So basically the SEB is saying the kids and their motors are an annoyance to everyone else so I'm order to make everyone else happy the SEB wants to restrict FJ competitors to basically solo only just to keep the rest of the competitors happy. What a bunch of BS! What's the point of the KAC than if the SEB is going to ignore for the mos part, the KAC's recommendations?

The SEB and solo community as a whole need to get it through their thick skulls that these kids are competitors just like heir adult counterparts. They pay all the fees associated and therefore deserve the same amount of seat time.

If we apply the SEB's thought process to other classes than we should be restricting all the "loud" cars into making them quieter and less annoying (to me a FM car is WAY more noisy and annoying that than a FJ kart). The shifters are louder and is be willing to bet we cause more delays as a whole than FJ karts do.

I think it's time to right letter to the SEB (although it will most likely fall on deaf ears!).

Scott Boito · Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 10:45 am Post subject:

By all means, writing letters is the best thing to do. We encourage that for any and all items you see in Fastrack since letters are what generate action.
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KM #68 - Haase/Honda kart
BetterOffRacing
Member of the SCCA KAC

Jason Vehige · Posted: Sun Jan 13, 2013 9:19 pm Post subject:

To be fair I truly think the KAC makes reasonable recommendations to the SEB and to an extent the SEB tends to listen to what we say esp when there are letters pro/con or both... That is why the spec motor deal did not happen. Anyone is welcome to reach out to me directly and please write your letter!!
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Jason Vehige

08 Gillard Charlotte / SGM sl204
05 Vanspeed Sirio / SGM sl204

Brian Garfield · Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 5:44 am Post subject:

Karl Hughes · Joined: 15 Aug 2011 Posts: 20

Even though we have gone the WF route, I am glad the engine choice still exists for FJ. Karting engine choices depend heavily on what's going on in your geographic area. The two most common routes to buying an affordable FJ kart are 1) from someone whose kid aged out of autocross and 2) from local w2w people who are upgrading. In order to best serve people from all parts of the country, we should preserve the possibility that legal karts from the w2w world can easily cross to autocross.

My region is perhaps an anomaly because many of our SCCA autocrosses are held at the local kart track. We've lost most of our good parking lot sites, and the local track owner really likes having the autocross business as a supplement to his normal racing. Because of this, we have a bunch of drivers who cross over and participate in both.

I regularly organize (non-SCCA) "Kids Days" at the track to get kids and parents involved. People who have never tried it get to rent karts and do laps, and get a chance to see if they like it. If they do, they get to hear about both w2w and autocross, and choose what to get into. It works out well for all involved. (And, sooner or later the parents all have to try a Comer 125 rental kart themselves - turns out there are a lot of smiles in that "Big Kids" group too.) We have a regular group of returning drivers (both kids and adults) who like to get extra seat time and chat up the newbies. Add in the rental kart parent rivalries, and it gets to be lots of fun.

The point of this is that having the flexibility to be able to use the same karts for w2w and autocross can be very helpful to local autocross.

We also run into a lot of complaints from car drivers who begrudge standing around at autocrosses waiting for the karts to run. I agree with all the arguments for why the karters should be there, but at the same time anything we can do to make the kart groups go more smoothly is a plus. WF is dandy for that. As a die-hard two stroke fan (I own a GT380 Suzuki) even I agree that KT100s can be obnoxious. But, I am against disallowing them.

FJ is a gateway to the sport - it needs to be as accessible a gateway as possible.

Daniel Morency · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:08 pm Post subject:

I've run the FJ karts with my two kids for years... The KT's stall because your std w2w carb setup isn't very healthy for standing starts and autocross courses... If you run a higher pop off on the carb, less low speed jet and more high speed jet it will idle and not stall. The std low pop off setting makes the carb run almost totally on the low speed jet.

Our club does a ton of work and we help each other to make sure they don't cause delys. We fought the complints for years but by giving out seat time and a 125 tag rental that was available the anti kart stuff is greatly reduced
now KM is getting bigger as a class.

BTW anyone see a good reason not to allow the rotax DD2 karts to run in KM? We allow them locally

Brian Garfield · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:35 am Post subject:

Karl, the problem is that the SEB wants to eliminate the KT100 by making it less competitive. W2W drivers are generally competitive, so once the KT is not competitive, you wont have the crossover anymore, at least not like we did before...

Brian

Brian Garfield · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2013 7:36 am Post subject:

Karl Hughes · Joined: 15 Aug 2011 Posts: 20

Richard Jung · Joined: 14 Aug 2009 Posts: 25

Andrew Peppler · Joined: 08 Aug 2010 Posts: 90

KT100's also don't stall during a spin if you teach your kid to stand on the gas during a spin. Dozens and dozens of spins last year, 4 at nationals alone, and no stalls or even a hint of a stall.