How successful is the Rotax Max concept in America?

[Jeff Fontenot]

I think it has been a good success so far, there is a lot of interest in it and it is growing here. Every race weekend, someone has come up to me and claimed that they wished they were in it, or they are purchasing a kart now, for Rotax. Also every weekend, we have at least 2 new drivers in the class, either renting a kart or had just purchased it.

Jeff
#27

[Jon Bussell]

I was asked a question about the weather or not the Rotax Max concept is a success and well supported in the US. I don't know the answer so I thought it best to post this question here for your thoughts and replys to this.

[Roger Roatch]

Haven’t you heard, Jed and Granny have loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly.

[Vijay Gopalswamy]

I am a newbie to Rotax and I agree with Jeff. There is a whole bunch of happy ROTAXIANS getting into the sport or getting ready to jump on it soon. I wouldn't be surprised if ROTAX is the fastest growing class in USA.

If they bring a good fix for the battery problems, it will attarct more people.

[Dave Lehmann]

Jon,
I know there are a fair amount of engines sold, but mostly to recreational karters. As a result the RMC is under acheiving tremendousely in the U.S.Also the importers dont seem interested in making the FR 125 a staple in karting as it most definately could be. The marketing is all hype and no substance with a poorly developed system and lack of available spares.
Arrow/Rotax/ BS

[Lee Jashinsky]

Dave,
I see you have an Arrow with the rotax, how do you like it? I have a CRG Heron with a Rotax, looking to get a new cart with an extended porch, at 6'3" tall the standard chassis is just to cramped. I race the Micron 3 Rotax Challenge here in So. Calif. and we are getting around 20-30 karts in the International class, and about 10 in the Masters class in which I run in. My first year racing so I dont have anything to compare to, but I have been very happy with the rotax. I keep a spare battery, so I have had no battery problems and I charge up when there is availble power at the track.

[Rick Senechal]

Dave,
I don’t understand some of your statements. Can you help me out?

“I know there are a fair amount of engines sold, but mostly to recreational karters.” You pose this statement as if is selling to a recreational karter is a bad thing. I’m going to take a wild guess here but aren’t 90% of us recreational karters? I also seem to remember Rotax aiming the Max at recreational karters. So did they fail or hit the target?

“As a result the RMC is under achieving tremendously in the U.S.”
I thought the Challenge was for non-professional (recreational) karters. Are you saying that only professional drivers in the Challenge will then make it a success?

“Also the importers don’t seem interested in making the FR 125 a staple in karting as it most definitely could be.” And. “The marketing is all hype and no substance with a poorly developed system and lack of available spares.”
I don’t understand these two at all. What are you really getting at?

Lastly, I see you drive an Arrow kart. Aren’t you a Zip dealer? I also don’t understand why you are posting this stuff when you are a Rotax Max dealer. http://www.grandprixraceway.com/

Did I miss something?

[ August 26, 2002: Message edited by: Rick Senechal ]

[Bret Galegor]

At the beginning of the season, there was a lot of promotion of the Rotax Class, you couldn't look on ekarting news, go to a karting event, etc., without everyone talking
about it or promoting it. Here in late season
it seems that other than local shops that have a vested interest and the racers promoting the class, there has not been much talk, or promotion of the class.
Other than dedicated Rotax events, the feeling is somewhat, Oh yea, by the way we have some Rotax's here today.
Rotax is a SKUSA class, and Shifter Kart magazine (SKUSA's publication) has little to
no mention of the class.
Being our Driver is under age 18 and we can't
run RMC (FR125)or the local track (they run by RMC rules) I can't really speak of how well RMC is doing.
As for Colorado....
The Rotax Class is a strong class in the Colorado Area. The problem is that there are so many racetracks and classes and the tracks overlap race days, it spreads out the cars.
As an interesting note, at the SKUSA race this weekend, we had 10 Rotax's spread out over Masters, Formula Rotax etc.
4 were in Formula Rotax. It was a great day of racing, but the really interesting part was at the end of the day when we check the
scoring sheets, after 20 laps for Rotax, and
20 Laps for the FMX class, the front running
Rotax's total time was ONLY 2 SECOND OFF THE FMX total time...........WOW!!!!

The other problem that could kill the program is the lack of parts. Yes they are hard to come by and unfortunatly, right now if you a problem you better get out your crystal ball and plan in advance if you are going to need a part. I AM NOT DOGGING THE KART SHOPS, they
are doing the best they can, if they can't get the part's in a timely manner, they can't
get the parts.

Last part, the other thing that can be effecting the situation if the profitablity to the people selling the engine packages and
the parts. I don't want to see a price increase and I'm not sure who is getting the lion's share of the mark up but with overhead of shop/office rent etc. if the program is not profitable for the local shop owners, then I can't see how they could get to thrilled about promoting the program and putting a lot of cash flow into parts that don't yield a reasonable turnover and profit.

I love this class and want to see it grow.
Just my 2 Cents.

[Roger Roatch]

I can hear Jethrow now; “ Awe golly gee Pa, you mean we have to go back to Tennessee”???? But, just in time, from her perch high atop the truck (for the young ones who might not appreciate this show, it’s her rocking chair tied on top of the truck), Granny explains the meaning of making “lemonade from lemons”.

[Chuck Groat]

The Rotax is a great class, but my only question is if the dealers are all getting the product from the same distributor why then such a price dispartity from dealer to dealer? Just looking at a few threads, I saw as much as a $10 difference in the cost for the Required FIANN Battery & a $12 difference for a battery charger??? I can understand regional cost differences, but when the motor is advertised as a set price in a national magazine, shouldn't the parts follow suit???

[Dave Stevens]

quote:

---

Originally posted by dave galegor:
Shifter Kart magazine (SKUSA's publication) has little to
no mention of the class.

---

Shifter Kart Illustrated is an independent publication for which a subscription is included with your SKUSA membership. SKI is published by Rob and Kimberly Howden and is not directly controlled or owned by SKUSA.

The reason they don't cover Rotaxes is because they aren't shifter karts.

Dave Lehmann basically nails it by saying the RMC is underachieving compared to the amount of engines sold. I know at least half a dozen folks that own Rotaxes and only two of them race, and that's at the club level. I also understand the markup on the engine itself isn't that great so the dealers in the network either have to do quite a bit of volume or make the bulk of the money on the sales of other parts. Many of these dealers also make most of the money for the shop from labor, such as engine rebuilds, blueprinting, etc. Under the Rotax program, these revenue streams are basically eliminated and shops that primarily make money on labor have less incentive to promote the product.

It's still a pretty popular package up here though I'm sure being in the shadow of the SSC factory store has something to do with it.

Dave

[ August 26, 2002: Message edited by: Dave Stevens ]

[Rob Martin]

Some karters currently running the Rotax Max recreationally have become discouraged over SSC's obviously self-serving tire selection for the Masters Class and parts distribution network.

The Vega XR tires are junk. This tire is KILLING the masters class financially and discouraging recreational Rotax karters from entering competition.

If you happen to suffer one of the rare or unusual Rotax failures, parts are certainly an issue. These parts issues could be remedied by a well organized distributor but unfortunately we all know who is responsible for these short comings.

Obviously SSC has made business decisions to try and increase their bottom line. Hopefully someone will reconsider some of these decisions and make the appropriate changes. If not, they may end up ruining enthusiasm for a good motor package and eventually killing the very thing they are trying to promote.

Lack of readily available spare parts is not only unacceptable and inexcusable, it is just bad business.

[Bill Wright]

I keep seeing these threads about spare parts being hard to get? I'm having NO problems getting parts? What do you need?

Bill Wright
"Get on Course!" with FK www.formulakart.com

[Andy Seesemann]

Chuck,

The price difference is due to the type of dealer that you talk to. The wholesale cost is X, that is what SSC sells to the "ROTAX Distributors" for. The RD then sells the product to other dealers for Y, who then have to sell to the customers at Z in order to make any profit. I know of some RDs that sell to their retail customers at the retail Z price, thus keeping the retail price equal with the dealers that buy from them. There are other RDs that sell to retail customers at the Y price and undercut their dealers, since they get the product at the X price. Hope this makes sense.

ANDY

[Roger Roatch]

When we loaded up our truck and started our trip to Californee (because that’s the place we owtta be) I had Jethrow do some cipher’n. However, our first priority was to get Granny sitcheated lower in the truck. Them steel umbrellas at the place with the big yella M, knocked her out cold when we drove up to the window that gives you food.

Anyhow, I ordered an opossum burger and they said it’s not on the menu, but if I wanted to pay extra (Jethrow figures it was nearly two times) they’d go out and kill one fer me. Jethrow figured out that if I just go kill it and cook it, the burger would be half the cost. If I was a bett’n man, I’d think they were never exited about tangli’n with that opossum. Since Mr. Drysdale was waiting for us and we was in an all-fire rush, we paid the extra and got the burgers from that big yella M place. Granny finally came to, and we had a rumatizm (happy) meal wait’n.

Now, the next place we started gett’n hungry was a much bigger city than the last place and there was more cars in this town then crawdads in my pond back home. Well we went back to one of those big yella M places again since the folk at the last place was full of a heap’n, help’n of hospitality. We ordered the same thing again, but Jethrow said we didn’t get the same amount of change back. He figured we paid 30% more for the same food, and to beat all, them folk were as mean as a hornet.

Since Granny was knocked out cold at the first place we went, she didn’t get to see how good the experience was, but she sure gave them a piece of her mind at the second place. But, now she thinks cuz all them building look the same, that they is owned by the same person, now she won’t let us set foot in another yella M again. She seems partial to the cute little girl with the blue candy strip dud’s now.