Difference between World Formula & Animal

[Paul Hutt]

The title says it all. I am new to karting and would appreciate information on what the differences are between the World Formula and Animal engines and other pertinent facts.

I live on the Left Coast and a very reliable source/kart store owner said something like the Animal Class is going away or something like that.

[Wayne ONeil]

Different head and carb. The WF comes with clutch, air filter and pipe, while the animal doesn't. The WF has a rev-limiter set to 7100, while the animal can rev to the sky. The WF is faster out of the box.

You can see all the specs at: http://briggsracing.com/

[Les Prins]

The WF also has higher compression piston, pull starter and electric on board starter (you supply the battery and starter switch), billet rod, and dual valve springs.

[Bob Vehring]

The WF does have larger carb, cam and more compression which all add up to more HP, however, there is a difference. The WF because of those parts makes the power higher up in the rpm band, then has a rev limiter to stop it at roughly7000. The Animal makes more power in the low and mid range rpm's. On sprint tracks, the layout of the track will determine which is faster. Here at our 6/10s sprint track, lap times are very close between them with the Animal being faster in the tight turns, the WF on the straights.

Beyond that there is a difference in "HOW" they are raced. WF is or was designed to be raced as it came out of the box. The Animal classes with rules governed by WKA/IKF is a blueprint class. This means owners or pro builders will take this engine and machine or "build the engines to the limits of the rules. This assures that each part in the engine is at the rules limit and makes up for the differences or factory tolerance variations so that all engines are very close in HP and performance.
Cost wise, the Animals is about half of the WF price. The cost of blueprinting is about $500 dollars, so that brings it to the WF price range. I do understand that in many places blueprinting is also done to the WF engines so if done, that will add to ts cost to be race ready.

Now the new news, this year their is the LO 206 engine. As engines come down the assembly line, critical parts and dementions are checked. The engines with the closest tolerances are marked for the LO line. A factory lazor seal is put on the block of these engines. Because of this the engines come out very close to each other in HP with out the need for blueprinting. It also does this at a very racer friendly price right around $500. The trade off here is with the factory cam and running on gas it makes less HP, about 8 compared to the 11 of BP'ed Animal or claimed 15 of a WF.

As far as Animals going away, not happening. What is popular is very much a regional thing. While much of the racing on the west coast is WF, east of the Mississippi, its hard to find any WF's being raced. Everything is Animal. The LO206, being new will take time to build its classes
_________________
Bob Vehring
www.4cyclecentral.com

[Paul Hutt]

Bob,
I really appreciate your detailed answer. It really helped me to understand the differences.

Paul Hutt