New Way To Roll (for me at least)

[Todd Kageals]

 

[Todd Kageals]

[Todd Kageals]

[Todd Kageals]

It’s a Ford Transit Connect.  2 complete karts and all my gear inside while getting 29.4MPG coming home.  I was getting 11 MPG pulling my trailer so this should save me quite a bit getting to the track.

[TJ Koyen]

Nice! Cool solution.

Driver/Coach/Wrench : Innovative Performance/Exprit
Owner : Oktane Visual - www.oktanevisual.com
www.facebook.com/oktanevisual
www.instagram.com/oktanevisual

[Nick Bagley]

Very cool! Looks like a pain to load/unload though?

[Joe Morales]

I’m off topic here, but i’m curious on how those hoosier’s tiers work. I know they work good on my racecar, excellent grip but if you don’t take care of them you will burn them up quick, but how do they compare to yellow MG?

[Adrian Baran]

Excellent choice especially now that these are starting to slowly get cheaper on the used market.

[Brian Degulis]

 

 

 

[Todd Kageals]

Nick,

It’s actually quite easy to load using my electric kart stand (still the best karting money I have spent).  With the van empty, you push the kart with stand up to the back doors and lower it using the winch right onto the floor of the van (you just pull the stand backwards as it comes down.  Then you put in the wood rack (it just sits right over top of the bottom kart with its legs on the floor).  Put the other kart on the electric stand and push it right up to the bottom of the ramp/rack (it’s inclined so that the back end is the same height as the electric stand).  Push the kart of the stand and slide it up the ramp.  I’ve loaded both karts 2x now by myself with no assistance and didn’t even break a sweat!  It easy to strap it down because the van has sliding doors on both sides so you have easy access to everything.  The only things that have to be removed are the side pods and the rear tires.  I need to make a rack for the toolbox and I have one of those trailer hitch cargo carriers for the electric stand.  I can’t park a trailer here at my house and this keeps the karts out of the garage when I am home.  Easy to drive/park/maneuver, great gas mileage.  It’s almost ideal as a minimalist kart enthusiast!  I wish it was two inches wider at the door opening and between the wheel wells.  The extra width would allow the rear tires and sidepods to stay on (not a big deal though).  The rear tires actually fit inside the walls but not through the door opening.  Anyway….makes it easier to get to the track and cleans up some issue here at home (karts taking up wife’s parking place ;)  Amazing gas mileage for its size (better than my BMW sedan….WTF????)  Well….it only has 136 hp compared to the bimmer’s 300 so I guess there’s a tradeoff in there somewhere.

[Bob Baldwin]

Todd : saw an interesting vehicle today I wish I had taken a picture of it as relates to VANS . I pulled off the interstate at a Quick Stop for a Snack / Drink / Gas . A father and son pulled in with a van not sure if it was a Dodge or GMC product . The father did mention that it was an Extended Van . Obviously the Motor up front . Seating front was 2 bucket seats , rear originally was a long bench seat ,they had taken it out and replaced it with 2 bucket seats . Behind that was mounted guessing 8ft wide 10ft long cargo box type unit with a rear roll up door you could also access it through the space between the 2 rear bucket seats it had 2 fold up bunks mounted to the side inside the cargo box . pretty nicely laid out .

Anyhow the unit apparenty had come newwith the cargo box mounted . The father told me  they had purchased it from a Ryder Truck Rental Regional office apparently they run their units so many miles than sell / auction them off before they get new ones . It cost him $4200 before he did the modifications that he did . and repainting . looked real nice .ran like a Charm for a vehicle with 230,000 miles on it . forgot to mention the kid was a motor cross racer

[Peter Zambos]

I’ve been wondering if the Transit cargo area was wide enough for a kart! I now may have another thing to add to the lottery list.

[Todd Kageals]

Bob,

That sounds like an interesting setup but I doubt it approaches 29MPG.  Fuel costs for getting to the track was the major reason I wanted a van.  This thing is built on the Focus platform.  They basically took the front half of a Focus and welded it to box.  You COULD sleep in it too but you’d have to remove the karts and I would have to have A/C in there at night!  Anyway the setup you mentioned sounds cool.  I’d like to see some pictures of it.

[Todd Kageals]

Joe,

I can’t really give a fair compaison of the tires.  I bought them because they were the spec tire at MMX in NC.  I was running there before I started road racing.  I can say for sure that they are durable.  I got a full race day (2 practice sessions, 1 qualifying session, a 10 minute race and a 15 minute race) at MMX + a race at SPR (2 practice sessions and a 30 minute race) + a full practice day (6 10 minute sessions) at VIR + a full race day (2 practice sessions and a 30 minute race) at VIR out of them so far.  I plan to run them at least one more race at SPR as they still look pretty good.  I asked  a similar question a few week back and was told that the Hoosiers are probably about a second a lap slower than the MG Yellows but that they are more durable.  I beat some guys running the MGs and got beaten by some guys running MGs.  I’m just not fast/experienced enough to know how much time is in the tires and how much is in my driving.

Todd

[Matt Dixon]

I have found that they are .7 slower then MGs. They do handle more heat cycles before falling off. Set up is very close

94y

[Author]

Posts