weather June 28th

[Brantley French]

Ok so I know that everyone is a little bit hyped up to race next weekend because they got rained out last weekend. so i checked the first available reports and weather.com states that there is a 20% chance and the high is 92. so i know it will change so ill update this thread.... and cross your fingers because i dont want to drive 60 miles and watch rain fall ..

[Mike Pugh]

What is the rain policy ?
On May 5th I qualified with rooster tails behind me with standing water on the track .
Then the track was drying during the heat race , and dry as a bone before the main .

This past race the track was allot drier and the sky looked allot better but the race was called .

.....Hmmm ???

Not complaining , just trying to clarify ????
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Rippin Racing
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[Brantley French]

i was driving off complaining to my dad that the sky was clearing and that if you give the track 30 mins and get some karts out there... the track wouldve dried.

[Daniel White]

[Brantley French]

yea i just like to feel like im helping by populating the forums. but we will know for sure by friday

[Daniel White]

Are you getting closer to getting a kart, Brantley? With your height, I'd say Margay Limo with a Yamaha Pipe for a year or, if you want to start with a 4-cycle, go with a clone for a paltry $120--the class is growing at GKSA.

The Margay site sells used chassis as well as new, and sometimes they have a Limo available. I saw an almost new one for $2200 earlier this winter.

Rotax wouldn't be a bad choice because our club has decent numbers, but it's a big learning curve, as well as a higher initial costs.

If you are going to wait until next season, check the ekarting classified site--many tend to sell their stuff at the end of the season. Some of the deals are quite good. But there is that caveat about buying online from individuals . . .
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Tonykart EVRR / Adkins Yamaha

[Brantley French]

not really... im just going to wait until i can get enough start up money for it... i might have the kart by september and then ill probably used any race days as practice and go full force next season

im seriously looking at rotax because ive seen the support for it. any suggestions that i need to do to look into running it at GSK?

o and i got that book which isnt that bad.

[Daniel White]

(This is just my experience, and these are my notions from my experience. But I'm very new at this, and anyone should feel free to add to or emend any of this.)

Brantley,

I was fortunate to get an engine with a fresh rebuild--in many respects a new motor--from Alan Parris, who races at the track. I probably wouldn't buy a used motor unless I knew the individual selling it, or if that person didn't race at Barnesville. So with that in mind--and assuming you are like me, with little technical or mechanical knowledge about karting--your best option for obtaining and maintaining a Rotax is Rick. He has enormous experience and supports several drivers at Barnesville. He's an excellent, proven tuner and all his drivers do very well. His shop is reasonably close to you, and Rick even goes to other tracks and events to support his drivers. Up front, the motors are expensive, but if you are going to be in the sport for a few years, it makes sense financially because maintenance intervals are vastly longer than any other two-cycle motor.

As for my chassis, I also saw Alan race my kart a couple of times as he was trying to sell it. I knew it was straight and hadn't been bent. If buying used, you can't be certain of this unless you scale the kart (put the kart on scales and weigh all four corners), but like I mentioned, I saw my particular kart in action. He also races a great deal at Barnesville, and I get a lot of support and advice from him (and his dad).

You issue is your height, and your options are:
1) be cramped
2) buy a longer chassis (from what I know, only Margay makes a "stretched" chassis, the Limo version, which is two inches longer than their standard chassis)
3) Buy or fabricate an extended "porch" for any chassis, which may have an adverse effect on the handling of your kart. This scenario seems to require that you scale your kart.

A new Rotax package will cost upwards of 7000-8000. But you CAN get a very good used package for half that. And you don't have to get the latest chassis model to be quick. Kevin French got his 5-year old chassis (but it had never been used) from Rick and he's quite fast. Jamie Maholik holds the senior Rotax track record and his chassis is an older one as well.

I see you are looking at the clone class as well. You can get into this class for as little as $1000-1500 (used). It's significantly slower than Rotax but the guys I know who race clones have a blast, and the racing is close. You will learn how to race and if you are on a budget, or are not certain about your level of commitment, this option makes even more sense.

Hope this helps.
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Tonykart EVRR / Adkins Yamaha

[Mark Benton]

Keep your eyes peeled for the deals. I found my '02 Rotax/Birel (about 10 hrs on engine) for $2300 back in '05. Prices have gone up since then, but you can find something under $3000 to get you started if you look hard enough. Check the classifieds on ekartingnews daily.
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'02 Birel R32x/Rotax

[Southern Star Karting]

Hey Brantley , I bought a used extreme and leopard TAG engine last december for $2400 used from Florida including spare rims and body , I havn't done a thing to it except for a few minor repairs actualy under $200.00 , Its running around a 23.7 at barnesville and I am 40 lbs over weight and on hard tires. So keep a look out near the end of the season , but , be careful don't buy something because you think its a good deal ask around and most reputable dealers or racers will give you the truth.

steve