What were the differences? Tires? Travel?
So whatâs th weekend spend fo regional lo206 âseriousâ racing? How far off from ka100?
In our local series, RTE66, there is no difference in spend, as entry fees and tires are the same. My perspective is more in local club racing, as thatâs where we spent the majority of our 11 years.
206 Club racing CAN be less expensive if youâre going the route of used chassis, no engine builder, and 1-2 sets of HARD tires for the season.
Heck youâd think that rebuilds would add significantly. But then again TJ said he did a full season of events on one top end.
Wow, pretty much none of this aligns with our experience. Except for the part about the 2 stroke being more fun. 
We started season 1 in club LO206, season 2 in club LO206 and regional LO206, season 3 in regional KA100 with some occasional club racing, and season 4 exclusively in regional KA100. The cost per race weekend wasnât remotely comparable. Engine rebuild interval/cost, fuel cost, chain replacement, and tire burn are all higher with a 2 stroke. Operating costs were roughly double for us, and that was with me stretching KA rebuilds vs running frequent LO206 head services.
LO206 we used the same set of tires for half the club season. For regional races we would put on a new set or new scrub set for qualy. We ran a chain for an entire season or until damaged by a crash that made the sprocket hit a rock or curb. We did change oil after every 2 club weekends and after every regional weekend. For chassis damage we had 2 bent steering shafts, 2 bent steering linkages, and 1 bent frame in 38 race weekends total. Engine rebuilds consisted of nothing more than a new plug, lapping valve seats, and cleaning the carb, almost ZERO cost to perform. The motor sipped fuel. We could run pump gas at club and practice and spec fuel for 2 regional weekends. I would estimate all-in operating cost for a regional weekend at $35 in fuel and oil, $270 for tires, race damage (if any), and motor rebuild at $60 in parts if I did it and $250-$400 for a âbuilderâ to do it. You can definitely go longer on motor builds than that, but I like to dress the exhaust valve after every big weekend. All in looking at what, $365-550 in spend for around 90 minutes of track time. So $240-360 per hour.
The KA100 needed new chain and tires every race weekend, club or regional. Practice we would run O-ring chain that could last quite a while. Regional practice sessions would need fresh tires, without them you would make bad setup adjustments that hurt you on race day. So that means 2 sets of tires for every regional race weekend. Chassis damage was much much higher, with several trips to the table for straightening more steering shafts than I can count, several bent linkages, a bent axle, and 2 cameras destroyed in 22 race weekends total. Driving was MUCH more aggressive in KA. Engine service was ridiculous at $1200-1500 every 12-15 hours, which works out around $100 per hour to operate. I didnât have proper honing equipment at the house, to top end work was no something I could do. Fuel cost $125 for 5 gallons and oil cost $35 for 5 gallons. For the a regional weekend, all the fuel would pretty much get used, for a club weekend maybe 1/2, leaving the rest for practice. I would estimate all in operating cost for a regional weekend at 3/4 of the fuel/oil so $120 in fuel, $540 in tires, motor rebuild at $150 using the same 90 minutes of track time estimate, plus 1 chain at $60, and then whatever crash damage. Works out to $870 for a regional weekend and $580/hr to operate.
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About double at the regional level.
- LO206 and KA both need new tires for qualy and race weekend (at regional level). LO206 can get you meaningful tuning info on old rubber for Friday practice, KA100 will mislead you on old rubber.
- KA we ran non o-ring chain for race sessions, O-ring for practice. For KA non o-ring will stretch and start to damage sprockets if you forget to lube it for even 1 session, or if you donât clean it, it will not make the weekend. For LO206, pretty much cleaned it at start of weekend and lubed it occasionally. Could run chain until something external happened to damage it.
- Fuel cost are drastically different. $25 per gallon and 4 gallons burned for KA, $5 per gallon and 2 gallons burned for LO206.
- Oil costs are $35 for KA and $20 for LO206.
- The parts damage was also higher for KA. Lot of bent side pods, steering shafts, steering linkages. We did lose a couple axles in KA which didnât happen in 206. I think if we ran CKNA or something this may have been worse in 206.
Could we define club vs regional vs national?
LO206:
Threw multiple chains because of the inboard drive - your chain âprotectorâ is doing a lot more than protecting.
Engine oil every other weekend.
Clutch springs every other weekend.
Clutch shoes maybe 3-4 weekends.
I went through a lot more tires to be competitive - about 5 sets at the local track.
Lots of broken/bent parts because the rev limiter makes it so you basically have to divebomb to pass.
Motor rebuild at least once in the season.
KA was smooth sailing in comparison:
One chain all season (@Chuck_Goodson maybe our environment is different? I know this has been discussed before)
Gas/oil is certainly more expensive
Two sets of new tires in the club season since I could make up for the rest in my driving
Only a top end for the full club season, again could make up for the rest in my driving
Minimal incident damage since you could set up proper passes
Club = hosted by the facility directly (no series affiliation). Maybe quali-prefinal-final format.
Regional = Hosted by some regional or national series but open to any entrant. 2+ heats.
National = Same as above but with the word ânationalâ somewhere in the title and maybe additional requirement of having participated in a regional race or invite-only. More heats than regional.
Club could be done out-of-town with a single overnight. Add a night for regional, and add at least another night for national. Several more for really big ones or for pre-event practice. It goes without saying that there can be some events that blur the lines, but I think these descriptions capture the points that really go into the costs
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