Switching to road cars for a moment. BMW and Volvo “manual” shifting +/- are opposites and it drives me NUTS. Might be why the BMW broke an inlet valve spring 
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Overview: Factory Karts on Instagram: "Factory Kart is launching a new line of engines!"
65: Factory Karts on Instagram
85: Factory Karts on Instagram: "Jr Shifter 85cc Factory Kart"
125: Factory Karts on Instagram: "125 shifter Factory Kart"
250: Factory Karts on Instagram: "250cc Super Shifter! 🤯🤯🤯🥵"
Only thing I can really glean from the website by looking at their full size shifter karts is that the 85cc complete package seems to be about $4500, 125 is about $6100, and 250 is about $7500. I would think those are complete packages including radiator, mount, hoses, and all that jazz. @Charles_Kaneb can correct me if I’m wrong.
I wish there were more explicitly laid out details though. I’m gonna be honest that a $6100 engine package does not appeal to me in the slightest. I understand that it’s rebuild interval is longer and it can run on 91 gas, but without others racing it, it’s just a good motor package. I’m curious on what the plan is to get people racing them outside of Cali.
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I once bought an old Saab and sat baffled in it for an hour, figuring out how to start it. Really odd in that they put a collar on the shift lever that you’d have to pull up IIRC in addition to the usual song and dance.
And then later in life I got a bmw and also experienced the why are the gears backwards moment when using the pseudo manual.
Some thing are best left alone.
In the UK I know that 250 Nationals are still forward for fast on short (sprint) circuits.
As backwards as a left hand shifter 
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Yeah I mean with inflation and comparing it to the price of the Hondas (125cc) when they were new it kinda lines up but I dont see many people paying that price unless its on a national level…
Karters Graham Henckel and Bruce Woodrow got a uniform, Fiat Chrysler-wide rule made for manual shifting of automatics: forward for downshift, backward for upshift. Same as a moto or KZ shifter.
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Curious where they’re racing them outside of California eh? I’m curious where they’ll be racing them inside CA. LAKC (which they control) failed to complete their previous season due to financial issues.
Perhaps I’m a grouch, but I have a really hard time understanding how this takes off when no other shop, team or manufacturer is on board, and the competing engine packages are propped up by exclusive distribution rights for primary consumables and fairly active private equity involvement.
Rotax, which is a well proven product with a global following and is actually designed for a use on a kart, and offers engines for every level of karting, still struggles relatively in the US compared to Vortex and IAME.
I mean hey cool, dirt bike engines, but… I don’t think the novelty justifies the tradeoffs even if it were cheaper, and a FZ-125 at the price you mentioned is $1000 more than I paid for a new TM KZ engine, and over $2000 more than one can buy a Rok Shifter for.
If parts pricing is really an issue, look at Mondokart, Kartshop, or any of the other large Euro/International online retailers, however even when we ran Hondas, people were still spending dumb money, so I don’t see this saving anyone from themselves.
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Road Racers (a.k.a. Enduro, Long Track). Some road race orgs. saw a nice boost in CIK/Sprint 125 shifter numbers, thanks in part to the Stock Honda engine package. But in the past few years some of those clubs have seen their shifter numbers dwindle (NCK, Woodbridge). Not coincidentally, it’s decreasing at the same time parts supply for those Honda CR125s are dwindling as well.
Plenty of road racers use KZs, but the long periods of sustained high RPMs you see in Road Race karting means the rebuilds on the KZ motors are frequent, and the rebuild intervals are already shorter compared to the Honda in Sprint karting.
I’ve seen more than one karter openly state that they got out of 125 shifter kart racing on the long tracks because they were running a Stock Honda and could not justify the higher buy-in cost of a KZ, as well as other shifter racers wishing there was an engine package for Road Racing where you didn’t need to split the crankcases as often.
Then there’s the 250 Superkarts, their situation parallels closely with the 125 Shifters in Road Racing. The Honda CR250 was a stalwart presence in Superkart racing for many years, but, just like the CR125, Honda discontinued the CR250, the supply dwindled, and Superkart numbers stagnated, or at least stopped growing at the rate they once were. And the single and twin-cylinder superkart motors from DEA, PVP, SGM, VM are far more pricier than any KZ. I think a reliable 250 package at the right price has the potential to really give 250 Superkart racing a boost in growth, and the right 125 package has the ability to grow the 125 road race shifter numbers again.
All this, of course, is dependent on how much each engine will actually end up retailing for.
But aside from this, the engine package I’m most intrigued about personally, as well as the engine I think with the most potential, is the 85cc motor. And not just in Road Racing, but in Sprint as well.
I suppose I should specify within sprint racing. I have no experience with road racing or superkarts, and if I ever start making authoritative statements about those disciplines, kindly remind me I’m full of shit. 
They are being fairly adventurous. I am no fan of spec-racing, but it’s nice to see someone trying something. Time might not being their favour, but this is a whole line of engines. The cadet and junior shifters suggests this idea is more of a ladder structure. It’s not about seeing what’s out there now and how this sits, it’s about the whole picture.
I certainly can see how kids in shifters is a sellable prospect. Then from there the 125s and 250s sell themselves. Again, it’s not easy to do, but I can see the idea
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I never quite understood this either… especially the guys who shift with their left hand forward for up and back for down. Boggles my mind lol.
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I think it’s just a carryover from the very first engine setups, many of which where also left mounted.
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Forward for fast
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