I would’ve brought OK in to start instead of OK-N. As far as incentive, unsure. If they put a 18k limiter on there instead of the OK-N low one, they’d still last forever compared to ICAs / FAs. And it would be a premiere (ie. hard to drive) class. Use sticky tires too. MG Greens…
I’d love for the KA100 to have a DD variant also. For anyone who’s never driven a direct-drive kart, it’s hard to fully convey how different and pure that experience is vs. even a low-stall clutch. Go try it. #dd4life.
I would be surprised if you can’t convert the KA100 to DD. Some guys did that with the X30 here some years ago
I think this doesn’t deserve its own post so I will publish it here.
In July it was 1st and 2nd round of X30 along with the debut of OKN with Vortex in Peru. Very few people, though it was the organizers fault because he did it after two consecutive weekends of races, so the drivers and teams didn’t have any respite to prepare for anything, except a very few. There were five drivers in total(2 OKNJ and 3 OKN) though one was invited and only raced GX390 before.
There were 5 or 4 tickets for the OKN World Cup so everyone won kind of.
A curious response I got from the organizer when I ask him why he didn’t do the OKN category with IAME engines was that IAME isn’t interested in promoting the category, but he didn’t specify if he referred worldwide or only in South America. So I wanted to ask @Simone_Perego if he heard or knows something before he left the FIA.
The only theory I can come up if it’s the former it’s that IAME has already the S125 and the 175cc line still exists so they don’t gain much from OKN. If it’s latter, I heard IAME wants to impulse X30 in South America so promoting OKN would obstruct their objectives in the region.
Manufacturers tend to not want to undermine their own product line. Having a single-spec OKN also completely defeats the purposes of the category. In fact the category ceases to exist at that point, and then you ask why would a manufacturer like IAME who have a line of spec-products want a random third option.
From what I’ve heard, none of the engine manufacturers particularly care to support OK outside of official FIA events. Same here in the US.
The OK-N race here at Trackhouse Motorplex with STARS a couple weeks ago was some of the best racing I’ve seen lately, and the top OK-N karts would’ve been mid-pack in KZ… Long live direct-drive!! (PS - if they got rid of the silly rev limiters, the OKs would DESTROY the KZs…fun times!)
Honestly, I was debating going to race OK-N next year instead of KA, because the field spread is far bigger. The top 10 in OK-N is separated by like a second, and in KA if you are 0.5 off you’re in 40th. And I can run within a second of Pauly and get on Kart Chaser’s venerated list of pros and get all the attention. 
I’m not even worried about getting flamed by OK-N guys, there’s only like 15 of them, they can’t even form an angry mob. 
I kid, I kid.
I have a Modena I can borrow, but that only helps the spread get bigger….lol However, if we pretend to fight at the scales, that should bump ratings.
I have a standing agreement with my teammates that if we wreck each other out of a race, we need to do a WWE-style wrestling match in the infield.
You drop the People’s Elbow on your teammate in turn 5, you’re getting a viral Kart Chaser clip.
Yeah, in Brazil it’s monobrand, IAME for OKNJ and TM for OKN. Whereas in Argentina it’s multibrand.
From what I heard they don’t gain much from OK engines. Most of the money comes from TaG.
I have heard that as well. Essentially what I could figure out when OK-N was being debuted in the US was that IAME didn’t have interest in OK-N since they are already top dog in OK Senior and don’t see a reason to encourage something that would actively fight against their X30 market. When you look at brands like TM and Modena, they don’t have a single-make engine to fight for market share with, so they see value in promoting their OK Senior products through OK-N. Vortex has, generally, been a step behind IAME in the spec market, so if they can establish themselves in the OK-N category they may still see a benefit.
Basically, for IAME, the winning move is not to play and hope it doesn’t take off. If they go in and don’t do well, that’s not a good look and hurts their reputation even if they’re still on top in single-make and OK, while if they go in and do well they could pull customers away from their big money X30 product.
I’ve actually had the same thought process if I end up being able to get in a kart in some semi-consistent manner. Every time I watch the KA Senior racing at any series I just keep thinking “man I do not miss that” and see X30/OK-N as so much more tame. Even if I end up 2-3 seconds off, at least I know I won’t be tearing all my stuff up fighting for 20th/40th/last
Also, in an unrelated note to the discussions happening above, I remember when OK-N was first being introduced I had mentioned to some people that I liked the idea of our national single speed category being OK Senior, I may have even mentioned it here. I’m not sure how much the OK Senior costs in Europe for a European championship, but I would like to know how that compares to what the X30 seats here in the US go for.
I think it was Joe Turney that said he felt like our USPKS/SKUSA competition was in between the X30 European Championships and the OK European Championship. It’s on a Happy Hour podcast somewhere from a few years ago.
I understand that OK-N is designated as the national level engine package, but in my head our national competition is more equivalent to the European championships, as USPKS and SKUSA are somewhat the default North American karting championships already. I think I got some pushback that OK Senior is significantly more expensive than X30, but I don’t think I ever found the actual numbers for it.
Much Like @Alan_Dove and others have said, IAME was the only manufacturer that actively did not partake in the developement phase of the platform when we first sat down to discuss it after a presenation i made to the engines manufacturers during the 2021 World Championship in Kristianstadt.
TM, Vortex and Modena were all present during the 4 private tests we have done to gauge the performance of the prototypes. IAME never came.
Why would you purposefuly push for the introduction of a product that could potentially harm the defacto monopoly you have created in the single speed karting universe ? It strategically and financially does not make any sense.
They have begun “serious” work on it at the end of 2024 and into 2025, as they saw the fields in Italy grow to reach 50 + drivers per event.
More than KZ actually
If it’s within your posibilities, yeah do it. Could be a more “relaxed” and cool experience. The worst that can happen is the engine failing while starting. Also you get more publicity for Bestkart and gather info if they eventually desire to appear in CIK-FIA single-speed competitions.
Another good one, your rich legacy will be preserved.
Checked the 2025 Stars series, 21, 21, 20, and 17 entries across the 4 races. .5 to .7 from 1t to 10th in quali.
OK-N Jr: a few more entries and a tick closer in quali.
I am going Ok-N racing next year!!!
