I guess the question is less about why their engines aren’t on sale, but more about why there’s been almost zero mention of the OK-N project from them. Decisions for 2023 have already been made and entries open for multiple championships.
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As you said before, Iame and Vortex has zero interest In promoting this In the way FIA wants to, anyway i cant see many Rotax, X30 or Vortex Rok drivers changing to OKN.
Not even here In Europe its possible to find the Iame and Vortex engine, Only TM and Modena engine are availible.
Kartstore.it is the only place i’ve seen the IAME and Vortex OK-N for sale. The IAME was 2900 euro without pipe, carb or anything also.
Vortex released their promo vid for the platform, along with all other newly homologated engines.
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Strafing away from the main topic buuuut super clean design, compact gearbox and i love the integrated 3D printed air ram to cool the crankcase. Note how the crankcase itself has specifically designed cutouts to support it, right under the reed box. Front of engine also significantly raised by design to allow for the part to fit.
Engine in picture has their proprietary paddle shift module’s adapted shift arm mounted, along with what looks to be uniballs fixed as guides for the cables that actuate it.
Hoping we get to see some of these during this upcoming racing season 
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Could not agree more 
We need more of this design, sure tm has proved that wierd designs is not needed but anyway, cool 
Interestingly enough, Vortex tried the air ram cooled crankcase on the previous generation of their KZ engines but has gone back to a water cooled crankcase on the newest model. Guessing it didn’t work out how they expected.
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Very true, although Motori Seven’s iteration has quite a wider throat opening for the air ram and it seems (i have to look at the homol fiche) that it is also water cooled, as the water inlet is bellow the cylinder itself. May be twin cooling.
Also sweet little fins at the front of the cylinder to increase surface area and cooling, much like a TM front crankcase design.
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The water inlet on the previous generation vortex was in a similar location. The vortex also had an add on duct piece that bolted to the front of the engine but I never saw a picture with it installed.
I saw it during our races, many times. It was definitely less open at the throat and a little more discrete than this solution.
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Never is it more frustrating than knowing how little money can be made writing about kart engine development. The mountain of stuff we could make videos on is overwhelming. These kind of observations would make a great video series.
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I personally kinda nerd out when new homologations come out, especially engines. I also tend to clue in on minor detail differences that many others don’t see on engines. I found it particularly interesting that many of the manufacturers homologated two versions of both 60 and KZ. Vortex did this with the last homologation of KZ with a long rod model, and short rod model. Now I wonder if Modena is doing something similar with the new KK3. While the KK1 and KK2 make killer peak HP I’ve always heard they’re peaky, makes them good for fast flowing tracks or road racing. With the KK3 looking more similar to a TM I wonder if that will be an engine with a broader power band and they’ll keep both engines in the trailer depending on the track. Purely speculation on my part, but intriguing nonetheless.
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Given the relative accessibility of these engines compared to other FIA forms of motorsport it’d be really good to do a literal breakdown and strip of each engine. There’s just so much potential there to build interest in the sport as 2-strokes are still massively popular, and we’re still developing.
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I think everyone is slowing converging towards a lot of similarities in terms of what works and what doesn’t (see: 2022 F1 regs). Everybody is bringing the cylinders almost perpendicular to the crankshaft and compacting the gearcasing as much as possible. Modena, which was the last to actually have a different cylinder positioning to aid intake as much as possible has also brought its design to a more cookie cutter one.
I think what fascinated me more than anything is that these are 2 strokes. They aren’t “complex” architectures. Yet, year on year, we see evolutions here and there in a continuous fashion, which help to yeek out that extra quarter of a horse . Motorsport truly is sensational when it comes to this. If the aim is to win, people will figure out a way to make a soapbox go down the hill faster 
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You know it better than me, asking a factory TM, IAME, Vortex, Modena or anyone else that actually brings a race winning engine to open it up for the world is asking to get a 17mm spanner to the face 
The really really cool details are found in the ultimate evolutions of these powertrains, raced at world’s level by the factories themselves, which will forever remain unavailable to the public. The standard out of the box ones are cool as well and i would argue are not really that far off in terms of raw performance, nevertheless.
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From Stars today:
We have received an inspiring amount of commitment and support for the OKN category going into the 2023 season, and we wanted to provide some updated info as the program is coming together.
To clarify, the Stars program will not be providing any tech info or specs for the OKN category. Similar to how we operate our KZ2 category, we will simply follow the fiche and regulations provided by the CIK to ensure uniformity with not only other series stateside, but internationally as well.
The OKN category will be using the butterfly carburetor which has been homologated with the engine being used. The current configuration allows for the @tillotson_racing HW-49A, the @tmracingofficialpage Triton, or the HHC OKN carbs.
The OKN category at the Stars Championship Series will utilize 2 sets of MG SM tires. Both sets will be scanned in and deployed beginning at qualifying, and may be used at the drivers discretion for the remainder of the event.
There have been many questions about the costs associated with the category. While the cost of the OKN is less than that of the OK International category, we want to make it transparent that this is a premier level category. We anticipate this category to be more reflective of the KZ category, offering a high level of performance and competition to those looking for a single speed pro option. We understand that the high cost of this category will not be the best option for some of our competitors, but want to guarantee our commitment to the KA categories which will remain a focus and critical part of our series.
If you have any further questions please reach out to us directly at [email protected] and we’ll see you on track this May.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=211199954599745&set=a.192450059808068
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That was well articulated.
This to me is the part that gets me slightly worried for US specifically and has nothing to do with the platform itself. In US, there is a big cost differential in KZ that is in part just perception, in part real but hardly justified. I mean the cost of rebuilds, tuning etc can easily go off the rails if teams/tuners convince the users that the category is “the top of the crop” and the high investment is something that is absolutely needed to be competitive, regardless of the facts. Sometimes the final users fall into the trap themselves. We saw that in the past here, it’s still present for KZ, hopefully OK-N won’t follow suit…I have no idea how that can be fixed, some heavy PR work and unbiased reality check may help though. It’s already labelled “high cost” before even launching
I mean thats true in every motorsport category ever. Theres also someone saying if you spend xxxx I’ll make you xxx faster and theres always someone willing to spend the money. Even in the spec “cheap” classes.
That doesnt mean its true but there’s few who don’t fall for it.
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