The FIA can’t control how much people could spend in OK-N so should even enter the conversation. All they can do is take practical steps that may reduce the possible spend, but these steps should be common sense and not really advertised a ‘cost-reduction’ measures. Simplification measures, but not cost-reduction if that makes sense. I am not sure even if expressing any of this publicly would be a good idea.
As seen as you inject ‘cost-reduction’ in people’s heads, it’s game over. The cold hard reality for the FIA was that the last-gen 100cc classes were about as good as it was ever going to be on the cost of development front. You obviously have to understand inflationary pressures that affect your categories, of course, but these matters are things that have to be carefully strategised.
However, I don’t think Stars saying “it’s high level” is a great idea either. I think their statement is more about placate worried KA100 competitors who’ve raised concerns about the new class.
The marketing strategy I’d go with is treat bugs as features and celebrate the culture of what FIA karting is. Work on reducing inflationary factors behind the scenes.
I know this is probably against the spirit of the class, but I would be fine if a series just choose an engine. ROK / COTA can run Vortex, SKUSA runs IAME, STARS TM, etc… Until there a concrete path and numbers in the US to qualify for the World Finals let’s just eliminate some of the sticky points. I just wanna show up, race a fast direct drive engine in a lighter weight class, and haul ass!
That wouldn’t be OK-N. Also, if any of those are a success there’ll be absolute resistance to ‘bringing the class together’ so the idea will remain something other than OK-N forever. Also the major manufacturers have products already that can provide more speed in a spec environment. For me it’s a non-starter off the bat.
Yea that’s I started with it being against the spirit, but maybe it helps get people started in OK-N. I know I might not be the exact target audience, but I’m going to be holding out on purchasing an engine until we see what pans out. I currently don’t have the disposable income to be buying 2-4 different brand engines. I like to think I operate on quite a decent budget for a regional racer, so I know it will be just as difficult for others to justify. But I would be down to support a class/engine in the short term if I knew I was showing up on similar footing. Then in the long term if class sizes build, interest grows, and more racer now have an OK-N engine in their hands then we start building a national race series with mixed engines. Gotta walk before you run…
I could be completely wrong and the upcoming races have huge turnout from the start, but who know?
Using KZ as a proxy, the engines will be close to one another in terms of performance, after all they adhere to one common ruleset, and are being produced by strong manufacturers. Having multiple manufacturers raises the bar for how good an engine will need to be out of the box. There will always be some head room for performance to be found by the engine tuners, though that’s a game of diminishing returns. A TM Factory prepared engine is pretty damn good right out of the box, but you can bet that it wouldn’t be as optimized if IAME, Vortex, and Modena weren’t in competition with them.
Another reason not to restrict to one manufacturer, is that may then put a restriction on number of teams interested in participating. Going Vortex only would alienate the teams that have TM/IAME/Modena allegiances.
To me the big pulling point for OK-N beyond the fact that tuners can actually tune is the dream of being able to have one engine program North America while not creating a one manufacturer monopoly. Right now from my perspective (Southern Ontario) all of the single-make series cause issues with the need to have a ROK for Ontario, Rotax for Quebec/Western Canada then Iame for USPKS/SKUSA and ROK again for FWT. With OK-N theoretically TM/Vortex/Iame could dominate a certain geographical area depending on importers/teams but at least you could take any brand anywhere in North America to compete without the need for 3 engine programs.
What’s being sold here with OK-N isn’t engines, it’s concept. If you aren’t buying into multi-manufacturer then you’re not buying into OK-N in any meaningful way.
Also I deem it unlikely you’ll be able to create good grids of single-make and then bring them together. That’s not how the market would react.
If you don’t sell OK-N as what it is from the start, you aren’t selling OK-N and you’ll never be able to sell OK-N. It’s not about walking before you run… it’s more like tripping out the gate.
Perhaps, just voicing my opinion as a potential customer. While I wasn’t around when US karting had mixed classes, it sounds like any mixed series had a preferred engine at X track or this is the hot engine of the year. As Tim mentioned I understand the appeal of being able to just show up with one brand of engine to all sorts of races. I just don’t see how anyone remotely competitive doesn’t end up with more than one engine within the first couple races of this year.
We are all Type-A, hyper-competitive people here. I know myself to well and guess the rest of you fall under the same mindset. If I already spent all the time and money to be at a national event and I’m getting left down the straights or out of key corners, I’m marching down to the manufacturer’s tent with the best motor and renting/buying one. I just see this spiraling into a money war so fast that we run face first into the gate before we even open it.
Anyways I’m just one dude behind a keyboard. I don’t pretend to know about marketing an engine or series. Just that I could go run other forms of racing. I choose karting as a fairly cost effective way to race competitively and would like it to stay that way if possible. I would love to go race more national level karting events, that I otherwise couldn’t afford racing cars or sprintcars. I really want this to succeed so hoping I’m not coming off as a pessimist. Just worried this is going to be to rich for my blood from the start.
P.S. Thanks for coming to my wall of text TED talk. I’m sure it’s full of grammar issues. That’s why I’m an engineering playing with numbers all day.
The key difference is that TAG did not allow for removal of material in the engines, and the engines from different manufacturers were built to different standards. It was a broken system from the start, and organizers attempted to remedy the system with minimum weight limits specific to each engine.
In OK-N the engines are built to the same standard, so it will come down to how good of a motor you get from the manufacturer/tuner of your choice, rather than which particular make you buy.
I guess I don’t see how that is any different. What happens we I buy 2-3engines from Brand X. Then next race someone figures out how to port the cylinder of Brand Y and now it’s untouchable. Now I gotta go buy that one. As a promoter are you going to turn away from the dollars of people not participating, because they know they are racing for 1st of the best of the rest? Or do you play with weights to BoP?
This is why we skipped racing dirt midgets when I came thru the ladder. Why would I spend sprintcar money and chase the engine builder of the week to race this silly series? We jumped straight from micro sprints to sprintcars and so did most of my peers. If I have the budget to be buying multiple OK-N engines and run nationally why would I bother? Maybe I just run Rotax/X30 at the national level competitively and skip OK-N completely to go race sportscar or formula cars? The karting scene and for better or worse the perceived stepping stone on the road to F1 aren’t the same here as they are Europe. If I was a kid at the time I know that’s the direction my Dad would have went.
I happen to like different engine tuners trying to build faster engines. That’s the play… the game… that’s part of the fun. I race in the historic realm now and we have probably 80-90 listed engines that are eligible. Then about 10 carbs or so. I have just got an AKV90 arrive which will need to get seen by my tuner to see what magic he can do. If I am lucky I’ll smash the opposition. Most of whcih will be on DSBs… I might have to get one too. The added fun of our class is all of our engines/carbs are 30+ years old . No one is building new… we have to find this stuff.
Part of the fun is knowing I might be able to generate a mechanical advantage and not have to pretend that it’s not part of the game. We shouldn’t be averse to this… as I said… it’s part of the game and adventure.
But OK-N, and this type of motorsport, might not be your thing. That’s fine.
I agree complete. I love to tinker and play around to get the most out of an engine. My engine builders probably hate the amount of time I call them to send them an EGT/lambda trace to discuss. That is all fine and good in a more locked down class or a more fun vintage class (not trying to knock on what what you race BTW it maybe taken more seriously than what I think).
I worry this class is going to alienate all but the most elite/wealthy drivers. Maybe that’s what it is targeted towards, but doesn’t seem to fit the cost conscious, “back to the roots” image the FIA are trying to push. While it might be an intermediate step in Europe there is no other “link” here. It’s going to be by far the highest rung on the ladder here.
The difference comparing historic 100cc racing and needing a couple different engines is that the OK package is 3-4k, not a few hundred bucks like old engines are.
Its a valid point Clayton brings up; if you need to drop 10k on a whole new engine program to compete in top-level national karting, why not just go buy a spec Miata and move “up”?
I know Alan is going to say “but the passion, the rawness, the simplicity of karting…” etc etc.
Maybe it’s an American mentality that we are more affected mentally and emotionally by the bottom line financially rather than emotions.
If you don’t know it’s understandable. What I co-organise is based on Formula Super A - the most revered class of all time pretty much. The guy I will get to do my motors is one of the best kart tuners on the planet. This is all out war, don’t be mistaken. In many ways it’s more extreme than what OK-N will be OK-N is too soft for my liking with its rev-limit.
The FIA is muddled up in its messaging. That’s for sure.
Please also consider that a very very big differentiating factor of the US vs everywhere else in the world is the fact that you do not have an active National Sporting Federation to federate the motorsport scene, including karting. There are only private promoters running their own series, which makes the dynamic of this endeavor much different to a market whereby the national titles are only given through the events ran by the ASN, organized by the ASN and legislated by the ASN.
Again, to your point, only time will tell, but i am willing to put my hand on the fire that the performance variation between the platforms (out of the box) will be very small and the track results will show it.
If a tuner is smarter than the others and manages to eek out a little bit more, then be it. It is indeed part of the game, but this statement is not platform specific, in my opinion. It can be replicated with all other manufacturers’ products.
