People who were there, people who watched/followed, what are your takeaways?
Some things I noticed:
Coyote wins 4 of the 5 adult classes?!
A lot of the same names up front. What do these guys do that keeps them there?!
Lawson a non-factor in medium?! Is that weird to anyone else?
Questions I have:
How was the new 4 day format? LIke? Dislike?
Did the event feel bigger? 500+ entries and 400+ individual drivers… Too big?
Gary wasn’t a non-factor… Eagles were mostly a non-factor. Couldn’t get them out of the track from what I heard.
4 day format sucks. That’s just too many days in a row at New Castle.
Event felt HUGE cause it was.
The majority of these guys that are always up front live in karts and they don’t just stick to their local club. They have the talent in spades, but they put in the work to keep it as sharp as can be.
Let’s get rid of the Vegas and go to MGs. The tire is too much for 206 and no one will ever change my mind. I would trust the VAH to go 100% to the limit directly out of the pits on my shifter. Sidewall likely wouldn’t last long, but it’ll stick, and that means it’s too much.
Coyote is gonna be the new flavor of the year in 2024.
I watched about half of the races on Kart Chaser. Not sure if it’s the Vega tires, or just the nature of 206 momentum racing, but it was a bit boring until the last 2 laps.
60 karts on track is too much. Red flags from incidents way in the back affecting the finishes of races is no fun!
Good to see American Made Chassis’s doing well.
Can’t argue that 60 karts is a lot, but I feel like at an event like this even with 30 or 40 karts there’s going to be some argy-bargy at the back no matter what?
Burpo,
Was the Vega rubber worse with the higher numbers and extra day? I feel like it would be. No rain this year and warm temps probably didn’t help either. I can hear my motor bogging just thinking about it.
It was pretty gross, but I have nothing to really compare it to. The last time I ran Grands was in 2021 where it was an off and on rain weekend.
I wasn’t old compound MG Summernats rubber, but it was pretty sticky walking the corners.
I agree with a lot of what was said already. Definitely gonna be a lot of people going to Coyote next year. 60 was a bit too many in the finals but the heats were much worse, a lot more chaotic with less karts. Id agree with the switch to mgs but don’t see that happening anytime soon. Liked the track layout a lot, but I agree with @CrocIndy that wed-sun is too much.
What compound Vega? I ran the the VLH once and it seemed to have a bit less bite than MG red.
I guess the difference with the Grand Nationals is that the “hard” tires practically become mediums with the rubber from 400 karts going down.
They run VAH Reds. I dont know what they are classified as, but they are a very sticky tire IMO.
Edit: I dont think it has anything to do with rubber, but more the sidewall or something in the construct. A 6" Vega Yellow MCH is the “softest” tire Vega sells, but will free your kart up a lot more than a Vega Red VAH.
Are you folks finding that in general it’s too grippy or just these massive events?
Even at the CKNA NE at Pitt people were almost grip flipping on those tires, they were definitely a massive change from what I was use to
I’ll have to find some of the clips but a whole lotta 2 wheeling for some folks that weekend.
For reference our club tire mojo doesn’t even feel sticky after coming off the final. Those Vegas would literally stick to the wall of the truck
We run the Vega blue here in Canada. Its a pretty hard tire, doesnt seem to build up on track that much.
Im curious to see if Coyotes start showing up around here next year.
Can’t say I didn’t check out their website 
I’ll be sticking with OTK tho 
Anyone who thinks the VAH is a hard tire is out of their mind. My kart go stuck to the bed on the crash cart in Saturday warmup after running 1/3 of a lap…
Yeah those tires were crazy sticky even old ones
I think a Coyote won in Junior as well?
I was just watching the stream but we had a handful of drivers there with our team from the PNW. They struggled for pace all weekend, mostly sounded like struggling to figure out what the tires wanted. We’re used to the Le Cont Red which is a relatively sticky tire in its own right, but each tire has its quirks and working window. Our best kid ended in 15th I think in Junior which was a long way forward from qualifying.
The tire will duro 54-56 out of the wrapper. Significantly lower once warm. It’s been a long time since we got on two wheels with them. Once we got away from the old narrow Gold Cup chassis and to the Euro style, I’m not sure we ever got up on 2 wheels again.
If you run predominantly an MG, MOJO or other, the Vega Red can throw you for a loop. I will say, whenever we had lots of sun and rubber, we were WAY down from “recommended” PSI.
In regards to 4 days, I guess that’s the nature of the big show. It is a reason I didn’t go. Didn’t want to take the extra time off.
Coyote’s put a ton of time into the chassis. The Zenith started off as a down right pig a handful of years ago. Many changes, test time, the right people behind it and it has showed up. No one deserves anything in racing but they’re as close to it as can be
The problem with the large fields is you get a portion that race for every inch and can’t think beyond the space they are in. Think of your club, you got 1-2 in each class. Not take that and multiply by 5-10. You get the idea.
I know after CKNA visited Badger, the track was really grippy, especially for a repave, and the lap times dropped a significant amount for a while. The Vegas lay down some decent rubber. But then the MGs scrub it all off again over time.
I miss the days where we got big rubber build up.
The club race at Pitt the weekend after CKNA had grip levels that I couldn’t believe. Two wheeling on an H axle and “loose” setup multiple times, so yes I believe those Vegas lay down some serious rubber. Way more so than the MGs.