Class names?

Right, newbie here. My (understandably limited) understanding of the kart classes is:
206 4-stroke
100cc 2-stroke
125cc 2-stroke
125cc 2-stroke shifters

But I keep hearing you guys talk about TaG, X30, and couple other names that I have no reference of. Anyone care to educate me? :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

These are referenced to Engine makers and specific series that run that engine.
Examples:

4 strokes could be Honda, Briggs, Tillotson, Subaru or Clone (a Chinese version of a Honda or other make).

2 strokes could be one of a dozen brands, Honda, Iame, Vortex/RoK, Rotax, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.

There are different categories within most 2 strokes. Kid Karts = 50cc, Cadet = 60cc, Juniors = 80cc to 125cc, Seniors = 100cc to 175cc. Most are single gear with a centripetal clutch, but OK = fixed gear on the crank shaft. Then you have Shifters. They start at 80 cc and go up from there. Most shifters are a lever actuated 6 speed sequential gearbox (like a motorcycle), with the exception of Rotax’s DD2 (Two Speed paddle shifter). On a side note, there are 4 stroke gearbox engines also, but not as common.

Within all of these categories and sizes of engines, there may be specific Race Series that run one or another. RoK Cup runs the Vortex engine packages. SKUSA runs primarily the IAME engine packages, but I believe the still allow the Stock Honda 125cc Shifter. In the 4 stroke categories, each Manufacturer has its own series (often piggy backed on with another series) with its own rule sets. TaG is a term used for Touch and Go, meaning it has an onboard starter. This is found on many of the modern 2 strokes these days. It could be on anything from 60cc single gear/clutch to a 175cc Shifter, however when someone references a TaG engine they are typically referring to a 125cc single geared/clutch engine. TaG is usually a mixed manufacturer class where engine parody / performance is accounted for with minimum weight variations.

Its a lot to wrap your head around. Let us know if you have any specific questions

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Greg was able to cover most of it I think. It can definitely be a bit overwhelming when first starting out, but rather than trying to understand all of the options that may or may not be available where you are it would probably be easier to start by focusing on the specific classes offered at whatever club/track/series you’re planning on running with.

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Think of it from the perspective of branching classifications. There’s basically single speed & shifter engines of both 2 & 4 stroke variety. Single speed engines are either fired up via on board battery+starter (ie. “Touch and Go”) or with a portable motor, while shifters are push-to-start or TaG.

Race classes can be categorized based on some the aforementioned general descriptions, or on a specific brand (eg. X30, Rotax, LO206, etc) depending on the club &/or governing org running the series in question. Brand or make oriented classes live or die depending on the health of their market, whereas more general subclasses (eg. shifter) allow different mfg engines to race together.

I think that covers most of my curiosity. I watched the IAME Grand Nats “broadcast” and was flummoxed by the different names they used. Obviously they were all 2-stroke. But they seemed to divide the classes by “kids”, “juniors”, and “seniors”. Didn’t even mention displacement, but they did mention TaG. So I was like, “what’s TaG and X30?”

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It’s basically displacement… classes are generally 100 or 125 for two stroke. Those with electric starters are TAG.

If 4 stroke is in the mix they have their own names for engines that don’t reference displacement:

World formula
LO 206

So our series might have a 125TAG class which would allow a variety of manus 125 2-strokes, ie x30, rotax evo?, rok

The classes are then broken down by age further: so 125tag junior, senior, masters.

It’s all a bit of a salad but it makes sense once you spend some time living in it.

Ha! Yeah, making more sense now. I also just found the thread with the links to “Karting 101” and “How To Master The Art of Kart Driving”. Great info there. Will probably buy both books! :+1:

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Don’t forget the classes within the classes. I can speak to my local circuits in Lo206 such as Cup Karts and SSKC:

  1. Legends- Over 50 yrs old (375 lbs)
  2. Masters- Over 40 Yrs old (390 lbs)
  3. Serior Heavy- 15-39 yrs old (390 lbs)
  4. Senior Medium- 15-39 yrs old (365 lbs)
  5. Senior Light- 15-39 yrs old (340 lbs)
  6. Junior- 12-15 yrs old (320 lbs)
  7. Sportsman- 8-12 yrs old (265 lbs)
  8. Kid Karts- 5 - 8 years old. (215 lbs)

All weights are the minimum weight allowed, kart and driver combined.

My kart weights 165 lbs and I’m walking/ talking 220 lbs all day long. All I need is 5 pounds of fuel in my tank (in masters) and I cross the scales almost perfect. Some peolple have to stack a ton of weight, and strategically place them all over to not upset the karts handling just to make weight.