Im curious what is the differences between chassis brands now? Such as birelart, intrepid, otk, crg and so on? Could any tell me?
That’s actually a good, but hard to answer question. I guess we could start by talking about the brands that are essentially the same chassis, or have the same manufacturer.
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Charles already did that research and post it .
Here we are .
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Indeed thats what im curious about. For example if im not wrong birel has their own line and there’s also charles leclerc, ricciardo and kubica. And otk has alot, cant remember it all of em.
Thank you. Let me read that one. Thank you.
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As far as OTK, and the Birel variants. All the different colors of OTK and Birel are the same exact kart from what I’ve heard. Just a different way to sell the same kart from what I’ve heard.
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Interesting find that swiss hutless is now made by birelart bcs i used to have em and loved it. But it was 10 years ago. Now its just a decoration in my house.
What im really curious is in terms of character from different brands. Has anyone have the privelege driving different brand and noticing the different?
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This year and last I’ve driven BirelART, Merlin/Parolin, Factory Kart, Praga, CompKart, OTK and a few more.
Honestly they all feel pretty similar at this point as chassis design has converged somewhat.
The Birel was quite pointy on the nose. Merlin/Parolin felt balanced with good side bite. Praga was soft and a bit unpredictable. Factory Kart took some tuning to find the sweet spot and needed a few things to really make it great. CompKart felt similar to the Birel. OTK is always heavy on the front end but has good balance.
Those are the things I remember.
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I’d love to do a blind test one day with a group of drivers, and see what would come out on top. Not sure if it would be possible to basically hide the chassis they are driving from everything, but anyway, would be fun to try.
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What you mean by birelart was pointy on the nose exactly?
It had a lot of front grip on baseline setup.
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The OVKA included this list on their “how to get started” page on the website. I wish I saw this list when I was searching for a kart Lol.
Can confirm this with the Birel stuff. I have a 2019 Birel AM29, a buddy of mine had a '19 Danny Rick AM29, and there’s a guy I race with at G&J who has a black '19 AM29, which I’m assuming is the Charles Leclerc model. They’re literally exactly the same besides the color.
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Kinda surprised to hear that actually. I have never driven one but I was always under the impression that it was pretty rear-biased, but maybe that’s just compared to OTK.
I’m curious why there are seemingly very few running Birel for KA class - there literally wasn’t a single one at SKUSA Summernats. Thoughts on why that’s the case?
Maybe a lacking dealer network? I had thought PSL was the juggernaut for Birel and am not sure beyond that other than the CompKart dealers. I can only speak for the East coast, but my time in Italy showed a very large contingent of Birels.
PSL certainly is, but they were at Summernats. They had a couple entries in X30, but other than that were focused on shifter. Makes it even more odd to me that the factory team is there and they don’t have a single KA entry.
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You could cover the frame and various parts with something horrible like the plastics on a rental kart…
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That’s a fine looking machine, James. I do appreciate a nice rental.
I’ve pretty much been on the same chassis manufacturer since I started. For better or worse- but I’ve always wondered how the different chassis manufacturers feel. I’ve been on an older Birel and an newer MGM. They definately felt different- not in a good or bad way, just different. I remember the Birel felt extremely planted and didn’t have the “quick twitch” characteristics my kart seemed to have (best way I know how to describe it). But these karts were set up by their drivers for their level of use and comfort.
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