Let’s step back to 2018. The 206 is a hot newer package, and new kart racers are entering the sport by the hundreds. Club races which struggled to get 50 entries every round are now getting 50+ 206 entries alone. At this time, there was an overwhelming notion that the 206 is the entry-level, budget class, and if you wished to be considered among the top kart racers in the country, most people thought you had to move to 2 cycle racing. While now I think we can all disagree with that notion, that was the climate of karting at the time, and the result of that was a grassroots racing culture in the 206 world, even at large, important races.
In just a few short years, the 206 became the most popular package in the country, and CKNA has elevated the platform to a nationally (and somewhat globally) respected category of kart racing. With this notoriety has come factory driver programs, large team efforts, extensive R&D in chassis technology, a large emphasis on data analysis, and more.
I believe the popularity and notoriety of the category is incredible, and I love that I can afford to compete on the same track with names like Jarsocrak, Warren, Overbeck, Wheeler. However this also comes at the cost of financial commitment, and grassroots (solo-effort) racing.
My question for you all is, how do you feel about the state of 206 racing today, and what do you see for the future of 206 racing?
I don’t participate in owner karting anymore but the 206 has implications outside of regional racing that are really good. I love how easy it is to adopt at club level and how transportable (regional wise) it is. A very useful addition to our sport imo.
Using the 206 as the entry level at club racing primarily, I still find it to be a gift to club karting. The parity allows for people to concentrate on the things relatively newer drivers should be thinking about - seat time, seat time, seat time, coaching, data, video, etc rather than thinking they don’t have a good enough engine or chassis. Probably the best aspect of 206 club racing is that it’s too budget restricted to attract most big teams - keeps to the spirit of club racing.
Regionally it’s a little weak at the moment - I think the 206 is the right platform for the next step moving from club to 1-2 day regional racing events too. I don’t know how to accomplish it but there has to be a way to get people to be able to try more without introducing big tents in to the picture.
In both cases, the relatively inexpensive nature of 206 racing outside of CKNA keeps people spending money on practice and entry fees rather than blowing budgets on big weekends.
The national stuff is fun to go run with a few people but to me it’s just an anomaly. The health of 206 in the sport, or the sport in general, has almost nothing to do with those events.
The death of 206 as the driver of entry level racing will come when Briggs starts catering the rule book towards national events and competitors. Keep the focus where it needs to be and let Nationals adapt to the rules written for the club racers. Case in point: outlawing the holographic seal across the board with only nominal warning - the right call for national events but not be best call for club racers who needed to make informed decisions on rebuild times, looking for replacements and mileaging out expiring engines. Think of the club racer first always and let the national competitors adapt.
It’s probably not too overblown to say that the 206 package has probably saved sprint karting at the grassroots level in the US in the last decade. Even with things like the holographic seal situation, the solution (new short block) is still only $350, which is less than half of a 2-cycle rebuild these days.
I hope it continues to go from strength to to strength. We had a full intro to karting seminar at the swap meet, and at every age level I can feel confident recommending 206 as the perfect entry class for karting, since they’re plentiful, and if someone decides to get out of it after a season, they can resell easily without lost value.
I’m wary of when/if the Tillotson 225 gets enough people running in the US to get a fair comparison, because if (big if) everything else is equal (maintenance costs, parity, etc) some drivers will be willing to switch over to it just for more power (even if the costs pencil out to be higher). I’d hate to see the 4-cycle classes bifurcated or have to deal with performance balancing 2 engines, but we’ll cross that bridge if the time comes.
I heard rumors of Briggs coming out with a new, more powerful motor. I had a conversation with someone in the know, and they acknowledged something was in the works. That was probably 2 years ago, and I haven’t seen anything yet. The idea was to continue to utilize the current 206 for KK, Cadets, and Sportsman, and have a new sealed engine with more HP for Junior and Senior.
I believe they need to do this to not lose drivers to 2 cycle racing at the junior level. The sportsman package is often faster than the junior package. Drivers get bored and move to 2 cycle if they have the budget.
The 206 classes at clubs will remain strong as long as the organizers continue to utilize rules that limit spending in those classes. Nothing grinds my gears more than seeing the 206 race on soft tires. IMO even MG Reds are too soft for the 206.
I rarely see the hologram, engines and I was actually expecting to see some at the Kart swap and I didn’t see anyway are they sold are just too tired to continue? I would assume now that a new seal design would have to be manufactured before they do that again.
Hope Briggs is looking at it. Because Tilly has the 225cc motor with 15 hp. It would be great if Briggs came up with a comparable motor to compete with the Tillys in same classes. Would be a great thing to watch. And 9 hp sometimes I dont think is enough for heavier classes or people. For people who don’t have money for 2 cycle and want to go close to the speed of one . But with the reliability of 4 cycle would be great.
I’m probably at a unique position with the 206. When we entered karting in 2012, 206 was in its infancy. At that time, the Animal was still being used and there was definitely a hate toward the 206 from the Animal crowd.
Classes at Road America consisted of 6-8 karts. Badger had yet to adopt the class. Concept Haulers and Road America had classes but on different tires. The first 206 race to take place at Badger was a group of Sportsman racers that we combined from Concept and RA on YDS and MG Blue tires they ran in the “open/expert” class as an exhibition.
Both Badger and RA now consist of rather large 206 classes and I believe the 206 entries outweigh the 2 stroke classes.
Going through the early years of club and being part of the first season of 206 Cup, ultimately CKNA, Mid American Sprint Series, running RT 66 regionals, 206 has grown exponentially.
The package is great. You can be a guy in the back of a pickup. Have a small trailer. A toyhauler. Or run with a big team under a tent. We’ve done them all. Make what you want of it and go where you can from it.
In regard to a higher HP program. It’s been there for years. The Word Formula package is really fun and runs lap times close to that of what the Yamaha package did at RA.
I was never really a 4-stroke guy but I did run the World Formula a bit when it first came out. At least in my neck of the woods, as Don pointed out the contingent of Animal racers was pretty strong and I think for club guys with smaller budgets, they were not interested in a new engine package when they already had a lot invested into built Animals and WF wasn’t much faster. 206 addressed the cost issue, as well as the parity.
I think ELECTRIC and other Motor packages and karts will grow the sport. Great to see new things come into the sport. That way things advance and give more choices for people. Especially people who come off rentals. 4 cycle motors especially higher HP are closer to KA100 performance and speed. And less maintenance which would be especially a big sale to new and older karter people.
LO206 is the only game in town for sprint karts. The local club (HRKC) gets 2 to 4 - two stroke karts at a race, they are often not the same class. The kids moving up from LO206 are going to Bandolero, Legends or Trucks not two stroke. Us real old guys are considering cycle karts.
Preach it! I can’t understand why you’d want that kind of grip with 9hp. Racing needs some messiness inherent in the grip otherwise it’s too on rails and fussy.
I don’t own karts anymore and do arrive and drive stuff. Almost always rental type karts. I have no interest in hauling a kart, buying tires, etc. I like to kart a lot and the economics of running two strokes is such that it would require a lot more $ than I am willing to spend, to kart the amount I want to kart, which is weekly, at least.
Lo206 or Tilly on hards is fine tho. But I’m not towing a trailer behind the 911. So, basically, I want a club of sorts to store and wrench the kart, which doesn’t exist, here.
Absolutely mind boggling to me that tracks don’t offer storage and prep/post service for customers. Eliminates 40-50% of your potential customer base in this current market.
I think you underestimating the cost involved in this pre/post service. Especially if we’re discussing this under a 206 thread, since 206 is designed to be economical. Storage I can see as potentially being affordable, but some facilities lack the space, while other (Badger) are allowed to have additional buildings onsite.
