What age bracket are you in? Junior (<16), Senior (16+) or Masters (30+)
Masters, but will race Sr or Pro category if available.
On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your mechanical ability, or willingness to wrench on things?
10, I’m a mechanical engineer who designed and built my own hotrod from scratch, and I have patented systems I designed and installed (in first implementation cases) operating in power plants across the world. I also helped my dad develop our shifter engine package back in the day. I have a machine shop at my house, mill, lathe, TIG, press, etc…
Talk a little about your racing experience so far.
-Motocross age 7-12
-Dirt karting at Speedway park in Fruitland Park Fl 1988-1996, in “jr 2 cycle” and then in “open motorcycle” driving 500cc two stroke karts my dad built from scratch.
-125 shifters 1999-2002, had a S1 win at Ocala in 2002 Winter Tour, raced Superpro on the SKUSA promoto tour in 2002, best place was 5th at Barrie GP
What’s the main thing you need help with to get you started.
Nothing, just saying hello. This looks like a great forum. I just picked up a couple 2023 401rr Tony’s with Tillotson 225’s for my son and I to race at Orlando. We did the pro league rentals four times and decided to take the plunge. I never really raced “slower” karts, but I am finding that the racing and driving is super fun. My son in 26 and was never into karting (skater, BMXer), but he has the bug, and apparently has the speed gene too, he is super fast. I won 3 of the 4 league races we did against 10-15 guys, and he was on the podium every time. Anyway, looking forward to some fun racing and to getting familiar with the forum.
Welcome back! The Masters Shifter categories are alive and well, and waiting for you to come to your senses and get back in a shifter kart
In all seriousness, this forum is a great place with many folks that are both knowledgeable and passionate about the sport. How cool that you’re able to enjoy going karting with your son all these years later!
I still have my 2002 superpro kart (CRG Road Rebel with our 1999 CR125 package). What I also have is the memory of how much it cost to race it. Getting the Tilly’s was a measured decision, I wanted something we could race a lot and be more budget friendly. I was kinda shocked to see that even the low end two stroke options are 3k-ish for an engine package. What I am pleasantly surprised by is how much fun the slower engine is to race, and how sweet the modern chassis handle. I’m also quite active in iRacing and I find myself liking the entry level formula car classes or the Miatas the most fun, even though they are the slowest cars. It’s fun to drive slow stuff fast. It is good for training and the racing is great.
All that said, the old shifter is getting rebuilt as we speak, and we are going to driving it some. I also have my old dirt kart with the methanol burning YZ490 in it, but it is BEAT up, I found it on facebook marketplace after 23 years of thinking it was gone forever. I plan to restore that as well at some point.
Reading about your racing history and the tools at your disposal have me feeling both Jealous and Nostalgic at the same time . Welcome back to the sport!
This was before the RWYB class, or UAS. They weren’t really “called” anything. The class was “Open Motorcycle” meaning that any motorcycle engine was allowed. We did an exhibition during a WKA national at our track and they called us “Open Outlaw”. They were all ~500cc two strokes on methanol.
