So interestingly, for Rok Cup, all karts must demonstrate being able to start on their own, but external starters are permitted in case it fails (AFAIK). Nothing stopping someone from “claiming” it failed. USPKS allows the starter to be removed entirely for KA, but doesn’t specify for X30. Not sure why the difference, can’t imagine there’s a performance advantage?
Fastech has a 3 pages of titanium parts mostly OTK and CRG but also generic parts. The OTK side bars are $400 for a pair but save 2.4 lbs. Not sure that these are legal though.
yeah i’m into body building. have been for about 4 years. 6’1 205 pounds under 13% body fat. near impossible to get down to 180 healthily.
Yep as a taller guy that’s for sure.
81KG/180lb would put your BMI around 23.5. I think that’s perfectly healthy even if you don’t fully subscribedto BMI as a measurement, you just have to lose some muscle mass. Every sport requires some level of specialisation. 165 would be tougher thoughm just from a psychological standpoint.
I have lost 22lbs the last couple of months down to 163 prepping for next year, so not impossible, tho I am 5.10. I can’t still lose a few more.
Yeah but the problem is for amateur drivers is that if you are 6’ plus and less than 165lbs you look like you are sick. I had all my clients worried that I had cancer or something.
That’s fine if you are pursuing a career racing I guess. What’s so weird about getting skinny though is what it did to my energy levels and my knees. It turned the clock back. so to speak. Mixed emotions about it. Wouldn’t want to be forced into being super thin to race up front, you got to want it or it’s torture.
This is the perspective of an older guy though and it’s probably orders of magnitude easier for a young strong fella like Danny Formal to shed 10 lbs or whatever. Not saying he’s fat or anything, but he doesn’t have the skinny jockey face like Ryan.
i’m the opposite. when i was 180 i felt sick. no energy, i couldn’t eat enough food to get my energy up and not gain weight. i’m going to talk to a nutritionist and see what i can do to keep my energy up while i lose weight. although i’m proficient on dieting because nutrition has always been a passion of mine, it’s such a hard task to maintain appropriate carb and protein goals while staying under a certain caloric intake.
I obviously can’t speak for you, but losing weight has been a real slog for me. Feeling hungry all the time, but I have put that down to not being used to living this way… and while I am not completely there my hunger cravings have gone down, my energy’s back. Feeling pretty decent. I can train and do my gymnastic rings and cardio with no food in the morning at all.
Dieting is a big shock to the system. We as humans have abundance of food for little calorific output. ANd I do sympathies. If you body build and are eating 3000cals a day it’s gonna be real tough going.
just strap the cajones on and stop eating, im going to start on january 1st. i’ll probably keep it updated how im feeling in my journal and anything i do to fix it so i can help out other people that struggle with weight loss
Not gonna lie, it is hard because you will be “greyed out” and you will be constantly hungry.
My experience is that it faded… I am now not hungry at all until I suddenly realize I have to eat and that I have had no food for 12 hours lol. Then I slam a burger and I am good and I un-grey and not interested in eating for a while again. And, it takes very little to move the dial back to content. I basically eat a good sized lunch and a very small dinner. I’ll then have a snack before bedtime.
I wonder if all the energy is actually disguised hunger lol. I probably should have worked with a nutritionist but so far I have survived.
French childhood anecdote:
When I was a wee lad living in France (70s and early 80s) there were very few large people. Also, my dad at 6’ 2" would cause a riot when he came to pick me up at school “the giant is here, the giant is here!”.
So, the French folks were small and generally not fat. Why?
I think it’s largely due to how and when they eat. (Or did back then). At that time, the French had lunch as the main meal of the day. You had two hours off midday for lunch. Dads would come home from office to eat with family, in many cases.Dinner was served late and it wasn’t huge.
Fast forwards to my sisters wedding in the 90s and I see all sorts of big and tall French people. But, I also saw that society changed and that folks now had “easy calories” available through “Mac Do” (McDonald’s) and similar (fast food did not exists, folks cooked). I find it interesting that they became taller and fatter as cheap protein and carbs came into the picture.
Maybe the energy I derive from being skinny is similar to that state in keto.
Due to health issues in the family I haven’t been racing at all and oddly haven’t put in weight, to speak of. As my exercise level plummeted I did not find myself putting pounds back on.
The one bummer about getting into race trim skinny level is I now am totally indifferent to food. If I could sustain myself with a shake, I would. I just don’t get much pleasure from eating anymore. So, caveat emptor if you are a foodie.
For my neck of the woods, 180lbs would allow you to make weight in senior (iirc) and towards the end of my tag Masters (x30) racing I had to have 55lbs of lead to weigh up to the old fart grid.
when i did my huge cut for a competition i fasted and ate one meal a day. i did that for 6 months. it got easier but it never got easy. lost about 35 pounds. may have to fast again with a combination of hard cardio so i am able to eat more. since my bulk i have been on a lot of fast food and just eating everything in sight (~6500 calories/day) but i will do whatever it takes to race. it has always been my childhood dream.
I wonder if the body building aspect makes things different for you. Presumably when you cut you still maintain the lifting? Maybe with me, since my exercise was limited, it was easier. Other than bimonthly racing I didn’t do much.
I feel yea. 5’8 170lb to 190lb depending on when a race is coming up. Can’t do the weight swings as easily with age, but when 10lbs matters in karting it’s worth the effort.
I will say it’s hard to keep fueled thruought a long race weekend. While I’m overly strong to race a kart for the weekend I find I’m just burning thru energy carrying extra muscle. Going to try and thin out on muscle next year and see if I can tell a difference. It’s tough I love to lift heavy so reducing the weight on the bar hurts my soul lol
I’m lucky that my fiancé likes to workout. You’ll catch us at the gym a 4am nearly 7 days a week.
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oh yeah, you actually lift more and heavier to make up for the caloric deficit. nothing will stop you from losing muscle when you are in a caloric deficit (it is physically impossible to prevent muscle loss without steroids) but you can slow down muscle loss with more heavy lifting. and having more muscle burns fat at a higher rate.
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It’ll be a big change for you mate that’s for sure.
I’ve always been a calisthenics guy, so when you get light it gets easier and more fun 
Any of the older guys have experience with testosterone replacement? I was considering this for muscle mass reasons but worry about prostrate cancer.
have ur blood work done. most middle aged guys actually have low testosterone and will get prescribed testosterone by their doctor. will make a huge difference in energy and drive
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Hmmm. I’m not so sure. Ok so the crazies (me), the athletic young old men (you) would love this but my usual 40+ pals would definitely not appreciate being massively overweight.
But I could totally see that for skusa and uspks masters type stuff. Like Montopoli and gang probably all would make lower weight in masters but then again they aren’t casuals and are running old guy pro, basically.
Am I to understand that they don’t run masters already in the big series? I coulda sworn Evan and Paul were in a masters race at OKC USPKS.