I know they are new, but I am curious. Are they IPK? Are they chiesa corse? Are they soft, medium, or hard stiffness? Who makes them?
They seem to be pretty impressive in the tag category. Winning SKUSA winter series both days with Travis and Jarsocrak.
Don’t have all the info, but they’re Dino Chiesa’s deal, not IPK-related I don’t think. I think Chiesa is keeping the manufacturer semi-secret. I heard they were being made by a “race car factory”.
Scott worked on one with Colton Ramsey this past weekend, said there is nothing particularly innovative about it, it’s just a good, solid chassis. Colton’s feedback was that he didn’t like the brakes and the front felt a lot lighter than the OTK. I’m assuming it’s got less front geometry than the OTK, as most karts do.
And to be fair, Jarsocrak and Travisanutto could win on any kart.
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Very true! They are very good! Colton staying with kart republic, or otk? Are the brakes on off type?
This is something @NikG may know a bit about, he’s got all the insider information 
Like TJ said, it’s Dino Chisea’s creation, and I believe his team is Chisea Corse. He’s created/helped make a lot of the great Zanardi karts in the past. I think I actually heard something about this a while ago but didn’t know what it was. I was talking to Tom from Franklin, he used to work with CRG, and he said something about a guy from Zanardi leaving. I didn’t know who that was, but now I realize what he was talking about. I actually only realized that now as I was typing this out.
They’ve definitely been making a lot of noise. I’m interested to see how they do at the Pro Tour.
I think an interesting thing they have is that the Kart Republic website says the karts have an adjustable wheelbase. I’ve seen that on one other frame, a Birel 4 stroke chassis. The other thing that sticks out is the KR3. It’s got 3 different sections to the frame, a front loop, center connection, and a rear horseshoe type shape. I would think it allows for different stiffness of tubing along the frame, but they haven’t run it in competition yet.
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Not sure what Colton will be doing, his performance was basically the same as it was on the Exprit so I’m not sure.
Okay. Overall did they make any big changes? Handling characteristics?
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Phew its like a KartPulse bat signal to my email when you tagged my name.
Dino Chiesa has been around for years. He owned/ran the MBM team that was set up to run Hamilton and Rosberg, first on a CRG then on a Dino created Parolin manufactured DC One kart. This later became the Zanardi kart, designed by Dino but manufactured by CRG. A couple of years ago CRG asked him to run their factory race team which seemed to effectively mean Zanardi came inside the CRG tent. This happened to line up with them winning the OK Championships and KZ (they’d been pretty good in KZ for a while though).
Kart Republic is manufactured by a race car component manufacturer (Breda Racing SRL). I’ve noticed some components look bespoke (the caster/camber kits) while other look like they are off the shelf, maybe Parolin (stub axles, pedals).
Only based on my viewing of photos, I’ve haven’t seen the KR3 run yet which is a little disappointing. The other two are probably just zanardi karts with more expensive tubing.
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Supposedly Travisanutto was on the KR3 this past weekend. They said it was more suited to low-horsepower applications, but they were testing it out there in X30.
@Noahkoenig134
They didn’t make many changes over the weekend, just a few driver comfort changes.
@Aaron_Hachmeister_13
The ART had the adjustable wheelbase when I drove for them, which is a nice little feature to completely change the balance of the kart. Not a totally uncommon adjustment.
This. Always this.
Pace wise Travisanutto certainly put on a masterclass when I was at the supernats. Shame he misunderstood the starting procedure, but he made up for it in the winter tour I think.
I will say I love the look and colors of the Kart Republic chassis. Sounds superficial, but sometimes that’s the key difference between brands in terms in fundamental kart construction.
Agreed! I love the look of the orange wings. It’s very unique and different. The saying holds true: “If you look good, you play (or in this case race) good.” If I were in the market for a new kart, my top 3 choices would be: Kart Republic, CompKart, or Arrow just on aesthetics alone, with Kosmic a near 4th.
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I wish more manufacturers, importers, and dealers produced product videos like this. It still blows me away the lack information that group actually puts out or provides.
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Yep. Pretty incredible. Apparently “our kart wins stuff” is a good enough sales pitch. I guess if it’s working, why change it?
I think kart racers should ask something more akin to “what have you done for me lately” when looking for a new chassis/motor/tire/widget.
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I am under the impression that CompKart are a Birel chassis with a bit of there own welding (bearing carriers, front seat mounts, lower steering mount) on it. They certainly run all the same Birel/Freeline components.
Happy to be corrected
That incredibly detailed walk through of the CompKart 4r is solely responsible for my next purchase decision. Definitely wish more manufacturers did that. Ionic Edge has a video out as well.
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No, you’re correct @Billholt . I just posted Karting Concept’s video of the Compkart as an example of what Kart Republic and every other manufacturer should be pushing out.
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Bringing this thread back but has anyone seen or driven the KR3, it was supposed to be Dino’s “diamond” but I’ve never heard of it running except this comment.
I’ve seen versions of it in use here and there on social media, but can’t say for sure that any of those have been in the US. It seems like the KR2 is the preferred model over here, but from what I can tell there may be multiple versions of that chassis too. Someone more informed on the KR line can probably chime in with more info.
Does anyone here have experience with both KR and OTK? Just since it never hurts to know what’s out there- I’m curious how they compare in terms of how easy they are to tune, how well they work for tall vs short drivers, frame stiffness, driveability, etc.
We had Ramsey on the KR and OTK at different times during the season a couple years ago. He said both were good, though they tune very differently.
If you look at the KR or WPK karts now, they are running those things like noodles. No seat struts, no bars, soft seats… Different philosophy than the OTK for sure.
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