I had a conversation at the track where a racer from another track that runs primarily 206, he said the chassis to have is one made by someone locally…The big makes like the Compkart we were standing over he said no one has had luck getting one to go, they all struggle. My immediate reaction was “no way can that be true” but then I thought a bit about it and have noticed that many 206 karts people use are USA made (VLR and Margay to name a few). So is there something to this?
Just go look at the CKNA results and you’ll see that plenty of different karts from different makes, foreign and domestic, are doing well.
At this weekend’s race, top qualifiers in Senior Light and Senior Heavy were both on OTK for Saturday.
Ah the old chestnut. Not event sure where to start unpacking that statement. Suffice to say I’m sure if you cherry-pick races that could seem true…
Really what we’re looking is the importance of having support where YOU race.
That could be a US brand or Italian, depending on where YOU race.
I’ll also add that there seems to be a notion amongst the US that four stokes are not raced in Europe. That’s really not the case. For example, World Formula originated as a CIK class. It’s known in the US as a Briggs engine package when in fact it was designed to a CIK spec for that class.
My CompKart 4R was fast and won a championship. 
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Is there any chassis that doesn’t work in 206? I had one that didn’t, but that’s because the brake dragged, once I put a big return spring on the pedal it was as fast as every other kart.
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Like everything, the answer is: it depends. Tire, track, driver style, etc.
Yes, American karts are designed specifically for Briggs. But, ironically, most of them are copies of non-American karts.
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I think you hit on a key point. Almost any chassis can be made work, the question then becomes how much work is it going to be, ie “is the juice worth the squeeze”
Way back at the advent of 206 it was maybe more of an issue, nowadays though I think karts that could be described as “unracable” in a low HP class are the exception rather than the rule.
Anecdote: I’ve had my 206 on a 32mm shifter chassis since I bought it in 2014. While we only used it to turn laps vs race, If the hype was to be believed you’d think the kart would either never turn, or would bind out of the turns so hard it would come to a stop 
Neither was the case of course. It was fine and many laps were had.
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Not buying that one. Sure some American manufacturers are making four stroke chassis for Lo206, but I have seen slow people (and fast people) any any make of chassis out on the market today. I used to think the brand of chassis made a difference, but I think how your drive and how you tune your chassis makes all the difference in the world.
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*Most of them are copies of or copies of the copy of the 4S.
So, Australian…?
FYI, CKNA Medium today was OTK, CompKart, VLR?, OTK, OTK
That’s based on what I remember these guys driving…
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I think you tend to get a lot of “local track prejudice” with stuff like this. In my area, we have multiple large Birel dealers, so at any given track someone will point out that the winner was on a Birel/Ricciardo/Leclerc chassis, but if you walk the other way on the grid, you usually find out that the kid in last place was on a birel too lol.
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Yes, Nick is on a VLR.
Saturday was similar, after DQ, with OTK, VLR, VLR Comp.
In regards to chassis question.
There was a time when people said you had to run a 206/ 4 stroke specific chassis. That held true until people stopped listening and took the time to put 206 on a 2 stroke chassis.
Now, most everyone is on a “2 cycle” chassis. Even MGM, Comet, Coyote etc have gotten away from the 48-50” narrow rear track widths and have gotten to a point of a more 2 cycle style set up.
Oddly enough, we tested our first 2 cycle chassis with a 4 stroke this weekend. My sons immediate response after first session “We wasted the last few years”. Coming from 2018 CKNA Champion running 206 specific chassis. Take that for what it’s worth…
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From my personal observations, I’d say that the driver is, as always, the biggest single factor. Take any kart that wins lots with a top driver, and odds are that same kart won’t be winning races with an average driver. What’s funniest is when a kart that was a proven winner changes hands, and the new driver struggles, so the original driver hops back in it for a handful of laps and either goes just as fast as ever, or asks what happened to the kart (i.e. the new driver completely changed the set up and made it undriveable - they weren’t as fast as the old driver or didn’t like the way the kart handled, so thought they needed to change the kart, rather than working on their driving). It’s amazing how often this happens.
The other comment I’ll make is that with the older 50" max width rules (which we still see in Eastern Canada and in Junior 2 all across Canada), some of the 2-cycle chassis don’t work quite as well with those setups, and you might be better off going with something designed to run to those specs. But with the 55" widths, it seems that any chassis can win in the right hands.
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The 401 seems to be the next ‘hot’ chassis. It seems like if someone is making a change, it is toward an otk. It is even interesting to see Coyote, MGM, and Eagles all being run with a 25mm spindle and 50mm axle the same way the 401 is run. Crazy considering I was always told 17/40 > 25/50. Just shows how little people test and how much they just blindly follow what they are told to do.
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Youtube Royality Here, Introducing Ben Stahl (of Stahl Racing)? 
Too bad he has a Birel. 
Lots are just swapping the rear and leaving the 17s, too.
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Don’t encourage him… He already had to buy a bigger helmet for that giant head… 
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CKNA was also
Masters on Saturday was VLR, Eagle, Intrepid. Sunday VLR, OTK, Eagle.
Legends Saturday, Margay, Coyote, Coyote? Not sure what Chris is on
Sunday Coyote, Margay Coyote
I am 100% sure any chassis can be fast with the right setup and the right driver. Some karts will suit people better (IE, I struggle on Margay and OTK but for different reasons) Its funny because my chassis is Italian but so very different then an OTK 401 which I think is my least favorite chassis. (I think they have a weird flex bounce that messes with my confidence/timing/feel)
Its funny to see 10+ karts all different brands with entirely different widths, setups all running nearly identical times. I think its about finding what works for you and the track your on.
Just my .02
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I heard rumors of Birel making an AM29 with a 25/50 setup but I can’t find any information on it yet. I would really like to try it but don’t really want to spend all that money on it (yet).