Delayed to the WSK Euro which starts in August.
Yikes, that’s pretty vague.
My assumption would be that take up is quite low. WSK Masters Series offers OK and OK-J, and I assume that’s drivers preparing for the big events. The Nationals would have to be additional demand that wasn’t there before, which I would suspect is unlikely. Maybe supply issues are there, but yeah, not a great start either way. ACI doesn’t start till late May as well.
On the other hand, this is also happening in Italy… KA100 Sr and Junior. In France the KA100 was already introduced successfully last year.
that could be rather successful.
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More supply issues?
This could be my way back into 2 stroke. I did test an X30 Senior and really enjoyed it, but the steep price and the high maintenance costs kept me away. The KA100 is a lot cheaper, enough to consider it as a leisure machine
IAME is Italian. How is KA classes just now a thing there?
Since the early 2000s in Europe there was a massive push to 125cc water-cooled, first with the Rotax, then the KF and finally the X30.
France had the Formule FFSA (KFS100) that was popular. People are now looking for a cheaper option to the X30 and the KA100 is the best option
The KA100 was specifically made for the Australian market when they wanted to replace the KT100 classes with a new homologation. I think KA put out a tender for it and IAME won, or something to that effect. America then looked at it and went “yep, that looks pretty good”. Now Italy have had the same thought. I happen to think had IAME been more aggressive with pushing the KA100 product it could have been a massive success. I guess they didn’t want to step on the toes of their X30 product.
The engine itself is basically a detuned late 90s Reedjet with a clutch and starter bolted on. It’s not dissimilar to how they produced the first EasyKart engines which engines were visually the same as TT75s etc… from late 80s. So the KA100 philosophy is not something new to IAME. The limitation of the EasyKart motor was single-make chassis. For whatever reason the market likes multi-make chassis but not multi make engines in terms of mass success (i.e feeding into club racing etc…) beyond a specific niché of competitors. So KA100 is totally new in that regard.
IAME have a wide range of engines that they supply to specific markets around the world and not sold (generally) in Italy. Sudam, Codasur etc… Unlike Rotax which put all their eggs in the MAX FR125 (and later DD2), IAME tend to be more regionalised in their engine line up which is more varied. It’s a little less than it used to be, but still very varied.
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So is the jump for young kids karting in Europe from something like a micro air cooled engine directly to a 125cc water cooled? Not much of a 100cc air cooled in between class.
CC isn’t important because there’s a multitude of other factors. MicroMax is 125cc for example and that’s a kids class. Europe isn’t one homogeneous lump either, so we can’t state anything with regard to ‘European karting’ that really fits into one box. There’s plenty of variance and complexity.
Some countries have classes that are similar to the KA100 product. In the UK we’ve had TKM since 1989 which pretty much fills that market segment. Formula TKM is pretty much a UK only class (there’s little pockets of it abroad that pop up now and again with surprise. I think their’s a grid in Taiwan for example)
It is what I did, IAME Puma (13hp or so) to KF3 (28HP)
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Pretty strange, the OK-N was faster than the X30/Rotax Max/Rok here
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Yeah hard to conclude, looks like the OK has more in it for sure, still in development as far as on track goes.
Is an X30 a legal OK-N? If it’ll help boost the class I’m willing to install a fancy carburetor on mine and enter a couple of races.
No it is not, OK-N is just an OK without the exhaust valve
What’s stopping you from pulling the clutch and putting a direct drive sprocket on an x30? Both are 125cc water cooled direct drive with no power valve at that point! Though x30 may be underpowered.