I wonder if one of the motivations to retain the power valve is to ensure an OK puts down an unreasonable amount of power compared to the 125cc TaG offerings.
It’s a bit of catch 22. The single-make offerings now offer performance that’s really at a level that is there or there abouts. This is the issue. You don’t really need to be going THAT much quicker. I certainly prefer a type of kart to get to that laptime, but from a fundamental point of view modern karts are pretty quick.
Also if this really started to gain traction, Rotax could literally pop another 10hp into a MAX type product and it’s game over (in theory).
The problem is that an X30 is as close to a perfect kart engine as I’ve driven (and yes, I owned a Maxter MX-L with a 27mm slide FA carb).
To get anyone to want to put up with direct drive and no starter whatever the multimake class is - has to be FASTER. That means either a powervalve, fuel injection, or at least 175cc. Good luck bump-starting a high-compression 175cc kart, or making any chain both survive the abuse and allow enough reduction to run on most circuits.
Probably can’t find them but you should try a Maxter MX-V rotary with that carb. That was a monster engine, just harder to drive then the MX-L, and Formula Super A died (which used the bigger carb) and the MX-L suited the smaller carb.
oh sweet child, Super A hasn’t died. We’ve got a race this weekend 
and winner takes home the championship belt
OK I know it’s historic, but let me have my fun.
More info here https://www.facebook.com/groups/1746822675521998
Not sure I would say the X30 is as close to a perfect engine from a driver’s perspective, but each to their own.
The problem here is speed is easily achievable now. Any manufacturer can produce an engine that is as fast as you could ever dream of in their sleep. The technological problem has been solved. No matter what the FIA do Rotax, IAME or Vortex can produce a faster single-make engine and this has been true for a very very long time.
A direct drive 125cc class that’s 150kg is going to be plenty quick enough imo. You don’t need all the bells and whistles. It has to be the ‘right’ speed. Doesn’t need to be brutally fast.
There’s no point being faster if the technical development is prohibitive to people. KZ still works and the technical aspect is relatively simple. IAME can build an engine faster than a KZ (the 175cc could easily be if they wanted to) but as a class concept KZ remains relatively strong. That’s partly due to the philosophical difference with regard to gearbox karting that seems less repelled by multi-make racing and partly due to the fact KZ (or lets say bespoke 125cc shifter kart engined racing) has pretty much remained the same and ‘simple’ for decades upon decades.
The technical specification has to enable a philosophical shift in karter’s mind. Any kind of extra technical componants that prohibit this are a problem. And this is a big mountain to climb. Without F1 and the ‘ladder’ dream OK dies overnight. The concept doesn’t exist outside of that realm. The FIA and ASNs have to embark on a major marketing campaign. If I were in charge it’d include severely limited the reach spec-classes have in the sport. It has to be THAT strong imo. And yes that would still leave them vilnerable to Rotax and co saying “we’ll do it on our own then bye”
but who knows maybe I am wrong.
2 Likes
If you’re right then a reduced-compression OK-J with a less expensive carburetor would catch on pretty quickly. I think it would have in America if it had any clear advantages over an X30. With the fixed pipe and simple 2021 ignition there really isn’t anything negative I can say about it, the clutch locks up as soon as you leave the pits, there’s lots of power everywhere, the throttle response is clean and crisp, the pipe is light and the engine compact so it doesn’t ruin your weight distribution*, and it runs on unleaded pump gas.
*This, more than anything else, is why a Rotax is less fun to drive than a 100cc or X30. I could not get less than 62% of the weight on the rear wheels of mine, so the only way it could be made to rotate was to use slip ratio on both brakes and power, which at East Lansing overheats the rear tires in three laps.
1 Like
I don’t think a multi engine class will ever be hugely popular in the US. There’s just too much commercial interests at play. The big championships, SKUSA, USPKS and ROK are all tied to manufacturers, there is no benefit for them to include an OK style class. SKUSA has only included KZ because of the ultimate failure of the IAME shifter they tried to introduce.
Multi engine classes exist at a regional level (Padholder Supercup, F-Series etc) but limited, and the fact they all run to different rule sets and the weights are set somewhat arbitrarily to balance performance, it can seem a little messy.
1 Like
Agreed. We were just discussing this in another tread on shifter engines. So many options makes it not very approachable. I don’t believe a simple weight penalty is really an equalizer for engine performance. Look at any sportscar series, BOP is always an issues.
I’d love to see OK-N exist as an alternative to TAG series over here. I just don’t think it’ll happen. Too much vested interest. The BOP is open to abuse, and some people benefit from it. A single set of regulations isn’t so there’s a risk there for those who have the most influence.
It’d probably have to have a starter too to be honest.
@XanderClements sort of related question. There is a pro driver in your videos who appears to be imported from Europe. Name escapes me but he’s very good, one of the top guys.
Anyways, why is he racing skusa instead of in Europe? Do you know what his thinking was to come race in USA?
Add a starter and we are just back to a hopped up X30/Rotax/ROK? Not being a smartass, just curious as I don’t know all the ins and outs of OK.
Only because most people don’t want to push a kart, and at the regional level there’s plenty of drivers who don’t have anyone who can push (either they are alone or the person with them isn’t capable).
The key difference is the ruleset. X30/Rotax/Rok would work together if they were all designed to the same ruleset. But they are not, they are designed for whatever works for that particular manufacturer.
3 Likes
Marijn Kremers is who you are thinking of.
Yes, that’s him. I had previously seen him in euro races I believe
Back to the OK-N engine and the “downsize” mentioned. Wonder if they’ll use the same premise as the current crop of 100cc (KA,VLR) using a 125cc bottom end (stroke) and reducing the bore to get back to 100cc. Basically the OK bottom end with smaller bore to achieve 100cc. 
Guess we’ll find out in time.
He’s a KZ world champion (in 2019) and Euro champion (2020). I don’t know him at all but he’s had a weird career path. He went to Australia for few years, then back to Europe, then over here.
1 Like
He raced here about 5-6 years ago too for a bit.
Sometimes the factory teams have their drivers come here to help build the market for a particular chassis brand or whatever. At Pro Tour when I was doing it full-time, Vigano and Maestranzi were here a lot as well.
May as well buy a Super Rok at that point or whatever the manufacturers have in the cupboard.
I am not sure from a marketing perspective you should go with TaG. It’s easier to sell the pure racing philosophy when the engine is pure (kinda). Being lighter, more defined a thing… I’d keep the no-TaG. It differentiates. I know that’s contrary to what people might think, but that’s the one thing about the OK product that’s correct imo. It’s a philosophical difference that would provide a good base ideology that people could grip onto.
If you go TaG you are directly competing with the MAX or X30… and that’s a battle you’ll lose every time. If someone wants a starter, 9 times out of 10 they like the comfort of single make too. You need to ignite the passion in people to race these kind of classes. TaG just don’t… no matter how old we get.
So I agree with you to an extent. In the UK for sure that makes sense where you have an X30 class and a Rotax class. But in the US they have commercial entities that run series (and just happen to sell the x30, or rotax, or rok). But for many clubs and regional series they allow a few different tag engines (unless they have a relationship with the aforementioned commercial entities). The one I race in allows X30, Leopard, Dragon, Rotax, Rok, PRD, X125, SGM. So the choice of engine in a lot of cases is tied to which ever shop you race closest to. Its not as easy as in the UK, where you race IAME or Rotax, whichever has the biggest grid at your track.
Additionally they don’t have the numbers the UK has. So while X30 could creep up to relevance without really effecting grids in the UK, if you introduce a new class at a lot of the tracks in pacific north west of the US you knock a grid down from 10 to two 5 kart grids. Maybe the short term pain is worth the long term gain but I think a lot of the rest of the US is seeing 125 TAG grids disappear in favour of 100 TAG grids (KA100, VLR etc).
Here here.
What pit crew?