More $$$ in running on the american circuit than with the factory teams for guys like him and Norberg.
The driver salaries are a flat number – usually – and then the expenses to run them through the year are subtractred. In Europe, it costs more to run OK or KZ than over here on the national level. Plus, like @tjkoyen said, he’s helping build the BirelART brand over here as there wasn’t an American driver equivalent they could pull up to Senior.
Thanks! Was just curious.
(no powervalve) 
…don’t tell me you are still racing Formula C too over there?
Exactly! TAG has always been a (very practical) compromise that has its own place, but a highly-powered direct drive I believe it’s as pure as it gets. Now they have a decomp valve so you don’t have to lift the rear anymore, big advantage. I really hope to see the category grow in US, as KA grows and X30 deflates, why wouldn’t a 3-tier approach work? KA100-OK-KZ each with their variants? In this optic., the OK-N using the same platform is not such a bad idea, providing an important variant.
Lots of info in these links! Thanks
I understand that, I mean with reference to OK-N, I don’t see how having a starter motor would be a plus. I’d see it as a negative. The club and regional market is probably gone forever for the FIA direct drive classes, so really you’re looking a national grids.The mess that is
There is a group of Formula C racers, yes.
So they are homologating two types of carbs - butterfly and float - and levaing it up to ASNs to decide. With a price cap of 200 euros.
I can’t find anything referencing power valves, or lack thereof, for OK-N in those regs. Might just be me being stupid.
*edit 9.11.1 is the provision for p/vs in OK. No reference to OK-N being allowed them. Good find.
So adding 10kg and removing the powervalve. Weight is a bit too much, but it’s interesting to see the FIA’s slow slide back to something more akin to Formula A.
One thing I don’t like is the mandatory iron liner in OK. A linerless aluminum block conducts heat a lot better and needs a lot less oil on it to avoid seizure as it expands with the piston.
The reason for the 155 kg value is based on the current international raceweight of the main monomake series, which hover between 158 - 160 kg. The removal of the battery and wiring was evaluated to be in the region of 3 kgs.
Do consider that an OK engine block is around 7kg complete, while a comparable monomake engine is around 12kg, which adds an additional 5kg to play with. Be mindful that it is very probable that most ASNs will run the platform with the additional exhaust silencer (akin to what we have in OKJ) due to noise, which accounts for roughly 2.5 kg.
155kg was a relative sweetspot.
So the OK-N is still 125cc, no power valve, reduced rev limit, with a couple different carb configurations.
ah, just spotted. 15,000 rev limit is a bit of downer to be fair. Lost all interest right there.
@Simone_Perego me looking at the rev limit
(this is coming from someone who has got 30 people racing Formula Super A spec karts this weekend).
This was also a decision taken based on the 6 years of experience gathered with the OK and OK/J platform relative to their components’ lifespan. OK’s are run constantly on the brink of continuous detonation (due to the valve) which is the way the manufacturers have realized power is extracted. Coupled with 16k rev limit, and a very compressed cylinder head leads to impressive performances, but with a detriment to the components within (along with relatively finicky carburation, also due to the valve).
OK/Js, on the other hand, rev to 14k, have a very decompressed cylinder head and no powevalve. This lead to a platform which is as of today, by all definitions, an absolute tank.
We have had reports of engines doing upwards of 50 hours on the lower end, due to fantastic architecture that has been established from the get go and perfected over the last few years.
The aim was to take the best of both worlds and combine them into something that could be equally as tanky as the Junior (decompressed head, lower rev limit), with ultimate ease of use (removal of the valve), adequate performances (more detailed spec on this soon), and, most importantly, the utilization of components which already exist and have been developed over the years (rods, pistons, bottom ends, cylinders etc etc etc).
I was hoping no one would have the wit to utilize the all so powerful Google with my name … 
The feeling of having an air cooled 100cc revving to 20k without countershaft obliterating your ribs is not replicable… I apologize 
5-6 years ago when I was fit and racing full-time, I would have loved to have something like what this OK-N proposal sounds like. We tested the Vortex DVS as a possible one-make approximation of OK for USPKS’s top class but there wasn’t much interest from major teams and players when TaG was so strong.
X30 is still very strong in senior classes, but I think there are some enthusiasts who always want to do something with a bit more pro-level prestige and an affiliation with European/World karting. OK-N is interesting to me.
… see SImon. With that one comment you elicit emotion. That’s ALL the FIA have in their arsenal that no one else has. The FIA has the power to create somehting that makes people excited. Talking about 50 hour bottom ends will bore people to sleep. It will generate NO excitement (KF3 had awesome reliability… people raced rotax… OK-J has awesome reliability… people still race rotax). The people who care about reliability don’t race in multi-manufacturer classes. They race single-spec. Going down that avenue is the avenue to failure. I simply can not understand why the FIA doesn’t understand the only ‘USP’ it has.
I have organised an event with 30 Formula Super A karts racing this weekend - I am not lying https://www.house-of-hundred.com/ So as we speak I am a promoter of the single biggest grid of ‘FIA’ spec karts in the UK right now (and it’s bloody hard to source 30mm carbs and all that kind of stuff. A lot of olds guys too racing on Vega Whites…). If you can’t get people exicted, don’t even bother. 155kg means your going for the adult market. Good luck trying to beat Rotax and X30. This market ain’t ever going to be won over unless you make your product so undeniable.
Take it from someone who knows how the minds of karters who understand FIA classes. 15,000k rev kills OK-N. Make it spicey or don’t bother. It’ll just be another KF4.
While I share your enthusiasm for these aspects of karting Alan, we have to remember that people like you and I are enthusiasts. The general karting public isn’t. This is the same issue that the car industry runs into. Small bands of enthusiasts demand manual gearbox, naturally-aspirated, fast wagons. The reality is companies cannot survive off of enthusiasts. They need to cater to the general public. Hence the roadways being clogged with small, automatic, FWD SUVs. While you and I would be happy with rowing our own gears in a loud and stiff sportscar, most people don’t give a sh*t about those aspects of driving. They want something that’s easy, reliable, and comfortable.
I think the same applies to karting.
But also, I do agree that a class like OK-N would have to offer some sort of stand-out attribute that sets it above X30, at least in the US. I don’t think speed is a primary concern for most karters here, so being faster, while fun, doesn’t really make or break an engine package/class. Reliability and cost are primary concerns for most of us here, even at the highest levels.