Picked up an OTK LO 206 and have lots of questions. How many sets of wheel and tires do you normally keep. Looking at what local tracks in Ohio run I may need 2-3. Does someone sell a SET of sprockets for gear changes or do I have to buy them individually. I basically have a kart, trolley and trailer and need the rest. I also picked up an old dirt kart but that’s a whole other topic.
I’ll do my best to give my opinion, but an opinion is just that and you’ll get a ton of different ones!
Have you been to the tracks you wish to race at? If so, which ones are you planning?
For wheels, you can run a whole year on one set if you’re running just one track or just one tire brand. Not that difficult at all. It is nice to have two sets, but definitely not necessary.
For gears, some shops do sell sets, but don’t buy them. They’ll usually have a set of 10-12 but you’ll only use the middle 3-4. Once you get your tracks figured out you can get some guidance on gear choices. All modern karts use a common bolt circle for sprockets, so nothing special there. The first challenge will be figuring out if your kart has 219 pitch or 35 pitch chain.
Thanks Derek! Kart will initially be set up by ASC for ASC. I’d like to run New Castle, G&J, Wilmington, Fremont, Thompson, and Pitt. Adkins will be my home track. I’m waiting to see if G&J is going to keep the R70 for next season. ASC is putting Vega’s on though I don’t know which compound.
Most of the tracks run Vega reds. If you don’t have gears already, I would go 219 just because you can have more choices in gear ratios. I would also go on Comet Kart Sales website and print out a gear ratio chart. Two sets of tires will be good for the year. Once you figure out the tracks you want to run then you need to get as much track time as possible. This will help you with setting up the kart. One thing you might want to do is get you a notebook with setup sheets in it if you are going to run mulitple tracks. That will allow you to have a baseline setup for all the tracks you plan on racing. Then you can adjust from there and make notes of your changes.
@TRDFurgesson you can get away with only 1 set of rims if you are just starting out and need to hold to a budget. It is really only an impact if you need to switch to rains or need to otherwise change rubber quickly. As for tire life, you can run numerous club races on 1 set of rubber at most tracks. Our first season we didn’t get 2nd set of rims until the end of the year when we bought a new OTK and kept our old rims from the first used kart. We also didn’t buy our first set of new rubber until our 15th race…our first regional…we just dig used stuff out of the dumpster until then.
If you get serious and want to spend some money you will need 2-3 sets of rims.
Set 1 - Standard MXJs. OTK standard and what you likely have. Use for warm-up sessions at big events. Can also double as rain rims if you only want to own 2 sets of rims.
Set 2 - OTK MXC. These provide a measurable performance difference. We put our fresh rubber on these and heat cycled rubber on MXJs at big events. It makes it easier to swap for warm-ups and keep heat cycles off of the race tires during multi-day race weekend.
Set 3 - Aluminum rain wheels with 6" wide rear. The aluminum will help hold heat which helps in the wet. Some tracks run 7" rear for LO206, those that don’t often stretch 6" tires on 7" rims to stiffen and flatten the sidewall. Rains are 6" and we don’t usually want the stiffened sidewall, so we run 6" rear rims for wets.
Others may say the aluminum and width isn’t a big deal on the wet rims, but aluminum is cheaper so that is an easy no brainer. Width…its a minor tweak.
I live near Cleveland and mostly run with the Dart Kart Club, as the car tracks are smoother and who doesn’t want to race at Mid-Ohio and Nelson Ledges. I typically have at least 3-4 sets of wheels, I mainly have used sets so I have several sets of tires. DKC and Fremont are a open tire so I have 2 sets of Lecont they are cheap and last a long time. Since I also run at PRK and Thompson I have 2 sets of used MG SH2. I use one rain set which is the MG, because I got a good deal and I can run them at any track that I go to. So right now I have 4 sets of rims with mounted tires Lecont, SH2, MG Rains, and a old pair of Bridgestones that are practically new (for practice) I also have several old sets of Bridgestones around. Depending what tire Lorain runs I may change this combination, however I am hoping they run a open tire.
I run aluminum wheels for the rains and I have Mags for the dry’s.
Usually rain tire is specified same as dry tire. This year at G&J you would have needed Hoosier Rains, but other places you would have needed MG rains. If the tracks you are running are open rain tires, than the “best” is the Vega W6.
As Derek said, rains will usually match whatever spec tire the track/series is running for dry.
You are correct the MXJs are stock cast. MXCs are forged. And the performance difference is not hype. We run MXC exclusively for our dry race rim now, regardless of ambient temps.
i primarily run at G&J, most configurations will be in the 3.7 - 3.9 range, maybe 4.0 on the short track configs. they ran a 14 race schedule last year, so i didn’t race anywhere else, except the grands at the end of the season, and i had more than two sets of wheels, but 2 sets would be fine. i had rains on some aluminum rims, and had two sets on some used rims i picked up at the ovka swap meet, just to see if one rim performed better than the other. ovka still hasn’t finalized what tire they’re using next year, hopefully find out at their rules meeting tonight.
We ran until we corded the tires for club weekends. Only time I felt like heat cycled rubber hurt was when track temps were cool. Our club racing was at a very high grip track in Texas on the old compound Evinco Blue.
The new tires may behave differently. It also may not be as effective to run cycled rubber on some track surfaces.
Brandon will take good care of you! If you are buying new spares and supplies always try to support your local shop first if possible. Whoever answers the phone and returns texts earns the business!
If you need a hand with anything in regard to Pitt Race, let me know. Their website should be updated after the first of the year but I’m expecting to see their race schedule pretty soon.
For our region I think having 67-71 sprockets and 18-21 drivers will cover all the bases wet and dry. Our Masters guys here are 68-70 & 19 wet/20 dry for reference. Up a tooth range for Quaker City, down a tooth range for Adkins I’d imagine.
Ive been considering a second Chassis that I can put a practice motor in. I’d like to keep with a used OTK roller but may consider something like new Ignite or Tillotson I have a Clone motor I can use from a used dirt Kart I picked up a while back. The motor in the new CS55 is new tuned and dyno’d from the eng builder. How Many hours can I get out of an LO 206? can it be freshed up when it times out or since it is sealed do I need to buy another one when it needs a rebuild. What do you guys think about having a practice kart?
I sent mine to a builder once a year for a refresh. Always fast. On the flip side I’ve seen motors with 50+ hours on the podium and purple laps at our club
) set of tires. Are dumpster tires okay performance wise?