Last year I jumped into the karting world and had a wonderful experience. I bought a used kart (Tony Kart Racer, 2017, I think) and a used stock LO206, and ran in a 390 lb Senior Heavy class. I ran pretty well overall, and was regularly either podium or podium adjacent (in club racing).
I am looking for advice on how to continue progressing this season, hopefully earning wins at the club level, and participating in the occasional Regional level event (Midwest).
I don’t immediately feel like I need a new kart, although I was shocked to learn that 2017 was 8 years ago. I could keep things simple, potentially allocate a few more sets of tires than last year (MG Reds) and not wear them out so badly, I have also seen ceramic bearings mentioned as a possible upgrade. Any other ideas I should consider?
Hey Nick! Where are you racing and what regional races are you thinking? For example, if you are thinking CKNA, they run Vega Reds, so part of your budget might be in getting spec tires.
As for upgrades, if you are keeping the Tony kart (which I think is fine even though others will give different advice), I would focus on things that could make you faster as a driver. For example, do you have a camera to watch footage? Do you study data from your mychron? Have you ever done any driving lessons?
If you are running up front at your local club, your chassis tuning must be at least in the ballpark.
If I were you, I would be trying to figure out where the club winner is beating me and how I fix that part of my lap/speed.
The step that you are trying to take is a big step, but it is definitely one worth trying. Unfortunately, there is no 1 thing that will get you the next bit of speed. Sure, you could buy a 2024 chassis and a fresh blueprinted engine from the best builder, but that is not a guarantee that it finds you any speed.
P.S. Dont waste you money on ceramic bearings or anything like that. Get your engine refreshed this winter, buy a new clutch if you are itching to spend on some hardware, and then get out there driving and finding the speed.
The best way to improve is to get out of your comfort zone and travel a bit to either some regional events or even just a different club race.
I agree with everything Derek mentions above. Things like ceramic bearings are a waste of money when you could be doing coaching sessions or buying extra practice tires for more laps in the seat. Your 2017 kart is probably still just fine, especially for 206 racing where the abuse on the kart isn’t as heavy. My opinion would be that your focus should primarily be on driving technique and improving there before dumping money into newer equipment or gear. Until you are fully exploiting the potential of your current equipment, newer or nicer stuff is going to provide minimal benefit, other than making your wallet lighter.
Where specifically are you racing? We have a lot of members here in the Midwest, myself included (WI).
Thanks @fatboy1dh@tjkoyen , I appreciate you guys taking the time to respond.
I am in Michigan (shout out East Lansing - wonderful track and people) so Indiana is probably my main target for regional events, at least initially.
I do have a Mychron, and while I do have Race Studio, I need to work on processing the data better. Right now it’s just good laps/bad laps for me. I don’t have a camera setup, but that might be a good next step to better understand what the Mychron data is telling me.
Are there any driving coaches in the MI/IN/OH area? And do you typically bring your own kart to those sorts of programs?
I do a lot of remote coaching where I review data files or video for people and make notes for them. I also discuss a lot of MyChron stuff and chassis setup stuff too. MyChron data is great for visually seeing how driving affects your lap time. Video is great for visually seeing your actual technique and reviewing what you’re really doing in the kart. Most people have a hard time realizing what actions or inputs they are doing on-track when the adrenalin is going.
I do in-person coaching but only at Badger in Dousman, WI because that’s local for me. Traveling to coach on a practice day doesn’t really work out financially. This year I also am aiming to do some group coaching seminars locally.
Thanks @revolutionracing I appreciate your comment about the MG Reds. From what I have read on this forum, and discussions at the track, there doesn’t seem to be much said about the fall off in pace on the MG red SH2’s.
Maybe it’s running the heavier weight, maybe it’s my driving style (or lack thereof) but I felt like they degraded severely after the first maybe 12-15 heat cycles. To the tune of 1 second per lap on a 40 second track.
I ran a fairly full season on three sets total, and in hindsight it seems like I didn’t budget for enough.
I think the drivers that are running MG Reds until they cord with “no fall off” must be running on pretty grippy asphalt. ELKT is not grippy at all - getting 3 races out of a set before significant falloff there isn’t bad IMHO.
Regarding visual interpretation of data, what I do is to merge video footage with Mychron data using “Telemetry overlay” … by doing that you can easily correlate your time gain/loss with what you do on track. Also , if its possible, use more than one point of view in your footage… do some practices recording your pedals, other recording your steering, leaning, etc…always with data displayed on your video as an overlay…it makes the process more ludic…