Sainz kart CS55

They changed to KG nose last year on all otk karts :smile:

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I get a bit embarrassed by all this now. The Trulli kart was kinda cool I guess (novelty value, but had had the karting credentials to back it up), but these endless F1 driver tie ins are a bit lame. I don’t really get why you’d put a name to a kart you had zero input in designing and building either.

How karters look when they see posts from F1 fans about Sainz’s own kart and you have to mention OTK:

YARN | They're the same thing | Zoolander | Video clips by quotes | 3e85350e | ē“—

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The LN kart will often be sold with an extra 100 or so quid on the price :rofl::rofl: bonkers.

It’s all pointless at this stage.

Selling on a graphics and color scheme. I don’t get why otk have so many identical ā€œbrandsā€.

Tony Kart, Kosmic, Esprit, Gillard, Redspeed etc.

Than the formula 1 line up brands.

From the way I’ve seen OTK’s crack I would’nt touch them. I raced OTK 2006-2008 and never seem to recall them cracking as much as I’ve seen today.

It’s a way to expand your dominance in the market place. I am sure there’s weird psychological mechanisms at play. There’s the paradox of choice which can paralyse people, but I think a single-brand in the market place can limit growth. So you can give people the chance to be ā€˜different’ without the associated risk of ā€˜picking the wrong thing’ attached to it.

I think it’s lame now and for a sport of karting having these kind of tie-ins makes it look a bit stupid. It’s funny how Michael Schumacher never did this.

Haha good one. Perfect analogy. We are all taking crazy pills.

I get it. We all know these are just marketing gimmicks, but then again I honestly don’t mind it. Or any of the other brands’ driver kart lines (Danny Ric / Charles Leclerc with Birel for example). From an OTK Business stand-point, you can’t knock them on wanting to make a little extra money. And from our end, we get another color combo to choose from.

Like, I can’t deny I have a little soft-spot for Carlos Sainz (mainly because of his dad Rally-ing for Toyota in their glory days, and I’m a die-hard Toyota guy), and I really want a kart with a black frame so I can make my own livery when I get around to buying a new kart. So the fact that I got a little excited when I saw this, that tells me OTK knows how to sell karts haha

Right now I’m racing on a 2019 Birel AM29 for 206 Sr. I know eventually I want to make the jump to KA … so its looking like OTK might have a new customer.

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He ain’t got a kart anymore.

When’s the CRG MV1 or MV33 coming out? :smiley: How many people do you think actually buy these karts for the driver’s branding? I’ve seen a few LN karts around here (TX) but I cant imagine its more than a couple thousand… perhaps that’s a lot in the karting world though?

I know a couple people who bought the LN specifically because of being a fan of Lando but I think they chose that over the other OTKs not any other kart. I don’t think many people would buy a Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton kart if it was from a random manufacturer. Being a rebranded version of a major kart (otk, birel, kr etc) makes it viable imo.

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Yes, that’s a huge number. Think of it from OTK’s side. They have to carry a new steering wheel and a new graphics kit. They have to buy a different color powdercoat. That’s their entire investment here. If they sell 10 more than it was worth their effort.

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To be fair, I rather enjoy the idea of being able to pick liveries and knowing that the kart you get is the same. (I have yet to really spend time in OTK, did get to drive a kosmic recently).

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Already have a handful of people asking about them at our shop.

And here is the beauty - at a club track we now have another color/style/brand for drivers to get excited about. Another unique look, another kid that feels pretty cool when everyone else comes to check their kart out. Another social media post for people outside the sport to see.

Yeah, poor dumb OTK just doesn’t know what they are doing…. :rofl:

For the ā€œwhere’s the innovation or originality!ā€ sect - if as a group we couldn’t figure out 5 tubes with some tabs and widgets tacked on after 60 years, we should collectively take up something more passive… lol.

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I still haven’t seen a Tony Kart crack yet from last year, the only case I recall was from a Gillard that cracked after 5 months

Yeah, though sometimes it gets weird. Like a friend bought an EOS and he had to set up to get to the times, after some months he got a Tony Kart, run it all standard and he was very close to the times. Though it may be because he got a lot of experience between that time

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I know some guys who bought Landos just because they were already OTK users, and liked the Lando colour better.

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LN is the best color OTK

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You mean a Kosmic? Cause it’s the same thing

I would be dissappointed if Max Verstappen doesn’t change something of his kart if he decides to launch a CRG sub brand or his own brand of kart.

I’d paint something metallic black if I wanted to make sure that cracks were invisible to anything but a Magnaflux machine.

Chassis parts on test in the auto industry are painted with a thin coat of flat refrigerator white, because the cracks show up in dark gray as soon as they open. I haven’t seen a manufacturer with the confidence to do that yet.