As a user of MG tires, I certainly hope we don’t see a 50% tariff on Brazil that has been threatened. That would make a huge negative impact tire pricing.
Tires being so expensive and so perishable rubs me the wrong way anyway, tariffs or no. Are tracks dependant on the profits of selling tires? Is this a large chunk of the proceeds a track owner makes on a race weekend and do the tire manufactures have an agreement with track owners about sharing these profits? Is there a way for racers to spend less on tires with rules stipulating you have to use the same set for multiple weekends, or would this kill track owners?
Our track does not sell tires. We buy from the local kart shop. My understanding from conversations with them, is that they make very little on tires. This would not surprise me with all of the shipping costs and the fact that you have to maintain certain prices either to be competitive, or possible through contracts with the importer.
I agree with your sentiment on tires. We are lucky that our local clubs run a hard tire (MG Orange) for the 206 classes.
We run 2 cycle, and go through MG Reds about every 3 weekends.
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@revolutionracing sorry if I hijacked your thread. I hope no tire tariffs.
As an Australian, we always think we’re getting completely shafted on imports - special Australia taxes etc. Decent cars being a classic example. It usually makes us weep when we look at what our friends in the States pay. But….. when it comes to parts in the karting world, amazingly it’s not that bad. So, a set of MG Yellows (SM2) here costs about USD$175 (including all sales tax which we call GST). I believe you guys in the States are paying circa USD$250. Is that correct? It doesn’t make sense to me given the travel distance and relatively small market.
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Give or take a few bucks that is correct. Our track actually increased the prices this season as they were about $225.
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and yes, there is also very little margin on them, razor thin
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