Nitro used OTK for senior drivers because they didn’t have their “own” senior kart. The junior kart was a Nitro brand kart but I was under the impression it was just a Parolin.
Lots of brands sub out their cadet to Parolin because the Parolin cadet is good.
Yes, TJ is right. Nitro cadet is parolin. I didn’t realize you were doing cadet stuff too. I was only speaking of Senior stuff.
Did Benik go back to the Parolin cadet? I know they were Parolin, but their 2018 chassis they began using the Intrepid chassis.
They had a separate senior kart starting in 2019 that was discontinued at the end of that year. Made by Parolin and was very similar, but had a couple minor differences to the base chassis (acromyn adjuster and settings being the biggest ones that I can recall). 2020 I ran an actual Parolin with a Nitro kit for a few races but as far as I know I was the only person doing that.
Now everyone driving for them in the adult-sized classes are on OTK’s, outside of the 4 stroke guys which use the lefty chassis (which I think is made by Parolin?). Cadets are made by Parolin.
Surprised to see the KR numbers so low.
No shifters and it does not seem like there is a strong KR dealer on the west coast. The majority of the entries come from the west.
Also not many juniors on KRs.
Nitro Adult Lefty is made by Paul Rice of MGM
How did Nitro compare to regular Parolin and Merlin? The Merlin is a bit different from the standard Parolin from what I understand, but I thought the Njtro was just a standard Parolin chassis.
Also, what were the other 8.7% of entries that didn’t make the list? Were they just unlisted under a team for registration?
Interesting topic as we discuss old vs. new chassis performance. At my local, I’d say most of the field that make it onto the podium are on older chassis’, mainly older Birel Arts and/or Tony Karts. It gave me some hope, not that my 2017 chassis is old by any means, but it showed that I didn’t need a new chassis every year to be competitive. I just needed to work on my race craft and chassis set up.
Unless you’re chasing .001 - .01 on lap times running nationally, a new chassis isn’t something needed for sure.
How do teams decide what manufacturer they want to run?
A lot of times it’s who they’re a dealer for.
Sometimes it’s just the chassis the team principal likes.
Some teams are open to driver choice as well.
Revised to account for Nitro/Benik being Parolin and added IPK. The balance (5.1%) are independents or brands I was not familiar with (Haase, JVKart, Atomica, Sodi, Rennspeed, Factory Kart, Top Kart, Kart Mini, or not listed) of the total 491 entries reported by Ekartingnews.com.
| Manufacturer | % of Entries | Entries |
|---|---|---|
| OTK (Tony, Kosmic, Expirit, Redspeed, EOS) | 44.9% | 221 |
| Parolin (Parolin, Nitro, Benik, Merlin, Energy) | 14.6% | 72 |
| Birel (Birel, CompKart, Ricciardo, Fullerton) | 13.8% | 68 |
| Breda/Kart Republic (KR, WPK, Alonso) | 6.5% | 32 |
| TB Kart (TB, GFC, Trackmagic) | 5.9% | 29 |
| CRG (CRG, Aluminos/GP, DR Kart, Maranello) | 3.9% | 19 |
| Emme (Mad Croc, Race Factory, Magik Kart , AKW USA) | 2.8% | 14 |
| IPK (Praga, Formula K, ItalKart) | 2.4% | 12 |
| 94.9% | 455 |
Whatever will sell the best and win the most races.
Or whatever is the prettiest color.
The truth comes out.
Haase is its own brand, JVKart and Atomica look like Parolins from the components but I’m not 100% on that. Sodi is its own brand with Alpha Kart. Factory Kart is a US made kart I believe? Top Kart is now made by Parolin as well, and I believe Kart Mini is itself. I can’t find anything on Rennspeed. I might be wrong on Factory Kart, Atomica, and JVKart, but I’m confident everything else should be right.
Rennspeed is a grey CRG last time I checked.
Can you send me a photo of a new TopKart? If Parolin is building them it should be easy to tell.
Kart Mini is an independent Brazilian kart manufacturer; I can’t find any information about their US importer.
Wow, OTK has a much larger margin than I would have expected. Interesting list for sure.
One would think that the top teams have manus pursuing them to run their stuff?
There’s no standard perse. Although some of it is driven by territory and what is left in a given geo area. Some are brand loyal from their own racing. Things like that.