After a so so outing in July I headed back to MRP Raceway to test drive a CRG 125 Rotax.
I guess I'm a little fortunate having some great friends in the motorsports business and through them I was hooked up with Marshall Martin the Rotax National Race Director and owner of LSR Motorsports. After talking with Marshall he built a CRG/Rotax 125 for me to test drive.
To put into perspective I have spent the past couple of years renting kart's a various tracks throughout the USA. In every case I was running either HPV or KT100 kart's. Both are a blast and if you are looking for a great day of fun, find a track and rent a kart! If you love speed you'll love karting.
Over the past year I decided that I wanted to get into kart racing as well as simply renting tracks with friends for a day of fun. The racing situation in karting is convoluted at best. A wide range of rules that vary from track to track and series to series make getting involved a major pain in the ass. You have to do some homework if you want to get involved. Otherwise you will be very frustrated, and purchasing the right kart for the series you want to run is a must.
So I began exploring the Rotax sealed engine series. Although not perfect in some eyes, it does address a lot of the problems other engine classes bring about. I am very fortunate to have a direct connection to a few people in the Rotax loop who have not only helped me as an outsider looking in to gain an understanding of what you face if you want to race kart's without going broke.
Sealed engine was developed to lower the driver/kart owners costs. Thus far from what I have seen and investigated it does what it implies. Other series that allow endless engine mod's can get very expensive! Some engines costing seven to ten plus thousand dollars. Good for those who can afford to go that route, bad for those who can't or won't.
I am a pretty fair driver, really good in the majority of engine classes below the full on 125's. At this point I want to move on to the real deal and I want to get into 125 cc racing. Marshall spent the day with me allowing me the time to test run a CRG/Rotax 125 that he custom built for me for the day.
It was an experience in understanding just how much upper body strength you need to bring to the table. Your neck get a serious workout and I now know that I'll need to develop a workout program over the winter that addresses that issue. Bottom line, the test went well, I learned a lot about the Rotax series, CRG chassis and what a stand up guy Marshall Martin is. Despite my physical issues I laid down some decent laps. Marshall, his crew and a few other CRG and Briel customers worked with me on lines and braking, all which helped me get through the day.
I have to say that Marshall is a person who waves no ego flag, it is apparent that he has a deep love of karting and it shows in the way he works with drivers and everyone who walked in to ask him for advise, be it setup or engine, carb tuning. He really wants the sport to grow and I continue to be bewildered by the way the manufactures and track owners have marketed this sport. This is an incredible sport that offers everyone, kids, women and men an equal opportunity to drive a vehicle that is as close to Formula One as most will ever get, and have a lot of fun doing it.
We are heading back on the 23rd to run a trackday event for further learning, and beating myself up. Marshall is going to make a few chassis changes, add the additional weight I will be required to run and see how it goes.
After this run I plan to buy my new toy and prepare myself for some racing next year.
I've been asked to compare this to motorcycle trackdays and racing. I can sum it up in a few words. Rotax is cheaper, tires are cheaper, less maintenance, electric start, required gear is massively cheaper, very friendly environment, awesome family sport that is very kid friendly, helpful competitors, track rental is massively cheaper than bikes. And the fun factor is over the top! One thing is for sure, the Rotax series takes a lot of the guesswork and keeps the long term costs down.
If you are interested in kart racing there are a list of links on the right that will direct you in the right direction. Tracks, rules ect. I highly suggest that you look hard at the Rotax sealed engine series. And yes the series runs nation wide at most tracks in some form or fashion.
I'd like to thank Jim Boltz, Joe Ramos, Marshall Martin, CRG and Rotax for making this possible.
Cheers,
Jim
