TaDaa! ( insert orchestral flourish here )
Something I learned a couple of years ago is now becoming
more widely known.....
The shifter kart is the ultimate cost-effective autocross weapon.
No more spending high $ on the latest gadget to keep up with
the competition. No more taking your street ride and making
it hell to ride in 6 days a week, just so you can have some grins
on Sunday. No more raiding your food budget just because one
of the Round Black Cornering Force Generators (RBCFG) developed
an exposed cord last weekend.
With Mark telling us that annual tire budgets easily run $6K to 10K,
I can't help feeling smug about spending a whole $600 on rubber last
year. $6K shocks? I have not got that much invested in my entire kart,
including spares! No, I can't drive it to the grocery store, but the only
guy I know who drives his Z06 every day (winter excluded) is John
Ames, and he is of course, a god.
One of the greatest things about F125 is that a high budget can't buy
a competitive advantage. If someone wanted to, they MIGHT (ACDU...
sorry, Byron) drop $10K max on a really hot, limit of the rules kart.
And then Tom Harrington or Mark Russell would beat them. I might,
too.... <g!> Drive a kart, and then you find out how much you have
to learn about driving.
I love autocross. Have since I watched my older brother and Dad run
gymkhanas with the Miami Valley Touring Club in the 60's. I even had
some success in a sporty econobox with all "as delivered from the factory"
equipment but sticky DOT tires. That was a while ago. In the 90's I
got slapped sober into realizing that an alignment and tires would no
longer do the trick on the national scene. So I spent a little money, and
experimented a bit, to a moderate level of accomplishment, but no
"Kansas Hardware".
Still, I watched as tires got more expensive with shorter life cycles. And
when the shock wars first began, I decided not to play that game. My
son's educations are more important than my sporting outlet. So I
was resigned to being relegated to a less competitive level. We all
participate in this sport primarily because we like it, I think, but most
of us also would like to believe that we have SOME (ACDU) chance
of success or running near the front. I gave up on that.
THEN, the opportunity to drive a kart came along. Once I recovered from
a feeling of total driving inadequacy, I researched the cost of entry into
the class, then annual expenses.... The rest was a no-brainer. I have
never had so much motorsports fun for so little money.
Of course, I would have felt like a fool to make the investment and then
had no place to play.... But the class participation bottomed out in 1999,
and there has been steady growth since. I think the biggest obstacle to
the class has been resistance among those who don't feel that a kart is
a proper "car" for the sport. I got this really big grin on my face as I
read
in a magazine about the revered M. Schumacher, winningest driver in the
most sophisticated car competitions in the world, going back to his roots
at the end of last season and driving in a kart race in Europe. Some
people recognize pure driving machinery when they see it.
Come join us in F125. We have few worries about cheating, and none
about being success limited due to budget. My totally stock, untouched
Honda engine got me within 0.4 seconds of the win in Topeka, at the end
of it's second year of use. (And I was 5th!) Hmmm... maybe I'll spend
a few hundred bucks and get some porting work done.... ;-)
Alan Sheidler
In a message dated 1/11/02 21:25:07 PM Pacific Standard Time, "Scot Zediker" <
roadsterboy@earthlink.net> writes in team.net:
>
>
> If all goes well, I won't need to worry about shock (or spring) rules in
> Stock. Once I have some debts paid off and a little money saved up, I'm
> getting a kart. No shocks or springs on one o' them!
>
> Scot
> '91 ES Miata w/box-stock Koni Sports
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