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I was speaking to a fellow karter today and the discussion of lead on Karts came up. Unfortunately for this karter they have to run 40KG of lead on their Kart to make minimum weight, and they are a senior!
So at what point does putting lead on your kart become too much? Surely this becomes a safety issue. What can be done so that someone who doesn't carry the same mass as other seniors doesn't have to make their Kart so heavy that they can't even lift it?
Changing class weights has been discussed on here before but this is not really the right answer. For simple club events do the rules need to be more flexible so that you can run lighter but have a handicap system in place like speedway bikes do or used to (it's been a while since I saw them race).
Anyone got any better ideas?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ryan Cutbush on -
"So enough about "elite" - you will start to create little egos around the place that will start strutting."
I think this might off started a little while ago now, or "waddling" as the case may be with some......
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Permalink Reply by Tracey Nielsen on -
so getting back to the weight issue. when does it become to much.? the raket class does not have a light and heavy section. so i have 25 kg on my kart. my daughter when she raced in cadets carried 35 kg on her kart to get her up to weight and then there was talk of increasing the cadet weight. i do realize that you have to have weight minimums to make the racing fair but when do we start to say enough is enough and stop increasing the weight of different classes to safisfy the heavy people. perhaps there should be a weight section in the other classes yet to have a light and heavy class.
i also understand what some of you are saying about club level racing and having a club choice in running weight. but here is the problem as i see with this. most clubs do not communicate well with club members. i learnt so much when i started travelling. things you thought were the norm were in fact breaking the rules. so if a newbie starts racing at acme race track has a ball and hears about the racearound track having a meeting and decides to go race there not knowing it has a different weight restriction to his class, he would then be dqed for his racing. this would then make a very unhappy karter who may not travel again.
as a new person to karting im not sure which is worst to drive with, extra weight on the person or extra weight on the kart?
because we are dealing with people, there will be no easy answer and no matter what happens someone will not be happy. it will then come down to which group the kart clubs wish to make happy, as it is my understanding that the members put ideas to their club committees, who then in turn send those to kartsport at rule time and they in turn send it to the other clubs, who then in turn should be telling the kartsport members of the new proposed rules. so at the end of the day, we only have ourselves to blame for doing nothing.
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Permalink Reply by Mike Peebles on -
18kg of lead and a full tank of fuel here. It makes getting it on and off the stand a hassle, but otherwise you just deal with it. The extra weight can be a pain, but its just something you have to deal with. There is no way to get around it. Incidentally it shouldn't make any difference to drive whether its on the kart or you unless your muscles are non-existent.
Adding new weight limits to the non-weight-differentiated classes wouldn't help. It might make a parents life easier in the case of a cadet or a JR, but it would just end up shrinking class numbers (splitting it in half, or worse, leaving a select few in one group, and the rest in the other). And in my book a big class is a good class.
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Permalink Reply by Aaron de Ridder on -
how many people are runnig 40 kg of lead on there kart i dont no anyone. I no alot of people that are in jr and juniors that are running overweight but are to young to move up a class and there are also alot of yamaha heavys out there in there late teens and early 20s Because the weights are to light for them
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Permalink Reply by Aarron Cunningham on -
LIKE BUTTON! LIKE BUTTON!
Also a lot of overweight Yamaha heavies in their late 20's as Ryan Cutbush pointed out in a subtle but mean way. I would HATE to be one of those people he was talking about that are fat and have big egos. Gosh.
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Permalink Reply by Aarron Cunningham on
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Tracey, if you were to split Racket into lights and heavies you would kill one of the classes main attractions; big fields. One of the reasons it is so popular is that you can come down and race against more than 3 other competitors. You cut the fields in half what happens then? As Mike said ' a big class is a good class'. Wise words.
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Permalink Reply by Tracey Nielsen on
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this is ture Aarron, but i would really hate to see any class get heavier. it would be very interesting to see what the average extra weight is on the kart in each class. we always seem to complain about weights for the different classes, but do we really know just how many karters are having to put on weight to make the maw. food for thought anyways.
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Permalink Reply by Steven Gaskell on -
I think Aarron likes Jensen Button for some reason...
Tracey.. I think roll with your idea, but also include those drivers running above MAW. Because for all those who might need a couple of pies, there will be those also who would like some form of temporary amputation. It would be interesting to find the average weight of each driver/kart combo at race fuel but without lead.
But then again, I'm sure there are drivers who would like their 'real' weight kept confidential.
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Permalink Reply by Aarron Cunningham on
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I'm more a Mark Webber fan. I can relate to drivers that are not treated equally. :P
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Permalink Reply by Marcus Little on -
Hi all,
I ran in Rotax lights when the MAW was 160. My kart had to weigh 100kg. This was a pain but had benefits. I got physically strong. (Not a bad thing). I had plenty of lead to move around to improve relative corner weights and didn't really feel at a disadvantage. You just do the best with what you have....
Now obviously a larger karter is going to have different challenges to deal with. When we are all on the track all of that is irrelevant. Its about racing, entertaining, and enjoying.
I would love to run a leadless kart but in the end that is unrealistic so I am working on gaining some useful weight and competing regardless.
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Permalink Reply by Andrew Barber on -
hi guys,
just spent the last 20mins reading over this conversation, Andre, yes your right about there been an issue with karts running 25+ kilo's of lead on there karts, (lets not include the junior classes in this) classes such as rotax light where the drivers are having to carry that much lead on, why dont the contemplate moving to the kt class? cause thats what stopped us moving to rotax cause of the weight and how heavy the kart was. (after running raket at blossom and needing 30 kilo's for that!!)
and simply how i see it is they are the rules, how often have the weights in classes changed? if your entering into a certain class you must be fully aware of what your up against, A rated meetings need strict rules to keep it fair, and honest, how you get there is only your own problem.
on your raket subject tracey, on my one meeting experience in the class, there was really only yourself, me and one other driver that needed that much lead, the rest of the group not so much, so i think there is a "majority rules" there in my opinion thats all
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Permalink Reply by Ross Tait on -
There has actually been a survey of weights/drivers done around the country with one set of scales by a exec member and overall the weights were pretty good and a couple of classes have been fine tuned from this. Weight is never a easy topic and there are certainly some light weights out there but it has to be looked at as the medium weight over the classes across the country.Chassis and gear has got heavier over the last few years with bodywork and sticker kits actually weigh a few kgs unlike what some may think.Raket is actually a very light engine and is Kt but Rotax is quite a bit heavier with engine,radiator,pipe,battery etc even though the base chassis maybe the same.
Junior classes has always had some big weight differances in drivers and over the years has never really changed.
Weights will always be a tough,sometimes personal topic unfortunately and this is across the world not just NZ.
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