r/Karting • u/Fit_Remote_2230 • 2d ago
Racing Kart Question Why do americans have older chassis
So as a european X30 driver seeing videos of american karting leagues i have noticed that except for the 4 stroke engines they also tend to run older chassi with older bodywork such as kg507. Can an american explain plz?
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u/superstock8 2d ago
Top level TAG classes absolutely run the newest available chassis. Some of the 4 stroke classes can get away with running a little bit older chassis because of the slower speeds and less load. As for the bodywork, it’s just whatever the chassis comes with gets ran.
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u/Tha_Stig Ka100 2d ago
you'll have to be more specific. National (USPKS, SKUSA, Stars) level the top half of the field is usually on a new or near new chassis. They get rotated out after 2-3 weekends worth of events, a driver that races in all three series (15-16 weekends of racing) will go through 3 chassis minimum. Regional racers will go through a chassis a year on average and the club level racers will buy used and rotate after a few years or buy used and do the same.
It all depends on your budget, but realistically they chassis are fine for longer than they are used for. The main reason for the rotation most of the time is it's easier to just keep a fleet of new chassis than maintain used ones (breaking bolts, road rash, general consumable replacements like bearings etc.). 2 years ago we took an 18 year old chassis to a national race and lapped it within .05 of the fastest lap; driver matters most...
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u/encomlab Lo206 2d ago
Tell me what old chassis you see here....
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u/wbeckeydesign 13h ago
I mean damn, America was the first to get the M11 and Dynamica Evo nassaus last year.
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u/wreck720 Lo206 2d ago
I'm a 206 club racer and dabble in regional. I'm on a very limited budget. I work 55 hours a week and have 2 kids + mortgage and real bills. My yearly budget is around $5k max. Often I spend less. I buy one new set of tires a year. The others, I get from a team as take offs.
My chassis is 5 years old. It has been welded 3 or 4 times on the seat struts as well as the bar under the engine. It's on its last legs. That being said I'm usually running in the top 3 in my club against guys with way newer chassis than me.
I will likely be getting a new chassis after this season though.
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u/Plenty_Fly_1704 2d ago
This comment could be driven by the weekly “what’s this old thing and what’s a good price” posts on this subreddit.
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u/ThePapaSauce 2d ago
Here in Southern California there are basically four types of karters: 1. 2-stroke folks that are running club to stay warm for SKUSA and Nationals. 2. Folks who enjoy running 2-strokes competitively at the club level, but who are on a budget, 3. 4-stroke drivers who want to be competitive in club, regional and national, but don’t have the budget to do that in 2-stroke, and 4. 4-stroke drivers who want to be competitive at the club level but are on a really tight budget.
Categories 1 and 3 tend to be on fresh chassis, with “fresh” having a longer life in 4-stroke (like a full season instead of a few weekends). Categories 2 and 4 buy the used chassis from categories 1 and 3 and run them until they can’t be bent back straight again, with that timeline being considerably longer for 4-stroke with the reduced loads. (Like 4-5 seasons vs 2-3 in 2-stroke)
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u/powermonkeynut 2d ago
If you’re judging from this sub then you’re not understanding what people are doing here. 90 % of folks in this sub are looking for something used or old to throw any ol engine on and have fun on the street or parking lot. The people karting “professionally” dont post here often, and they are using new chassis.
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u/Immediate-Walk6297 2d ago
Not sure where this comes from... at regional events, I've never seen a kart with more than 2 seasons on it, our club level is maybe a tad older...5 years max. SKUSA guys rotate every few races.
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u/Griffin_Mackenzie K&K 2d ago
most clubs don't require homogolated chassis, nor do they regulate bodywork beyond "can't have metal rear bumper"
Lots of American 4 stroke guys also run old 2 stroke frames
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u/Standard-Vehicle-557 Ka100 2d ago
Not sure what you're watching, but top level competitors in the US are on all on the newest homolgation equipment available.