The Mackay & District Kart Club has published findings from engine and tyre testing the club conducted on the weekend.
The club tested various engines with the intention of achieving parity between brands to encourage more club karters back to the sport (see previous article HERE). Several tyres were also tested and more track time is planned.
The club’s Facebook post (see below) would suggest they’re being fully transparent with what they’re doing, and how it went.
While a restrictor for the KA100 has been sorted for seniors, there’s still plenty of work to do on tyres (service life and time drop off, which can only be ascertained after multiple heat cycles and putting the tyres back on track weeks after they were last used), plus junior engines.
by Mackay Club:
Hello Karters,
Productive day yesterday with the parity testing. Was good to get a break in the weather to get the ball rolling with testing. Had good participation numbers from the seniors.
Senior Clubman Testing was done at KA 170KG, Yamaha S 160KG, ARC 165KG – 2 x Yamahas – 1 x ARC – 2 x KA100.
Sorted out a restrictor for the KA100 that delivered engine parity.
Dunlop DF2 TYYES KA100/Clubman/ARC
Average best lap times for the sessions in the middle of the day was 43.2
By the end Sunday the test tyres had done 191 laps.
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New set of DF2’s 42.5
200 lap old tyres 43.2
350 lap old tyres 43.5
DFM/DFH Testing
First test was green tyre testing showed that the DFM was 0.02 of a second faster on the first run than the DFH. As the day progressed both were on even times.
KA100 unrestricted on DFH 39.5
Yamaha S on the DFH 40.5
Restricted KA100 DFH 40.5
DF2 V DFH Consensus
The DF2 is a great fun tyre. There are limited opportunities for passing as you are tippy toeing around the track. Any attempt to go off line and there is a big momentum drop. It is not a tyre that would deliver good racing in the 16-20HP category at MKC.
The DFH is tyre that best suits the 16-20HP Class from the Dunlop Range.
Need to continue the DFH service life/drop off testing next weekend.
Cadet 12 Testing
1. Mini Rok 2 meeting old Bridgestone DR1 YJL
2. Dialled in a time 41.93
3. Fitted Dunlop DF2 Tyres – went 2.75 seconds slower than test 1. 44.68
4. Fitted Dunlop DFM tyres – 0.70 faster than test 1. 41.29
5. Fitted an unrestricted J left the DFM tyres on went another 0.53 seconds faster than test 4. 40.76
Summary – Still work to do here but we did gain a lot of knowledge from the work done Sunday afternoon. The Cadet tyre will most likely stay as the Bridgestones, the Yamaha J will require a restrictor to achieve parity with the Mini Rok.
Next weeks jobs
1. Need to work out the restrictor size for the J.
That is it for this week.
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Have been keen on the idea of a J set up to match the mini-rok…….cheaper engines (that have long service life) and tires that give good value for money are whats been needed to rejuvenate the junior classes…….If only KA could see what is needed.