CRG’s technical management has issued a guide to its Racing Line products to guide customers towards the choice that best suits their needs.
The development of Racing chassis and accessories is a task that CRG has always performed with its own racing team (winner of 22 World Championships and 14 World Cup in its history) and with the direct collaboration of the external teams, which take part in National and single-brand championships.
It is a work based on continuous technical updates which, at the end of the season, are transferred to series production for the following year.
Despite Covid and the consequent lockdown, the 2020 International Karting season was very intense, as well as the main National Championships. The amount of work was high and for the 2021 chassis range this development on track took the form of many small updates that improved the performance of all CRG chassis lines: Mini, Direct Drive and Shifter.
MINI
The market of the Mini categories in recent years has registered an increasing importance in the Karting panorama.
First of all, because the passage to car racing is getting more and more anticipated in terms of age of the drivers. Therefore, it also required them to anticipate their experience in Karting, which today is a sport undertaken at a professional level from the age of 9.
Secondly, because in 2020 the MINI chassis got a FIA homologation too and it opened a very broad potential market at international level, attracting the ever-growing interest of all manufacturers.
CRG has always been a protagonist in this specific market segment with many external teams specialized in the Mini classes, but in 2020 it also set up a dedicated section of its racing department, immediately achieving prestigious results in WSK and in many National Championships.
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The reference frame for CRG in these categories is the Black Mirror, made with 28mm tubes and traditional geometries, with a double curve of the tubes at the front. This frame is fitted with technically high-end equipment, such as the VEN 12 braking system and new magnesium rims. The Black Mirror frame offers excellent feeling for young drivers in any track conditions using a standard set-up.
CRG also offers an alternative to the Black Mirror with the Hero model, characterized by a different design on the front. According to CRG’s technical staff, the differences between the two models concern more the feeling that the driver can find rather than performance, which on many occasions proved to be substantially similar.
DIRECT DRIVE
CRG’s technical staff indicate the KT2 model, made with 30mm tubes, the reference frame for the OK international classes (Junior and Senior) and for the Direct Drive categories of the main brand trophies (Rotax, Iame X30 and Rok). The design of the conventional frame and the accessories developed for these categories make it versatile with all types of tyres and in all track conditions.
The strengths of the KT2 model are the ease in finding the best set up and the ease of driving, which allows the driver even some inaccuracies without compromising performance. Even for the Direct Drive classes CRG has devised alternatives: the KT2/4 and the KT4 models. The first is always made with 30mm tubes, but has a slightly different frame design in the central and rear part and offers greater grip, especially on the rear axle, while the KT4 model, in addition to having a different design, is made with tubes 30mm and 32mm.
These variants may be better with certain types of tyres and tracks, but especially to the driving style of some drivers. All Direct Drive models are sold with the new magnesium rims produced by CRG, VEN 11 braking systems and can be customized as regards the set up with some models of hubs, stub axles and a wide range of axles.
SHIFTER
CRG’s reference frame for the KZ classes is always the multi-titled Road Rebel, made with 32 mm tubes. During the 2020 season, slight changes were made in the type of tubes and in some accessories, interventions that have improved performance and made this frame even more versatile with all types of tyres.
The strengths of the Road Rebel frame are braking effectiveness and traction, both of which are key features in gearbox classes. Road Rebel also guarantees a long life in terms of reliability and performance thanks to the 32mm frame, which allows to use this kart even for more than a season and it keeps an excellent commercial value. Parallel to the Road Rebel, in 2020 CRG also developed a lot a frame with exclusively 30mm tubes, called KT2/4, which proved to be exceptional from the point of view of ease of driving.
Often this aspect is as important as absolute performance, especially in national markets and in single-brand Trophies, attended by less experienced drivers rather than professionals in international races. In this case as well, the CRG technicians do not point out any difference in terms of performance, but rather underline how the frames with 30mm tubes can adapt more easily to different types of tyres and offer the driver greater ease in finding the limit.
Obviously a 30mm frame, due to the high stresses to which it is subjected in most of the Shifter classes, guarantees a shorter life of the frame than the Road Rebel. In the Shifter classes, CRG also produces the KT4 model with 30mm and 32mm tubes, which is halfway between the Road Rebel and the KT2/4.
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