My Race Kart Project

[anderkart]

Hey Jblankster,
I got it for $500 w/o a motor and found it on craigslist. If your not already, you should start searching your craigslists using all the following terms: go kart, gokart, go cart, and gocart. (people seem to spell go kart many diferent ways and post their ads in serveral diferent categories) I'd also suggest you start searching the C/L from all the other towns in your area you'd be willing to travel to for a smokin deal.

I've also had realy good luck finding all kinds of things I want by posting my own "Want to buy" ads on C/L. Its free to post and this will many times trigger guys to suddenly sell off stuff they normally wouldnt post their own ad for. (especially in our currently Bushed economy)

If you have any kart race tracks in your area you might go out and talk to the racers asking everyone if they might know of an older race chassis for sale. Lots of these guys seem to buy a new chassis every few years and sometimes still have their older karts and equipment sitting around unused at home they'd sell ya pretty cheap.

Hey SuperKart,
I dont have a video camera but I think our digital camera can be used to shoot a short video. (I'll try to get something posted here)

Works been realy slow lately, so bucks have been tight but I finally got my Star motor installation ready enough to ride around the block yesterday. I discovered my Tollitson carb has some kind of problem that instantly stalls the motor at any point beond half throttle, so now I'll have to pick up a carb kit and get that worked out.

I'm also not too happy with the way its motor mount sits a bit crooked on my frame. It seems the previous owner modded the mount to fit their frame better. If this Star motor keeps costing me more money, I may have to reinstall my old Honda 10 hp for awhile till the bucks start flowing in again. I already have all the bugs worked out on that but its definitely not as fast.

 

[anderkart]

I thought I'd update the thread a bit. I finally got the right diaphragm kit for my carb and this motor really hauls-A now! I also managed to score some new Burris dirt oval race tires for the right side and set it up with some diferent track-width/stagger/camber adjustments hoping to get it to push less and turn better. (although I may still have to move my seat forward a bit to get more weight to the front)

I did some tweaking on my motor mount and seem to have the chain lining up much better now. I bought a used clutch drum and dropped down from an 18 to a 15 tooth driver. (73 rear) My gearing seems a lot better for the small track I've been running. I also had some new Nerf bars built that turned out prety cool, should be a lot safer now.

I drove out to the track to race this past Saturday only to find they were taking the weekend off.... :rolleyes3: The small track I've been racing at is actually just at a guys house and he let me go out and run some hot laps anyway. The clay oval track hadn't been watered down/prepped at all so it was super slipery. I wont know for sure until I'm actualy running a real race but I couldnt beleve how much faster and better handling my kart seems to be now. They're supposed to have a race again either next weekend or the following, so I'm still hoping to get some race video posted here for you guys soon.

__________________________

Here's some older youtube videos from when this track was first built:
(They're now calling the track Thunder Valley and its a bit larger. They've also put down a layer of clay with higher banked corners and most of the karts seem to be dialed in better and running faster now)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwNcszX9Oic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrCvWUcrji0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBkI2HaayRQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nph_8DENQM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdJ-vOgG6lY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hntoUGH3JmI

 

[Rotore]

reminds me of nascar

 

[anderkart]

Yeah they got a cool thing going. Its just a little private track with a bunch of guys that get together to race for fun. They usualy run 3 or 4 heat races of 6 karts each, plus a semi-main. Then the top 2 karts from each of these races transfer to the main event. (everyone kicks in $10,
the winner of the main takes all)

When this little track started out, they kinda wanted everyone to run stock 6.5 clone motors but it didnt take long before guys were building their motors up and running alcohol. Theres also a few guys running built up/blueprinted Briggs Animal motors plus some 11 or 13-hp clones running now. The only hard rule seems to be that everyone runs a 4 stroke motor and everyone gets some sort of muffler or silencer to help keep the neighbor's from complaining.

Back before I'd started racing there I heard a couple guys showed up one week with a Blockzilla powered kart and also another guy that had a 357cc.Tecumseh Star powered kart like mine.

After the races are over they always have a big party but I've never stayed around cause I have like a 45 mile drive home and I dont drink and drive anymore. (meyby I'll just have to camp out in their parking lot sometime...

Its kinda neat, they dont really have any rules or tech inspections like the other big pro-type, dirt oval track we have here in my town. These dudes are serious racers: http://www.azkarting.com/default.htm (I'm not quite ready to race there yet...)

 

[freakboy]

Looks like loads of fun!

oh yeah if the engine requirements are 4 strokes eheheh you should put a bike engine on it heheeh.

 

[anderkart]

Yeah that'd definitely be faster but if I started winning all the time they'd probably come up with a rule outlawing shifter karts. Most tracks that allow shifters prety much always have them all run together in their own special class. I'd love to get a shifter sometime but you dont usualy see them running on dirt ovals, usualy its just the top class on paved road courses. (Sprint tracks)

 

[freakboy]

yeah mostly cause you really dont need to shift on one of them dirt tracks. its just gun it and then make a left turn.

 

[anderkart]

Oval track racing is a lot harder than it looks in those videos. If you take a bad line or try to carry to much speed into a corner you'll either loop it, take out some other karts or slide right over the berm into the fence they've now got around turn 1 and 2.
(I've done all 3 of those a few times now...

 

[freakboy]

yeah i know how hard it is. i use to work on 358 sprint cars. it looks easyer then it is. and with those things you tap your wheel with another persons you do one of two things amazing save or amazing crash!

 

[Rickracer]

This is the track I run at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxGhoUFmcf8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RznWTBeBFqQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaSdO6eIAFQ

I was out there the day of the 2nd video, but it looks like they were concentrating on the shifter karts.... , stuck a rod that day too,

 

[jr dragster T]

Thunder Valley has a very nice dragway too!

 

[kitcarguy]

I was there Saturday night. I am also the guy that built their new website...haha

This is the track I run at:

 

[Rickracer]

I think they need some good helmet cam videos on the site and on youtube. Those were the only ones I could find....

I ran the 1/8 mile dragstrip on my CBR600 Friday before last, that was pretty cool, but I love the kart track the best. I should have run the kart Saturday, but last week was hell at work, and it was just too hot for me to drag myself to the shop to get stuff ready and go. I'll be there next week though.

 

[kitcarguy]

I am going to start bringing my video camera to some events. I do not have a cart right now but I might see if they will let me "borrow" one of theirs.

If you take any video and you want it posted on the site feel free to let me know. I will be glad to do so.

Sorry for jacking the thread everyone...lol . Back the the subject at hand. This BAD #$% kart

I think they need some good helmet cam videos on the site and on youtube. Those were the only ones I could find....

I ran the 1/8 mile dragstrip on my CBR600 Friday before last, that was pretty cool, but I love the kart track the best. I should have run the kart Saturday, but last week was hell at work, and it was just too hot for me to drag myself to the shop to get stuff ready and go. I'll be there next week though.

 

[Rickracer]

Sorry for the highjack Anderkart,
kitcarguy, you have a P/M,

 

[anderkart]

Hey no problemo. You guys can all feel free to post up any racing videos/info you want here.

(thats a really cool track Rick...

 

[anderkart]

Hey I finally got some videos from my race Saturday night. I'm the tall dude with a white helmet. (#91) The camera is following me most of the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HjzPgtJvsc

(you can double click on these videos to enguage a full screen version at the youtube site)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q_ejgJyv-I


We had 15 karts show up this weekend, these were divided into 2 heat races. (the top 2 from each heat race transfer directly to the main event) I spun out in my heat race and didnt finish very well so I was transferred into the B-main where I took second place allowing me to then transfer to the main event.

The track had dried out and was super slipery by the time the 40 lap main event got started and we had lots of spins, wrecks and yellow flags. (it probably took a half hour to get-r-done so I edited this video down to just show the last few minutes) But I managed to get through all the carnage and finished the main in 5th place.

My buddy just shot these races with my digital camera operating in movie mode so the picture quality kinda sucks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRPV...&video_id=vRPVaBqsPVc&feature=player_embedded

I had a total blast racing this weekend. Looking at these videos the karts don't seem very fast but there were several Animal and clone motors running with well over a $1000 invested in speed parts and blueprinting. This was my first race with my used $300 Star race motor and I seemed to have just as much or possibly more power as anyone else on the track. I still need to do some tweaking on my kart to make it turn better and I'd like to drop down to a 13 tooth driver when I can afford a new clutch drum. I cant wait for our next race again in 2 weeks.

 

[anderkart]

Well last night's race was my 3rd at this track. During last week I'd finally managed to scrounge up a 13 tooth clutch drum, instaled some 3700 rpm springs in my clutch and got my puke tank mounted.

Yesterday afternoon before heading off to the track I fired it up for a quick test lap around the block. I'd just made it down to the end of my street and suddenly noticed a cop car parked just around the corner.

I instantly hit the kill switch, darted up on the sidewalk and quickly pushed it back home expecting him to be following me... He never showed and I quickly loaded up and split.

At the track I drew lucky and landed on pole position in the first heat race. My lower gears really helped on this small track and I actualy managed to win at a race track for the very first time. (yee-haw)

My brake pedal had started to get lower and lower throughout this race and they were nearly gone by the end. After the race we popped the cap off the master only to find it completly full. We went ahead and bled them anyway and it seemed to be a bit better but something was definitely going wrong here. (more on that later...)

Anyways my heat race win transferred me directly into the main event but first came the Trophy dash. This race pitted the top 2 finishers from each of the 3 heat races to determine the starting positions in the main event. Again, I started on the pole and managed to pull off a win (whoo-hoo) but I had like no brakes for pretty much the whole race. (meyby thats why I won...

Again after the race we tried bleeding the brakes every way to Sunday but could only just get a little pedal. (evidently my 2 month old master cylinder already needs a rebuild... nice)

So, on to the main event. My trophy dash win had me starting on pole position once again and besides worrying about not having very good brakes, I was on a high like no other. The green flew and I barely held onto the lead for the first 10 laps or so until another dude passed me on a restart. I dont know what got into me but after leading all night I just didnt have any patience and tried to muscle my way under him in the very next corner.

This turned out to be a very-very poor choice because I didnt have any brakes left at all and ended up putting us both into the wall very hard. The dude instantly sprang out of his kart like he had a rocket in his butt, ran over to me screaming that he'd just nardded the blankety-blank out of his balls and I was a bankedy-blank, son of a scum-sucking blank... As I stood up, he suddenly seemed to notice I was a full foot and a half taller and probably a hundred lbs. heavier than him... After that he seemed to calm down pretty quickly for some reason. I shook his hand and apologised while demonstrating that I had absolutly lost all my brakes. (he calmed down and said no problem man)

About that time one of the corner workers came over and ejected me from the race for dirty driving. Well, from his prospective I probably deserved it, but If I'd had brakes I wouldnt have hit this dude so hard.

As I was pushing my kart back to the pits I finally noticed my R/F rim was badly bent and wobbling, and my lower steering column support had been bent and the welds broken loose from my frame. My left tie rod had also bent and was halfway wrapped around my columns ackerman mount.

So in one brief spit second decision to quickly regain the lead, I went from having a total Cinderella story night to a wrecked kart and a DNF. (nice job anderkart)

 

[kazkepox]

hey you still got the ole 10 horse laiyng around? it would be a nice find for me with a race inspired kart I got coming down the road...

 

[anderkart]

Yep, but I'll probably be keeping it around as my backup motor, or for an off road kart project I've got on the back burner.

If you want a deal on a big Honda you should keep an eye on your craigslist ads for a motor off a pressure washer that had a wore out pump section. I've seen quite a few selling on mine, evidently these engines way outlast the pump sections, but the replacement pumps cost almost as much as buying a whole new pressure washer with a big clone motor. So lots of guys just end up buying those and selling off their Honda motors.

My buddy just picked up a sweet running genuine Honda GX340 off one of these for $60. His came with a standard 1" output shaft. (non-tapered with a threaded hole at the end) His runs stronger and winds out tighter than my old 10hp.