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Post by auskart on Apr 8, 2012 18:25:14 GMT -5
Hi Guys, my Name is Damian Cane, and I am from Brisbane Australia. I own and run a club called Auskart Racing Championship. We are a club very much like yours, we are a a 4 stroke only race club, (one of only 4 in Australia and the on one in Brisbane). We currently run some similar classes to you guys here, we have "World Formula" and "Powered by Subaru" and last but by no means "F220" class. We have been running now for 3.5 years, and membership is starting grow nicely. Unfortunately 2 stroke racing is till very much the dominate form of kart racing here is Australia and it is hard to convert people to 4 stroke racing. We are about to introduce an F200 program here as well, and we are now in the middle of converting some of the rules to metric and applying some "local conditions rules" as it is not practical to implement every single rule here in Australia. Its nice to meat you all and I look forward to chatting with you all, and I hope the two club ca forge a good working relationship. all the best  |
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Post by auskart on Apr 8, 2012 18:32:44 GMT -5
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Post by Brad Wunder on Apr 9, 2012 20:15:12 GMT -5
Welcome Damien! The back story here is Damien and his group are having problems with WFs downunder and he posted a message on Bob's about it. We did some chatting about WFs and F200s via PMs. Best of luck figuring out the cause of your problems....I wish I could be of some help.  |
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Post by Simon on Apr 9, 2012 20:38:51 GMT -5
Nice to meet you Damian ! Good to see people promoting 4-cycle karting down under.
Where's Rich ? He's our resident expert on exploding WFs !
(A cheap shot I know, but still good value)
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Post by RichH on Apr 11, 2012 18:47:51 GMT -5
A guy explodes a few parts( flywheel key, clutch, rocker arm, rod, hole in the block, shattered starter ring gear, blown side cover gasket,sheared coil wire,blown up loaner motor) and you kick him?  Man, I may not come play with you guys now. Welcome to the NFRA Damien. I have followed your saga on the forums as well. I will tell you what our very experienced engine builder told me. There were some lots of rod & crank parts that did not go well together. No steady pattern to it. I froze a rod after four practice laps on a new but broken in motor. Replaced the rod, cleaned a few parts up. Runs great now. We as a group have always used RedLine Oil. Do you guys down under have any opinions on Arrow karts? |
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Post by auskart on Apr 11, 2012 19:44:46 GMT -5
A guy explodes a few parts( flywheel key, clutch, rocker arm, rod, hole in the block, shattered starter ring gear, blown side cover gasket,sheared coil wire,blown up loaner motor) and you kick him? Man, I may not come play with you guys now. Welcome to the NFRA Damien. I have followed your saga on the forums as well. I will tell you what our very experienced engine builder told me. There were some lots of rod & crank parts that did not go well together. No steady pattern to it. I froze a rod after four practice laps on a new but broken in motor. Replaced the rod, cleaned a few parts up. Runs great now. We as a group have always used RedLine Oil. Do you guys down under have any opinions on Arrow karts? Hi Rich, Arrow karts are very good karts, I have two karts, one is a Birel, the other is an Arrow. The Arrow was cheaper but handles better and is far more forgiving and easier to set up. Arrows are very good, but some here say the older AX9 is better than the X1, I have an Ax9 so I couldn't say for sure. Here is my Arrow Ax9 B max   |
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Post by Simon on Apr 12, 2012 8:38:08 GMT -5
Do you have anyone running a WF on a Birel ? I was looking into that combo but could not get past the clutch / seat stay clearance issue. The Birel looked pretty 4-cycle unfriendly.
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Post by RichH on Apr 12, 2012 18:26:49 GMT -5
Damien, If you have an Arrow AX9, you just might be my new best friend.
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Post by auskart on Apr 12, 2012 19:01:15 GMT -5
Hi Simon, no there is no Birel - World Formula combo with us, but as I said i do have a Birel, that is fitted with a Subaru, and the engine dimensions are pretty well the same. If you are having issue fitting the engine use a normal 15 degree 2 stroke engine mount cut in half, so you spread it out, then mount a 10mm aluminum plate and slight off set the engine. Ill put some pictures below for you of how my Arrow was done, and some pictures of the Birel i have too. By adding the 10 mm plate to off set the engine you will also raise the engine and give a better approach to the rear sprocket for the chain clearance over the rear bar. It will go on a Birel!! You will need to off set your seat but that's easy to do to get a good weight distribution. if you can do this with 4 bathroom scales you'll get it right. You may get away with just mounting all your lead weight on the opposite side of the seat as well if need to use weights? The birel (fitted with late model Arrow plastics)    And how the Engine is mounted for the Subaru. This kart was fitted with a World formula before hand so as you see the method is exactly the same. This kart handle perfectly so there is no issue off setting slighty so long as you get the seat pos right as well.     Hope that helps you guys. We have never come across a chassis yet that we cant get a 4 stroke on, if you have issue let us know I will help If I can. Damo |
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Post by auskart on Apr 12, 2012 19:29:35 GMT -5
If you need help post here or Forum, or Admin has my permission to furnish you with my Email address for a direct approach.
As I said so far we haven't seen any chassis we cant get 4 strokes on, we have Tony karts, Intrepid s, Arrows, CRG's and Energy's and a whole host of European karts as well. All of them have 4 strokes on.
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Post by auskart on Apr 12, 2012 19:33:37 GMT -5
Damien, If you have an Arrow AX9, you just might be my new best friend. Guess I have a new friend then  |
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Post by Simon on Apr 12, 2012 20:50:31 GMT -5
Thanks for the photos Damo ! I think your solution of the mega offset plate is the way to go. I have a Black Rhino mount at the moment, which offsets enough for my Italkart, but my oil drain plug is still inboard (just) of the outer frame rail, I notice your drain plug is a good inch further out than mine, so me going even further out with a custom mount should work with a Birel. Sweet !
You comment about "You may get away with just mounting all your lead weight on the opposite side" had me laughing .... you obvious haven't seen me .... lead weight is the last thing I need to add ! (shut up Rich).
Ok, so Rich is going Arrow, I'm going Birel (once I chase the IRS away and kill all the termites that are currently eating my house) and Brad's reign as WF champion comes to an end ... nice !
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Post by auskart on Apr 14, 2012 4:51:09 GMT -5
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Post by Brad Wunder on Apr 14, 2012 11:42:29 GMT -5
Very cool track you have there Damian! Kind of hard to tell from the video but it looks like you have some nice elevation changes as well? How long is it overall?
I know our season hasn't actually started yet, and it is a little early to talk about the '13 season, but, since we ARE a touring organization, anyone else up for adding a race downunder next year?? ;D
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Post by Brad Wunder on Apr 14, 2012 12:04:14 GMT -5
Ok, so Rich is going Arrow, I'm going Birel (once I chase the IRS away and kill all the termites that are currently eating my house) and Brad's reign as WF champion comes to an end ... nice !Ok, so you want to be the champ, eh? Sure, MOST of the experience is a total blast....an appearance on the Today show, meeting the President, etc. etc. But I have to warn you, there is a darker, disturbing aspect as well. What SHOULD be the highlight of the championship offseason (sorry Barry) is attending the Australian F1 GP race. How cool is that?!! However, what they DON'T tell you is you don't actually get to sit in the stands and enjoy the race. Nooooo, if you are the NFRA WF champ you get to (have to actually, or you pay for your own flight home) be a friggen Flag Girl in the pits! So unless you want to wear a skirt AND shave your legs you might want to reconsider just how bad you want to be the champ.  I do have to say that I pulled off the outfit pretty dang well however. On last word of warning. Watch out for that Lewis Hamilton character. He is a cheeky little bugger and loves running around the pits pinching all the Flag Girls on the butt. I STILL have bruses on my bum to prove it. To help the '12 champ prepare for his reign, I think that once the last race is over and the championship has been decided we shave the champs legs. |
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Man, I may not come play with you guys now. 
I do have to say that I pulled off the outfit pretty dang well however. On last word of warning. Watch out for that Lewis Hamilton character. He is a cheeky little bugger and loves running around the pits pinching all the Flag Girls on the butt. I STILL have bruses on my bum to prove it.