Heyhoe

Summary It seems as though most nose cones are managing to be inside the rules with the new bars. I've drafted up a little summary of which bars you require depending on which Chassis/Bodywork you are running. 2013 or newer OTK chassis with M6 or M4 bodywork: + 2012 or older OTK chassis with M6 or M4 bodywork: + All bumpers are listed on this page: http://www.spellfame.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000099.cgi?REFPAGE=http%3a%2f%2fwww.spellfame.co.uk%2facatalog%2fNose-Cones.html&WD=viper&PN=OTK_.html%23a2614#a2614 If you are having difficulty finding the viper bar, for some reason Spellfame do not list it under the OTK > Bodywork category, only under "OTK spares for Tony Kart > OTK Bumpers Front & Rear".

Still no confirmation of a "New" M6 front nose cone. Used nose cones seem to be falling short of the 27mm. Facebook user Shaun Finch One case of a brand new nose cone with new 2017 bars reported that the gap was larger than 27mm, but this was marginal. It's not yet clear whether new nose cones are slightly different, or if used nose cones are deforming after contact. It's likely to be the latter as there is nothing being said about a new spec M6 nose cone.

We are hearing that OTK have released a new nosecone to solve this issue. Unconfirmed. So £90 for two new bars + £62 for nosecone

So, we have had MK1 and MK2 nose cone blocks and MK1 and MK2 bumper bars. A total of 4 revisions to get this system correct and it appears there COULD still be issues! A new rule for 2017 (March onwards) states that there must be at least a 27mm gap between the chrome front bars (Upper and Lower) and the plastic fairing (Nosecone). It appears from early adopters that an area on OTK chassis, with M6 style bodywork, are very close to the limit. If the nosecone were to move left or right, it would be classed as illegal. Here is the actual rule: Facebook User, Max Tyler noted that one area of the OTK M6 nosecone is VERY close to the 27mm limit and any sideways movement could cause one side to be under 27mm. We have highlighted the area concerned: Image courtesy of Max Tyler. This seems to be an issue on the OTK karts as the bodywork follows the contours of the bars quite closely. OTK have released new bars (upper and lower) for 2017 to meet the new regulations set out by the CIK. It could be that the new bars have actually introduced this problem and that OTK may now have to release a new M6 nose cone to cure this problem. We will update you on the progress when we find out what's happening! Will it ever end?!?

Good shout Matt. We could possibly set up a review between a few types of rim. Off the top of my head, we could do: OTK MXC OTK MXJ Douglas Full Mag Douglas SE Aluminium rims There are a number issues with this test/review however... Kart rims are often used as a setup aid, this means that on a really hot/gripped up track, the MXC could be the rim of choice, but on a lower grip circuit, they may end up being slower. Test location. We would probably have to test these on a test day, so grip levels are likely to be lower than at a race meeting and may not give a good representation of race weekend performance. Measuring performance. One of the main areas which we tend to associate with rims is how quickly they can get heat into a tyre. As we all know, the first few laps can be tricky, so it's difficult to gather any good data relating to the first few laps. This may have to be measured on how confident the driver felt within the first few laps of each session. It's also difficult to attain results which directly represent the rims effect on lap times etc, rather than results which highlight other variables such as track temp, track condition, driver performance etc etc. Cost. Ideally we would need 5 new sets of tyres to run this test. That said, we could maybe figure something out to make the test fairer. Maybe we could run each rim twice, at different points in the day and also have two or three drivers on each rim so we could potentially see a pattern? Any ideas are appreciated

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To follow up on th KZ class name discussion, I have been told that next year it will run like this. Super 1 - KZ1 UK - 175KG Super 4 - KZ2 UK - 180KG The classes will use the same tyres and the only difference will be the weight limit. Likely to be the Dunlop DFH. The AbKC Super 4 Championship will also be classed as an "MSA National Championship" as of 2017.

So, sometime last year or the start of this year a tender went out for a system to track the use of tyres at club level. barcodesystemtender2016.pdf It's now October 2016 and we are eager to see if any submissions have been made. If this can be done properly and cost effectively then I'm interested to see if this will take off. We are going to see if we can have an update/comment from Joe Hickerton who is the Technical Manager at the MSA. Stay tuned.

ABKC - October 2016.pdf The latest Newsletter from the ABKC. I am pleased to see that the ABKC and the MSA opposed the decision of the World Motorsport Council to reduce the ages of Junior and Senior classes. Unfortunately the change went ahead regardless. I'm slightly confused to why the gearbox representative opposed changing KZ1 into KZ2, given that the class which is actually ran is identical to KZ2. The MSA requested this change. To me, naming a class to what it truly is, can only simplify things for the good. We have enough confusion in karting to the perspective newcomer as it is. The decision by the MSA to introduce a system for tyre control to clubs earlier in the year to me is just an expense which we do not need. If it works I may eat my words but it seems like a significant investment/gamble to solve something which is not a big issue. I think there are areas which would have better used the cash injection. This is clearly the MSA addressing the issue of drivers leaving to race Non-MSA/IKR but I'm not sure it will work. I have seen some complain about having to buy a new upper bar if their current one does not meet the new regulations laid out by the CIK. The system as far as I can see, has been a success. This is a tweak to ensure all bodywork is performing the same. It's not a huge expense, so I'm not sure the objection is warranted. Following on from this, there s mention of clamps being "over tightened". The MSA are looking to create a gauge which will measure the area/gap between the bars to check for clamps which are over tightened.

At the end of last year, WSKC revealed plans for a circuit/track extension. Since then, there has been a few alterations to the actual planned layout but essentially it's still the same. Let's have a look at the plans below: The initial "Approved Track Extension" looked really nice, although we have to admit, it may not have created any kind of overtaking opportunities with such a fast complex and then a kink into a long right hander. You would need to be alongside or past down the short straight to stand any chance of completing an overtake by the time you reached the kink. The tweaked design adds two much slower corners in place of the fast left right. On the plan they look very similar to the existing tight right at the end of the start/finish "straight". Only time will tell how these corners will work but we think they may create some "lunging" opportunities. The short straight in the middle of the two corners is only slightly longer than the gap between the double apex tight right handers we mentioned earlier. At the end of the straight (which looks as if it will actually be shorter than the current straight) you have a left kink into an extremely long right hander, if your kart isn't set up right, you are going to lose some time here. Your rear left tyre will be begging for this corner to be over! The left hander immediately after this "loop" could see overtaking opportunities with karts staying on the throttle longer after the loop and aiming deep into the left. We think the next combination of kinks and bends will prove a great place for overtaking. After the tightish left hander there is a right kink which will probably be flat out, followed by what will be a left followed by an even tighter left. Braking will be tricky here as you will be trying to settle the kart for the tight left. We can see many drivers turning in slightly later for the first left to get the kart straightened up ready to make a move deep on the inside of the tight left hander. These two corners remind us of the double left at Hooten Park or a more exotic example would be T9-T10 at Bahrain.. The example we have used above is assuming the club run the "Summer Track" The "Summer Gearbox" Track looks ok, but could do without the two slow left and right handers at the start. We have came up with our own preffered "Gearbox Track" but obviously realise there may be safety factors etc to consider. The obvious disadvantage of this is that you are shortening the straight for the gearbox karts. If the left right could be made subtle enough to be flat out, they would be real big balls corners (we imagine). The original track design would have worked very nicely for KZ and 250s but it's not the end of the world. So what are your overall thoughts on the planned track extension? It's very difficult to gauge how the track will flow until you actually get karts out on track, but we can try! Hopefully WSKC will comment on this post and give us all an update on how things are progressing