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Does anyone run any shifter karts in the F125 class for the St Louis Region?

Can we run them on the courses here? I was thinking about getting a shifter kart and have been reading up on them more lately, and I seen somewhere that it is up to the SSS whether they are allowed to run on the course. 

I have been reading more about the class in the SCCA rule book, and I was just wanting to know if anyone had anymore information about running them.

Thanks
Rich

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02 WRX TSM
Rich K.

Rich, We have not had any F125 carts run for a while but generally we have never had a problem with letting them run at any of our events. Of course my comments are unofficial but I doubt that anyone will say otherwise. We do however make some special grid and run arrangements in order to ensure complete safety for the cart driver since they can be hard to see from a car. Hope to have you come out and play with us.

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Bare Metal Racing
-04 RX8 C Stock Street Tire
-87 RX7 F (Almost) Prepared (retired)

The special grid is only for Fomula Junior karts.  The F125's run just like everyone else.

Our courses are very bumpy, especially on the north part of the lot.  I would think rib protection would be essential.

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2002 Mercedes C230k, retired, 2005 Nationals STU DFL

1969 Beach Solo Vee and 1985 Lynx B Solo Vee

I may be able to help answer questions.  A couple of us race karts in SOLO II events at Boeing.  Been doing it for about ten years and it is a blast.  Have you driven a shifter kart before?  It can be quite a learning curve.  I can provide quite a bit of insight into what you would need to do if you want to run competitively in a kart. 

No, I haven't driven a shifter kart before. I had decided that I either have to swap some stuff around on my car to be able to run with the SM cars or take some stuff off to down class. Then decided to get something more dedicated to SOLO instead of my daily driver. I was watching some of the karts run on the July 4th event and started reading more and more into them and decided I wanted to give that a try.

I was thinking about trying to find an older kart for the first season, something a little more worn out that I can work on over the winter for next season and then start advancing the kart more when seat time improves.

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02 WRX TSM
Rich K.

There weren't any karts at the July 4th event.  I think you may be referring to the FSAE car.

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2002 Mercedes C230k, retired, 2005 Nationals STU DFL

1969 Beach Solo Vee and 1985 Lynx B Solo Vee

One of the Boeing guys has an older shifter kart with a 97 Honda CR125 6Speed motor (which happens to be the sanctioned kart motor if you ever wanted to go kart racing).  The kart is in pretty decent shape but it could use some fixer up type work.  He has a newer kart now and I am sure he would be willing to let the older kart go for a reasonable price.  PM me if you are interested and I can give you more details and his contact information. 

The St. Louis Karting Association, formerly the St. Louis Go-Kart Club, takes pride in it's long history of sanctioning Go-Kart races in the St. Louis metropolitan area. Founded in 1960, the St. Louis Go-Kart Club sanctioned races at several local asphalt kart tracks. In 1975 the last local track was closed to competition kart use and the club lay dormant for the next six years. In the early 1980"s, the club was revived and renamed the St. Louis Karting Association.

While the club searched for a permanent home track, racing was resumed on local dirt tracks. In 1988 the club was granted a lease on an abandoned kart track owned by the St. Louis County Parks Department, undertaking the task of rebuilding the track after 15 years of neglect. Through the donations of SLKA members and local businesses, the Widman County Park has been transformed into one of the county's finest kart tracks.

In 2001, the SLKA started construction on a new track at the Pevely I-55 Complex. The track was completed in June of 2002. This new track is a state of art facility that provides a challenging but safe environment. It will know doubt provide years of enjoyment for the club.

There is an event this weekend August 1 & 2, 2009

Here is their website

http://www.slka.net/Default.aspx?PageKey=3

Contact Information

Telephone 314-438-6490 Electronic mail General Information: kart32@malagant.com

DIRECTIONS: The SLKA track is located 30 minutes south of downtown St. Louis on Interstate 55 at Pevely exits 180 & 178. When coming from the north, take I-55 to Missouri Hwy Z (exit #180), then go east on Hwy Z to US Hwy 61/67, then go south on US Hwy 61/67 two miles to Herky-Horine Rd., then go 1 mile west on Herky-Horine Rd to the track. When coming from the south, take exit #178 and go EAST to the second traffic light which is Hwy 61/67. Turn north on Hwy 61/67 and go approximately 1 mile and turn left on Herky-Horine Road. Proceed down Herky-Horine Road for approximately 1 mile till you reach the track

 

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Jan Rick
www.soloperformance.com
www.sccagear.com
Supporting Solo since 1984, Supporting National Solo Trackside since 2000

Lynn:

There weren't any karts at the July 4th event.  I think you may be referring to the FSAE car.

Sorry, yeah I was referring to the FSAE cars. That is what got me looking more into them and seeing the class for the shifter karts etc.

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02 WRX TSM
Rich K.

I have raced at the Widman track before and a few close calls there were the reason to take the shifter kart into SOLO 2 competition.  Karting is reasonably safe, but there are significant risks when racing wheel to wheel with other drivers.  SOLO 2 pretty much takes most of the danger out of kart racing. 

 And for the dollars invested, there is no other vehicle that will give you the speed and thrills that a shifter kart will.  Our raw times in the karts are usually 10% or more faster than the fastest cars in a SOLO 2 event.  The only thing faster would be a properly setup and driven AMod car.  To give you an example, at our last event, Dave Montgomery (who regularly competes and finishes well in the STL-SCCA SOLO 2 events) drove his well setup CRX for a fastest car time of the day of 57.xxx seconds.  In the shifter kart I ran a 52.xxx fastest time of day lap. 

I agree there are some good reasons to race a kart in Solo rather than wheel to wheel, but I was thinking that that group would know who has what karts and parts for sale for you.

Good luck with it.

Also, Andy Whittle has a kart, he and his son have not been out lately but you can contact him at awhittle@ncs-stl.com 

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Jan Rick
www.soloperformance.com
www.sccagear.com
Supporting Solo since 1984, Supporting National Solo Trackside since 2000

I'm curious as to what "autocross" events are run at Boeing?  RacerRik referred to them as Solo II events, which is, of course, not possible, unless there is an SCCA Region around here I've not heard about.

H's & K's,
Rick Ruth

They are not SCCA events - they are run by the Boeing Sports Car Club. As I understand it - this club's event are not open to all anymore. (they used to be) but now are open to Boeing employees and their "guests".  But, they are a friendly group who will invite interested people.

http://www.stlbscc.org/

sshab@yahoo.com

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Jan Rick
www.soloperformance.com
www.sccagear.com
Supporting Solo since 1984, Supporting National Solo Trackside since 2000

rtp.rick:

I'm curious as to what "autocross" events are run at Boeing?  RacerRik referred to them as Solo II events, which is, of course, not possible, unless there is an SCCA Region around here I've not heard about.

H's & K's,
Rick Ruth

I used the term Solo II since I am addressing SCCA people here.  Yes, that is an SCCA term so technically Boeing doesn't run any "SOLO II" events - we run autocross events.  I did not mean to ruffle anybodies feathers here.

Oh, I guess, I don't feel very "ruffled", just trying find out what's going on.

Thanks, with H's & K's,
Rick Ruth