I raced a Margay many moons ago. My current Birel is a great chassis, though I have been regularly beaten by both Italkart, Sodikarts.

I did have one incident which really made me think twice if I will buy another Birel. A little background, in 2007 I was racing a 2006 kart, which I had bought new from the local dealer. Talking in the neighborhood of $6,800. I had a bad enough crash last year in which I bent the frame to were it was not repairable. The local dealer contacts the North American Birel distributor, wanting to purchase just a frame. As all the other parts were fine/salvageable from my kart. The distributor says they do not sell just frames, I would have to buy the complete kart.

A couple of days later, the chief mechanic of the local distributors kart team, calls the distributor and works a back door deal. The distributor has a 2006 floor model, that they will disassemble and sell just the frame. I say GREAT! Two weeks go by, no frame. We call the distributor, their response" We are backed up and will get to it this week". Two more weeks go by, no frame. This is in the middle of the racing season. Finally after six weeks total of waiting for them to "get to it". The local distributor finds out the owner of the North American distributor put the kibosh on selling just the frame, though failed to tell us. So we ended up waiting six weeks for nothing. The local distributor see's how bad this makes the manufacturer look, and sells me one of his personal frames.

I ended up missing four races and finished second in the local championship for my class. So in a couple of years when I will be in the market for a new kart, I will look at other manufacturers. In my opinion, you can not tell a paying client you will provide a service or product and then just not perform.

I had a Birel chassis with a KT-100 for a short period of time... until one of my buddies smashed into a light pole with it and bent the frame. A new frame was going to cost more than what I had paid for the kart, so sold it to some rednecks who wanted to turn it into a dirt track kart :dunno:

So I have a bit of karting experience but not much. I raced a friend's kart once but I can't remember what brand it was as it was several years ago. I believe he went on to buy an Easy Kart (have they gone up in price recently?)

I keep hearing that Tony karts are the best thing out there, but they are rather expensive.

I want some kind of TAG kart. I want something that is very low maintenance and competitive without spending a ton of money. I'm not looking for a shifter right now. A 125cc or even 100cc kart would be fine. Any suggestions on what to look at would be greatly appreciated.

you guys seen this little thing?:
Turn the volume up and listen to them talk about this kart
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/207768...g_engine_test/

how fast do you guys get in your karts?

I have driven, a number of Birels, one Margay and one Italkart. I dont really know if any are demonstrably better than any other. Locally, I have seen CRG's, Swiss Hutless, Birels, Italkarts, and Sodikarts win races.

Speeds are dependent upon gearing and the track. Top speed at the sprint tracks I run on are about 70mph. There was an unlimited class that road raced here in Portland about 15+ years ago. I know they were doing 150+ mph at Portland International Raceway.

150+? damn.

I am beiver of you going to scratch your helmet any way.... why bother made it nice... unless some one sponser you ;)

nice hood

they work fine for me

Really cool...love the colors!!

https://www.rx7club.com/attachment.p...4&d=1200729661

Thank you :)

Vinyl on a G-Force Pro Force Aero. I had a fairly complex multi-color "rolling flag" checkerboard pattern in mind and spent quite a bit of time laying it out over and over on the helmet. I realized I couldn't accomplish what I wanted with vinyl so I punted and instead applied a tongue and some slobber. I plan to add more slobber ;) I also plan to experiment with airburshing on my old helmets and maybe get brave enough to paint a new helmet in the future.

^^^ That is funny