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Post by mikael on Dec 15, 2020 21:04:03 GMT
There are many curious non-mainstream motor racing categories. I recall when reading racing magazines as a kid (Danish, Swedish, and German ones, mainly), one could find an occasional mentioning of American Endurance Karting - which was something unique, something, from an European point-of-view, completely different. Finding, now, my copy of the book "Karting" by Aage Søndergaard (1980), it says the following:
"The evolution of karting in the US and in Europe have gone in different directions. The US has, inspired by the oval circuit races (Indianapolis, Daytona, etc.) specialized in endurance races on long circuits, where the engine power is all-important. The result is karts with two engines, running on nitro-methane, and where the driver in laying down, to lower the air resistance. Such a monster has a top speed on the other side of 250 km/h (155 mph); on the other hand, it's not worth much on tracks with sharp turns.
"On the other hand, Europe has, inspired by Formula One, concentrated on driveability ..."
Recently I came across some great photos, from the late 1970's, of American endurance carts, on
Monsters indeed! Some had even triple engines. (Imaging lying on your back in such a tiny car, with 250 km/h ...!) It's interesting to find, also, that the category still is in existence.
A more recent photo (below). Apparently, that category is still going strong! |
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Post by Carl on Dec 16, 2020 0:52:16 GMT
There are many curious non-mainstream motor racing categories. I recall when reading racing magazines as a kid (Danish, Swedish, and German ones, mainly), one could find an occasional mentioning of American Endurance Karting - which was something unique, something, from an European point-of-view, completely different. Finding, now, my copy of the book "Karting" by Aage Søndergaard (1980), it says the following:
"The evolution of karting in the US and in Europe have gone in different directions. The US has, inspired by the oval circuit races (Indianapolis, Daytona, etc.) specialized in endurance races on long circuits, where the engine power is all-important. The result is karts with two engines, running on nitro-methane, and where the driver in laying down, to lower the air resistance. Such a monster has a top speed on the other side of 250 km/h (155 mph); on the other hand, it's not worth much on tracks with sharp turns.
"On the other hand, Europe has, inspired by Formula One, concentrated on driveability ..."
Recently I came across some great photos, from the late 1970's, of American endurance carts, on
Monsters indeed! Some had even triple engines. (Imaging lying on your back in such a tiny car, with 250 km/h ...!) It's interesting to find, also, that the category still is in existence.
A more recent photo (below). Apparently, that category is still going strong! Mikael, Excellent photographs and information about multiple engine karts! The first three photos seem to be at an early Long Beach Grand Prix weekend, where superfast karts were occasionally a supporting event. Those in the last photo have a side engine and several seem to be made by Competition Karting, Inc. (CKI), which offers a variety of chassis and engine layouts for oval and road racing. While some kart series focus on endurance events and ultimate top speed on big oval tracks, the laydown road-racing karts handle superbly.
As an aside, oval tracks in America and road courses in Europe both evolved from horse racing traditions. In America, horse racing tracks were large ovals on which the horses ran counterclockwise. Early auto races were held on these courses and oval dirt track racing was born. In Europe, cross country steeplechase events were popular, run from town to town (steeple to steeple) and this tradition was followed when car racing began. Cheers, Carl |
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Post by robmarsh on Dec 16, 2020 9:41:44 GMT
Very interesting Mikael and Carl, I keep learning from this forum. I think words like pole position, paddock etc also came from the horse racing lexicon.
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Post by charleselan on Dec 16, 2020 18:56:38 GMT
Goodness me I had no idea these things existed, fantastic original post Mikael and such good follow up detail from Carl, absolutely excellent guys.
These karts are something akin to Can Am cars of the karting world, and is that a six wheeler in one of those photographs.
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Post by Carl on Dec 16, 2020 19:04:08 GMT
Very interesting Mikael and Carl, I keep learning from this forum. I think words like pole position, paddock etc also came from the horse racing lexicon. I believe they did, Rob. Good point. |
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Post by Carl on Dec 16, 2020 19:14:31 GMT
Goodness me I had no idea these things existed, fantastic original post Mikael and such good follow up detail from Carl, absolutely excellent guys. These karts are something akin to Can Am cars of the karting world, and is that a six wheeler in one of those photographs. John Yes, the modern laydown road racing karts are like beautifully scaled down Chevron B19s, and you did see a fifth and six wheel on another one. Apparently there were a few baby P34s in kart racing!
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Post by mikael on Aug 20, 2024 19:57:07 GMT
The so-called "Formula K" 135cc karting class of the 1980's (1981-1989) was the premium class of "pure" (gearless) karting. National karting competitions employed 100cc engines, while this elite category, as already indicated above, used 135cc engines. They were thus quite a good deal faster than the 100cc's. For me, this remains to be the epitome of "real" karting.
The movie below (with Italian narration) shows the 1985 World Championship final (in Parma, Italy). (Like the Olympics, the World Championship was settled in one single event.) I find it extremely exciting to watch - this is true racing! (albeit in "miniature"). And the sound of a whole swarm of two-stroke engines running at 20,000 RPM (yes, this is true!) down the main straight beats (almost) anything!
Top 3:
1. Mike Wilson UK (racing under Italian colours) 2. Giuseppe Bugatti Italy
3. Jørn Haase Denmark (also racing under Italian colours)
A couple of interesting articles on Mike Wilson:
In the second link, interestingly, Wilson had high praise for the abilities and potential of the young Lance Stroll; so, yes, anyone who can survive in Formula One for several seasons is unquestionably an excellent racing driver!
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Post by René on Aug 21, 2024 16:54:26 GMT
Very nice. Like you said, pure racing.  And cool that Stefan Johansson and Keke Rosberg were there to give the crowd a wave. |
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Post by mikael on Nov 17, 2024 14:45:46 GMT
Came across this; find it extremely impressive to watch.
These are great little racing cars. Past 130 mph (210 km/h) at some spots - impressive indeed ...
But, when thinking about it, they are a bit like the (upper level) formula cars of past: no concerns regarding safety. In case of an accident, you should be thrown out, and hopefully "thrown clear" ...
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Post by René on Nov 17, 2024 18:58:16 GMT
Indeed impressive! Great track also.
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