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What dictated the move to 4-stroke was competitive performance once the rules change. In karting we are still 2-stroke because that is what's mandated. If it was open to 4-stroke with double the displacement then it might change.
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The 450 take over of the old 250 class happened a little slower, but it was still the main reason I exited the industry in 2005.
The cheater bikes were fast and easier to ride, but will never be more fun.
4-strokes, which I deem largely utilitarian in nature, will be forgotten about and won't have the cultural renaissance 2-strokes have had. In the end both might be forgotten about, but no one is going to treasure the 4-strokes as they have/do the 2-strokes. Maybe I am wrong, who knows.
I'm probably wrong, but wasn't there a push towards 4ts in Karts, that was kept at bay by the manufacturers And the Participants that wanted the 2ts to stay around.
Through Manufacture 'might' ( nothing like the major MC manufacturers 'might') And the perceived cost increases it would bring.
I looked into it some time ago, and, there were quite a few brands that developed Serious 4T Kart engines. I haven't gone looking for a while, but I'm pretty sure TM have 4T Kart engines, as well as their 2ts. And, if I remember correctly, there were / are some pretty stringent 'control' rules on them, with regards to induction and ignition, and perhaps other things.
What it appears to me - a bloke that knows sweet FA about Karting, is that the sport protected itself from runaway costs, pretty bloody effectively. I Do Know that the highest end Karts, are expensive - what Motor Sport isn't? - but they have managed to keep the main classes from being out of the reach of the sportsmen and women.
I'd very much like to have a bit of an education, from a bloke I've noticed through this site, as being pretty heavily into Karting.
What you said it broadly correct. We need to say that in 1997 (and others had done it before but not at the level of success) Rotax bought out the FR125 (basically a one gear Aprilia RS125). This was a 'spec' class and pretty much decimated multi-make racing. In karting we still run multi manufacturer chassis (which we will refer to as the 'FIA classes') but you can run any type of engine you want for the most part. The 'engine' pretty much dictates the class.
So the FIA classes (which at the time were 100cc, direct drive, pure as you like) lost out big time because the new Rotax class (despite being a bit rank) had things going for it - single-engine, longer rebuild times etc...
So the 4-stroke thing, that the FIA wanted to bring in in the early 00s, wouldn't have had as big an affect on the sport as a whole because by that time most people were (and still are) racing these spec-engine categories. DIretbike racing is better because what's raced at club level is the same at the elite level for the most part. Karting isn't like that really. The FIA did introduce KF in 2007, which was basically a multi-make version of the Max class... and even that mild addition of complexity exploded costs. Also, broadly no one really wants to race 4-strokes in karting unless it's low-power categories (prokarts, Briggs etc...) though again, there's some exceptions. Karting is very a mess in that regards.
Everything you say is basically correct, but it would have been limited to the elite level as that's the only area that really races the FIA classes bar a couple of exceptions.
California is leading the charge for this insanity.
John Banks was the first and maybe only guy to compete against DeCoster and Mikkola on a four stroke when everyone was on a two stroke,
Why did he get hammered?
Because in the old days, classes were organized by engine displacement, where a 500cc 2 stroke raced a 500 cc four stroke.
What group of idiots decided a 125 needs to compete vs a 250? or a 250 needs to race vs a 450?
Probably the sanitarium patients in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest
Rolling hills with floater jumps ovr the hills a great flow for a 125. When worked up with wood chips it’s loamy but never does. So it’s hard pack with marbels , to Ping Pong sized clay balls in some corners, peaked edges for braking bumps. I look at it like riding on ice but the layout is great. Not many 4-st usually there new but they don’t ride very long. The 2-st riders ride a lot more probably because there having more fun. Some don’t watch any pro races they just want to ride. 2 more tracks in the pit area 1 is for beginners.
Pit Row
. RocZen
Look at every country in the world beside US, where you can race a 250 2t against a 250f, the 250F will 99% of the times be the faster bike.
It has more traction and usable power, just look at how slow Ken’s yz250 looked at the Glen Helen SX track compared to a 250f, and that YZ will probably have the same amount of power, if not more.
Were the two strokes more fun? Yes, are the four strokes more superior to ride even with the same CC’s? -yes..
Evolution goes on and this were just a part of it.
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