Touch and Go from here....

Just a brief history lesson...

Through the 90's the Yamaha KT100 had served as the workhorse for the US fixed gear kart scene.  While some European motors came & went, the simple 100cc piston port design of the KT100 was continually developed to the 14-15 HP range where it was becoming expensive to maintain.

Rotax answered the demand for a more powerful 125cc water cooled electric start reed valve motor producing twice the power of the KT100 on steroids.  As a sealed motor concept the popularity exploded in the US as perhaps the fastest growing class in history.  But with the growth came the problems, one of them being the issue of being sealed.  Growing perceptions that some teams motors were sealed with more power then others were becoming concerns among some of these racers operating at national levels.  Some people like to tinker and change pistons, etc, adding to the sealed motor debate.

Parilla fired back at the sealed motor issues by delivering the Leopard.  Using a specs rather then seals opened the opportunity for those with the desire to perform their own tuning.  Although Parilla has built some real "gorillas" in the past, it is obvious this motor was designed as an equal to the Rotax in power.

Several others are joining in, and avoiding the issues with a sealed motor.  In Europe many organizers are forming simple "Touch & Go" (TAG) classes, and it won't be long before the same thing happens in the US.

Of course the next controversy revolves around which motor is faster?  Obviously that would be a mitigating factor to choose for a TAG class.

Before we address that, lets look at some important factors.  In the days of KT100's like Yamaha and Formula Y, small differences in power made a big difference on the track.  Given twice the power, these TAG power plants result in placing far more emphasis on driving and chassis set up then power.  Still, you have to make that smaller emphasis on power count.

Recently a good opportunity to see some comparisons between the Parilla Leopard, the Biland 250cc 4 stroke, and the Rotax at a club race in Denton Texas.

12 Rotaxes and 2 Parilla Leopards were entered in the Rotax race.  Two Bilands were entered in the Brackets class race running separate from the Rotax/Leopard race.

Background info;

Biland

Two Bilands were furnished by Team Biland as a demo of the new motors.  These motors have about two+ seasons worth of race time on them, and are as original with no loss of power.  They are mounted on less then optimal chassis suited more to a 12 HP motor then the 28 HP of a Biland.  Two drivers both with national level skills were selected to race them in the brackets class in Bracket 1.

Leopard

Two Leopards were entered one out of the box stock, the other fully tuned by a multiple national champion motor builder. 

Dean Boyd, a top finishing regional/national driver drove the tuned Leopard using a custom built chassis that has too many national championship wins to name.

The other was a regular club level driver with good skills.

Rotax

Of the 12 Rotax entrants, Heinz Meyer was clearly the fast one.  Heinz is also a top finisher in regional/national level of competition. 

The remaining 11 Rotax entries are range form very good to beginning drivers.

Lap times;

• Biland - 38.2 seconds
• Leopard - 38.0 seconds
• Rotax - 37.9 seconds

Which is faster?  You be the judge.  As the Bilands were mounted to a less then optimal chassis, I would have to think it another .2-.3 seconds could have been found.

We videotaped some of the races and most interesting is the comparison between the Parilla and Rotax.  The camera focuses on Dean Boyd and Heinz Meyer battling for the lead.  It may be a bit surprising to see the two accelerate.

We also put together a clip from the Biland-Brackets race from trackside and on-board.

If I were to make a selection today, I would have to lean towards the Biland.  Simple maintenance goes a long ways.  By the first internal service of any kind (timing belt and valve lash adjustment) the Rotax and Parilla both have consumed 8+ pistons and 4 bottom end rebuilds.

Kartweb will be watching and reporting much more on the Touch & Go classes as we feel it will see every bit the growth Shifters have over the last few years.

Below are the links to some hastily made videos, but should demonstrate a little about each.