Super 1 Series TKM Test

ArosaMike

Resident Kart Racer
Joined
Apr 30, 2005
Messages
883
Location
Leamington Spa
Car(s)
Mk5 VW Golf GTI, Aston Martin Vantage GT4 Race Car
A guy I know kindly invited me to test his TKM today (100cc National Go Kart for those of you that don't know :D). I've raced Pro Karts (Twin Honda 5bhp rental endurance karts) and a rental type of TKM running lower revs and endurance tyres before, but never a full race spec 2-stroker. Was interesting to have a go (even though it was only for 15mins in the end!) and it had a fair bit more punch and a lot more grip than I've been used to. I had the full compliment of around 20bhp and sticky tyres (approaching 2G cornering load) so I was pleased to get within just over 1s of the other guys testing there :) It was also a novelty to have a proper digital dash telling me splits and revs. Seeing 15,800rpm is fun :D

Anyway. Took my camera obviously and got some of my best photos yet with my Sigma telephoto:

My mate in his kart:

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Pesky ROTAXs. TKMs are so much more fun!

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Cool!

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Some cool panning closeups. Pleased that they worked this time!

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Some taken by my mate of me now. Considering this was his first time with an SLR and a Telephoto he did damn well too! (I'm no 28 in the yellow helmet)

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Fancying myself as a bit of a pro race driver :p

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I am, and after all, you are faster than a F1 driver!!!

I love the speedos on race karts... Never knew they could give you so much info, until a mate of mine was a bit angry I drove it too carefully and only getting to 15000 rpm instead of 17000... Cooling issues... From that point on I went nuts with it... Love it.

How many hp does yours have? The one I drove had 28. Gonna drive again the next 2 weeks or so;-)
 
My mates one there has about 18 or so I think. I'd imagine you were driving a ROTAX. Super sticky tyres on them, but they have a wierd power band (just mid range...no top end or bottom end). The Birel there was an ICA which is about 35bhp :D
 
What's (roughly) the dry weight of the karts and what kind of speeds can they achieve??

Nice pics too ArosaMike!
 
nice... looks like someone had fun.

i always wanted to go Go carting. never did, hopefully one day i'll get the chance to do so. Another thing i was wondering is that, how do u chance gears? is tehre a stick on the right/left side or are these paddle shifts (which i HIGHLY doubt).

Nice pics btw

-Mojo-
 
not to try to put you down mike, but these photos seems a TAD blurred or out of focus(except the steering wheel pic and obviously that handsome pic of you in that sexy outfit =) ).

Wow a kart racer is in the house!!! bow down to your l33t ness.

btw what sigma is this again? and what do you shoot with again?
 
ArosaMike said:
My mates one there has about 18 or so I think. I'd imagine you were driving a ROTAX. Super sticky tyres on them, but they have a wierd power band (just mid range...no top end or bottom end). The Birel there was an ICA which is about 35bhp :D

I remember driving a ICA last summer and that thing was crazy fast. I remember on the straits as you go full throttle you can feel the air in your lungs get pushed out of your body. These are the only two pics i have of me in a ICA on my computer right now (sorry for the shitty quality) :
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pap_002_W2_61011125543586_MAX.jpg


Im the guy in the red suit.
 
watto said:
What's (roughly) the dry weight of the karts and what kind of speeds can they achieve??

They're about 160kg including the driver, so take away my weight which is 73kg and it's around 80kg (there's lead added to make it up to 160kg).

Top speed varies depending on the track and gearing. I'd imagine on Wednesday we were topping out at maybe 60 or 70mph. Accerleration is on a par with a supercar though.

mojo_786 said:
Another thing i was wondering is that, how do u chance gears? is tehre a stick on the right/left side or are these paddle shifts (which i HIGHLY doubt).

No gears on all but a few types of kart. ICC, Super Karts and ROTAX RM1. The ICC is raced quite a bit and has a sequential shift on the right of the steering (just a big rod!). The Super Karts have the same usually although a few have padels. The RM1 is hardly raced but has padel shift.

The TKMs are direct drive, so you just have one sproket and you have to bump start the thing to get going. If you spin it's time to hop out :p

AxlxA said:
not to try to put you down mike, but these photos seems a TAD blurred or out of focus

I know what you mean. Could be something to do with the compression and also the lighting. They're also quite hard to follow cause they're so quick :p

Wow a kart racer is in the house!!! bow down to your l33t ness.

And one that's raced against some formula one drivers too ;) LOL

btw what sigma is this again? and what do you shoot with again?

Sigma 100-300 f4 APO HSM EX

p0w3r said:
I remember driving a ICA last summer and that thing was crazy fast. I remember on the straits as you go full throttle you can feel the air in your lungs get pushed out of your body.

Not driven an ICA yet, but TKMs still give you that breathless feel so I know what you mean:p
 
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