Chassis Wear and 09' karts

[Austen DeBord]

Hello everyone!

I have been lurking around on these forums for quite a while, and have really appreciated the wealth of knowledge that is shared here. Finally, I have a question that it seems no one has asked.

I have an 06' R32 that has been raced just about every season since it was new. In the course of owning the kart I have replaced a seat tab and had it re-powder coated in Birel red. My first question is whether or not powder coating a chassis has any adverse affects on its performance/characteristics. After all, it goes into an oven and is more or less baked at 1200 degrees. Secondly (and this may seem like a stupid question), I was wondering if over the course of a few years, a chassis just gets worn out. I realize the casettes and any other moving parts will gradually wear out, but I dont know about the chassis its self. My kart is straight and it drives fine, but in the interest of remaining competitive I am wondering if I should buy an 09'.

Lastly, I was wondering if anyone has driven the RY31 and RY32 yet. I am currious as to the characteristics of each kart.

Thank you!!

Austen

[Rick Worth]

Powdercoating is baked at around 400 degrees not 1200. Yes the metal does fatigue. Depends what you race. Some club guys that are always fast run the same karts forever.

[Garry Lobaugh]

Rick, thanks for your excellent contribution.

Ten years ago, we had a local hot shoe who kept improving his lap times with a 5 year old Birel that I thought was worn out. Yet he continued to set new track records. I thought, wow, what a great marketing opportunity to discuss the longevity of the chassis. Then on one race weekend he drove into the hair pin corner and the brakes failed.

He crashed into a rail road tie some 30 feet off track and the frame was destroyed. We put him in a new kart for the next week and he still set a new track record but by only 3 one hundredths of a second. Your comments are excellent.

In follow up we had a customer who really was hooked on cryogenics. He had a chassis treated and painted silver. To me that was the wrong way to go, but his driver felt this was a special chassis and he drove his heart out to prove his dad right. He collected numerous grand national awards with this special silver chassis.

My point is, racing is a game of psychology and learned experiences. Practice and hard work will make the difference.

[Austen DeBord]

Thank you very much Gary! Your response has really cleared things up for me.

Speaking of the psychology of our sport, my confidence in my kart was really what drove me to ask the question in the first place. At least with me, driver confidence is one of the greatest forces in racing, and without it I would never perform as well regardless of what chassis I am on.


Thanks again,

Austen