Endurance Karting

That is the question both Eric and I thought long and hard about.

There are valid reasons for going to Briggs & Stratton there are plenty of reasons not to. We weighed up all of these reasons and in the end we could not justify spending huge amounts of money on motors that we believe are not true endurance motors. I could list all the reasons here as to why we think that but of course, not everyone will agree. In the end it came down to what we believed in, and that was we are happy with the Honda.

We did consider purchasing 2 Briggs & Stratton motors late in 2009 and I was about to put the order in. Then I heard that some of the teams running the Briggs & Stratton motors have already had them rebuilt or faulty parts replaced within 12 months of purchase. I also heard that these motors, being purpose built race motors, will need to be treated as such. That is, stripped down after use (practice and races) and rebuilt once or even twice per season.

The reason we came so close to buying these motors was that we felt we should be supportive of the clubs move to incorporate the new brand. We also love the sport and wanted to help in its future growth. After hearing about the problems with the motors and the lack of information sharing from those associated with the motors, both from the committee and Briggs & Stratton technical support, I stopped the order. We simply could not justify spending huge amounts of money on something we both considered a low priority. I did a lot research on the motors and found plenty of information coming from the US where they are used as sprint motors. None of the information I found was readily available from any of those involved in the supply of the motors to the TEKA competition.

For the future of TEKA and that of endurance karting I hope the Briggs & Stratton motor is successful. I also hope that those involved start sharing information and become more readily available to those that have serious questions about what is involved in purchasing these motors. To date it is very hard to find anyone that is up front and honest about all the issues concerning these motors. What TEKA need to do is inform their membership of all the issues, both positive and NEGATIVE. Not just the tripe that comes from some of those who run the motors and push the fact that ‘the Briggs & Stratton is unbelievably fast’. If I want speed I will race 2 strokes or go sedan racing. I did not go endurance racing for the speed!

I also believe that the introduction of the Briggs & Stratton motor has cost TEKA in terms of teams leaving. I would like to know how many new teams have come to TEKA just to race in the Briggs & Stratton class compared to how many teams that have left. I guarantee these questions will never be answered, not publicly anyway.

Finally, I am not trying to be negative about the move to Briggs & Stratton. I simply think that a better PR and promotional campaign should be put together and be published and kept up-to-date on the TEKA website so that all those considering moving to Briggs & Stratton or any new comers to the sport will have all the facts and information readily available to them.

We are staying with Honda….. for now!

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