Twenty years ago I had a 100 national and I would run along side it, bump start it and jump in. Now I have a rotax with bits of plastic on the side and at over 40 it's a bit of a struggle getting in when it's stationary. So undoubtedly TAG improved karting, but we have had, and still have, better TAG engines than the Rotax. In the 100cc days the argument is that the people with the most money spend more on tuning, have several engines etc., and gain an advantage. A sealed engine puts the price up to the average competitor because they have to pay to have it repaired, but should make more even racing. This would be fine if all engines came equal, but this clearly isn't the case with Rotax, therefore now, only, the people with money can be competitive. It seems to me that Rotax would be cheaper and fairer if you removed the seal and we could all tune our engines at home. As for the TKM. It has managed to survive despite not having TAG which probably shows the appeal of it's previously stated advantages but it does seem to have been a tad slow to get TAG.
|
|