SA Leisure TaG – Are they for real?
04.02.2008
We have read with great interest the
rules recently released for the South African leisure
tag to supposedly be adopted for club racing. What it
all goes about is running various makes and models of
engines together, in three classes namely: Mini TaG, Junior
TaG and Senior TaG. It is clear that these rules were
written with only one priority in mind: Make the Vortex
ROK engines dominate each category, irrespective of safety
and fairness.
We performed some simple calculations,
to calculate the power to weight ratio of each engine,
at the proposed weight for each TaG class. The results
are alarming:
| Mini TaG (year of 11th to 13th) |
| Rotax Mini MAX |
13.6BHP |
130KG |
104.61BHP/Ton |
| Junior ROK |
19.5BHP |
148KG |
131.75BHP/Ton |
| Therefore the Junior ROK package is
34% more powerful. |
| Junior TaG (year of 14th to
16th) |
| Junior MAX |
20.5BHP |
145KG |
140.86BHP/Ton |
| Underage ROK Cup |
29.5BHP |
150KG |
196.67BHP/Ton |
| The underage ROK Cup racers will have
a 40% power advantage. |
| Senior TaG (15yrs+) |
| Rotax MAX 175 |
28.5BHP |
175KG |
162.85BHP/Ton |
| Rotax MAX Challenge |
28.5BHP |
165KG |
172.72BHP/Ton |
| Rotax DD2 |
32.6BHP |
175KG |
182.68BHP/Ton |
| Super ROK |
35.5BHP |
175KG |
208.82BHP/Ton |
Therefore a MAX
Challenge is 6% more powerful than a MAX 175, while
a Rotax DD2 is 12% more powerful, and the Super
ROK is a massive 28% more powerful. Should provide
a nail-biting race where picking the winner will
be near impossible???? |
The next issue involves the tyres to be used. If we use
Junior TaG as an example, the Junior MAX competitors must
use MOJO Tyres, whilst the underage ROK Cup competitors
can use Bridgestone tyres. It is an undisputed fact that
Bridgestone tyres are 0,6s faster on a good grippy day,
or around 1,2 seconds faster on a slippery day (i.e.:
a club race.) Therefore at the Vereeniging club race this
weekend, before the engine comes into it, the underage
ROK cup driver has a 1,2sec tyre advantage over his Junior
Max counterpart. Now to bring in the underage ROK Cup
competitors 40% power to weight advantage, from experience
we estimate it to be a further minimum of 1sec per lap,
with Vereeniging being notorious for being a peak horsepower
track. Therefore the underage ROK cup driver should be
at least 2,2sec faster than his Junior MAX counterpart.
Maybe competitors don’t mind being completely blown
away, because it is only a club race after all?
Then there is the ever present safety issue. Is it clever
allowing a 13 year old to race an engine designed for
15+ year olds? As well as how can a MAX 175 i.e.: over
35 year old competitor be expected to race against a Super
ROK or a DD2?
Good news for all competitors is that these rules will
not be used at the Zwartkops Kart Raceway, for reasons
of common sense.
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