Badger not at Angell Park!

Struth!

Changes everywhere in the USA.

USAC - talk about rev limiters and weight rule to include the driver etc...

Stupid on the former, about bloody time on the latter.

All good things must come to an end.Badger has been an institution in midget racing.Sad day!!!

The USAC proposal to limit revs seems to be gaining momentum.Have heard it from many sources over here.Esslinger will hurt if this come to fruition.

why is a rev limit stupid? In all forms of motorsport this is applied (Ford Vs Holden) the reason is simple $$$. (REVS = $$) RPM is the single biggest engine killer, the more revs the shorter the life span. Cost is what is killing all forms of motorsport and whille midgets are cheap by comparison with many other forms of the sport they are still quite expensive for an average working person.

The rev limit is stupid because it unfairly penalises engines that are built to achieve power at a different range to the hastily applied restriction. The best case I can give you is the Renault F1 engine. This engine was producing peak power between 19,000-21,000 rpm. When the FIA stuck the arbitrary rev limits on the engines, the Renault engine lost out to the tune of about 60bhp compared to its rivals when it was previously the most powerful. The FIA then allowed Renault developments to equalise the power levels.

This is the same situation. From what I'm told, the peak power from Esslinger's is attained above the proposed limit. The Essingler is far and away the most popular and one of the cheapest engines to purchase and run and limiting the revs will produce an engine down on power compared to its rivals. To counter this cash will have to be spent on modifying the engine to be more competitive.

Saving isn't achieved by forced modifications. The engines already exist and are all fairly competitive without needing any modifications. I believe that in 2009's USAC competition engines from Toyota Racing Development, Chevrolet, Hawk, Esslinger, Fontana, Gaerte and Mopar won races. This shows quite clearly an existing parity in the engines.

IF USAC feels they must reduce power outputs, a rev limiter is not the way. The same effect can be gained by running air restrictors. This has the benefit of limiting power by limiting airflow and thus allows the engines to rev as far as you wish to push them. In theory it should reduce performance for all engines by a similar amount. This seems to work perfectly well for Formula 3 cars...

(Comparing midgets to V8 Supercars is ludicrous. Are you going to suggest a controlled chassis next?)

I did not mention power reduction please read what I wrote. My point and I think USAC would be about price reduction. Rising cost, is what is killing off motorsport world wide. I am note sure if you have ever built and raced a midget engine but I have and at the pointy end. How often have you heard of someone saying that the engine was getting tired so they put a lower gear in next thing a rod was poking out the side. It is about saving the sport not Esslinger owners! Without competitors it will not matter what the REVS or HP are. Why is midget racing now dying in most states and a constant call that a sprint car is cheaper to race? It is not, but the margin is closing, there is always some who for their own selfish reasons do not want change and change is not always for the better but sometimes it is like fitting cages to midgets. Some refused to race with a cage. Some do not like a control tyre but it works F1 uses control tyres, F1 uses rev limiting 18000rpm. The smart way to go around it is to wait for USAC to do the hard yards and then just use there deal. And to answer your question no I do not want a control chassis as dollars saved would not warrant it but if you look closely there is not much difference between the major manufacturers already in the critical areas.

Before amf has us in Renault powered Supercars on Pirellis, racing dirt ovals the wrong way, we have heard that individual engines will have their own limit.
Whether the limit is based on engine configuration or power, i have no idea. There's no thoughts of limiting, an Esslinger for example, to say 8000rpm to match a Mopar, for example.
They might work on a limit for pushrods, and a different limit for overhead cam fings.

I guess we just have to wait and see eh.

Ernie : How does that leave your little V8 Models?

Oh some sanity is present

I'm not sure Rocker. I'm not up to speed on engine 'specs' as such, but i believe the engine can't run in USAC competition anyway, but could run in other US midget groups. And i've heard, second hand, that Simon sort approval from the Chilli Bowl organisers prior to organising the trip. Apparently, some of the locals didn't like the engine running in the event either, even Mosen mentioned it in his press conference.
I do know that Simon gained approval from Speedway NZ prior to developing the engine for speedway use.
So i guess the rev limit rule shouldn't effect it.

If they do that, they're opening up a major minefield.