Anyone familiar with SCCA F125?

My kids have been racing in Formula Junior A for a couple years. This past weekend one of them won the regional champioship and the other came in second. Anyway, my plan was to move them to cars next year, but my one son really likes the kart. So here's my question. Is there an engine that can be used on our non-shifter sprint kart that could compete with the F125 shifter karts? One of the shifter kart guys told me last weekend that a TAG engine would be competitive. I don't know what that is and can't seem to find info on it. Obviously, I'm trying to find out if there is a reasonable way to use our existing kart in an adult kart class and be half way competitive on a regional basis.
Any insight?

TaG = Touch and Go? http://tagracing.net/

Coincidentally, one of our region members just posted a similar question. He has an old racing kart with a KT100 engine he wants to run in F125. Apparently, he can't swap in a 125 shifter motor due to a lack of front brakes. Anyway, our region's resident kart guru said it'd be fine to run. Competitive? Dunno. His son runs a similar kart in FJA with the same KT100 engine with (apparently) a smaller carb. The guy in Philly just wants to run it until he can get a proper shifter kart.

Every time I have to move the E30 out of the way, I think how a shifter kart may be a good idea...

Any reason you can't put a shifter motor on the kart? I'm assuming by the "can be used on our non-shifter sprint kart" comment refers to the fact that it's a cadet kart? The IKF has a cadet shifter class which uses various motocross 60cc shifter motors.

If it's a full size kart, there's really nothing special about a "shifter" chassis.

Quick hijack. Have your kids ever raced in a sprint kart race? If not, why not?

-Rob

My kart has a KT100 on it currently. FJA requires use of a can muffler which cuts the HP almost in half compared to a pipe. In F125 I would be able to use the pipe, but I'd have to increase the weight of the kart also. The KT100 with a pipe has about half the horsepower of the Honda 125 on my buddy's shifter. It also doesn't have a 5 speed trans like his. As far as putting a shifter powertrain on my kart, the shifter karts have wider frames and rear axles than mine. Mine also doesn't have front brakes like a shifter kart, or room for a radiator. Even if I could do it, at that point I'd be farther ahead just selling it and getting a shifter kart. But that's not what I want to do. Since I like to do things the hard and cheap way, I am wondering if there is a 125cc engine that has enough juice to run with the 125 shifters. I watch the shifters on an autocross course and they don't seem like much fun. They are constantly up or down shifting, and it's violent. I think I could drive much smoother if I didn't have to worry about that, but I would need quite a bit more power than my KT100 has. Last Saturday my kids best times were about 4-5 seconds off the fastest shifter kart time. To me that seems pretty good, but not close enough for the pipe to get me there. On Sunday they were more like 6-7 seconds back, but the clutch failed on the second to last run, so I'm not sure if it wasn't slowing them down all day. I raced sprint karts for many years when I was younger. That experience is why my kids aren't doing it.

MG_Bryan wrote: TaG = Touch and Go? http://tagracing.net/

I'm thinking that must be what he was talking about. Anyone know anything about this series? Their rule book allows a number of engine combinations. Makes me wonder which one makes the most power.

I' ve never done this, but I'm bumping this up because I still need info on this. Anyone????

I never got into karting but I know there's a group on yahoo, you might try joining and seeing if they can be of more help

I suggest checking out ekartingnews http://www.ekartingnews.com/viewforum.php?f=33&sid=c7a2fe36c45c3da886d5e44c8aa1e32b

You can find many of the people in charge of the F125 rules for the SCCA there and they should be able to give you a better answer on what exactly you can do or not do.