Life at Speed: Episode 1

David Gallaher chronicles his first day as an F100 racer at 2016 F100 SoCal Round #1!

Revisiting the Greatest Kart Race Ever! The TKM Festival 2013

This is unbelievable racing!  So clean, so fast and so precise!  The 2013 TKM Junior Elite final from the UK!

The engines are 100cc air-cooled direct drive engines with a decompression valve for easy bump-starting, much like a shifter kart.  They produce about the same amount of power as an HPV3 engine.  The engines are very high quality, with CNC machined barrels and high quality castings.  This means that each engine is incredibly similar from the factory - no need for expensive blueprinting!

The Senior version of this engine comes in 115cc displacement.  They have a few more horsepower than a 100cc HPV or KT100.  Even with durable and long-lasting tires they pump out lap times several seconds quicker than a 100cc kart.  This is great step-up from a 100cc kart as it provides more speed, direct drive precision as well lower operating costs due to the absence of a clutch.  A truly excellent engine package for Pure Racing!

Formula A 100cc Racing from Australia; Greatest On-Track Spin Ever!

The 1996 Oceania Kart Championship race at Oran Park Raceway had it all! A confusing start, a 360 spin by the 2nd place driver (who continued on as if nothing happened), a few angry aussie kart racers and an awesome track all combined for some fabulous 100cc racing that showed off both the skill required to pilot a 100cc machine to victory and the raw power that these 100cc machines possess. Check out the coverage below:

For the crazy spin, skip to 6:50 (its worth it!)

TKM Festival 2015: Intense 100cc Racing!

The TKM Festival is one of the biggest one-weekend kart races in the world! Featuring the 100cc TKM BT82 engine, which is almost identical in design and power output to the KT100 and HPV/KPV engines utilized in the USA, the TKM Festival has some of the closest and most intense racing anywhere in the world! The 2015 version did not disappoint! Check out the videos below for some incredible racing action:

Senior Elite

Junior Elite

Top Level Shifter Kart Racers Test Old School 100cc Direct Drive Power, AND LOVE IT!

Check out this story from Kart360 that discusses the test drive of a mid 1990's Formula A 100cc kart by factory KZ shifter kart racers Jordon Lennox-Lamb, who swept the SKUSA S1 Pro-Tour and won at Supernats this year, and Gary Carlton, who is widely believed to be one of the best, if not the best, kart racers from the United States.  This is a great story, and it really shows the feelings and emotion that the purity of direct drive karting brings out in racers!  My favorite quote is from Gary Carlton, who is a factory racer for TB Kart in Europe:

"It was like nothing I have driven before. The first time I pulled the engine the whole straight was something I will never forget. The sound of the engine revving towards 20,000 RPM gives you goosebumps the first time. It felt so pure. The chassis was so light and quick to respond. A whole different driving style where you can really throw the kart around. It was a great experience and I now can say I know what it was like back in the day, and I will say, they had it way better than we do now."
— Gary Carlton (courtesy of Kart360)

Check out the whole story here: 

http://kart360.com/features/throw-back-thursday-with-jordon-lennox-lamb

National Level 125cc Racer Goes Back to 100cc Racing; Back to Basics

Kart360 featured a great story by national level TaG racer, TJ Koyen. TJ has recently decided to move from TaG racing to Yamaha Supercan, which he calls "one of the greatest racing machines in the world." A Yamaha Supercan is a Yamaha KT100 with a 4 hole can exhaust. This package is raced heavily throughout the Midwest and East Coast of the United States, and F100 allows this package in its Novice level classes for Junior and Senior racers. Check out the following quote from the article:

"After six long seasons of hard work in the national TaG Senior fields with a couple big wins but also big spare parts bills, I’ve inked a lucrative contract to pilot one of the greatest racing machines in the world… A Yamaha Supercan... I know what you’re thinking... Why would you move back ‘down’ the karting ladder to Yamaha?” Mostly correct on all counts reader, but hear me out. TaG isn’t fun. Okay, that’s not completely true, but the class has its negatives. Yes, it’s the fastest single-speed kart class in America right now. Yes, it has incredibly deep fields of talent and massive entry counts in most places. Do you know what else TaG has?: carnage, expense, complication, over-zealous driving."

For a good read, click here to read the entire article.

Parilla Sudam/Nordam: The 100cc Spirit of Pure Kart Racing Lives On!

With all the fuss recently about the new and expensive X30 engine and upgrades for the Rotax Max, the Fast 100 Karting Blog felt it was a good time to re-introduce readers to the beauty and affordability of direct drive simplicity!  This engine is 125cc direct drive motor and it is used in South America a great deal because it is so cheap to run, in comparison to other engines of similar power levels.  With over 33hp on tap, these engines easily outpower a TaG motor, which generally has around 28hp, such as an X30 or Rotax, without the fuss of electronics, on board batteries and expensive clutch parts.  This engine brings back memories of old school ICA power and purity!  Pure karting at its best!

http://youtu.be/hUMy2v5h034

UK F100 Onboard Videos! High Power 100cc Goodness!

Check out these onboard videos from the UK F100 series! These karts utilize chassis and engines from the 1990's, including screaming air-cooled 100cc engines! Even star racer and factory CRG racer Jordon Lennox-Lamb, who is currently in first place in the SKUSA Pro Tour S1 class going into Supernats, gets in on the action with a 1999 CRG kart powered by a CRG 100cc engine. Totally awesome! Enjoy!

Jordon Lennox-Lamb (factory CRG driver)

Some other videos:

KartRacerTv Feature: The Formula 100 Karting Series

With 2014 Round #1 fast approaching, The Fast 100 Karting Blog would like to look more in depth at The Formula 100 Karting Series by re-featuring this excellent promotional video by KartRacerTV.

WOW! Maybe the Most Exciting Race Ever! 100cc Junior TKM from Britain

This is possibly the most exciting race Fast 100 has ever seen! These junior racers are running 100cc TKM powered karts at the top level of British karting, the MSA Super 1 Championship. There is nothing more to say other than WOW! Watch and enjoy the great action that 100cc racing provides!

ELF Masters from Europe; Formula One Drivers Racing 100cc Piston Port Powered Karts Indoors

This is awesome footage of some old school Formula One drivers racing with JICA piston port powered karts. These F1 drivers are moving pretty well with only 100cc's of power. A JICA engine is the Junior 100cc ICA engine too, not even the full Senior ICA reed valve engine. The racing is excellent and very closely matched. Enjoy!

Australian 100cc Dirt Kart Road Course Racing!

This looks so cool! From down under, its dirt kart road course racing. How awesome! Its a little bit like rally racing, except with karts. For those interested, check out the AIDKA website for more information on Aussie dirt kart racing at http://www.aidka.com.au/. Enjoy the videos of 100cc powered dirt karts below.

Karting Cash; A Documentary About the Effect of Rising Costs on Kart Racing

This is an excellent kart racing documentary that discusses some current issues in kart racing, namely the ballooning costs that are possibly responsible for diluting the talent in kart racing fields. 

Putting a halt to rising costs in karting is one of the basic premises behind The Formula 100 Karting Series. F100 provides a fun, affordable and competitive kart racing environment for drivers of all ages and skill levels, while placing a particular focus on driver development. F100 strives to make karting accessible for people of all budget levels and mechanical inclination, in order to not only help grow the sport of kart racing, but also to help find and facilitate the development of talented racing drivers who otherwise wouldn't be able to afford to race karts. 

F100 is a great place to race for all racers, but if you are a racer on a budget, looking for a way to develop your talent and your driving career, F100 is the place to be! Check out F100karters.com for more information on The Formula 100 Karting Series. 

Check out the documentary below to learn more about the state of the sport of kart racing.

More Excellent 100cc Racing! Formula Super A World Championship 1999

Think 100cc karts aren't fast enough? Think again! This is footage from the 1999 Formula Super A World Championship race. The field includes David Fore, Danilo Rossi (now of DR Kart), Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen. Some great racing action. Check it out!

1986 100cc Reed and Rotary Karts at Oxnard

This is a cool video from 1986 showing the old Oxnard kart track and 100cc reed and rotary karts ripping around on it. 

Internet research indicates that the Oxnard Kart track was most recently occupied by Jim Hall Kart Racing School, but was closed in 2004 when the area was returned to wetlands. Jim Hall would move to what appeared to be a copy, at least in some ways, of the old Oxnard facility, but that too was closed recently. Quite a shame to lose so many nice tracks. The Oxnard track looks like it would have been a blast to drive on! 

Check out the video below:

California State Championships 1989; More Excellent 100cc Racing!

Check out these videos from the 1989 California State Championships held at Adams Motorsports Park (then Adams Kart Track). Some very fast 100cc machines on display, first in the Yamaha KT100 Class and then in the Piston Port class.

KT100

Piston Port

Excellent 100cc Racing from New Zealand!

Here are videos of some excellent 100cc racing from New Zealand. These videos are from the Yamaha Light Class at the CIK Trophy of New Zealand and The New Zealand Sprint Champs. 

The Yamaha Light class utilizes 100cc Yamaha KT-100 engines with tuned exhaust pipes delivering very similar output to what an HPV-3 or KT-100 3 pipe engine delivers. 

The racing is fast, clean and close. Very little contact is made between drivers. Drivers make clean passes and give their competitors plenty of room. 

Once again 100cc racing proves that while it may not have the most horsepower or highest straight line speed, the racing action that 100cc engines provide is intense and unrivaled. Check out the videos below:

The TKM BT82 Piston Port Engine and TKM Festival Onboard Video

Check out the video below for some great driving action from the TKM Festival in England. The Festival is one of the largest one make engine gatherings in the world. The TKM BT82 2 stroke engine is the engine featured in the video. It is very similar to the KPV/HPV engine package and the Yamaha KT100 in terms of performance. The US received these motors and they were popular for a short time but did not have the staying power of other 100cc packages. Now the British made BT82's that are stateside mostly sit in garages unused. Check out the video and if you're interested check out the TKM website for more information on the engine.

http://www.tal-ko.com/bt82.html

http://youtu.be/eZupAkli2dM

Formula 100 Karting Series Onboard Video

Here's an onboard video from the July 21st Formula 100 Karting Series race. Enjoy!

From Australia its the F100 Nationals

Here's a video from down under. Its the Formula 100 Nationals! In Australia F100 utilizes either reed (ICA) or rotary (Formula A) engines. These karts fly. Check out the video: