New Rotax RM-1 Kart - this looks really cool

[sydude]

From Autoweek:

Will RM1 Lead To A Karting Revolution?



Rotax kart racing is not only a lot of fun, but a great value, all things racing considered.

You can spend thousands of dollars on a fancy race kart then thousands of hours changing the sprocket count to gain an extra 0.003 per lap. Or you could buy one of these new Rotax RM1s, and just go drive.

Rotax is owned by Bombardier, the global company that revolutionized personal watercraft, quad racers and snowmobiles, along with business jets, trains and other stuff. Now it has its sights on karts. The RM1 is a spec kart loaded with features that make it easy to use, safe to race and, at $7,995 complete, relatively inexpensive to own compared to a sailboat or a Porsche. (Get it through sscracing.com.)

RM1 has a water-cooled one-cylinder, 125-cc, two-stroke engine with an internal driveshaft running right through the middle, eliminating the need for chains and sprockets. But the transmission also limits your gear choices to the two forward and one reverse gears. Shifting is done via two fat plastic paddles inside the steering wheel and can be accomplished-racers will like this-at full throttle.

Rotax says the engine, which redlines at 12,200 rpm, can go from 40 to 60 hours between rebuilds.

The front plastic bumpers can take a whack of 7 mph. The rear plastic bumpers are really rollers that prevent those nasty but spectacular flips that can happen when wheel-to-wheel racers touch.

Rotax offers competition classes for everyone from eight-year-olds up. With only about 300 RM1s sold in the United States so far, your chances of winning in one are much higher.

We took several laps of Irwindale Speedway's infield course and had a blast. As with all karts, the RM1 will try mightily to eliminate any kidney stones you may have, but the paddle shifters are easy to use, the grip feels just fine and the four-wheel discs stop surely. A few more laps, or a few more days or weeks or seasons, and we could have passed that guy from Rodent Rack, we're quite certain. - Mark Vaughn

Link to the RM-1 site:

http://www.rm1-kart.com/