Winter Indoor Pitbike Mayhem?

[Kurlon]

Now's the time for me to start planning a winter series with Maine Indoor Karting if there's going to be one.

http://minimotard.outofspec.com/ has the info from last year's series.

Last year was fun... with the few people that showed up. If turnout is going to be the same, I won't waste my or MIK's time this winter.

So, is there solid interest, and what do people want to see to make it worth their while to drive up to Maine a few times this winter to bang bars on pitbikes?

My thought is to ditch the 'league' format, and just plan for two or three open practice nights. Flat fee for each night, try to get 4 to 6 sessions of track time, or 2 or 3 longer combined sessions, and basically run it as open track. You wanna putt around, cool. You wanna go balls out, cool. Scoring in your head or have a friend time you, no transponders so we don't have that cost to worry about.

Or do people want lap times and rankings at the end of the night?

Or a lil of both?

[Chippertheripper]

F1 Boston ever entertain something like this?

[FTMS]

I would be interest in doing it, but it would depend on when it is. It is a haul for me to make it out there. Sundays and Mondays would work best for me. I don't care what the format is as long as I get some seat time.

[Kurlon]

I tried working with F1 a couple times, they don't want us digging up their outdoor track, and they won't let us on the indoor tracks due to the elevation changes. (Falling from the upper track onto the lower track, into traffic, not fun...) They really had no interest in doing anything even if I offered workarounds (requiring peg and axle sliders, etc).

I'm going to shoot for Sundays I think, as that seems to be when most people have off?

[FTMS]

Sundays would be best for me.

Is there any special bike prep for there?

[seth399]

where abouts in maine/how far from boston?

[Kurlon]

Bike Prep: Bike must be safe, and not leak.
- Throttle must snap shut
- Front and rear brakes must be functional
- Hubs, bearings, spokes, etc must be tight (This seems to be a big issue with a lot of minis?!)
- Catch systems are strongly encouraged... any leak usually means 15 to 30 minutes of down time while we try to clean the track
- If it looks janky, you'll likely be asked to secure / fix it before going out

In the past, bikes have been limited to classic 'pitbikes'. Open cradle frame, horizontal air cooled four stroke single, wheels no bigger than 14" front, 12" rear. If we can get the proper timeframe/format, I'd love to have pocketbikes and midbikes come out as well. Larger bikes just don't 'fit' on the track, hell my pitbike has a pretty restricted line through one hairpin due to it's length.

Location: http://www.maineindoorkarting.com/directions.html
Scarborough ME, hour or so from the ME/NH border on i95?

[FTMS]

O.K. pretty standard stuff. I have my Pister Pro set up that way. I just wasn't sure if you needed peg and axle slidders.

[Kurlon]

You don't need them, but I'd recommend them if you have the means. Concrete is a nasty SOB that LOVES to grind things down. : )

[FTMS]

O.K. I will see what I can fab up. I have plenty of old hyfax around.

[tdiloren]

Interested if I can find a cheap pit bike. What are the bike requirments? Can an 80cc four stroke dirt bike be used?

[hondarider102]

my friend has a honda 50 with an 88 big bore kit and a kx65, would both of those be aloud?

[eboos]

What would you consider a mid bike? How does my TTR125 with 17" front and rear sound?

[Kurlon]

Engine size for the most part doesn't matter. Two strokes have normally been outlawed due to the fumes. Same with race gas. It's just not fun being in an enclosed space with a two smoke or worse, a four stroke running granny's secret sauce melting your face off as it fumigates in front of you. I'm willing to try letting a two stroke in good tune run, but be aware it may get promptly get kicked out if it's making too much smoke.

Other than that, bring as big a motor as you want. I'll warn you though, bigger is NOT always better at this track. A stock 50 or 70 in good tune can put up one hell of a fight even vs my 15hp cheater. A slick surface plus big HP can be a handful at times.

On overall bike size, a 'midsize' bike like an XR100, TTR125, etc is just too big, you literally won't be able to make some of the turns. If it can run 17" wheels, it's likely too big. KX65, built KLX110, Pitster Pro LXR, and similar sized machines are about as big as you can fit in there and make the hairpins in the middle.

There is another indoor facility in Portland ME, a bit further north that has a larger area, but is setup as an oval currently. I can check with them to see how amenable they'd be to trying to rig a road course for minis for a one day bike fest...

[seth399]

ya, I would suggest if you are running a 2stroke, run a nice synthetic premix like Amsoil at 50:1

[Doc]

What kinda venue is this place? I'd like to look for one up here.

[Kurlon]

Indoor Karting facility, we've got two in Maine that I know of, so I'm sure more civilized states will have lots many more. : )

[jerseygirl]

If anything, I will come and watch!

[-jro-]

what time on sundays? I have to work until 6 pm

p.s.y bike still doesn't run

[h20rocket]

last time I went to Maine indoor karting, I got black flagged, they didn't like the idea that i was holding it pegged to the hair pins and literally drifting the corners, they said something about the karts having brakes...who knew LOL

[Kurlon]

p.s.y bike still doesn't run

We'll just have to do something about that won't we?

[FTMS]

When do you think you are going to get this going? Just wondering because I am thinking of putting the dirt wheels back on for a little while.

[Kurlon]

Toss the dirts on, easy enough to swap back and forth. Last time we started in February, but that was a 3 practice/5 race series. I'm thinking late December at the earliest.

[SVRACER01]

Kurlon....you need to find out who owns the cart track at salisbury beach. it would be a blast to rip that place up. might even get MoM to run an event there if the surface is good. it would be a REAL road race...not that hokey shit that they turned Cycles 128 into.

[Kurlon]

Kurlon....you need to find out who owns the cart track at salisbury beach. it would be a blast to rip that place up. might even get MoM to run an event there if the surface is good. it would be a REAL road race...not that hokey shit that they turned Cycles 128 into.

I'll see what I can track down. Not much online for them. And I agree with your feelings on Cycles 128, that's why I stopped going. I talked to Dave about adding a proper RR round to MoM, he had no interest, even if I did all the leg work. He's all about MX and MX on pavement. Felt pretty insulted at that, at which point I stopped attending any MoM events.

Edit: http://maps.google.com/maps?client=s...06625&t=h&z=18

If that's the place you're talking about, oh HELL YES that'd be fun!