500 Kawasaki

[Brent717]

Hey folks, Brent717 here. I am thinking about building a P2 rig with a Kawi 500 mill. I see that 500 Titans are allowed, (Yuck!!) but there is no mention of the Kawi . Is the Kawi legal and, if not,why the heck not? Anxiously awaiting opinions, any and all. Thanx, Brent717

[chairman]

well the rules say two cylinder if you are talking three cylinder its a p3, check the rules before you build there is a reason why it is two cylinder 4 or two stroke of designated years

[paul whittaker]

The VRRA basically adopted the USCRA rules for its P1-P2 sidecar class. The class is often referred to as the "twins" class. While the P3 class rules written for VRRA, does welcome Suzuki, Kawasaki, Triumph etc triples, there has to date been no mention of the 500cc Kawasaki in P2. I believe the door could be opened by the VRRA tech committee, and would like to hear from other sidecar racers before commenting further.
In the end it is unlikely that USCRA would allow the 500 Kawasaki to compete in P2 class, however Bob Coy might be persuaded to allow it to run at Loudon. Indications so far is that P3 machines are not welcome there. The schedule for next season looks like a doable 8 rounds with 4 VRRA, 2-3 USCRA and probably 2 with RACE
I feel sure that RACE would co-operate with the decision of VRRA tech committee.
As a side light, there is at least one, possibly two 500cc kawasaki's sidecars owned by USCRA drivers, who may be interested in this thread.
I will wait for the word from higher up, and hope to welcome another team for 2008 Paul.

[ian bruce]

Brent-

It took a lot of work to get the rules to match up, both sides of the border, a couple of years ago, basicly, 750 cc 2 cylinder 4 strokes , 2 cylinder 500 cc 2 strokes, and 34 mm carbs (max). Oh yeah, skinny tires too!

Hopefully this year everyone will have the right size carbs on, 2mm may not seem like a lot, but it is. If not, no one running 36mm carbs a couple of years ago would have bothered to complain about me installing 38s! If not 34 mm carbs, restrictor plates are acceptable, both sides of the border.

Back to your triple:

P2 sidecars is really a spec class, not a genuine Period class as has been pointed out elsewhere. It has taken a lot of effort to get it to where it is today. And we still need more rigs out there.

With that said, I personally don't have a problem with you building a 500 triple and bringing it out.

Before I would start to build, I would request an exemption for the upcoming season, contact Ralf and the Rules Committee for the VRRA and drop Bob Coy a line to see if they would let you run down there.

If you don't get the exemption, and still do build, you could very well be the #1 P3 driver! Like P2, there are rigs out there, and they're not being raced, which is sad to say the least.

As Paul mentioned Karl Smolenski has a genuine "from the day" H1 with documentation and photos that he has never brought out, and there is at least one other Kawi 500 triple in hiding.

Good Luck, hope to see you on the track in May!

More rigs = more fun!

Ian