Usac: Midget sanctions agree on 3-year rpm limit rules
 

4/26/16 10:14 AM MIDGET SANCTIONS AGREE ON 3-YEAR RPM LIMIT RULES

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MIDGET SANCTIONS AGREE ON 3-YEAR RPM LIMIT RULES

Officials of the United States Auto Club (USAC), POWRi and ARDC Midget Series today jointly announced a rule which will unify engine platform-specific RPM limits in all sanctioned races, effective May 29, 2016. This commitment to RPM limits constitutes a three-year commitment and any uniform limit modifications will be determined through on-going data analysis obtained through actual on-track racing.

RPM limits are used in midget racing as a “throttle” to limit the expense of further development of current midget racing engine platforms, save money for car owners with increased time between engine maintenance cycles, and as a means to enable midget racing to welcome lower cost alternatives to current engine platforms in the future.

The initial RPM limits will be adopted from a USAC-sponsored study conducted by ILMOR Engineering and in use for the last four race seasons. These RPM limits can be found posted in the individual series rule books for USAC, POWRi and ARDC. Throughout 2016, additional race data will be collected to further study equivalency power curves among the varying midget engine platforms, including pushrod and overhead cam configurations. This data will be used to determine if RPM limit modifications will be required.

Additionally, all entrants using an EFI-branded ignition must use the new EFI “R1” (Red) Ignition Box for all sanctioned races with USAC, POWRi and ARDC. The EFI R1 unit was designed specifically for midget racing and has a limited range of user interface which assures race officials adherence to RPM limit rules and eliminates traction control capabilities through the EFI module.

Just go to a vertex style magneto now that we are looking to save car owners $$$!

Bob

Re: Usac: Midget sanctions agree on 3-year rpm limit rules
 

Lower rpms will make your engines last longer.
I'm not sure less money will be spent on engine development.
If I cant spin it as fast, I would be looking for a way to make more power.

Re: Usac: Midget sanctions agree on 3-year rpm limit rules
 

Nice to see 3 groups get together on something.

I couldn't agree more.

Amen, Brother!

Thats the only positive. The rule itself is stupid and will do nothing to better the sport. But atleast 3 sanctions now have the stupid rule.

Apparantly limiting rules to essentially only allowing a 40 year old engine platform is good, but too many RPMs bad. Maybe if we actually bring engine rules in line with modern day technology, the rpms may not be such an issue.

Re: Usac: Midget sanctions agree on 3-year rpm limit rules
 

It's nice there is a still a market for those that had engines from that time frame....There are PLENTY of places to run "modern day" 2.4s & 1000s in series deemed as "midget" classes...

Re: Usac: Midget sanctions agree on 3-year rpm limit rules
 

No one with a mag ever had a DNF cause their battery went bad...!

Re: Usac: Midget sanctions agree on 3-year rpm limit rules
 

Are you kidding Jason? Magneto failure was the biggest cause of midget DNF's for years. 4 cylinder vibrations killed them. You had to have three units, one on the engine, one in the trailer and one at the repair shop. They were not cheap and neither was the repairs.

Mike Devin

Yeah, but their Battery wasn't dead! Lol

And now the biggest cause of DNF's is MSD boxes going bad.
Shoot in NASCAR they have two mounted in the car because they fail so often.

Limiting th RPM's was one of the biggest screw ups USAC implimented in a long time. Made so many engines underpreform, and thus made them obsolete.

My point is not eliminating or not allowing current engines, but to have less rules in hopez that inspires innovation and growth in midget racing. My underlying point is midget racing is essentially trying to survive on rules and platforms that are decades old, and as such are near extinction. Nobody has wanted to except change and now look where we are. Innovation creates more efficiency and lower costs, whereas stubborness, refusal to accept new ideas creates higher costs because the resources become limited do to less availability. Everyone in the midget arena can complain about costs but they have no ine to blame but themselves.

Re: Usac: Midget sanctions agree on 3-year rpm limit rules
 

Did anyone else notice that the newly revised POWRi rules that include the RPM limits also added the Honda K24 at 2533cc to match USAC? I honestly thought this was the bigger news. As the rules are currently written, you have a couple of 'outlaw 2.4' (for lack of a better term) options in POWRi now.

Maybe, just maybe when the Honda/USAC deal finally collapses under it's own weight (how long will Honda pay to watch Toyota park it week in and week out?) then we will see a wide-open 2.4/2.5 or so production based OEM block and head rule.

This is the only path to sanity imo. Yes it will still be expensive, but putting together an oem block and head has to be cheaper than cutting one out of billet.