I'm certainly not the lightest. There are quite a few that are lighter than me. I"m just a normal average healthy guy. Bob, I usually agree with you on most things but we will have to agree to disagree on this This year was the first year there was a combination car and driver weight, it worked all them other years and there have been big guy champions. In the minisprints,i guess it will take a weight coming off and causing a disaster before they reconsider, i doubt there are many younger kids that parents want to have to bolt on 150 lbs just to race. Three years ago, they weighed all the TQ's and the one I was driving weighed in as the absolute heaviest and had a steel rear axle and an Economy motor and we still ran top 3 every race. It must have been those genes he was talking about because it sure wasn't from being light. This year we finished second 6 times to the same guy that was 30 lbs lighter, but we dont make up excuses like weight as to why we get beat. He would have won even if he was 30 lbs heavier. I'm not going to beat this thread down but hope the guy has good luck bolting on 150 lbs to a minisprint. The top two winning drivers in TQ's this year are over 100 lbs different, amazing how the one could be one of the winningest drivers being at a 20-30 horsepower disadvantage due to his weight, according to your calculations. I'm done here

I agree with you to a certain extent, Nick, this was the first year for a combined wt, however, in the past, almost everyone's car weighed over the minimum, and most of the drivers were as you say, of normal weight, that's why we went to a car, and driver weight, it's a universal way, of making the playing field a little bit more even, yes, we had guys with total weights of under 800 lbs, and we also had guys with weights over 950lbs, but their cars weighed almost the same, so you need a balance somewhere, and as was done, all the cars and drivers were weighed, and the average taken, and it came out at 883, so the decision was made to make it 850, give a little, take a little. Weight may not make that much difference, but it's at least a standard, that everyone must meet, same with engine rules, or like being pregnant, you can't be just a little bit, you either are, or not. Having a minimum wt, at least makes one factor the same, how much money one wants to spend, to get that added Hp, you can't control, at least in practice, how one drives a car, how well, or how poorly, how they take care of the equipment, and much help they have, how close they work together, how much of a Team they have, isn't something that you can even out, but you can make everyone follow the same rules on engine displacement, and the weight of the total package, then it's up to luck, and the driver, and how well the car is prepared, and several of the player's have this option, I don't, my driver is 70 miles away, at minimum, and usually farther than that, by at least a few States, or even a couple of countrys, but we see each other just before practice, and do what we can, and I think for what we have, we do pretty darned well. See ya this Spring, maybe, if someone gets off their hands, and tells us what the new year will bring, we can't be left til a few weeks before the first race, and have anything ready, they should be letting us know now, or at least by the middle of December, really, it should have all been done by banquet time, so everyone starts from the green flag, we can't be working on anything yet, because we haven't been informed of anything that may or may not change, I'm not big on planning, but when it's about racing, people need some lead time, to be able to put things together, you can't just pick up a phone, and have parts the next day, in most cases, and in this economy, it takes a lot of shopping, to get what you need, at a price you can afford. As I've said before, if you ask me a question, you'll get an answer, if it ain't what you want to hear, you got how I felt, no unanswered questions. Bob!

Thanks guys!! I got some good info and sure needed it. wasn't trying to ruffle feathers just need some honest suggestions. Didn't get wrong car.... just a Good car! We will do our best and give it a try. If we cant make weight, then we cant make weight. Not going to mess up a good car by try to bolt on the kitchen sink to race.
But again, thanks for all the input, we appreciate it!!!!!

Yes, sounds like the car is about an average weight, for a mini, but you'll have to be very creative as to how you add the weight, I think you can even get lead in thick hollow tubes, which would come in handy, or make a mold, and pour your own, I'd use new stuff, plumbing shops, and some hardware stores still carry it, used stuff may be out of battery's, or used as a shield for something you don't want to be around, course if your well heeled enough, you could use tungsten, it's about half again heavier than lead, so it would take less room, I don't know how expensive it is, but it might be cheaper in the long run, they tell me, guys that shoot skeet, that it's getting pretty high, one guy is getting 6 bucks on Ebay, just for the empty bags. Good luck, and enjoy! Ruffled feathers are just a part of it. Bob

BOB a bare midget or mini sprint chassis weighs 145 to 150 lbs with all tabs and braces in place. My front axil is 45" long X .120" thick. I can't afford a Ti frame. We race for the "FUN OF IT". I would think that anybody with a lick of sense should say the same thing. My race car is also "BIG BONED" but it is the best one for us. I could get rid of 15 to 20 lbs by going with lighter bottom rail and lighter braces but my kid is driving the thing. He could loose 30 lbs. but that ain't as easy as skinny people think it is: and we are still racing for fun. As far as that old KYRON he would still be with you all if you would have let him keep his old Konigs and chains drives. As a matter of fact it would be nice for you guys would take up a collection to give us for keeping him out of your hair.

Back in the day of the Crosley and Honda good engines were a bit harder to find. Today we get on EBAY snd buy a motor for much less money than you can even freshen up your old motor. My motor with all the gears weighs about 125 lbs. Valve covers engine covers and any thing that bolts on to the motor is made of magnesium. The valves are Ti right from the factory. My engine with it tranny and clutch is lighter than an old cut down 836.

I understand you think out of the box but if you looked around you could find that these engines have improved 200% sinse the late 90's. Maybe the old ways of doing things is getting out dated. Now the mini sprinters or lightning sprint people are wanting to go to quickchange rear ends. What will they think of next. Maybe some day soon we can call ourselves 7/8 midgets.

DAD

---------- Post added at 2:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 2 PM ----------

Just a couple of old guys letting go with their feeling's. I can guarantee you will have fun racing mini sprints, I have for almost 20 years or so.
(couldn't afford TQ's) and really did not see a very level playing field racing with them at the time.

We have been all over the country with these things and have run across very few people we did not really enjoy racing with. Get that thing up to weight and get out there and have fun because you are not going to get rich doing it. If you get to Indiana look me up.

DAD, let me run this by ya one more time, I DON'T run a Honda, haven't for 6 yrs or so, I been running a YZF600R Yamaha, not the R6, it doesn't have enought stroke, to get these things off the turns with the old Honda's. I buy them in pieces off Ebay, a head here, a case there, a crank somewhere else, a set of rods, a set of pistons, a cylinder, and off I go, about 3-400 bucks, and some machine time, and I got a race engine, that little motor has made me a lot of money, and it took at least 30lbs off the front end of the car. I run a 45" X 1 1/2" .120 wall axle, midget spindles and hubs, all the good stuff, plus a full midget Winters rear end, and drive shaft and torque tube, my chassis is all 1 1/4" X .095 CM 4130, the diag bracing is either 3/4 or 7/8, depending on where it is, and the chassis with tabs and pans weighs about 110lbs. That size tube, weighs 1.045 lbs per ft, and there is about 15 more ft of tube in a midget, or less, so we're about on the same page there. My 600R also has Titainium valves in it from the factory, and the rods are good for way more R's than we need, pistons are forged, from the factory, they are still in production, you can walk into any Yamaha shop across the country, and ride one out. The old Honda's are still very plentyfull, you still see a lot of "donor's" on the road every summer, but it just costs so much for the after market rods, cams, pistons and stuff that you have to have, to keep them going. We have a few guys, getting away from the Honda, and most are having good luck, the Triumph Daytona, the modern version, is a heck of a motor, but being a 3 cyl, it's a bit awkward to wrap your mind around, but it's good, and it has a long stroke, and good upper end also, the 600 Suzuki doesn't perform that well, or the 600 Kaw, or Honda 600's, no stroke=no torque, but my 600R performs as well on the small tracks, as it does the big ones, so I've got at least 8 of them, some just bought parts, I think I have 3 complete, and don't have the price of a set of rods for a Honda in all of them. I had the last TQ that Ron ran, with the Konig in it, in fact, I still have the motor plate, that it was mounted to, I bought the car off Dwenger, after they put a Honda in it, and Ron still was spanking their butts. They never ever considered, it might be the driver, not the Konig!! Have a good day! Bob!

BOB CLICK ON THAT aed and see what you get.

Sorry about that, it's www.aedmotorsports.com, just a little error! Bob!

Almost gave me a heart attack!

Ron's boys are the same way.

I have been the torque thing for a long time with r6's. On a track like Madison we would run about 15.5 to 1. If you get enough rpm's and keep her up on the power band you can do it without torque. Can you get 15.5 with your quick change. We ran 13.9 at Madison with the 1000cc car and were too high. The big problem with TQ's I see is getting the gear low enough to get these new engines over the hump. Do they allow reduction boxes ahead of the axil?

The r6 was one hell of a jump over your present motor. We were getting 120 hp + out of them (just need a hot box) at the last on Gasoline. They go for about $1000.00 on Ebay amd I am still running my 1999 motor once or twice a year, never had the head off still pumps 4-6%. We have been racing this motor since 2001. Change the oil and race the darned things I don't like to work as much as you.

I would like to see your creation some day maybe you could make one of Bill's TQ mini sprint combo races.

I'm trying to remember did we answer the question about adding weight to a mini sprint?

Bob,

This has been posted on the home page of the MTQRL website since before the banquet:

The MTQRL Rule Book is currently under review to clarify any ambiguous rules that may be present. There will be no rule changes for the 2012 season.

Greg is currently working on the schedule and as soon as it's finalized it will be posted. It is still very early to have the schedule released. There is no way that a schedule could have been released at the banquet. Very few organizations and/or tracks release their schedule before the first of the year.

As soon as we have any information we will post it.

Sandy