My lad was racing in minimax, and like JohnM we didn't enjoy the experience. The clamps are one of the big issues. Yes, you do up the standard clamps as tight as possible. However, not all clamps are the same. On Saturday afternoon using std otk clamps our nose cone failed just driving into the wind.
Purely by chance of course, Mills/Kartune and all the other suppliers on site had large stocks of better clamps. I'm pleased they did but a bit of warning would have been nice. These did work better, but when done up tight stretched and came loose after a session or 2. We got through 6 clamps, and still our nosecone moved twice. First time someone spun in the hairpin and with nowhere to go there was a little bit of contact. 2nd time someone cut across the front and drove over the nose. The nosecone wasn't damaged in either case but it was enough contact to dislodge it.
Basically with these brackets karting has become a totally non contact sport. In some ways that's good. The starts were much better, no loading, no contact, no red flags, no injuries. For the first time in months we did a whole meeting at PFI without new rear bumper bolts.
However, if anybody touches your nosecone it's an instant 10 place penalty. At the moment going off the track and bouncing over the grass carries a greater penalty than being called in the office and found guilty of gaining an unfair advantage. There are many circumstances where the nosecone can be dislodged without the driver doing anything wrong, and this is the first time I can think of where a significant penalty is applied for any wrong doing being proven.
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