Adam,
I believe you are making a great choice for racing here in the northwest. There are times that I would like to try a Rotax or even a shifter, however, the most joy I get from this sport is awesome wheel to wheel racing and I think that the best racing in the northwest is our WF Heavy class. We have multiple (like 4 or more...) national champions in our class that really know how to drive. The competition is intense. If you win in this class, then you really know how to drive.
For the last several years we have had a total of about 50 different people that have competed in our class in a given year. On an average club race weekend, we expect to have around 20 guys every time. No matter where you are skill level wise, you are guaranteed to be racing someone. Can't get that in a shifter class.
As for the karts, I don't know much about shifter chassis. I do know that they tend to be stiffer than what most of us run in the WF class and that could make tuning them to run with our lower power a challenge. The rotax is often attached to our style of karts in other places so I would think it would be more likely to be successful.
Other than that, it is like you said, remove the front brakes, remove the third bearing in the back, learn how to change split gears (takes some practice), get the spec tires and weight up to 390+ and you are good to go.
We are friendly bunch, so don't hesitate to ask questions. See you at the track.
Cheers, Mark
_________________ Mark Westcott
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