Hey guys! I am a kart racing driver racing in a 125 two stroke series. Our engines are all sealed and standardized, so no tuning allowed! Now of course, like many racing series that claim to be equal, it's a load of bs. There's definitely a performance advantage in some engines and other components. Something that I noticed is that a lot of performance can be found in the exhaust. Specifically, a lot of the big teams have exhausts that just sound "off". They sound a lot more hollow, metallic and sometimes they sound like they're leaking. Often these exhausts are the most beat up things imaginable, rusty and crusty beyond all hell. A story goes that the big teams intentionally let their exhausts rust and oxidize by just letting them sit outside in the rain for a few months. Another theory is that they somehow sand blast their exhausts from the inside. That's all just theories, no hard evidence. I'm just a driver, not really big on how to gain performance in two stroke in ways like this. So what do you two stroke experts think? I'm curious to hear your opinion!
Are the engines randomized or do you rent or purchase one from a builder?
this is a reach... but it may have something to do with a created boundary layer due to the surface being rough. can NOT say as ive ever heard of this applied to an exhaust though. but, i could see it being possibly feasible? interesting for sure.
Sounds more like they rust them to hide the fact that they are modified and are illegal. What? That rusty thing over there. nah. Of course it's legal....
Perhaps its due to frequent de-coking with chemicals?
The Aprilia RSA 125 chaps used to decoke between each test session on the bench, if you read Jan Thiel / Frits Overmars threads on pit-lane.biz.