Rotax Tuning - air pressure etc?

Greetings! Getting ready to pick up my first open wheel car- a 1994 KBS mk7. Excited but know I'm going to have tons of questions ;)

Can someone point me toward a tuning guide for the 494?

Are there any good f500 resources or knowledge bases online?

Someone here mentioned using an air density meter and an appropriate chart..jetting etc--these are all new to me.

Will probably be autocrossing it for the most part and want to get it running the best I can. Wondering about what other tweaks to look into for car setup to make it as quick as possible. Thankfully there's someone in my region with a bit of experience that will be helping me get acquainted with the vehicle..

Look forward to it!
Ben

My suggestion would be to simply go out to a few races and see what really matters to you when it comes to the tuning portion of these cars. Some people (like me) will say that unless you know the clutching you dont stand a chance at winning at the top level. Others will say its all in the handling and so on. Go out to a race that you know a group of top level F5s will be at and see what they do. You will find that some of the things that you may or may not have thought of as being important is actually the other way around. Theres a good bit of basic tuning books that will explain things for you as well if you wanted to go that route. The AAEN carb tuning and AAEN clutch tuning handbooks are cheap and easy to get. Depending on your strengths, you may just want to throw your carb setup, clutch setup, and where youre located in the U.S. on this site. People thats been running in the class for a while can tell you if this is safe or not.This will ensure that you go out onto the track track with a "safe" setup. It might not be as fast as it could be, but it will give you alot better shot at making it around the track without blowing the motor(carbs) or being passed by a Vee in a straght line(clutching). Some guys, even the self proclaimed ones that write numerous posts about how the drivetrain is supposed to be tuned properly still run into the problems of motor and clutch tuning issues. If it were me and I were going with the two stroke cvt setup, I would go crew for some guys a couple of times before ever hitting the track. The "in person experience" is nothing short of priceless. Where do you live and what tracks do you plan on racing at? Theres alot of good people on this forum thats willing to help new guys out.

Ben,

Welcome to F500! As Clint stated, attending races is a great way to learn. There is also 2 F500 web forums: F500.us and Formula500.org. They both have a lot of good info. You will find a lot of great Rotax technical info at F500.us.

There is an F500 racer in Titusville named Al Sauerland. I'm sure he would be glad to help you out with anything. Just send me a PM with your info if you want me to put the two of you in contact. If possible, come to the Sebring race in January. There are usually 5-10 F500s competing at that race.

Cory

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MrVaper

Greetings! Getting ready to pick up my first open wheel car- a 1994 KBS mk7. Excited but know I'm going to have tons of questions ;)

Can someone point me toward a tuning guide for the 494?

Are there any good f500 resources or knowledge bases online?

Someone here mentioned using an air density meter and an appropriate chart..jetting etc--these are all new to me.

Will probably be autocrossing it for the most part and want to get it running the best I can. Wondering about what other tweaks to look into for car setup to make it as quick as possible. Thankfully there's someone in my region with a bit of experience that will be helping me get acquainted with the vehicle..

Look forward to it!
Ben

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You will see on the main forum that Cory refers to - www.formula500.org/forum.php the different set up that is needed for autox versus road racing. Which way is this car set up? As you can see you have a lot of learning to do - both thru reading and experience. I lived in Jax, complements of Uncle Sam's Navy (Mayport) 1970-1975.

Jim
Been messing with these cars since 1982