I heard they will be coming out in a few months,will have balanced shaft stopping all the brush and bearing failures,will be quicker than the current model and may carry a weight penalty?
Nathan is pretty much spot on. The X30 is the engine they use at the Leopard World Final, and is the updated version of the Leopard engine. As Nathan said, the balance shaft is the key upgrade, but there's a bunch of other stuff that Remo's all excited about and tells me every time I speak to him! :-)
The homologation process is through the first phase, so it's at the tech's now (which I think means they measure everything and compare to the drawings, and make sure they can test an engine's legality at the track). They're hoping to have it running in TaG and TaG Restricted by mid-year to start testing parity... Then look at introduction into the Leopard class from next year I think...
That answer your question?
cool thanks do you know if it will be the same price
I think it'll be a bit more... I think Remo said like 300 bucks or something? Don't quote me though!! That's only an edumacated guess from a brain that has been trying to remember too much in the last few days :-)
rris on April 6, 2009 at 21:14
Unfortunatly this will DE VALUE the price of second hand leopards i would imagine?
Hi Sabrina
You say that you are not phazing out the current Leopard ! Does this mean that you are going to still offer the current Leopard engine or will the X30 be the only Leopard engine available within a certain time frame ?
Sabrina Luciani said:Hi Nathan, thanks for your question, here is the letter we submitted to the AKA which is also available on the AKA website re the March conference, hope this helps for better understanding. Hope you continue to support Leopard.===========================================================Wednesday, 11th March 2009Australian Karting AssociationPO Box 4222,Penrith PlazaNSW 2751National Karting CouncilRE: Description of the request for homologation and its perspective within the AKA class structure.Dear Technical Committee/NKC/Executive,Further to the information submitted for the Leopard 125cc X30 engine, we would like to outline ourperspective for the X30 within the AKA class structure.The X30 has been developed from the lessons learnt with the current Leopard engine an d has beenmodernised to include a balance shaft, rev limiting and several other technical changes which are alldesigned to increase the life and reliability of the Leopard. The engine has been running for many yearsthroughout Europe and currently is used in the IAME International Challenge event. Australia has had twoRemo Racing backed teams compete in this endurance event for the past two years and have seen theengine in competition.From this exposure we are confident that the X30 has something to offer the Australian market and as suchwould like to put it forward on the following basis:* We are seeking approval to run the X30 Leopard engine in the Restricted 125 class.The testing has been conducted for this and the Technical Committee has fullaccess to this data for evaluation.* We are seeking approval to run the X30 Leopard engine in the TAG 125 class.* The data that we gather from in-competition use of the engine will help determine the future direction for the Leopard class but we would at this stage envisage that the X30 Leopard will be eligible for use in the current Leopard class in 2010 (not eligible for State and National Championships).* Once the above evaluation period has been completed we would then look at having the X30 eligible for State and National Championships in 2011. Parity may be an issue but this will be determined over the course of time.* We do not wish to phase out the current engine, just allow the two engines to run side by side, giving the competitors access to the latest technology. Over time the competitors will decide which engine they prefer.Yours Sincerely,Remo LucianiDirector / Remo Racing==============================================================
Hi Sabrina,
Can you and Remo ask the Techies to hurry up!!! I'm haning to get a run with one of these!!!
Cheers
Phil
" Over time the competitors will decide which engine they prefer." Which means that if the new engine is faster, you will be forced to buy a new one. YES......they mean to phase out the current engine.
I'm not buying this ...... the X30 is a more reliable and quicker engine (otherwise why the need for additional weight parity) I applaude Remo for trying to offer a better alternative but I reckon it needs to be a bit more transparent.......
Sabrina Luciani said:Hi Steve,That's not our meaning at all. What we mean by that is that we are going to have parity by weight.The driver that is very light weight 55kg or 65kg will choose the engine that would have to carry the least weight, and the budget because the Leopard X30 engine will always be $500 to $600 dearer than the Leopard RL.Sab
TAG 125 & TAG R already have fiddle factors for parity and a multi engine choice
Leopard Class has its own following anyways as does Rotax
Anything that is more reliable/cheaper long term to run must be good for karters - No??
Ernie
So what your saying is running the leopard and the x30 together or am i wrong lol :) ?
Not currently racing Leopard Sabrina but I have two engines still which I was concerned about the future value !
Comments12
rris on April 5, 2009 at 19:36
I heard they will be coming out in a few months,will have balanced shaft stopping all the brush and bearing failures,will be quicker than the current model and may carry a weight penalty?
Nathan is pretty much spot on. The X30 is the engine they use at the Leopard World Final, and is the updated version of the Leopard engine. As Nathan said, the balance shaft is the key upgrade, but there's a bunch of other stuff that Remo's all excited about and tells me every time I speak to him! :-)
The homologation process is through the first phase, so it's at the tech's now (which I think means they measure everything and compare to the drawings, and make sure they can test an engine's legality at the track). They're hoping to have it running in TaG and TaG Restricted by mid-year to start testing parity... Then look at introduction into the Leopard class from next year I think...
That answer your question?
cool thanks do you know if it will be the same price
I think it'll be a bit more... I think Remo said like 300 bucks or something? Don't quote me though!! That's only an edumacated guess from a brain that has been trying to remember too much in the last few days :-)
rris on April 6, 2009 at 21:14
Unfortunatly this will DE VALUE the price of second hand leopards i would imagine?
Hi Sabrina
You say that you are not phazing out the current Leopard ! Does this mean that you are going to still offer the current Leopard engine or will the X30 be the only Leopard engine available within a certain time frame ?
Sabrina Luciani said:Hi Nathan, thanks for your question, here is the letter we submitted to the AKA which is also available on the AKA website re the March conference, hope this helps for better understanding. Hope you continue to support Leopard.===========================================================Wednesday, 11th March 2009Australian Karting AssociationPO Box 4222,Penrith PlazaNSW 2751National Karting CouncilRE: Description of the request for homologation and its perspective within the AKA class structure.Dear Technical Committee/NKC/Executive,Further to the information submitted for the Leopard 125cc X30 engine, we would like to outline ourperspective for the X30 within the AKA class structure.The X30 has been developed from the lessons learnt with the current Leopard engine an d has beenmodernised to include a balance shaft, rev limiting and several other technical changes which are alldesigned to increase the life and reliability of the Leopard. The engine has been running for many yearsthroughout Europe and currently is used in the IAME International Challenge event. Australia has had twoRemo Racing backed teams compete in this endurance event for the past two years and have seen theengine in competition.From this exposure we are confident that the X30 has something to offer the Australian market and as suchwould like to put it forward on the following basis:* We are seeking approval to run the X30 Leopard engine in the Restricted 125 class.The testing has been conducted for this and the Technical Committee has fullaccess to this data for evaluation.* We are seeking approval to run the X30 Leopard engine in the TAG 125 class.* The data that we gather from in-competition use of the engine will help determine the future direction for the Leopard class but we would at this stage envisage that the X30 Leopard will be eligible for use in the current Leopard class in 2010 (not eligible for State and National Championships).* Once the above evaluation period has been completed we would then look at having the X30 eligible for State and National Championships in 2011. Parity may be an issue but this will be determined over the course of time.* We do not wish to phase out the current engine, just allow the two engines to run side by side, giving the competitors access to the latest technology. Over time the competitors will decide which engine they prefer.Yours Sincerely,Remo LucianiDirector / Remo Racing==============================================================
Hi Sabrina,
Can you and Remo ask the Techies to hurry up!!! I'm haning to get a run with one of these!!!
Cheers
Phil
" Over time the competitors will decide which engine they prefer." Which means that if the new engine is faster, you will be forced to buy a new one. YES......they mean to phase out the current engine.
I'm not buying this ...... the X30 is a more reliable and quicker engine (otherwise why the need for additional weight parity) I applaude Remo for trying to offer a better alternative but I reckon it needs to be a bit more transparent.......
Sabrina Luciani said:Hi Steve,That's not our meaning at all. What we mean by that is that we are going to have parity by weight.The driver that is very light weight 55kg or 65kg will choose the engine that would have to carry the least weight, and the budget because the Leopard X30 engine will always be $500 to $600 dearer than the Leopard RL.Sab
TAG 125 & TAG R already have fiddle factors for parity and a multi engine choice
Leopard Class has its own following anyways as does Rotax
Anything that is more reliable/cheaper long term to run must be good for karters - No??
Ernie
So what your saying is running the leopard and the x30 together or am i wrong lol :) ?
Not currently racing Leopard Sabrina but I have two engines still which I was concerned about the future value !