ROTAX MAX
MYTHS
Rotax is far and away the most popular karting engine in the world. BRP Rotax, the manufacturer, recently passed the
50,000 mark for the Rotax Max series of engines and has produced in excess of 6,000,000 engines across its entire engine range.
Why are these engines so popular and why are there so many myths surrounding Rotax engines in Australia?
The following series of articles with technical material sourced directly from BRP Rotax in
Austria (and tested in Australia) will hopefully dispel the myths and provide interesting and useful technical information to benefit current and potential Rotax owners.
B
RP Rotax is a more than 80 year old company and the
Austrian affiliate of
Bombardier Recreational
Products Inc. (BRP). It is a leader in the development and production of innovative 2 and
4 stroke high performance
Rotax® engines for BRP products
(Ski Doo® and Lynx® snowmobiles, Sea Doo® watercraft and sport boats, Can
AmP quads and roadsters) as well as for motorcycles, karts, ultra light and light aircraft. Over the past 50 years, the company has developed more than 350 engine models for recreational products and has produced more than six million engines.
COPYRIGHT © 2008 INTERNATIONAL KARTING DISTRIBUTORS
Rotax BRP involvement in karting started in the 1980's when the company produced high performance Rotax 100cc engines.
In 1988 Rotax engines took nine of the top ten positions in the CIK World Karting
Championship
Several of today's F1 drivers including Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Giorgio Pantano,
Anthony Davidson and Robert Kubica started their racing careers in karts, using Rotax engines. Locally, karting legends Troy Hunt and Mark Winterbottom (to name only two) have campaigned Rotax engines.
Based on this experience Rotax introduced the Rotax 125 MAX in 1997, with the Rotax 125
Junior MAX following in 2001.
In 2002 Rotax stopped producing its range of 100cc engines