KZ-R2 BY TM KART: THE LATEST EVOLUTION (CIK-FIA '23 HOMOLOGATION) TOTAL BLACK VERSION OF THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR SHIFTER ENGINE

Giacomo Mantovani

29 September 2024 • 23 min. read

125 cc

DISPLACEMENT
The KZ-R2 features a 54 mm bore for a 54,43 mm stroke and has a cylinder volume of 124,66 cm³.

TYPE
It is a 2-stroke engine, like the vast majority of racing-type kart engines. It is powered by a fuel mixture, with a recommended lubricating oil percentage of 4%.

PUSH

STARTER
The starter is not of the electric type. In fact to start the engine you have to put it in second gear when stationary and then push the kart for a very few meters in order to rotate the rear axle and start it up.

6 GEARS

TRANSMISSION
The KZ-R2 engine has a 6-speed sequential transmission, the same one used on its predecessor, the KZ-R1.

041-EZ-02

HOMOLOGATION
The engine was designed and built by TM Kart for the FIA Karting Shifter, KZ and KZ2 classes. Its international approval (which you can find here) ensures participation in all types of events that follow the CIK-FIA regulations (read more here “Dossier| FIA approvals: what they are, what they are for, how long they last... The ultimate guide!”).

Homologated in 2023, the KZ-R2 represents a milestone in TM history. This, in fact, is the first shifter engine under the TM Kart brand, the company - 100% committed to karting - born from the historic manufacturer TM Racing (read more in the dedicated section, below). It is no coincidence, then, that the fledgling factory wanted to “celebrate” its birth by marketing a new Shifter powerplant model, the market segment in which TM Racing has always been the undisputed leader, both in terms of international titles won and in terms of the spread of its products on a global scale. The KZ-R2 brings aesthetic and technical improvements and stands out for its advanced cooling and intake solutions, optimized to ensure excellent performance in a wide range of weather conditions, especially the hottest.

To discover and analyze all the details of the KZ-R2, identifying which are the new features and which, on the other hand, are the components borrowed from its predecessor KZ-R1 (an engine capable of collecting three KZ FIA Karting World Championships from 2019 to 2022, to learn more read “Under Review | TM Racing KZ-R1: the 2019 World Champion Kart shifter engine”), we went to TM Kart's new corporate headquarters, located in the city of Pesaro (about 360 km south of Milan). On this occasion, with the support of TM Kart technicians (including the historical tuner Franco Drudi) we had the opportunity to analyze the KZ-R2 in its “prepared” version called Total Black. Which differs, compared to the standard one, among other things for the complete joining of the cylinder, crankcase, all intake and exhaust lights and the preparation of the gearbox and crankshaft, on which the balance is refined more with a degree of precision below one hundredth of a millimeter.

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The KZ-R2 features a design with attention to every detail: from the choice of high-quality materials, to the precision mechanical design, which includes a robust structure with well-defined ribs and generous thicknesses in the mating parts. These aspects ensure a flawless fit, albeit with a view to weight containment, a crucial factor for a Racing-type product.

In 2023, the year of its debut on the race tracks of major international karting competitions, the KZ-R2 achieved excellent results. The new TM Kart powerplant was successfully employed by both Niels Tröger (Maranello SRP Factory Team), winner of the KZ2 FIA Karting World Cup, and Freddie Slater (Birel ART Racing Team) winner of the KZ2 FIA Karting European Championship.