BURTON MAGNUM KART
Invader's first cousin
Rich Burton, arguably one of the best engine builders/tuners of the 60's & 70's. Rich was the engine man for Manteca Motor Sales (MMS) from the late 60's to early 70's. Not too long after being on as one of the developers of the first Invader karts Rich left MMS to build his own chassis line, the Magnum. The kart got its name through a contest in which the wife of Al Nunley of Mayko Products won. Mayko Products also supplied fuel tanks for the Magnum kart. The Burton Magnum kart shares the basic chassis design of the early Invaders. In fact, most people that come across a Magnum misidentify it as an Invader. The items to look for that are different from the Invader are the spindles, rear bearing hangers, steering hoop, and the front bumper attaches to the lower part of spindle. Magnum karts developed a very good reputation as a great handling kart and were driven by Lynn Haddock and many other top drivers of the day. Information on the Magnum is limited but here's some advertising and magazine articles I have been able to find on the Magnum Kart. According to the information I have found, Magnum's were produced from 1977 to 1980. After 1980, CKS produced a Magnum copy named the CKS Pro kart.
1977 MAGNUM, beautifully restored by Robert Cain of Indiana.
BURTON MAGNUM / CKS PRO KART
Some information from Tab Bell. Tab was the chassis welder for Rich Burton from Oct 78 until Magnum production ceased. Emerson Dismore of Comet kart Sales received approval from Burton to reproduce copies the Magnum kart and contracted with Coyote Racing Chassis to build them. The new Magnum clone chassis was named the CKS Pro kart.
I think I can add a few things that I remember that might help chassis ID. I started welding Rich's chassis in October '78 when I first opened my business.
Rich had already changed the front bumper to mount on top of the axle with two tabs instead of mounting under the kingpin bolt.
Also, the small lower bumper was tilted up an inch to accommodate push starting a direct drive better.
Through most of '79, the rear axle had the three bearing design with 1/2" angle iron braces welded at the top between the two bearing hangers. I'm not sure if the Magnums had these braces from the beginning though.
I also welded the same piece of tubing (used to hold the throttle rod) to the short cross member between the two rails as a chain adjuster. (Rich tapped the hole to 5/16-18 after powder coating during assembly.
Sometime late '79 or early '80 Rich went to a two bearing design, and the inside rail was bent toward and welded to the outside (main) frame rail at the front. (for twin rail motor mount purposes)
At some point towards the end of the run (sometime in '80) Rich stopped using the special left side one piece bearing/brake hanger. Instead he used the same bearing hanger on both right and left sides, and used two 5" vertical pieces of 3/16 x 1" flat bar welded to the cross member with the caliper mounting between them. This way the brake caliper wouldn't torque on the hanger.
Magnums, until the last few months, had their nice front seat mounts, but later he used spindle hangers cut in half for the front seat mounts.
When CKS copied his kart, Rich wasn't so bothered, but he told Diz he couldn't use the name Magnum on them.
The CKS Pro kart can easily be identified by the three bolt bearing flange, on the Magnum the flange mounts two bolts on top, the CKS Pro mounts one bolt on top. The throttle guide on the Magnum uses a tube welded on the right rail to guide the throttle rod. The CKS uses a tab to guide the throttle rod. The lower front bumper is flat on the CKS Pro, the Magnum is angled up 1 inch. The pedal bushings are mounted on top of lower front bumper on CKS Pro kart, they are mounted below on the Magnum.
Some information from Tab Bell. Tab was the chassis welder for Rich Burton from Oct 78 until Magnum production ceased. Emerson Dismore of Comet kart Sales received approval from Burton to reproduce copies the Magnum kart and contracted with Coyote Racing Chassis to build them. The new Magnum clone chassis was named the CKS Pro kart.
I think I can add a few things that I remember that might help chassis ID. I started welding Rich's chassis in October '78 when I first opened my business.
Rich had already changed the front bumper to mount on top of the axle with two tabs instead of mounting under the kingpin bolt.
Also, the small lower bumper was tilted up an inch to accommodate push starting a direct drive better.
Through most of '79, the rear axle had the three bearing design with 1/2" angle iron braces welded at the top between the two bearing hangers. I'm not sure if the Magnums had these braces from the beginning though.
I also welded the same piece of tubing (used to hold the throttle rod) to the short cross member between the two rails as a chain adjuster. (Rich tapped the hole to 5/16-18 after powder coating during assembly.
Sometime late '79 or early '80 Rich went to a two bearing design, and the inside rail was bent toward and welded to the outside (main) frame rail at the front. (for twin rail motor mount purposes)
At some point towards the end of the run (sometime in '80) Rich stopped using the special left side one piece bearing/brake hanger. Instead he used the same bearing hanger on both right and left sides, and used two 5" vertical pieces of 3/16 x 1" flat bar welded to the cross member with the caliper mounting between them. This way the brake caliper wouldn't torque on the hanger.
Magnums, until the last few months, had their nice front seat mounts, but later he used spindle hangers cut in half for the front seat mounts.
When CKS copied his kart, Rich wasn't so bothered, but he told Diz he couldn't use the name Magnum on them.
The CKS Pro kart can easily be identified by the three bolt bearing flange, on the Magnum the flange mounts two bolts on top, the CKS Pro mounts one bolt on top. The throttle guide on the Magnum uses a tube welded on the right rail to guide the throttle rod. The CKS uses a tab to guide the throttle rod. The lower front bumper is flat on the CKS Pro, the Magnum is angled up 1 inch. The pedal bushings are mounted on top of lower front bumper on CKS Pro kart, they are mounted below on the Magnum.
1980 Burton Magnum
Owner: Mark Bray
Restoration Progress
This 1980 Magnum chassis was one of the last Burton Magnums and was built for the 1980 Professional Karting Association (PKA) race in Medford Oregon. As can be seen by the photo's this isn't your ordinary Magnum, according to Tab Bell (Rich Burton's chassis fabricator), this chassis utilized a front torsion bar for additional stiffness and the second crossmember was moved aft and two bearing were added to keep axle flex to a minimum. Both the front torsion bar and rear bar are Magnum front axles reoriented to their specific location. We'll be watching Mark's Facebook posts for more progress updates.
|
|
|
Magazine Article & Advertisements
Reference Pictures
