Well the Champcar/Rotax National Karting Championships are over, we made it
back safe and sound and quite exhausted. This was a real learning experience
for the two of us. The most apt description is that we brought a knife to a
gun fight. The track was pretty technical and quite narrow so passing was a
challenge for everyone. Consequently, there were many passing moves that went
awry!
Most of the major kart manufactures had their transporters and teams there. I
guess the most memorable sight I saw was in the Tony Kart tent. There was a
four wheeled stand, approximately 5 long and 3 wide. Along the length of the
stand on both sides and with two levels, were rails that accommodated the
placement of an engine. The stand was full of engines, about 20 or so! They
had an engine dyno, as well. Who knows how many spare carbs they had tucked
away.
We did our best with what we had though. We found it difficult to get the
jetting correct, as did many others. Just couldnt get the engine to rev past
12.1k (normal ideal rpm is around 12.8k) . So our lap times were about .5 to 1
second off the pace. Unfortunately, it wasnt till midway through the heat
races that I finally talked to someone that had a solution to our dilemma. So
Jake qualified 26th out of 52. Not bad considering what/who we were racing
against and not having a properly running engine.
After qualifying, they split us into 4 groups. Those 4 groups would then race
each other in 3 heat races. We would start each heat race in row 9 of 12. The
first heat race, Jake is doing well, making some passes. There was a right 90
degree, sweeping downhill turn, that lead onto the straightaway. A kart that
was following him passes him going into that turn. Jake makes a classic late
apex inside move to retake and got a great launch off the turn. The other kart
runs a bit wide on exit and begins moving back to the middle of the track. By
this time Jake is almost side by side attempting the re-pass. The two touch
wheels and Jake goes airborne, lands on the right side of the other kart,
which spins into the barriers and almost hits the start/finish track marshal.
Jake continues on, as does the other kart-eventually. Evidently the starter
was a little upset at almost being hit and black flags Jake. His explanation
was Jake tried to push the other kid off the track. That, of course (grin), is
not what I saw, nor what others I spoke to, saw. But evidently, the course
workers call could not be questioned so the first heat race was done and we
had max points going into the next heat (fewer points = better finish
position). A side note, it turns out that the other kid was David Hobbs
(Speed Channel F1 announcer and former F1 driver) grandson!
That occurrence pretty well sealed our fate to make it into the final. There
was, however, the LCQ race still to go but we had place 6th or better. The
other two heat races went much better but after getting dinged for the black
flag, Jake was a bit hesitant to make aggressive passes which is what was
needed on this track. For the LCQ, we finally had a better carb setting and so
we were beginning to get the engine to rev. About halfway through the race,
Jake was in 11th and moving up when several karts tangled in a turn. He was
collected by a spinning kart and his race and the weekend was done.
Im very proud of the way Jake handled himself all weekend. He kept a positive
attitude and kept trying to improve his driving at each outing.
I know we learned a lot. Mostly I learned not to come to one of these with out
an experienced tuner/mechanic!
Pete
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