First kart race of the season on Saturday @ Infineon

[Justin B]

Well guys, its that time of year again when I hop in the seat of my kart :)

Last year in November was my first road race and I took home two 1st places, but just barely. I guess working at the track and knowing it helps a lot though too and Im glad I didnt stack anything cause I am pretty balls out from the get go. Three more races as being a "Novice" which really I am not. Whatever though, might give some people a little bit of fear to pass me ;)

I dunno, im just all sorts of excited for this again. Im leaving in the morning to be gone till Saturday night.

Wish me good luck if you're into that kinda thing, as I'm pretty sure I'll need it. Field of karts wont be so big in my class as November, but the fastest of them will always be there. In the video below, the kart #71 (at 0:48 ) is the regional champ, later caught and passed me then we were back and forth a while till some stupid novice spun him.

I have a few pictures uploaded here --

http://photobucket.com/albums/v207/norcal02/Karting/

Helmet cam video I think I posted here a while ago too. First lap of Heat 1 of Race 2.

http://media.putfile.com/Karting-at-Infineon-Raceway---My-helmetcam

Start seems a little unfair... I did as good of a job as I could with my gear ratio. The karts I passed immediately were geared for a sprint track I think...Very fast acceleration but no top speed and were out of the main powerband just as I was entering it. Anyways, at :10 they started to pull away, so I strated to accelerate without any "go" then at :14 sort of caught them, lifted for a half second and punched it since the green had already been waved for the guys up front. Whatever...

Best lap time: 1:56.0something
Top speed: ~95mph+ in the draft
Engine speed: 14k in the draft

Good times. Later :D

[cgregory]

125cc shifter? I'm jealous...I haven't raced in over a year:(

[Justin B]

Not a shifter...just a TAG Parilla Leopard but a Stock Moto would be nice to drive in November (Non points race). It is 125cc's though. Close to an 80cc shifter. You have a kart or do you mean autoxing your M3? :) Either would be awesome anyway imo.

[e304me]

you only spin your leopard to 14? i see over 16 no problem. Thats just at the end of the straight though, but maybe you could get some better gearing?

I just started midway through the season last year, best i did was qualify 3rd. I need to get going this year i guess!!

[Justin B]

Awesome man, where are you from? Hey about the RPM's though, thats about what they make peak power at, the rest of it at least road racing is just making a lot of noise, and keeping within a more concentrated RPM range in the power band (9-14 rather than for example 11-16 or 17) actually works out to be faster on big courses. Sprint racing however, which I do as well, is all about stringing out the motors to their bitter ragged edge at 17ish like you mention. You're right there, just RR'ing is just a completely different ball of wax. The extreemly high rpms in sprint racing are OK because the drag of air isnt as much of a factor for extended periods at that RPM where it wont pull quite as hard, and is therefore tuned more for the middle speed stuff and even slow parts on the kart track at infineon will be 8-9k bogging a little. Stringing 16k on the straight is required so the bogging wont be as bad in the slow parts. Took me a little adjustment to as well, seemed a little counter productive even, but it works so Im not going to argue :)

Gear ratio is 16/78 :o lol
You do make a good point though as I just remembered that the guy who I beat by about 2 feet was running a 16/84. He would ALWAYS get me coming out of the slow speed stuff like Turn 11 but with my faster ratio I'd pull away in any fast part of the track, and he was making just a ton of noise not going nearly as fast probably turning another 1 or 2k more rpm than I was. I'll sacrifice T11 if im faster everywhere else :)

[2002maniac]

Damn, I need to get back into karting. It is so much fun!

[Simon S]

Thanks for posting the vid.

Was like watching someone play Mario Cart.
(only without mushrooms and bananas on the track)

That looks seriously, hella fun.

* jealous *

[Simon S]

speaking of Mario Kart.. .

[cgregory]

Not a shifter...just a TAG Parilla Leopard but a Stock Moto would be nice to drive in November (Non points race). It is 125cc's though. Close to an 80cc shifter. You have a kart or do you mean autoxing your M3? :) Either would be awesome anyway imo.

Kart...I've got a CRG Heron w/ a TM 125. Keep us updated on how you do...

[Justin B]

Nice selection :) I have a CRG (Kali) too, obviously I guess by the pictures.

I hope my luck turns around this weekend, weather has been getting better for Saturday in the forecast, but I lost my dads keys for the truck and camper shell on the sprint track some time during work. Im posting from my boss's office right now after work. Maybe it is though, as my 'rents have one spare key for the truck itself and somehow the camper was unlocked, sweet.

If I dont find them though, there's several hundred more dollars spent this weekend that I really didnt want to. Remote + one of those stupid new keys with the chip/code in them. Apparently I need both keys to make a spare, otherwise they need to hook it up to some computer. Lame.

Off to go search in mud and grass! lol.. =(