Ok, this is really really long, so here's cliffnotes. Broke chassis in race 1. Borrowed friends "extra" chassis in race 2 and 3 with my motor, lost drive on first lap of race 2. Another friend hit me and wrecked hard into tires but is OK, but red flag came out. Bent my spindle, replaced it for the re-run of race 2. Won. Race 3 started pole again, and my motor started cutting out so I ended up 3rd, but 2nd overall between race 2 and 3 (heats 1 and 2).
Location - ThunderHill.
So, my first race of the day was a half hour long race. About mid way through it I got airborn coming back down from turn 5 when some idiot did a stupid move ahead of me. He parks it in just about every corner, and decided to try to pass someone coming down the hill, as I was already trying to pass him. Say it was halfway my fault, but jesus, he was going almost just jogging pace and knew I was right behind him. He had seen me go through that corner several times, and knew I was faster. C'mon man, dont be stupid. It's a wonderful passing spot, and I was about to take him back but I just couldnt get around him enough and ran over his LR tire. This sent me way off the track in the weeds, doing some agricultural racing. I made it back on the track, just wooding it all the way back, probably at least a good 50 feet away at the apex of my arch.
From there on, my kart didnt feel that great, it would pull to the right if I let off the wheel, and was much more nervous through the corners. I hoped it was just a bent spindle, tierod, rod end, something simple, but I couldn't see anything wrong while I was out there so I just kept racing. I was in 1st, and now I was in 3rd but I eventually did catch back up with the guy that I jumped. Damn, he really did take corners really slow, but he had a rotax (Different engine that typically has more top end on road courses) and would stay with me from my draft and pass on the straights. I ended up actually finishing behind him because of that, so 3rd place. Bullshit though, he couldnt drive for shit. He told me he was sorry about that turn that I got into him at, and also that he was freaked out a little when I was ahead of him piling into corners, sliding sometimes at 45 degrees. I find that slightly unlikely, maybe about 20, but only for short periods of time correcting through it so I can get through faster on the gas. Cmon. Oh well.
Well Rick comes up to me, a buddy of mine that seems to have plenty of money on his hands to play with and asks me if that was me off in the weeds. I say yah, and that my chassis is probably tweaked now. He lets me know that he'll let me run his kart that has a Sonik motor on it that he stuck (for the 3rd time in 2 race weekends) if I need it. I told him I probably dont, but I'll let him know. As I got back to my pits I got my kart up on the stand and looked at the RF corner. Chassis was cracked most of the way around, WTF? I jumped one person, and took a little off track excusion, and it broke the damn thing, its not even that old either?! End of that story is going to tell Rick I need the kart and we both have a thrash session minus him eating lunch for me to get his motor off, and mine on his kart. Besids some small differences, there was one I didnt think would be a big deal so I put his chassis clamp "butterflies" back on to hold my motor and motor mount down. The chassis rail spacing was just slightly different (wider) so I used his, but they were not the flush style that are even with the bottom of the frame rails, instead they stuck at least a quarter inch down. No big deal I thought, at the time....
My second race came around after lunch and I took to the track with Ricks kart, my engine, his belt drive, and his chassis clamps. THe kart was certainly not set up for me and I'm really really sore today but thats not the point. On the first flying lap, I got a little wide in one corner coming back onto the back stretch. On the outside there is shallow rupple strips and most devistating, a bunch of lines of those stupid traffic turtles just past where the strip ends. Problem with those is I hit one, it tore out one of those non-flush mount clamps, and with enough force to do that, it obviously slid the whole thing back enough that the belt disengaged and I had no drive power. Pure coasting from there, so I put my arm up high and started to SLOWLY make my way off to the edge of the track on the outside where there is sort of a small paved road area where I could have pulled off instead of into the dirt. THere was a problem with that though when I was most of the way there, when Scott, another good buddy of mine that is(was) in the points race and I would have had to finish every race ahead of him to get 1st, tried to pass on the outside and clipped my rear tire and shot in into the tire barrier at almost full speed. He's okay, minus a seriously swollen ankle from trauma, but his kart certainly is not. Bent his rear axle on impact with my(Ricks) kart at about a 45 degree angle, folded his nose under the kart, flattened the driver fairing, bent both spindles, made at least one of the tierods into a U shape, and the frame itself couldnt be in that great of shape either. The race was red flagged and was rescheduled after the next race that was to happen after us.
The only thing wrong with Ricks kart was a bent spindle, so I replaced that just in time and was ready to try round #2. The first heat was reduced to 5 laps, and I won with a rather large margin. Placing first there, put me on pole again for the 15 minute (instead of 20, times were reduced) 2nd heat. I wasnt quite so lucky in that one, but just enough to finish. About half way through the race my motor started cutting out whether I was full throttle or not, it would just lose all power. It got progressively worse throughout the race, and 2 of the guys in my class caught up to me. I ran with them for some time but the power just wasnt up to it. On the last lap it got REALLY bad coming down the front straight and I almost thought I wouldnt make it to the start/finish but it kicked back in just enough to pass by and place 3rd place. How the rest of my class didnt catch me, I have no idea.
Of course though, if the race was any longer I would have DNF'ed when the thing completely died in turn 2. Fuel wasn't all the way up to the carburetor, and if I choked the airbox it would fire up and idle but wouldnt rev enough to move me around the track.
It was a shitty weekend for me, but it helped me in the points I guess.....1st and 3rd was better than the 3rd and 2nd of someone I had to beat overall in the points in 2 out of 3 of the remaining races. One of those 2 is down. I'll have to check the points system to make sure thats still the case though if I finish 2nd over 3rd not 1st over 2nd. The points gaps may be different. Scott on the other hand I would have had to finish every race ahead of him, but I think he's out of the running because he didnt get any points at all for this race as he didnt even officially (re) start it. :weak:
Location - ThunderHill.
So, my first race of the day was a half hour long race. About mid way through it I got airborn coming back down from turn 5 when some idiot did a stupid move ahead of me. He parks it in just about every corner, and decided to try to pass someone coming down the hill, as I was already trying to pass him. Say it was halfway my fault, but jesus, he was going almost just jogging pace and knew I was right behind him. He had seen me go through that corner several times, and knew I was faster. C'mon man, dont be stupid. It's a wonderful passing spot, and I was about to take him back but I just couldnt get around him enough and ran over his LR tire. This sent me way off the track in the weeds, doing some agricultural racing. I made it back on the track, just wooding it all the way back, probably at least a good 50 feet away at the apex of my arch.
From there on, my kart didnt feel that great, it would pull to the right if I let off the wheel, and was much more nervous through the corners. I hoped it was just a bent spindle, tierod, rod end, something simple, but I couldn't see anything wrong while I was out there so I just kept racing. I was in 1st, and now I was in 3rd but I eventually did catch back up with the guy that I jumped. Damn, he really did take corners really slow, but he had a rotax (Different engine that typically has more top end on road courses) and would stay with me from my draft and pass on the straights. I ended up actually finishing behind him because of that, so 3rd place. Bullshit though, he couldnt drive for shit. He told me he was sorry about that turn that I got into him at, and also that he was freaked out a little when I was ahead of him piling into corners, sliding sometimes at 45 degrees. I find that slightly unlikely, maybe about 20, but only for short periods of time correcting through it so I can get through faster on the gas. Cmon. Oh well.
Well Rick comes up to me, a buddy of mine that seems to have plenty of money on his hands to play with and asks me if that was me off in the weeds. I say yah, and that my chassis is probably tweaked now. He lets me know that he'll let me run his kart that has a Sonik motor on it that he stuck (for the 3rd time in 2 race weekends) if I need it. I told him I probably dont, but I'll let him know. As I got back to my pits I got my kart up on the stand and looked at the RF corner. Chassis was cracked most of the way around, WTF? I jumped one person, and took a little off track excusion, and it broke the damn thing, its not even that old either?! End of that story is going to tell Rick I need the kart and we both have a thrash session minus him eating lunch for me to get his motor off, and mine on his kart. Besids some small differences, there was one I didnt think would be a big deal so I put his chassis clamp "butterflies" back on to hold my motor and motor mount down. The chassis rail spacing was just slightly different (wider) so I used his, but they were not the flush style that are even with the bottom of the frame rails, instead they stuck at least a quarter inch down. No big deal I thought, at the time....
My second race came around after lunch and I took to the track with Ricks kart, my engine, his belt drive, and his chassis clamps. THe kart was certainly not set up for me and I'm really really sore today but thats not the point. On the first flying lap, I got a little wide in one corner coming back onto the back stretch. On the outside there is shallow rupple strips and most devistating, a bunch of lines of those stupid traffic turtles just past where the strip ends. Problem with those is I hit one, it tore out one of those non-flush mount clamps, and with enough force to do that, it obviously slid the whole thing back enough that the belt disengaged and I had no drive power. Pure coasting from there, so I put my arm up high and started to SLOWLY make my way off to the edge of the track on the outside where there is sort of a small paved road area where I could have pulled off instead of into the dirt. THere was a problem with that though when I was most of the way there, when Scott, another good buddy of mine that is(was) in the points race and I would have had to finish every race ahead of him to get 1st, tried to pass on the outside and clipped my rear tire and shot in into the tire barrier at almost full speed. He's okay, minus a seriously swollen ankle from trauma, but his kart certainly is not. Bent his rear axle on impact with my(Ricks) kart at about a 45 degree angle, folded his nose under the kart, flattened the driver fairing, bent both spindles, made at least one of the tierods into a U shape, and the frame itself couldnt be in that great of shape either. The race was red flagged and was rescheduled after the next race that was to happen after us.
The only thing wrong with Ricks kart was a bent spindle, so I replaced that just in time and was ready to try round #2. The first heat was reduced to 5 laps, and I won with a rather large margin. Placing first there, put me on pole again for the 15 minute (instead of 20, times were reduced) 2nd heat. I wasnt quite so lucky in that one, but just enough to finish. About half way through the race my motor started cutting out whether I was full throttle or not, it would just lose all power. It got progressively worse throughout the race, and 2 of the guys in my class caught up to me. I ran with them for some time but the power just wasnt up to it. On the last lap it got REALLY bad coming down the front straight and I almost thought I wouldnt make it to the start/finish but it kicked back in just enough to pass by and place 3rd place. How the rest of my class didnt catch me, I have no idea.
Of course though, if the race was any longer I would have DNF'ed when the thing completely died in turn 2. Fuel wasn't all the way up to the carburetor, and if I choked the airbox it would fire up and idle but wouldnt rev enough to move me around the track.
It was a shitty weekend for me, but it helped me in the points I guess.....1st and 3rd was better than the 3rd and 2nd of someone I had to beat overall in the points in 2 out of 3 of the remaining races. One of those 2 is down. I'll have to check the points system to make sure thats still the case though if I finish 2nd over 3rd not 1st over 2nd. The points gaps may be different. Scott on the other hand I would have had to finish every race ahead of him, but I think he's out of the running because he didnt get any points at all for this race as he didnt even officially (re) start it. :weak:
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