Race Report - Round
3 of Winter Series
Paul, Toby, Luke, John C
+ "Test" Drivers, Damien and Belinda.
This was to be the first time that we had taken both the Tony Kart (24) and Zip Bullet (27) to race - at last we could race head to head... and with a couple of good results behind us we even have a chance to grab a decent place in the championship….
The Zip had only been used for practice once since its purchase. The conditions were wet on that day so it was difficult to compare to kart 24, dry weather looked the order of the day and so it would be interesting to see how it fared in the dry against the old workhorse…. and no that's not me….
The first logistical exercise was physically getting the karts into Luke's Dad's West Essex Interiors transit van, a truly classy bit of kit. Funny how just by getting into it Luke becomes "white van man….". Getting the two karts in proved to be a spacial awareness test of Krypton Factor proportions….. we eventually plumped for the inverted "V" formation basically wedging the karts on their sides in a wigwam type formation and putting spares, tools etc in the surrounding space….. to be honest it looked as though we kitted up for a round the world safari rally not a 40 minute kart race.
We really MUST get a trailer to tow behind the yet to be delivered Team Motorvation team motorhome (which looks uncannily like an Astra Van….. but obviously couldn't be anything so uncool….).
Arrival at Rye House was later than planned at about 11:30, but at least the day was dry and wind free, if a tad chilly for some…
First job was to change the sprocket on 27 to the 88 that we found worked so well on 24 last time out.
Once done it was a just case of putting on the correct tyres (practice slicks for 24 and worn race slicks for 27) and warming the karts up.
Except kart 27 - wouldn't start……. a quick plug change to a NGK 9 soon solved that…
Initial reaction was good, kart 27 seemed to be going well apart from the long travel on the brakes due to worn pads.
I took it out for a quick run but found I couldn't get it to rev beyond about 12,000 down the back straight….. should be pulling 13,000 +….. suspect power valve was diagnosed - a quick check revealed that the gasket on the power valve was on upside down (oops) preventing proper venting, compounded by excessive driver weight…. Toby later confirmed that it was pulling 13,400 down the straight.
Both Toby and I felt the Zip (27) felt a lot looser and more flexible than the Tony Kart (24) and Luke seemed to agree that 24 somehow felt "tighter" - not sure why, could just be the quality of the frame after all a certain Mr Schumacher is known to race Tony Karts… John however preferred the feel of the Zip - different strokes…
Damien was in attendance again, and was pleased to be down in the mid 39s pretty quickly - he commented that practice was indeed making perfect and he was feeling a lot more comfortable mingling with the faster karts….. he was however about to blot his copy book…… He had a big "off" on the fastest part of the circuit using the tyre wall to slow him from 60mph to zero into a very short space of time…. Although he got going again there was obviously something amiss… somewhat given away by the scraping noises coming from the side of the kart. The force of the impact had compressed the pod, broke a locating bolt and bent a fixing bracket… soon fixed with the delicate touch of hammer and drill… but later events suggested that perhaps the impact had done more serious damage.
During free practice we did as we intended and ran the two karts in close convoy…. This proved that the two karts were very closely matched (albeit kart 24 was on slidey slicks..) with nothing to choose between various driver combinations - the only factor being the overtaking of other karts…. Toby and Luke had a particularly good scrap… Luke had his helmet cam and hopefully this will be available on the site soon… assuming he remembered to put the batteries in….
Belinda (my friend Simon's partner in crime) used to race 100cc karts in Australia until a couple of years ago and therefore was an ideal candidate for a "test" session…. The words she used to describe the Max's, that I can print, are "awesome" , "fantastic", "great fun"…. (there were many others but my Mum might read this)… so another happy punter…. She and I went out at the same time to have a bit of a race but I think the adrenalin was rushing as she managed to spin and/or make contact with other karts on just about every other lap….. however she was obviously pretty much on the pace given this was her first time at Rye AND first time in a Max and could prove to a useful "reserve" driver for later… Unfortunately "fisherman" Simon got bored because there wasn't any fishing involved and rushed Belinda home to watch the Rugby before she managed to get another go…
As usual during practice we had our fair share of mechanical headaches, including broken chain, aforementioned pod re-alignment, a pad change on kart 24 (somewhat complicated by the fact that we had to modify some Tony Kart pads to fit - judicial use of the Deavinsons grinder did the trick - thanks to John Huff of Deavinsons for doing this straight away…) but the most calamitous headache was the broken clutch that occurred on Kart 24 just before the end of free practice…
Initial investigations didn't look good… fresh swarf was evident all round the clutch housing and a further look showed that the clutch mechanism had been physically sheared off the backing plate and there was no was way the kart was going anywhere…
Heads dropped as we contemplated kart 24 not being ready for the race, a certain feeling of déjà vu descended (remember the pads incident last time out…)…. We decided to take the kart to Deavinsons workshops to see if anything could be done in the next half hour….. luckily it could, but the damage to the wallet (Johns in fact !!) was significant - £160….. parts needed were new rear sprocket (bent), new front sprocket (2 teeth missing), complete new clutch unit and of course the labour charge… (I'm glad Motorvation don't charge at this rate - but we were just glad to be racing….)….. a rare failure apparently….. hmmm, memories of Damien's shunt kept recurring…..
For the race there were 14 teams entered (inc 3 of the ultra quick Bilands….. "Dear Santa etc") and the official practice started as we just finished fitting the new rear sprocket to kart 24…. still without chain protectors…. more on this later….kart 27 was ready to roll and took full advantage of the session, lowering tyre pressures to 12psi to try to get some extra grip..
Toby managed 4 -5 laps official practice in 24 but that was all, so not much time to get heat into the newly fitted race tyres...
Then I heard those immortal words "How's it going baldy…" - Ian had arrived to wonder at the spectacle of grown men playing with their toys..…. we'll get him back in these karts one day !!
As usual I took the first stint at qualifying, using the Minardi trick of going out as soon a qualifying started to gain maximum media exposure… the kart seemed to be running as well as it has ever done and the race slicks are just sooo much better than the practice ones… after 5 laps my best time of 37.29 was nearly a second faster than I'd managed on the harder practice tyres and we were 3rd but not many teams had been out. Toby went out and we were confident that with a low 37sec time we should be at least midfield… how wrong….
The grid formed and we found ourselves 9th out of 14…. 6th Max… hmmm, about that diet… or even that Biland…
Two places behind us in 11th was the new pairing of Luke and John in kart 27 who had acquitted themselves well but were suffering badly from tyres that seemed well past their best…. new tyres all round for both karts next time…. Ouch, another a pain in the wallet !
As I left the grid leaving Toby and Luke lined up line astern my parting words to them were "remember the last two events, and the off's you've both had in the first couple of laps - just stay on the black stuff this time and NO HEROICS".
For the first lap things looked good, Toby making up a place, and Luke battling valiantly to retain his place but then guess what….. yep……. once again Toby went to pass a slightly slower kart into the back hairpin, the gap closed, he locked brakes in avoidance of a collision which caused a half spin and once again we found ourselves at the back of the pack, ugh…. except not quite last….. Luke had also had a spin and was well and truly at the back….
Ian got the full benefit of my command of the rudest words I could think of…… aaarrrrggggh not again !
Ok that's it, I'm getting stroppy now because that's the third time the first driver has "lost it" within a couple of laps of the start and undone all the good work done during qualifying.. so I'm definitely starting next time. We'll just have to sort out the "ballast" issue…. an older wiser "racing" head is definitely required for those first few manic laps… but since we don't have a wiser one at least mines definitely older…
Having recovered, Toby was now obviously a man on a mission, and was very quick, he soon reeled in and passed one kart but then got held up for a couple of laps by a slower driver, shades of DC and Bernoldi at Monaco, eventually he got past and started to inch up to the next guys… unfortunately the lead train of drivers were over half a lap in front by now.
Luke seemed to be really struggling with the tyres in kart 27 and sometime later Toby caught him to lap him…. Unfortunately Luke was not in the mood to move over (DC vs EB again !) despite being lapped (not sure if he didn't know if it was Toby behind but he certainly gave no quarter)….. I tried to signal to Luke to look behind but this just confused him and he nearly caused some carnage behind him the next time round as he slowed and looked to the pits to see what was up……. (make note to get pit to driver comms sorted out !!) 2-3 laps later Toby forced his way past, and next time round I'm sure Luke signalled his recognition of his misdemeanour… Or maybe it was another less pleasant gesture…..
Time was now approaching driver change over time….. Toby had settled into a very fast pace lapping consistently in the mid-36s - with a best of 36.36 which was within a couple of tenths of the fastest Max.
Another semi-spin lost him a bit of time but no places … and our new hi-tech pit to driver signal - a red bicycle lamp worked perfectly and he came in for the driver change as per schedule.
Changing drivers (John replacing Luke) just a few seconds in front of us was Motorvation 2 - kart 27….. something for me to aim for….
Sure enough I was soon on John's rear bumper and managed to sneak past down the straight as he lost grip coming out the top bend that leads onto the main straight losing him that valuable exit speed - their tyres were definitely shot….. John later confirmed that not only were the tyres shot but the engine was cutting out round the fast top bend… something we will have to fix before the next race.
The scoreboard was showing us third - which seemed hard to believe given the earlier "off" and semi-spin, but then I remembered that a lot of the top teams had pitted twice early on to get themselves out of traffic and into a god track position (as James Allen would say..) and we still had another stop to make…. out of the corner of my eye I could see three karts starting to catch me…. (my fastest laps were in the low 37s compared to theirs in the low 36s). Sure enough within three laps they caught up, and wary that I may be holding up the leaders, I let them past (honest) .. and so here's my list of excuses of why they caught me - one was in a Biland, one guy was so small he could hardly see over the steering wheel and the last guy was just downright fast… he must have had Nitrous injection… I tried valiantly to stay in touch but couldn't and resigned myself to a lonely race - we were now fifth…. and nobody to race was within sight….
I started to think it must soon be time for my second compulsory stop but Toby seemed to be showing no signs of calling me in, infact I think he was just reliving his moment of "glory ?" or maybe I was just bored and that's why time seemed to be dragging on, but then coming out of the top bend I floored it as usual, and the engines revs rose but the kart slowed….. oh dear….. no drive….. clutch ? chain ? ……. The chain had come off for no apparent reason. Remember those chain guards - we MUST get some as they stop chains slipping off or getting knocked off the sprocket. There was now only 5 - 6 minutes left (what had happened to my call in for my mid-session stop Toby ?) and it would take us 2-3 mins to get it back on + we still had the compulsory 30sec second stop to do . So we decided to call it a day.
I now wonder if that was good idea as we had done OK in the previous two rounds …. and most of the people beating us this time did not race last time out and a couple of those that had raced before had already retired…. oh well, if only Ross Brawn had been there he would have told us to press on..…. I'll give him a call later but he doesn't seem to return my phone calls.
So another DNF…. but an avoidable one perhaps… another couple of lessons learned….. roll on March 2nd
Paul.
Rye House, 16 Feb 2002
