Karting Thread
- Thread starter lbsf1
- 1,546 comments
- 93,228 views
Congrats on the GoPro ;D
I want one too.. but they're expensive in Norway :/
It's 299.99 USD in USA right?
It's 665.30 USD (3600 NOK) in Norway... fml, I'll have to save some more money I guess.
Of course, I could order from the States, but I don't know how much shipping would cost..
Speaking of cam: Thought I'd throw in an old video from my home track
The track is kind of short, but really challenging!
If you see at the front right on the formation lap, the guy with a white helmet and start number 5 is me
(And no, number 12 is not a guy with long hair, it's a girl 
)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg2jANkk-n8&feature=related
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- 610
- New Zealand
- hollidog
- Hollidog
Nice, a karting thread
I'm racing with karts myself, not trying to brag, but I'm actually Norwegian Champion (2009) in the Yamaha KT-100 one make class
If any other new posters have any questions about karting, like setups, techniques, technical, or in general, I would love to share my (I daresay) expertise
lbsf1:
Your story sounds very strange to meBut glad you're okay
You bent the rear axle on a kerb? Was this a "soft" axle? After 10 years of karting(the first 6-7 mostly crashing) I can only remember seing the softest axles bend at all from a kerb.. Take this from a guy who clip kerbs beyond insanity on a weekly basis ;P
Are KTs still quite popular in Norway? The numbers in that class have really dwindled down here.
Ive also been racing for ten years this year, and I have been pretty lucky with the amounts of crashes I have had. The two worst ones I have had have both been on this track:
The worst one was this track in reverse. In the clip, the track is being run forwards. So the first corner that you see in the video is the first corner when the track is in the opposite direction. Anyway, so is was the start of the first race of a two day meeting, I was starting on 12th (random draws) and managed to sneak my way up the inside to about 8th, as most of the field outbraked themselves and went wide. At the end of the first corner I was on the regular racing line and I was then hit from behind on the left rear, the guy who hit me climbed over my rear tire, got some air, crashed down on my head, knocking me unconscious, then came down onto my steering wheel, on to my hands, severed my index and middle fingers (I drive with my hands on the top of the wheel). Then, because I was unconscious, with 8 fingers, I went straight ahead into the wall that you can see at 37 seconds in the clip, and broke my right tibia and two of my ribs on the wheel. I was pretty 🤬 up at this point.
So ambulance comes, and they tell me when I eventually come around that I have actually been knocked out twice, they know this because of the two massive black eyes I know have. The dont know about my fingers because somehow my gloves have not been cut. They only find out because of my screaming and grabbing of my fingers. They had to cut the gloves off, and my suit to get to my legs and chest, my helmet (Arai) was also a right off.
So I went to hospital and got my fingers reattached, pretty good job although I have no feeling in either of them. The most painful part was the Anesthetic in the needle, because I couldnt have a general because of my concussions.
Second one was in the normal direction, coming up the straight and into the corner that you see from 12 - 17. So you brake at the yellow line on the track from 140 kph, to go into that corner at about 80 kph. So Im coming up that hill in the first qualifying session for a two hour endurance race, and I hit the brakes, and the rear axle snaps right beside the brake rotor. My class only run rear brakes, and I know had braking to only one wheel, which was defunct because due to the nature of the bearing cases we use. the axle was able to bend upwards on the left hand side, bottoming out the kart. The right hand side was still up because we were running two bearing carriers on that side. However because of where the axle broke, that wheel was receiving no braking force, so I ended up barreling into the wall at probably about 90-100 kph. In a road car Im pretty sure if you hit a wall at 100kph you die.
Luckily, I was pitched into a slide because of the left rear bottoming out and I went sideways into the sand trap, which barrel rolled the kart and sent me into the air at the wall. That video was put up in 2009, this was in late 2010, and since then they had made that wall two layers of bags filled up with plastic milk bottles, which are really soft and disperse the energy really well (apparently!) and I hit the upper ones parallel to them with my back facing them. The kart rolled a few more times before hitting the wall right beneath me.
That was probably the scariest crash Ive ever had due to the fact that I dodged death twice in less than a second. If I was in the kart I would have probably died, if I was hit by the kart, I would have probably died too.
I was at that same track that my cousin managed to get a tie rod rammed throw his kneecap as well, going up the main straight. Not a very good track for injuries.
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KT-100 is still the most used engine in Norway, despite being the only push-to-start engine left. We usually have the biggest starting fields and the fiercest battles in that class
The international classes like KF3, KF2, and jr. 60 were big to begin with, but people seem to buy themselves broke on mandatory CIK-FIA approved equipment :s
Insane crashes Hollidog
The only really bad crash I ever had was during the first qualifying heat for the 2009 Championship(that I won). I had decided to make a pass on the driver in front of me into a hairpin, but in the last chicane before that hairpin I sligthly bumped him from behind. This made me lose a little speed to him, and made him aware of my intentions. I still tried to make the pass, just braking ultra-late, but he halfways blocked the inside line and I hit his rear wheel, as I came sliding sideways. My kart got thrown up in the air and it flipped over, causing me to get thrown out into the gravel. I must have passed out for a moment, but I remember crawling against the tire barrier before I heard people yelling..
How could I win this race now? Luckily, this happened on the saturday, and the finals were on sunday! We found out I was probably not hurt, and I was back in the kart by sunday morning. This morning rain was pouring down and despite starting last(34th), I managed to fight my way up to 8th in the prefinal. When our final was drawing closer the rain stopped and the track slowly started to dry up. Most of the field was on rain tires, but we knew I couldn't win this race from 8th using the same strategy as the other top dogs. We decided to start on slicks, despite the track still being roughly 70% wet, and clouds covered the sun.
Final chapter
Drying conditions is my favourite, and on practice I rarely bother to use rain tires. With a little luck I survived the start, unlike most of the others that had put slicks on. Soon, I started to find a good dry line and made up time against the leaders that had rain tires on. I carefully passed them one by one, and by the end of 25 laps á 35 sec, I won the race by 22 seconds or so
If you don't believe me, I can link the results from mylaps.com
Cya after the weekend, going to the 2011 Norwegian Championship race now
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- 3,679
- Warwick Uni
- lbsf1 GTP_lbsf1
- obsmu (my brothers acount)
Hollidog, that sounds pretty damn scary.
Also guys what do you think of my website. http://www.lukebakersmithracing.webs.com
Also guys what do you think of my website. http://www.lukebakersmithracing.webs.com
- 610
- New Zealand
- hollidog
- Hollidog
KT-100 is still the most used engine in Norway, despite being the only push-to-start engine left. We usually have the biggest starting fields and the fiercest battles in that class
The international classes like KF3, KF2, and jr. 60 were big to begin with, but people seem to buy themselves broke on mandatory CIK-FIA approved equipment :s
We have a similar problem here. The economy has driven enough people away and now all the new classes that the CIK are bringing are requiring people to spend even more money. For example its $8000 dollars for a KF3 engine here, for that much money you can almost run a season of low tier race cars, especially when you consider the maintenance costs.
Yamaha has really died away over here, I remember the biggest field of KTs we had at a nationals here. It was 2008 and there was 41 entered, but the track could only take 35. That was a crazy event, I think the guy who won only got through in the second chance race.
KZ2 is the class that I am hopefully going into next, doing tests with a couple of people when they have spare weekends. KZ2 is the only field where it is a proper team sport where I live, most of the racers are privateers.
We are 32 KTs this weekend
Can't really remember what the highest number I've seen in Yamaha is.. But I remember back in 2004 or so, when we were 94 Minis on a race in the Summer Cup! I'd love to get a KZ2 myself, although I'm also racing in GT cars this year..
PS: I added my worst crash to the last post if you're interested ;P
PS2: When you say "team sport"... Do you mean they get paid?
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- 610
- New Zealand
- hollidog
- Hollidog
To put it in perspective, there were 7 KT lights and no KT heavies at my clubs champtionship the other week. It was raining really hard and the only guy who showed up for heavies ran in lights and won because of the advantage the weight gave him.
Yeah Ive been pretty unlucky, but I have seen way worse, comes with the experience I guess. I saw a guy break his back once, kart went over the front and he half fell out and slammed into his back. Paralysed from the waist down, he still races, albeit with hand controls, and actually managed to go the Rotax Grand Finals the other year.
I know a couple of other people who have had several bad-ish accidents, broken arms/collarbones etc. I knew one guy who lost all the skin on the underside of his forearm when he slid along the ground after a flip. Really makes you appreciate how important good gear is. You only have one head!.
KZ2 is a freakin crazy kart to try and drive. It really is an absolute mission to control. I drove for an hour straight in that endurance race, (we had a spare kart), I was only in a Rotax, but my mate was in a KZ2 and he went for an hour and a half in total. I did about 75 laps and he did about 130. When I drove his KZ2 I was shattered after about 8 laps. The kart is so physical its crazy. In normal karts most of the loading is through the corners where you get about 2-2.5g, but in this thing the corners are the resting points because the acceleration is so manic that it rips your head off down the straights, especially when you get tired. Then when you get to the other end you have to brace yourself against the steering wheel to stop yourself from smashing into it with your face. Its so much force that you cant even take pull your hand back to release the shifter to go down more gears. Its also really hard to time the gears just right, as you have to be off the throttle for the shortest amount of time, and yet nail the shifts absolutely perfectly. Still, an incredibly fun kart to drive.
Until the day I drove my other mates Open National Title winning twin KF1
By "team sport" I mean there are mechanics who arent just peoples dads, and the drivers share data and all wear matching suits and drive matching karts.
Yeah Ive been pretty unlucky, but I have seen way worse, comes with the experience I guess. I saw a guy break his back once, kart went over the front and he half fell out and slammed into his back. Paralysed from the waist down, he still races, albeit with hand controls, and actually managed to go the Rotax Grand Finals the other year.
I know a couple of other people who have had several bad-ish accidents, broken arms/collarbones etc. I knew one guy who lost all the skin on the underside of his forearm when he slid along the ground after a flip. Really makes you appreciate how important good gear is. You only have one head!.
KZ2 is a freakin crazy kart to try and drive. It really is an absolute mission to control. I drove for an hour straight in that endurance race, (we had a spare kart), I was only in a Rotax, but my mate was in a KZ2 and he went for an hour and a half in total. I did about 75 laps and he did about 130. When I drove his KZ2 I was shattered after about 8 laps. The kart is so physical its crazy. In normal karts most of the loading is through the corners where you get about 2-2.5g, but in this thing the corners are the resting points because the acceleration is so manic that it rips your head off down the straights, especially when you get tired. Then when you get to the other end you have to brace yourself against the steering wheel to stop yourself from smashing into it with your face. Its so much force that you cant even take pull your hand back to release the shifter to go down more gears. Its also really hard to time the gears just right, as you have to be off the throttle for the shortest amount of time, and yet nail the shifts absolutely perfectly. Still, an incredibly fun kart to drive.
Until the day I drove my other mates Open National Title winning twin KF1
By "team sport" I mean there are mechanics who arent just peoples dads, and the drivers share data and all wear matching suits and drive matching karts.
Hi again karting thread
I'm back from the Norwegian Championship Yamaha KT-100, and though I'd write a summary.
Friday(Practice day):
Rain was pouring down one moment, and the track was almost drying up the next. This continued all day. My pace seemed to be a little off what I had expected, but I never really found the rhytm due to brake issues.
Saturday:
Morning training looked promising, I had 2nd best time.
For qualifying and the heats we had to use both parc farmé tires, and parc farmé fuel. The fuel that was provided must have been crappy quality, as our laptimes did not improve at all even on new tires. Still, everyone had the same problem, so I qualified 2nd. 0.009 behind pole, and 0.003 ahead of 3rd.
We drove three qualifying heats, and I finished 1st, 1st, and 2nd.
Sunday:
We skipped the warm-up. In the Pre-final I started 2nd and was passed by one driver in the first turn. I soon passed him again, and pulled away from the group fighting for 3rd. When there were six laps left I heard a sound from the engine, the kind of shooting sound that you hear when your ignition wiring is about to be cut off. My kart became slower and slower and the group behind me came closer and closer. At the finish line 3rd place was about to pass me on the outside. When we checked the ignition module we could see that one of the wires were completely off, it had just been poking the right place often enough for my engine to keep running!
In the final I started 2nd again, so out of turn one I was 3rd, again. 2nd place got a bit of a gap when 4th place tried to pass me, and I used about half the heat to catch up with 2nd. His driving style threw my kart a bit out of balance when I tried to stay close to him, so I had a hard time making a safe pass. However, on the second to last lap I got my opportunity and I passed him and pulled away a tiny bit. In the end I finished 2nd.
Before I conclude this, I would like to give out a great congratulations to the guy who finished 3rd, his first podium. He's a good friend of mine, PSN: EBRacing, the guy who showed me GTPlanet.
I'm back from the Norwegian Championship Yamaha KT-100, and though I'd write a summary.
Friday(Practice day):
Rain was pouring down one moment, and the track was almost drying up the next. This continued all day. My pace seemed to be a little off what I had expected, but I never really found the rhytm due to brake issues.
Saturday:
Morning training looked promising, I had 2nd best time.
For qualifying and the heats we had to use both parc farmé tires, and parc farmé fuel. The fuel that was provided must have been crappy quality, as our laptimes did not improve at all even on new tires. Still, everyone had the same problem, so I qualified 2nd. 0.009 behind pole, and 0.003 ahead of 3rd.
We drove three qualifying heats, and I finished 1st, 1st, and 2nd.
Sunday:
We skipped the warm-up. In the Pre-final I started 2nd and was passed by one driver in the first turn. I soon passed him again, and pulled away from the group fighting for 3rd. When there were six laps left I heard a sound from the engine, the kind of shooting sound that you hear when your ignition wiring is about to be cut off. My kart became slower and slower and the group behind me came closer and closer. At the finish line 3rd place was about to pass me on the outside. When we checked the ignition module we could see that one of the wires were completely off, it had just been poking the right place often enough for my engine to keep running!
In the final I started 2nd again, so out of turn one I was 3rd, again. 2nd place got a bit of a gap when 4th place tried to pass me, and I used about half the heat to catch up with 2nd. His driving style threw my kart a bit out of balance when I tried to stay close to him, so I had a hard time making a safe pass. However, on the second to last lap I got my opportunity and I passed him and pulled away a tiny bit. In the end I finished 2nd.
Before I conclude this, I would like to give out a great congratulations to the guy who finished 3rd, his first podium. He's a good friend of mine, PSN: EBRacing, the guy who showed me GTPlanet.
- 3,679
- Warwick Uni
- lbsf1 GTP_lbsf1
- obsmu (my brothers acount)
Hi again karting thread
I'm back from the Norwegian Championship Yamaha KT-100, and though I'd write a summary.
Friday(Practice day):
Rain was pouring down one moment, and the track was almost drying up the next. This continued all day. My pace seemed to be a little off what I had expected, but I never really found the rhytm due to brake issues.
Saturday:
Morning training looked promising, I had 2nd best time.
For qualifying and the heats we had to use both parc farmé tires, and parc farmé fuel. The fuel that was provided must have been crappy quality, as our laptimes did not improve at all even on new tires. Still, everyone had the same problem, so I qualified 2nd. 0.009 behind pole, and 0.003 ahead of 3rd.
We drove three qualifying heats, and I finished 1st, 1st, and 2nd.
Sunday:
We skipped the warm-up. In the Pre-final I started 2nd and was passed by one driver in the first turn. I soon passed him again, and pulled away from the group fighting for 3rd. When there were six laps left I heard a sound from the engine, the kind of shooting sound that you hear when your ignition wiring is about to be cut off. My kart became slower and slower and the group behind me came closer and closer. At the finish line 3rd place was about to pass me on the outside. When we checked the ignition module we could see that one of the wires were completely off, it had just been poking the right place often enough for my engine to keep running!
In the final I started 2nd again, so out of turn one I was 3rd, again. 2nd place got a bit of a gap when 4th place tried to pass me, and I used about half the heat to catch up with 2nd. His driving style threw my kart a bit out of balance when I tried to stay close to him, so I had a hard time making a safe pass. However, on the second to last lap I got my opportunity and I passed him and pulled away a tiny bit. In the end I finished 2nd.
Before I conclude this, I would like to give out a great congratulations to the guy who finished 3rd, his first podium. He's a good friend of mine, PSN: EBRacing, the guy who showed me GTPlanet.
Wow, well done mate, sorry for taking so long to reply. Thats really awesome, unlucky about the ingnition problem, but lucky you still kept the place. We had a strange ignition problem last time where the switch came out the nassua pannel, it had washers on either side of the switch, that were still attached to the switch, and the nassua pannel was not cracked or anything, so the switch has came out a hole smaller than it is. Only our kart could break the laws of physics.
- 88
- ckellyusa
I would suggest getting a kingston 8GB (or larger) class 4 as recommended on their website. I have a 16GB lexar class 10 as well, but after using it for long time, I started to get a lot of errors... it still works, but the new kingston card seems to work better.
Also....my camera's been through quite a bit, lol, so that might have something to do with it.
Also....my camera's been through quite a bit, lol, so that might have something to do with it.
- 7,424
- I Hate Stalkers
- gogatrs
VERY successful weekend.
Got the set up dialed in on Saturday so that I was doing the same laptimes as the seniors, one of which won the regional championship last year and did quite well in nationals also.
Race day was pretty uneventful, qualified poll, held my position and won the prefinal, won the first final, and won the second final (awesome race between me and another guy).
We got the camera all figured out, so I'll edit in the full version of the second final as soon as it uploads...
Thanks for all the help with that guys.
One kid bent his axle a full 90° going 50+mph into the barrier.
Here's the vid:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-IvlQPjOFo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The marshaling was a bit of a fail this time...
Two half way points, and two checkered flags lol.
Got the set up dialed in on Saturday so that I was doing the same laptimes as the seniors, one of which won the regional championship last year and did quite well in nationals also.
Race day was pretty uneventful, qualified poll, held my position and won the prefinal, won the first final, and won the second final (awesome race between me and another guy).
We got the camera all figured out, so I'll edit in the full version of the second final as soon as it uploads...
Thanks for all the help with that guys.
One kid bent his axle a full 90° going 50+mph into the barrier.
Here's the vid:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-IvlQPjOFo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
The marshaling was a bit of a fail this time...
Two half way points, and two checkered flags lol.
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- 7,424
- I Hate Stalkers
- gogatrs
Ugh, I've never EVER come off the race track voluntarily before.
But today, there was just too much rain.
There was no line to get out of standing water.
Eventually my helmet filled with water so I couldn't breathe. "/
That, and you could see NOTHING.
I couldn't even see the MyChron on my wheel.
Eventually I just decided to pull in about half way through the final.
And to this very moment, I don't regret it.
I also learned that brake discs rust EXTREMELY fast, like within twenty minutes of being taken out of the rain.
But today, there was just too much rain.
There was no line to get out of standing water.
Eventually my helmet filled with water so I couldn't breathe. "/
That, and you could see NOTHING.
I couldn't even see the MyChron on my wheel.
Eventually I just decided to pull in about half way through the final.
And to this very moment, I don't regret it.
I also learned that brake discs rust EXTREMELY fast, like within twenty minutes of being taken out of the rain.
- 3,679
- Warwick Uni
- lbsf1 GTP_lbsf1
- obsmu (my brothers acount)
Rissington Kart Club 6-7/8/11
Hi guys, here is the report of my race weekend at rissington.
We travelled the 130miles to the track early on saturday morning. We got there and were astonished that even though it was a practise day the number of people who were with big teams, and had brand new chassis/tyres stacked outside their massive awnings, and they all had engines that were on 2009 barrels tuned by top tuners. We spent most of the saturday just getting used to the track and making tweaks to the setup. The weather was overcast, 19degree's C. With the occasional couple of minutes of drizzle.
During the practise we were running tyres that had allready done 4 race meetings, most others were running tyres that had done one race meeting. However despite we were running about 2/3 of the was through the field pace wise. Our engine performed ok, we lost about 2 kart lengths on the main straight, this is mostly due to the fact we are running a 2004 barrel (not a 2009)and havent had it matched with a carb and exaust (both of which are outside our budget to change).
Our engine hasn't performed well at our local track, really struggling out of the corners, however if anything at rissington the engine was best out of the slow corners, nearly overtaking a euromax driver out of the chicane (called the dog leg). My local track has no real braking points so braking is something is that I'm not very good at, however by the end of the practise day, I was able to brake a couple of metres later then most other people. I was also faster then most of the others in the fast corners, were you were nearly flat out.
A bit later I will upload a video from the practise day from my onboard camera. (We werent allowed to use the camera in the race day)
We then slept in a tent in our gazzebo, which went ok, apart from the fact we were kept awake by the creaking of our gazzebo in the wind.
Everyone accept us put on new tyres for the race day (we can't afford that so we were stuck with our now 5 day old tyres). For the first heat we started in 20th (last) we managed to get a good start and make our way up to 13th in the first couple of laps, however through the rest of the race as the field spread out 2 drivers managed to get past me. Leaving my 15th, a good result.
The second heat I started 4th, I lost 2 places of the start, however at the dogleg 2 drivers span infront of me, and blocked infront of me, everyone else got past and I had to get out my kart to push it back to get around the 2 crashed drivers. This left me only fighting with the 2 that span, I got past one of them, however the other was just abit too fast, leaving my 19/20. After this race I had ruined my nosecone (It had been dieing for a couple of race meetings), and I had to go to our spare, which was a different style so looked bloody awefull. I probably could have made up another couple of positions if my kart wasnt having severe bounce round the long left hander. We had been trying to find a ballance between this and oversteer all weekend.
In the third heat I started 9th, however once again I got punted wide at the dogleg, through the rest of the race I tried to hold my own against the faster drivers who I was around and ended up 16th, after a good fight with a guy in a kosmic kart.
Over lunch it rained slightly, leaving the track a little damp for the final (still on slicks though). I started 19th for the final
(don't know how they worked that out, but hey). I managed to make up 6 places from the start, and was in a good position to make up some more, however then a guy next to me hit someone else and flipped their kart and the race was red flagged. However since we had yet to complete a lap the race was restarted from the original grid again, however this time I did aweful and ended up only making up one place, I then went for an overtake I got along side him into the corner however on the exit he went to cut me off, I started to oversteer, and ended up with my rear wheel perched on his sidepod, By the time I had free'd myself from that I was stone dead last (except for the other guy who I was ontop of), I then had to back off to let the leaders through to lap me, However once I had let the rest of the field through, I then went and unlapped myself from a couple of drivers.
My fastest lap time of the day was 8 tenths behind the fastest lap of anyone, which was set by a kid called Tom Harvey who had a brand new chassis at the begining of the meeting, and races all across europe with a budget in acess of £150,000. Considering our budget is £1,200, and everyone else there was probably on a budget of at least £8,000 a year then we were of a reasonable pace considering our lack of engine power/new tyres.
Here are some pics from the raceday.
IMG_2421 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2426 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2436 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2450 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2456 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2463 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2468 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
Hi guys, here is the report of my race weekend at rissington.
We travelled the 130miles to the track early on saturday morning. We got there and were astonished that even though it was a practise day the number of people who were with big teams, and had brand new chassis/tyres stacked outside their massive awnings, and they all had engines that were on 2009 barrels tuned by top tuners. We spent most of the saturday just getting used to the track and making tweaks to the setup. The weather was overcast, 19degree's C. With the occasional couple of minutes of drizzle.
During the practise we were running tyres that had allready done 4 race meetings, most others were running tyres that had done one race meeting. However despite we were running about 2/3 of the was through the field pace wise. Our engine performed ok, we lost about 2 kart lengths on the main straight, this is mostly due to the fact we are running a 2004 barrel (not a 2009)and havent had it matched with a carb and exaust (both of which are outside our budget to change).
Our engine hasn't performed well at our local track, really struggling out of the corners, however if anything at rissington the engine was best out of the slow corners, nearly overtaking a euromax driver out of the chicane (called the dog leg). My local track has no real braking points so braking is something is that I'm not very good at, however by the end of the practise day, I was able to brake a couple of metres later then most other people. I was also faster then most of the others in the fast corners, were you were nearly flat out.
A bit later I will upload a video from the practise day from my onboard camera. (We werent allowed to use the camera in the race day)
We then slept in a tent in our gazzebo, which went ok, apart from the fact we were kept awake by the creaking of our gazzebo in the wind.
Everyone accept us put on new tyres for the race day (we can't afford that so we were stuck with our now 5 day old tyres). For the first heat we started in 20th (last) we managed to get a good start and make our way up to 13th in the first couple of laps, however through the rest of the race as the field spread out 2 drivers managed to get past me. Leaving my 15th, a good result.
The second heat I started 4th, I lost 2 places of the start, however at the dogleg 2 drivers span infront of me, and blocked infront of me, everyone else got past and I had to get out my kart to push it back to get around the 2 crashed drivers. This left me only fighting with the 2 that span, I got past one of them, however the other was just abit too fast, leaving my 19/20. After this race I had ruined my nosecone (It had been dieing for a couple of race meetings), and I had to go to our spare, which was a different style so looked bloody awefull. I probably could have made up another couple of positions if my kart wasnt having severe bounce round the long left hander. We had been trying to find a ballance between this and oversteer all weekend.
In the third heat I started 9th, however once again I got punted wide at the dogleg, through the rest of the race I tried to hold my own against the faster drivers who I was around and ended up 16th, after a good fight with a guy in a kosmic kart.
Over lunch it rained slightly, leaving the track a little damp for the final (still on slicks though). I started 19th for the final
(don't know how they worked that out, but hey). I managed to make up 6 places from the start, and was in a good position to make up some more, however then a guy next to me hit someone else and flipped their kart and the race was red flagged. However since we had yet to complete a lap the race was restarted from the original grid again, however this time I did aweful and ended up only making up one place, I then went for an overtake I got along side him into the corner however on the exit he went to cut me off, I started to oversteer, and ended up with my rear wheel perched on his sidepod, By the time I had free'd myself from that I was stone dead last (except for the other guy who I was ontop of), I then had to back off to let the leaders through to lap me, However once I had let the rest of the field through, I then went and unlapped myself from a couple of drivers. My fastest lap time of the day was 8 tenths behind the fastest lap of anyone, which was set by a kid called Tom Harvey who had a brand new chassis at the begining of the meeting, and races all across europe with a budget in acess of £150,000. Considering our budget is £1,200, and everyone else there was probably on a budget of at least £8,000 a year then we were of a reasonable pace considering our lack of engine power/new tyres.
Here are some pics from the raceday.
IMG_2421 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2426 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2436 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2450 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2456 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2463 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
IMG_2468 by lukeyboyf1, on Flickr
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- 88
- ckellyusa
Sounds like a blast. I can't wait until I go to a non-club race and experience a much larger field to race with. For my race over the weekend, there were only three of us in our class racing and each of us were a second a lap off each others pace... so I got second, whoo! haha
But, I did get my new graphics. Any guess to who I support?
But, I did get my new graphics. Any guess to who I support?
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- 3,679
- Warwick Uni
- lbsf1 GTP_lbsf1
- obsmu (my brothers acount)
Yeah we do use mojo's. But whats a tyre sponsorship???
We did have some other spare tyres that were 1 race meeting old with us, however we didn't want to use them because we felt that our pace was decent and that the newer tyres might change the setup.
I have a mate of mine at school who races junior rotax aswell, however he has raced since he was 8, and races at many more tracks then me. He races at rissy and says that its possibly the most competitive track for Junior Rotax in the UK. We have lots of other good tracks near us (whilton mill,shennington) however my dad prefers me to go to rissy because he races there back in the late 80's).
magic_town
Premium
- 956
- Melbourne
- magic_town2
- magilt
Did you say you got out and pushed your kart back? Just because here we're not allowed to touch the ground, as soon as you do you have to pull your kart off the track and your not allowed to continue.
Won my first trophy from karts on the weekend
Won my first trophy from karts on the weekend
Hi lbsf1,
I was at Little Rissington aswell last weekend racing 125 ICC (Gearbox). It was my first time back for 2 years and was only 4 to 5 tenths off on sunday all day. Which was pretty good since there were two lap records in my class.
Anyway you said your yearly budget is £1200, how many races do you do in a year? For us we have to travel 4 hours there and back so thats easily £100 in fuel, then fuel for the kart £40, entry and practice £90, set of tyres £150. So thats £400 without food, accomodation, engine and chassis maintenance and the initial cost of the kart etc. So surely it comes out at nearly £1000 a meeting.
Nick
I was at Little Rissington aswell last weekend racing 125 ICC (Gearbox). It was my first time back for 2 years and was only 4 to 5 tenths off on sunday all day. Which was pretty good since there were two lap records in my class.
Anyway you said your yearly budget is £1200, how many races do you do in a year? For us we have to travel 4 hours there and back so thats easily £100 in fuel, then fuel for the kart £40, entry and practice £90, set of tyres £150. So thats £400 without food, accomodation, engine and chassis maintenance and the initial cost of the kart etc. So surely it comes out at nearly £1000 a meeting.
Nick
