|
|
|
|
|
Welcome to Saab92x.com!
|
|
|
|
Last weekend I road race at Blackhawk farms, a neat car track at the border of IL/WI (Beloit IL). I hadn't raced in two years so I was pretty excited about hitting the track again, and I was rusty to say the least.
The course is pretty fast, with a mid 70mph average, and top speed at 100 mph. It is the perfect track for kart road racing, one of my favorites (Road America was amazing too but the straights are so long it is *almost* boring, plus we don't run there anymore).
In this race I qualified poorly, in 18th place out of 32. I went back up to 11th and stayed there. We had some good battles. In my engine class I came in second. Last year they decided to have all the 125cc shifters run in one class, which makes for a fun race, but at the same time, my engine is not as powerful or fast as the other engine classes (you can see that in the video, some guys just blow by me, and the others, who run the same engine as I do, are pretty even). So I wasn't expecting a top 5 that's for sure, but that 11th was a good result for me.
In the second race, using a different kart, I finished 2nd out of 16. I was pretty pumped about that.
Here is the footage of the shifter race. I will post an HD version of it tonight.
Offline
Offline
Offline
That was so fun to watch. I always wanted to get in to shifter karts, but never had the coin for it - I'll just live vicariously through you. That was a great battle! I get giddy when there's really good racing; happened a lot when I raced 1/10th expert stock touring cars. Great post 
Offline
Was 22 in your class? I was wondering if he was in the higher powered class since it appeared you gave him a point by on the front straight. Otherwise you were clearly quicker through the turns (particularly where you want it to be, on track out), and through much of the track (except the front straight) he really looked to be holding you up! Your line looked better when you had a clear track in front of you. I'd say you haven't lost too much in your two years off!
Offline
nice!
Offline
Scargo wrote:
Was 22 in your class? I was wondering if he was in the higher powered class since it appeared you gave him a point by on the front straight. Otherwise you were clearly quicker through the turns (particularly where you want it to be, on track out), and through much of the track (except the front straight) he really looked to be holding you up! Your line looked better when you had a clear track in front of you. I'd say you haven't lost too much in your two years off!
Thanks! When looking at the footage and my data, there are several things I can improve on for next time. Going through traffic in this kind of racing (ie lots of room on the track and many different kart dynamics) is a lot of fun, but can be frustrating too. I got funneled behind one guy, whom I had not come across before, who slowed down wayyy too early for a turn. I wasn't expecting it and ended running my front spoiler in his back tire, almost spinning him out. Not much I could do about that.
In regards to that 22 kart, is he the one in the practice run footage (clear footage), who had a white helmet and a star on his suit? Yes he is running an ICC engine type. They are pure karting based engines, that rev higher then our hondas, and make about 3-5 more hp (but also cost two to three times as much to run!). They are faster in the straights like you saw. The guy was definitely struggling a bit in the turns. "Anybody can go fast in a straight line"... 
Offline
Offline
Av,
My comment about 22 was for the race footage, my comments about line applied to both. Having never been on a real cart take this FWIW...there appears to be much more track available to use than you are using, I dunno if carts are cornering well enough to not want to use the lateral track position and waste traveling distance, but it's just an observation based upon what I'd do in a door slammer or narrow tired Formula (both V and Ford) car. I do realize that track position for greatest entry speed may end up with enough extra distance travelled to end up with longer lap times, but it could be useful to gain placement by better passing speeds or being better able to defend. I saw you apply that through the esses several times in your race laps against #22.
Offline
Scargo wrote:
Av,
My comment about 22 was for the race footage, my comments about line applied to both. Having never been on a real cart take this FWIW...there appears to be much more track available to use than you are using, I dunno if carts are cornering well enough to not want to use the lateral track position and waste traveling distance, but it's just an observation based upon what I'd do in a door slammer or narrow tired Formula (both V and Ford) car. I do realize that track position for greatest entry speed may end up with enough extra distance travelled to end up with longer lap times, but it could be useful to gain placement by better passing speeds or being better able to defend. I saw you apply that through the esses several times in your race laps against #22.
The lime green kart I was battling was number 33, that's why I was confused. He is in the Shifter master class, which is overall faster then our CIK shifter class, but a lot of time, we end up overlapping a lot (running both classes at the same time).
There is more track to be used, but after that you run into issues with derby/marbles on the side, and momentum. Road racing depends a lot on drafting and staying close to the other, so you can get sucked up behind them and keep your momentum. It happened once or twice in the footage, where I get just a little behind, and had a hard time catching up (one I didn't). So I tend to stay in an area that I can get back behind him in the longer straight, to the determent of having to stay behind him on a crappy line. Also, I was running the lines that I knew worked for my set up. The track layed down some polymer cement sections (black patches), to give more grips to the cars and such (helps keep the track in good condition). Because of that extra grip, it made my kart act very tight during the race, hence the side "bumps" in a couple of turns. I didn't have enough practice time to test different set ups to loosen it up. I was losing time/momentum because of that. So I was sticking to the lines that worked well for my set up. I changed it up a bit later on in the race and I had mixed results. I can post the whole race on youtube too.
You should really try it out, it is a riot! BTW, this is a serious offer, that if you ever want to try it out, let me know, and you can use my kart for a race (not kidding). I would love to share my love for this sport. This applies to others on this forum too. I have access to other karts. One issue with this eerie or type of racing, road racing, is that we do not have open track days for testing and such since it is expensive to rent out the tracks. So all our testing and set up needs to happen in 4-5 8 mins practice sessions that day, which is not a lot of time, especially if things break (I smoked my clutch for example and missed one session. That's what happens when you do donuts at home with friends, haha).
Take care,
Arno
Offline
in my younger days I would be up there tomorrow, seriously. But cervical and spinal compression injuries say there is no way I could handle the "G's" that I KNOW you are dealing with (over 2 close to 3 in transitions). I'm pretty limited now to door slammers, at least if I don't want to spend more time in traction. I've sworn off Roller Coasters too, so, Cedar Point's Top Fuel and Six Flags Great Adventure's Kingda Ka, and Abu Dhabi's FerrariWorld are out. Sadly, I NEED a suspension now, and under 2 G's in transition. I've done traction before, it's not all its cracked up ( 
) to be.
Offline
Scargo wrote:
Oh man that sucks! 
Sorry to hear that. I can definitely be a rough ride sometimes, especially on the kart specific tracks where it is tight and you pull a lot of Gs like you mentioned. Suspension is not a bad thing to have sometimes
Offline
yeah, had to pass up on the chance to ride a tandem luge at Mt Vanhovenburg...with a cute female rider (her invite, she was going to "teach" me) because of it. . No Bobsled rides either, which sucks because the old run there was the most insane 30 second ride I've ever been on bar none.
Offline
Hey Arno I'm guessing your shifter Kart must be around the same price most Linear owners here paid for their cars? Or am I way off on this? I did some Karting at Summit Point a few weekends ago and can't wait to go back. I've been thinking more seriously about getting a Kart with some friends to race on the weekends. Just curious about what the costs look like. Your shifter kart looked way more expensive than the karts we were driving. Thanks.
Offline
|
|
Site problems, bugs, or questions? Contact Administrator
All content copyright Saab92x.com 2005-2010
SAAB and the SAAB logos are trademarks of Saab Cars USA, Inc.
Your Privacy Choices