It has been quite some time that I have posted here so I figured I would post more karting goodness.

The event was the 3rd crossover race that was held in Dixon, California at the Kinsmen Kart Club facility. The crossover race was held in conjunction with the Prarire City Karting Club and the Davis karting club. The turn out was great! Kart, kart, and more karts to be seen. Parking was packed. My wife and children had to park outside the gate which was a first for us.



We got to Dixon early (7:30am) to find it already packed. We were lucky and found 2 pit spots next to each other. From there we set up shop and got ready for tech.





After tech, we had the driver’s meeting at 8:30 and the fun began. Once we received instruction from the race director and staff, the track came alive with 2 stroke fury. Everyone was itching to start their engines and check out all the necessary numbers.

Passed Tech baby!


And so off goes practice. The race director has deemed it necessary to have quick practice sessions due to the large number of classes. The first run I had was in the 80cc Limited class. The Limited class had a weight requirement of 360lbs and under 35 years old. I decided to get out early and see what the kart felt like. It felt slow but I was on cold tires and a “cold track”. I was registering a very slow “best lap” time of 34.9 seconds in the practice session with an even slower “worst lap” time of 36.8. After getting back into the pits, my friend, yes the one and only SVH, noticed that my brake pad to rotor gap was a bit much. I added some shims and I brake feel was good again.

Datalogging FTW! The slow 60mph at mid track should have been a signal that something was wrong...



Brake shimming
Before:


After:
The shot is bit blurry, but the screwdriver is pointing to the shim that was inserted between the caliper piston and the pad.


I was doing these types of times when I first started karting out at Dixon. After discussing it with my friend, we agreed that we needed to get out there again and see if I was just not driving the kart.

From there, I ran in the 80cc Master’s class that had a weight requirement of 375 and an age of 35-up. You can get a waiver if you were over 200lbs. Being the uber stud that I am, I am tipping the scales at a petite 205lbs. Waiver complete.

After the 1st practice session some kart adjustments were made from previous data points I have kept from other Dixon sessions I have done. The next time out in the track was qualifying. I was dead last. The field was posting 32’s all around. Something was up but I just didn’t know.

I didn’t do much of anything beside stay hydrated until the first heat. I did adjust tire pressure but that was about it. I did notice that I was loose on exit on the track and that is what prompted me to lower my pressure.

I also enjoyed some of the racing that was taking place:
Hot grid for the kid karts:


Yamaha class rolling start. There are just so many of them!


Along comes the first heat. Standing start is normal for the shifter class. I bombed the start, and lucky for me my wife and kids just made it to Dixon to see me bomb. I did get it going and off the races we go. “Bombed start…mental note.” From dead last to a final grid position of 11th. That was a sign of hope? Nope. Most of the karters that I passed were going off road so I didn’t get to use my neenjah passing skeelz.

After getting back into the pits SVH was telling me that the kart sounded very odd. Almost as if I was short shifting it. So we do a partial tear down to see if there is any difference. We remove the airbox, carb, and reed cage to see for anything obvious. No luck. SVH starts looking over my wiring from the CDI to the coil to see that the ground wire was almost cut off completely. The exposed flywheel was rubbing away the wire. That gave me some hope of making sometime up on the track. With extra wire, solder, and Cold Heat solder gun in hand, the repair was made! Cold Heat FTW!

The would be culprit???


The final comes around and we are ready to go. Now in the 11th spot, I was ready to launch. We get the green from the hot pits and we roll out and get our warm up lap done. We stage at the start line and get focused on the flag man. He signals visors down…wait for it….wait for it….GREEN FLAG….bombed start again!

There I was sputtering whilst everyone was blowing by me. Back to 17th I go. All race long I was trying to pick up speed and I was just underpowered. It will be a couple of days before I can get to tear the kart down but there are some things that are bugging me.

Usual temps during track sessions: 110-120 deg F.
Temps seen yesterday: 150-156 deg F.
Unusual sound from engine. This started after the last top end rebuild.

This is a good example of what happens when I try to do an 1 day event. I usually get a practice session done before the race to shake down the kart but I didn’t have the chance this time around.

But as the cliché goes: A bad day of racing is better than a good day of <insert activity here>.

Here are some more pics:

Rolling start Kid karts:



Gear airing out after qualifying:


Quick look down pit row:


The scales:


Turn 1 - 2 - 3:


Cambrian Go-Karts:


More action shots from this weekends race:

Staging during Heat 1 - The karter with the number 24d took 3rd last year in the championship. Early in the day he got tangled up and bent an axle. It was nice to have some company in the back of the grid.:


Trying to get a good run off of Turn 8 to make up some time....didn't work:


SVH chasing down another one.


It is peaceful out in the track when you are dead last with no one around you:


I now need to get a helmet cam.

m-