Mission Accomplished

Going into our first ever kart race our expectations were not high. In fact, our goals were simple: finish every race, stay on the lead lap, don't get tangled up with anyone else and try to look like we knew what we were doing. And as far as reaching those goals, today was a very successful day.

Since we weren't members of the Ohio Valley Karting Association (Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club will be our home club) we were a little out of the loop as far as the schedule info. We wound up getting to the track about 9:00am which turned out to be about an hour too late. By the time we got the kart through technical inspection and got me registered as a driver we had missed the two morning warm-up sessions.

Tech went much smoother than I expected. There were only a few things that needed to be tended to, mainly things that needed to be safety wired. We also had our first chance to have the driver/kart package weighed. 357 pounds, 13 short of the Briggs (& Stratton engine) Stock Heavy class but well over the minimum of 330 for Briggs Stock Lite. With the corrections suggested by the tech people complete and the class we would run determined, it was time to queue up for registration.

Being the first race of the season, registration was pulling double and triple duty (we were told) to process not only the race entries but also membership applications and minor waivers. Fortunately the club was sympathetic to our plight and announced that after the driver's meeting there would be a special, short practice for drivers who were waiting in line for registration while regular practice was going on. Signed up with fees paid, there was a little time to do our track side prep before the call for all drivers to attend the driver's meeting. The meeting was standard fare but sufficiently enlightened us procedurally to what we could expect in the afternoon. We would have three races; two heats and a final. The starting positions for the two heats would be assigned randomly by a computer program and the starting positions for the final would be determined be the composite value of the drivers' finishing positions in the heats. New kart racers (like me) would start from the rear of the field (which I not only expected but desired) for all three races.

The mini-practice was a good chance to see just how little grip the tires were offering in the cold temperatures (about 54 degrees) on the first couple laps. The engine, though, ran strong and reliably which was a very happy change since the last time we were at the track and struggling with the mis-fire problem. Because of the timing problems with the race engine we had switched over to the practice engine last weekend. When we bought this motor, the seller and I agreed that it would serve well as a practice engine provided we didn't push it beyond 5500 rpm until getting it in for a rebuild. To this end we used a bigger gear than normal for Circleville Raceway Park (click here for a track map) to keep the revs 1000 lower than absolute redline for a Briggs race motor.  It was a guess at best but it worked out perfectly - that first short practice saw 54-5600 as the top end of the tach.

After lunch and a quick overall nuts & bolts inspection by the Conlin SpeedSports crew, it was back to the pre-grid to stage for our first race. Starting from the rear made for an easy start for me, simply following the other six drivers through the pace lap and across the start line. I was very surprised to see that those other drivers were not simply disappearing into the distance and was very encouraged to be keeping up with them through the twisty parts of the circuit. Once on the first major straight-away some distance was pulled out (but not much) putting their extra 1000 rpm and proper gear ratio to good use. Through the first lap and a half I was pretty much in touch with the others but then made a small mistake or two that allowed them to draw away significantly. I took a couple good shots to the ribs on lap three, the quickest in that session. Not as bad as the one in practice here three weeks ago but still unpleasant (we may have to look into an alternative seat design for me) and caused me to back off a little. On the final two laps the slightest mis-fire cropped up in the right-hand corners. Nevertheless, our first race was completed without incident and I was pleased to see a couple low times before easing off a little to conserve my ribs:

It was while waiting for our second race that we noticed Kevin Picklesimer's name on the entry list for our class. Kevin is the previous owner of our Margay kart and a wealth of knowledge. He had won the first race and we hadn't even realized it was him. It was Julie (I think) that found him first and we went over to offer our congrats and talk a bit. He was delighted to see that we had made it to our first race. He was able to diagnose the mis-fire at the end of the race as low fuel level as well as a probable cause of the timing problem in the race motor and we developed a plan to get it resolved.

My goal for the second race was to stay in touch with the others for more than a lap and a half. On the start I actually had a bit of a run on the guys in front of me. Through turn one I was right on the bumper of the kart just ahead of me and going into turn two I had to get on the brakes earlier than normal to avoid running into him. Going into turn three I began to think I might be able to pass a guy or two before the end of the race. But that thought dissolved in turn four. Turning into four, the driver leading me suddenly went off line presenting me with kart number 11, who had been running second or third, sideways across the track. I jinked to the right in an effort to go around the outside of him then cranked back to the left to stay on the track. If the tires had not still been cold, I may have pulled it off. As it was, the rears lost traction and looped around, backing off the track. I was able to continue but everyone else was long gone.

So, the race for me became another practice session. I put my head down and tried to cut some quick, consistent times. I was pretty happy with the result:

Overall, a pretty good day. Mission accomplished - we completed every available lap, didn't get into anybody's way, didn't get a scratch on the new paint job. With an engine that will handle the proper gearing and with a little more finesse on my part, I think we have a package that will be able to mix it up with the regulars by mid season.