(My apologies for a lack of photos on this entry but the team photographer, Dana, was recovering from oral surgery this weekend. Originally, her appointment was scheduled so as to miss any race weekends but when the June 18 race was rescheduled to July 16, a conflict was created. Tracy and I are too busy to worry about taking pictures so we didn't even bring the camera along. This was particularly unfortunate as it would have been nice to send our guest driver a photo documenting the momentous occasion of his outing in the Conlin SpeedSports racing kart. Sorry for the oversight John.)

If you are reading these articles in chronological order (which we highly recommend) you will know that we came into Sunday's race without the benefit of our race motor. It was sitting on our workbench back home awaiting an autopsy. A connecting rod had broken - into many pieces by the sound of the stuff was tumbling around inside the crankcase when we removed the engine. As the result, we were going to be racing on the spare motor. As a consolation, we were glad to have the spare to fall back on. One of the realistic goals a new racing team can strive for is to start and finish all the races on its schedule. So far we've been able to do that.

Prep and Practice

Of course destroying the race motor at the end of Saturday's test session did us no good at all in terms of applying those test results to raceday. When we changed engines we changed the entire unit - the only thing that transferred from one engine to the other was the header. So it was almost like starting from scratch on the mixture setting. So much so that in the first practice session we had lost about 2 seconds overnight.

Getting the engine dialed into the optimum temp range in the second session got one of the seconds back but we were still far adrift of yesterday's times. This engine had run stronger than that last time out and I immediately suspected the carburetor. This was because earlier we had found the mixture jet was cross-threaded in the carb. We had to work carefully to get it out and the new one really didn't go in much better. It seemed like it was seated correctly but we really couldn't tell and there was no time before the first practice to work with it more. But given the performance during practice we decided to change the carb before the race.

I hadn't thought to pull the carb we tested with Saturday off the blown engine and have it along for race day but now I wished I had. We had two spare carbs and I chose what I felt was the better of the two. It wasn't until we nearly had it installed that I remembered the history of this carb: It was part of the package when we bought the kart and was described by previous owner Kevin Picklesimer as a very good unit. But the time we had tried it earlier in the year we couldn't get it to idle down, almost as if it had an air leak somewhere. By this time there was no time to change it out again for the other carb so we had to just hope for the best.

3 Races, 1 Moment of Glory

In the first heat I was gridded 4th and last. This was a rain make-up date from the first semi-season championship and it may have been that racers with nothing to gain in the championship decided to skip this event. The paddock was decidedly thin compared to usual. We had just formed up the starting grid as we went through the last corner and I, in my inexperience, though for sure they would send us around the oval again (at CRP pace laps are run on the oval and once the green flag is dropped, the field heads off of turn one out onto the road course), but instead, with me a kart length back the green flag flashed.

As usual, I could maintain the interval to the pack until we got to turn four, the left hand hairpin leading onto the backstraight. This was really starting to get old and I became determined to see exactly where the others were gaining the advantage. I found I could stay with them through Five, Six and even gain on the entry to Seven but they would just walk away after Seven. Seven is a hard right which requires just the slightest of braking. I also seemed to be losing ground in Eight which I was taking flat out but has a slight uphill climb to it. I didn't seem to lose much ground in Nine and, in fact, could sometimes have a higher exit speed but once on the straight bits again, I was at a disadvantage. So although I was never a factor in that race (since there were no multi-kart end-over-end massive pile-ups among the leaders) it was useful in isolating where we needed help. Low-end torque out of the corners. The most exciting part of that race after lap one was once going through Turn Nine, the flat-out right-hander, on two wheels. The whole crew saw it. I guess it looked pretty impressive or scary - depending on your perspective.

Heat 2

For Heat Two we drew the pole position. This would be a first and I was a little worried about it. Do I just do a normal, straight-up honorable start and get swallowed up immediately? Or do I try something a little tricky and hold off the inevitable for as long as I can? I decided to try the latter. Jack Humphry, who has won the last two events was starting behind me. This I saw as a real advantage. In fact, when Tracy asked in light of our low-torque problems, if I thought I could lead through the first turn, I replied I was sure of it because I was sure Jack was going to push me through! Aaron Blue would start next to me and Jonathan Dick was starting last. I knew leading at the end of the lap was out of the question and I wasn't even holding out much hope for still leading at the end of the backstraight. It would be nice, I thought, if I could lead onto it though.

In earlier races I had observed that a lot of the pole drivers keep the pace down and don't get on the power until right on the start line or the green flag flies. We were about half way between the last corner and the start line when I put the throttle down full but then immediately got off and then back on again. The idea was to have the others respond to my first move, have to back off and then be off the power for when I took off for good. I really don't know if I gained anything by it because by time we got to Turn One, Blue had pulled up along my right side. He probably would have gone around the outside of me and led into Turn 2 if it wasn't for Jack plowing me ahead.

Actually, I stayed to the left down the short straight to not so much to block as to keep that extra power on my rear bumper. It worked and Blue and I went through Two side by side.  Which brought us to Three. Between having the inside line at Two and Jack pushing me along I I had a bit of a lead on Blue as we entered Three but I couldn't turn in at the normal spot since that would take me across the front of Blue's kart. Blue was playing equally as fair, driving over the curb and keeping a tight exit to give me racing room. He could have easily let his kart drift out into mine. This gave me the better line into Four and Blue disappeared from my peripheral vision as I turned in to the left. No doubt he was taking a late turn-in to set me up for a pass on the long straight that followed.

So it was with great joy and a sense of deja vu of more competitive times that found us leading onto the backstraight. The thought crossed my mind for an instant to move left and take up a blocking position down the straight - at least make the guys work for it - but it was just for an instant. It would have been foolish and would do nothing but create hard feelings. I've always raced fair and just because we find ourselves behind the curve here is no reason to change now.

So I was prepared when a kart began to nose past about halfway down the backstraight but I was a little surprised to see it was Humphry - I was expecting Blue since he was second last I knew. As we approached the fifth turn, Humphry clearly had the corner. I turned in late to let him go and was surprised to have Blue come through right on his bumper. It was a brilliant piece of driving on Blue's part but it left me no room on the racing line and, out in the "marbles", I just slid straight over the curb on the exit and out into the grass. While I was mowing the lawn out there for the track owners, Dick got by me into third (it's amazing how much faster you can go on the black part).

Once back on the track, the kart felt like it wasn't running quite as crisply as earlier and I couldn't seem to adjust it up any better. Temp was okay, it just seemed down on power a bit since I wasn't keeping up with the others as in the first heat. Looking at the times after the race confirmed this. Unlike the first heat wherein I was able to cut several 52 second laps, in this race I couldn't manage a one.

Heat 3

For the final, Tracy and I discussed the merits of changing the gearing to get a little more speed out of the kart - in defiance of whatever was going on with it. It was an important question, asking ourselves if we wanted to chance turning our last good engine too hard. We decided to do it - neither one of us like being so far off the pace.

In the Feature it was Humphry, Blue, Dick and I.  Those guys were pretty much gone as soon as they let us go. I could only manage a couple of 53s the rest being 54s. I still didn't know what might have changed in the set up that had us loosing time. There are so many variables - we're still learning how to spot the one that's causing the trouble. So I motored around again working on smoothness and consistency but wondering which piece of the puzzle we were missing.

Humphry won, Blue, I think, was second and Dick third. But we still have a 100% completion rate and we led for half a lap. Okay so we had a little help but at this point we'll take what ever we can get.

Guest Driver

My brother-in-law John Davis, visiting from Indianapolis, was helping us out at the races this day and as with anyone who comes out, he was encouraged to get in the kart for a few laps after the last race was run. It's not until you see someone else do it that you realize just how silly the whole thing is. I mean, there we were, in 88 degree heat, at the end of a long day, dressing John up like he was about to go out into a blizzard. Safety vest, neck brace, quilted jacket, gloves, helmet.  Then there was the process of getting him into the kart with all that stuff on. Things like where to step without stepping on something important. Where to put the hands to lower yourself down into the seat where they won't bend something or get burned. Then there was the squeezing down into the seat, which is by design a snug fit to keep the driver in place. And all this with the limited sight and head movement the safety equipment afford.

But once in, our first guest driver did just fine, starting conservatively (I much prefer that over a wildman approach) and steadily found more speed each lap, getting down to a best of 1:04.94 - very respectable for the first time in the kart and on the track. John takes pretty good care of himself and is on a weekly volley ball league team and I don't know if he was sore the next day but he certainly worked up a sweat out there during his ten laps. I think he probably has a slightly higher appreciation for what he nieces are doing out there.

Tracy Takes On

If it wasn't for the laps the girls take at the end of the day, race days, with our lack of results would be a just barely worth the effort. But seeing Dana and Tracy going out and getting better each session makes the whole thing fun regardless of how things went earlier. This time how ever, it was really frustrating. In Tracy's first session she was a full two seconds off of her pace and that is when I began to think we may have hurt the spare motor earlier. Each session she went out, the times fell further. I could tell she was driving her heart out - being the only kart in the track, I could hear every throttle movement and she was trying hard. But I think she may have been fighting a losing battle in the form of a burned valve.

Some Vague Advice

After our feature and before the track was available for open practice I stopped by Humphry's trailer. Jonathan Dick and his parents Ron(?) and Colleen were there as well and we talked a bit about the day's fortunes and misfortunes as could be applied around the group. I thanked Jack for pushing me ahead of Aaron Blue in the second heat and we all had laugh about that. I learned that Jack has been "doing (kart racing) off and on since I was ten" and he's 43 now. I asked if there was anything from his perspective when running behind me in practice or races that I should be working on, where we were losing the most time. Was it handling? Motor? Driving style? I figured I could ask since we are so far off the pace that we wouldn't really be considered a threat. But all Jack could offer was "ya got to work on mixture setting and tire pressures". Yeah, well, neither of those are going to make up a second or two so I was hoping there might be something more he could tell us. Something that would point to the fundamental problem we're obviously suffering from.

Some Sound Advice

While Tracy was lapping, Mike Unger, a National driver that has shared some karting wisdom with us in the past showed up to take advantage of the open practice. He and his dad were breaking in a new engine and dialing in a new chassis a bit.  When he asked how we had done, I related my tale of woe - that the other karts were just motoring away at low-speed sections of the track. Mike suggested the problem was in the clutch. The clutch is one area we haven't done much with despite everyone telling us it was a crucial part of going faster. He said we should try to set the clutch up to engage about 4000-4100 rpm. Ours is engaging right now at about 3600, I think.  This means we're a good ways down the engine's power curve when trying to move the kart out of low-speed corners or coming up to the start line. Mike told me exactly what we should do to get the engagement speed up. It was a chance meeting that may turn out to be the keystone to making this whole thing work the way we want it to. To his credit, Kevin Picklesimer emailed me with pretty much the same suggestion a few days later. What is particularly impressive about his submission is that he was able to make his diagnosis based only on last week's race report right here on the ConlinSS.com site.

One of the things my Dad and I learned almost 30 years ago when we first got into snowmobile racing is that you got to ask questions. You got to pick other peoples' brains, tap into their experience. I even coined my own phase about that which has stuck with me all these years: "Everyone knows some little trick. If you talk to enough people, you'll know them all."

Mike and I also talked a bit about racing lines and where time can be found at Circleville Raceway Park. There are a couple suggestion he made that I'm eager to try with a kart that's up to speed. He mentioned how some drivers, especially those that have raced vehicles other than karts (like me), have a hard time finding the limit of a racing kart because the cornering ability seems unbelievable. He offered a very interesting fact, that these karts can approach 2 Gs (twice the force of gravity) in the corners and for some, that seems difficult to accept when rushing up to a corner. I'd don't think I'm one of those, it seems as though we're getting everything out of the kart in the corners - both in terms of seat-of-the-pants feedback and the ability to stay with the fast guys in the turns. Nevertheless, it added to the respect for what we're doing out there and explains why I'm so beat up after a day on the track.

Goals for the Second Half of the Season

So, anyway, we've got three weeks to get our motors back together. We hope to have the kart back on the track the weekend of July 29 to break-in the rebuilt engine and see the effect of the higher engagement speed on lap times. There are four races left on our schedule and I think we can expect a 51 second lap in our future and as a goal we should be working to a 50 second lap. But, at this point in the game when a tenth of a second is fought for tooth and nail, one second may as well be a month.  Another ambitious but still realistic goal is to crack the on-track (not through tech DQs) top three and maybe even lead an entire lap or two.  We'll keep working at it. You keep coming back to see how we're doing.

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