20 February - A Week Of Karting In Sunny Florida

We're starting our season early in 2004 with a trip to the new Palmetto kart track near Tampa, Florida, where the forecast calls for sunny days and temps in the 70s.

No, we haven't become so obsessed as to think this is the cost of defending a lil' ol' club championship (although this certainly won't hurt our chances). A week of karting in warmer climes is an opportunity we just couldn't pass up. Back in December National Kart News asked their technical writer and our friend Mike Unger (or maybe he asked them) to do some chassis testing in Florida for the magazine. Mike thought having an excuse like that to spend a week out of the snow and cold playing with karts was a pretty good idea so he agreed. But he also thought it sounded like an awful lot of work and he asked if he could invite an assistant test driver. When he asked Dana if she wanted to be a test driver and me if I wanted to be a test session crew chief, we thought having an excuse to spend a week out of the snow and cold playing with karts was a pretty good idea too so we agreed.

The plan calls for Unger Racing and Conlin SpeedSports to bring their own karts so this will be a good chance for us to shake down our new Biesse Kart Viper and get some miles on the new Vega tires. We have a list of things to test on our kart and Mike has a list for us to test as well. And, if Mike needs a second opinion or confirmation of something he's doing on the test karts for NKN, he'll put Dana out for a some laps. The Palmetto track is fairly new and I've been advised that it has very little grip. Testing there, we hope will give us a preview of how to tune the kart for the newly repaved Circleville Raceway Park. If that's the case we'll be able to focus on getting Tracy up to speed in her new ride once CRP opens in March.

We're supposed to have the track to ourselves Monday and Friday to do with as we please. Tuesday through Thursday are to be the days the NKN test karts will be there. Provided I'm not collapsing in a heap at the end of each day, I plan to post updates on our progress and adventures. Our own little Florida Karting Blog, partly to educate but mainly to just provoke envy. And yes, I'll be sure to include a weather report in each entry.

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