2003 MSOKC HPV Champions

27 February - Florida Spring Training Day 7: Betrayed By The Weatherman, Emphasis Is On Fun

Throughout the week the forecast, however gloomy in the middle, promised a beautiful, if cool, day on Friday. So we were disappointed to say the least when we woke up to a low, thick cloud cover. The clueless suit & tie in front of the map on TV tried to say it was some sort of coastal version of lake-affect snow. At the track it was cold, misting and generally miserable. We considered just packing it in and getting home a day earlier. But since I had accurately predicted what would happen after the shower Thursday, I was asked to forecast and advise. We decided to stick it out.

Dana went out on a damp track on dry tires and got some good practice driving a wet line. Mike went out when the track was dry and we got a batch of photos for use in National Kart News and the upcoming seminar. After that Dana just lapped for the fun of it and I video taped her going through each corner in succession giving us a pretty cool video that looks like one lap covered by 14 cameras.

Lastly, Mike insisted that Dana and I try the ICC. I agreed only after I swore them to secrecy. Having never driven a shifter before, other than the Exciter earlier in the week and knowing that the ICC was nothing like the Exciter (Dana has driven both and shared), I was concerned about crashing Mike's kart, injuring myself or just generally looking like a clown out there (not necessarily in that order). The fact that I'm writing about it here means I didn't do any of those things and that they are hereby relieved of that secret.

I went out first and after a cautious lap or two I stepped it up a bit and was surprised at how quickly I adapted, Lots of power, yes, but nothing I couldn't handle. I was beginning to wonder what all the big deal was about driving a 125cc shifter. And then coming out onto the straight one time, I kept my foot down a little longer than I had been. For an instant, all I could see was sky. I thought something was wrong with my helmet but then I realized that my helmet was okay, it was my head that was flopping around behind the seat.

I guess until that point I hadn't even been on the pipe - in the torque range of that engine - and when it was, it turned into a beast. I pulled my head back onto my shoulders in time to pick out a suitable braking point for turn one. Slowly I began to stay in the engine's power range between corners and was appalled by how difficult it was to drive. From what I could tell, you don't really "drive" an ICC kart, you just calculate trajectories. Its like aiming a canon the only difference is that you're harnessed to the cannonball when the fuse ignites the charge. Dana had described the ICC as "violent" and she's right. The only way I can describe it is that explodes out of the corners and literally propels the driver down the straight. I eventually was getting into sixth gear for a second or two and the kart was still accelerating as hard as it was coming out of 12 in third gear.

The shifting wasn't too hard to get used to but for whatever reason, it demanded much more physical strength in the upper body and arms. It would take me months to get smooth in a 125cc kart. And that would be on a smooth, dry and empty track - forget about ever having 10 - 40 other people out there trying to control these things with me. They say that self preservation is the strongest instinct in the human species. I'm convinced that karters that race 125cc Shifters have had that gene mutated out of them somehow because normal people wouldn't do that to themselves.

I could only do about 8 laps and came in to turn the kart over to Dana. This was the third time she has driven Mike's Biesse / ICC. She was still cautious but found that she could establish a rhythm at the smooth Palmetto track more easily than on Circleville Raceway Park's rough surface last year. Her fastest lap was .08 slower than mine so that meant I was doing something right out there. On the other hand, she never got into sixth gear on the straight which meant she was faster than me in the twisty bits where it really mattered.

While we were playing around with the ICC my mom's Aunt Marcy and Uncle George came out to see what we were up to. My cousin Marcia and her son Nick also showed up a little later. Once we were done, we took a side trip to see Marcia's home which has been under construction for two and a half years. It is quite a place with its beach-front location on Manatee Bay, 2 four-car garages, guitar-shaped pool, 12-foot ceilings, bar & billiard room, theater, office, flying bridge between the bedrooms across the living room and elevator between the garage and master bedroom. Move-in is scheduled for March 30th - It seems we scheduled our Florida adventure a little over a month too early.

After the tour we reluctantly pointed Mike's truck towards Ohio and started home. But we had a great time, loads and loads of laughs and it was a very productive week. Mike got material for five or six articles for National Kart News and got in some great spring training. We learned a ton and reinforced our confidence for defending Dana's championship and giving Tracy a front-running kart. Dana was happy she didn't crack under the pressure of Juan Pablo Montoya's dad watching her. We left Cooper Motorsports Park with track records for HPV (48.90) and for Easykart (47.94). Of course it helps to be driving a configuration that has never been on the track before but a record has to start somewhere. Many thanks to Curt Paluzzi and National Kart News for inviting us along.

And as long as we're taking liberties with track records, it very well could be that I left with the track record for ICC Drivers Over Age 45 That Really Don't Know What They're Doing Out There. But that probably wouldn't fit neatly on a trackside sign.

© Copyright 2004 Conlin SpeedSports. All rights reserved.
Server space for this website graciously provided by Infonetics, Inc.