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Dana |
5 & 6 August - Fun & Frustration In The Streets
Tracy leads Fred Ricart (yes, THAT Fred Ricart) to become the first TaG leader ever at Commercial Point - photo by Paul Lyda
Our first street race ever was fraught with frustration and gnashing of teeth punctuated by flashes of good fortune, good driving and fun.
A ridiculous series of sprocket/chain failures from contacting the pavement on the bumpy street course ended almost all of our sessions early. In between those though we managed to have Tracy lead the first two laps of Saturday's TaG race (P3 on the grid but P1 at the first corner) making her the first leader ever of a TaG race at Commercial Point and have Dana place third in Sunday's final after a close race with Fred Ricart.
Station House 81 served as a good meeting place for our guests - photo by Julie
The Commercial Point Grand Prix of Karting was an annual event in the 1990s for the small community on the outskirts of Columbus. In fact, our first real exposure as a family to karting was coming to the CPGP in 1998 and 1999. Back then it was just another form of racing to see in person, never imagining we'd someday be participants. But as we got into karting, the race through the streets of Commercial Point was dropped. Although it benefited several local civic organizations and the Scioto Township Fire Department, it had been a large event to plan, promote and run and eventually interest and manpower waned. But in early 2006 Heath Tatman, Commercial Point resident and son of Circleville Raceway Park owner Steve Tatman, got the interest back up and the ball rolling to resurrect the Commercial Point Grand Prix of Karting after a five year hiatus.
Unlike some of the big street races across the country set in fair-sized cities with wide downtown streets, the CPGP is narrow and tight. As such we were reluctant to have it be the first street race experience for our team. But because it was so local, we saw it as a easy and fun race for our friends and sponsors to watch so we decided to add it to our schedule. It turned out to be a great, festive venue for our annual INFONETICS Day at the races and we were pleased to have Brian Weeks's family and Dawn Mechling's family out on Saturday and Dave and Mary Frea out on Sunday. Other guests included Mike and Barbie Mees, the parents of Dana's boyfriend Todd. Station House 81 restaurant was kind enough to let us set up a canopy for our guests right in their parking lot which became a sort of Midway for the whole event where you could buy everything from roast pork sandwiches, brats, hotdogs, hamburgers and corn on the cob to sunglasses and event T-shirts. Also have to thank Lynn and Julie for greeting and hosting our sponsor area both days as the pits were two blocks away and with a very limited view of the on track action.
We were expecting trouble even before our drivers went out for their first practice - photo by Julie
Even though we were treating this race more like an exhibition than a competition, we still wanted to be professional, safe and complete all the laps. Three weeks prior to the event our team walked the track to get an idea of what we were getting into. Immediately we recognized that the bumps of the public roads and especially the roadbed crowns would be a problem for us: the large rear sprockets we run on tight tracks for the PRDs would be hitting the pavement in places bending or breaking the sprockets or breaking the chains. The very next day I began researching the various devices available for keeping the sprocket off the ground. I found the one I liked best - good design, good price and a good review from a friend that had used it. Two weeks before the event two of them were ordered from the Monterey, California, kart shop along with a few other supplies we didn't need but would use eventually. It took a week to ship across the country but I was relieved when I received word in Louisiana, were I was working, that the box had arrived.
It never occurred to me to have someone open the box and inspect the contents in my absence but I wish I had now. When I got out to the shop Friday night and began getting ready for the CPGP the next day, I was not pleased at all to find that everything had been shipped but the sprocket savers. Paperwork showed them as shipped, was charged for them, but someone in Monterey forgot to put them in the box. My call out there was only answered with a recording explaining that they were racing and that my call would be returned on Monday. With no time left to find another source, we packed up for CPGP hoping against hope that we'd overestimated the damage the street course would do.
Saturday
Racers were given two practice sessions Saturday afternoon. In the first, our drivers learned the track and ran conservatively. In the second they picked up speed but also began banging the sprockets on the asphalt, Tracy getting stranded on the track with the teeth of her gear flattened. There wasn't time or ideas for a solution so we had to go into Saturday's race knowing we probably wouldn't finish. On the bright side, however, it seemed that we'd finally resolved the clutch problems we'd been having for a month. Both the Horstman and the PRD clutches seemed to be happy to stay connected to the crankshaft.
Saturday's TaG race standing start (L to R) Ross Ricart, Dana, Tracy, Andy Stevenson and Fred Ricart - photo by Paul Lyda (click photo for race start sequence)
There was a pill draw (a pick-a-number-from-a-hat lottery) for the race which determined the starting order for the "LeMans" start. As they used to do in the big 24 hours race at LeMans, France, the karts were lined up along the edge of the front straight at a 45 degree angle to the race direction. Dana had drawn the #2 spot with Tracy right next to her in 3rd. Ross Ricart was in position 1 with Andy Stevenson and Fred Ricart in spot 5.
There was a really long wait for the start procedure to begin and both motors were getting hot enough to light the warning lights on both dash displays. When the green flag finally fell, Ross's kart bogged terribly. As Dana and Tracy accelerated around him, they banged wheels a little but did no harm. Even though she had to put two wheels off the track to do it, Tracy was first into Turn One. Dana was just outside her right rear tire but Fred was right on Tracy's rear bumper and was able to get inside Dana to claim second. Meanwhile, Andy had to steer way to the right to miss Ross and was adrift in fourth.
A great start in Saturday's race put Tracy out front... for a while - photo by George Harmon Photography
As the karts rounded Turn 2 and headed into the town square, the prime viewing area, a cheer went up (I am told) to see that one of the gal drivers had jumped into the lead. Tracy wasn't very far ahead of Fred but it looked like she'd be difficult to get by. Meanwhile, Andy had recovered and was charging back up to the lead pack. So too was Ross for that matter but Andy was to be on Dana's bumper by the end of Lap 1. Just before the karts were due to come back into our view on the main straight the spectators at the last corner could be seen cheering and showing support as the karts came into theirs. When the karts flashed into our view at the last corner, it was very cool to see our driver leading. As they crossed the line to complete the first lap, it was Tracy and Fred together with Andy and Dana a little ways back. Tracy crossing the line first there made her the first ever leader of a TaG class race at Commercial Point (TaG didn't exist when the last CPGP was run).
Dana watches her sister from a safe place after her kart stopped during Saturday's race - photo by Greg Wilkinson
On lap two Fred got around to lead and Andy set his sites on Tracy. As they rounded the last corner Tracy maintained a slight gap. At the line Tracy was ahead but Andy had already started a run on her. When they got to the braking area Tracy saw him coming down the inside and was determined to outbrake him into One. Off line a little and a little too hard on the brakes and around she went, backing gently into the hay bales She got back under way immediately but trailed a distant third.
A lap or two later Dana disappeared. We're used to open race tracks and being able to see when our driver stops. On a street course the crew sees very little of the track and when their driver is late, there is no way to know if he or she broke, crashed or just stopped for a Bratwurst. Just about when I began to wonder about those things Bob Strawser rolled up on his official golf kart and as soon as I told him Dana was missing he got on his official radio and asked the official corners who had her and what had officially happened. Officially, she was off between Turns One and Two with a broken chain. I figured. One down, one to go.
Tracy was still holding down third behind Andy and Fred but having seen Dana's kart fail in a predicted way I was not very confident she'd make it all 10 laps. In the meantime, Ross was giving the crowd its money's worth. Having given up a quarter lap at the start, he was throwing his Birel/Rotax through the corners making up time to the leaders. Sideways, grazing the straw, kicking up dust, it was quite a show. I lost interest though when Tracy didn't come around about lap 5 or 6. Again, a little concern but I felt I probably knew what had happened. So it came as no surprise when my phone rang and it was Mike Mees reporting that she was off at turn 7 with a broken chain but otherwise all right. Two down, none to go but it was fun while it lasted.
Good old trackside American ingenuity: Ye ole oaken skid plate engineered and manufactured by Todd and Eric - photo by Mike Unger
Once both karts were hauled back to the pits the crew contemplated how to avoid suffering the same fate on Sunday. One of the options was to change Dana's gearing so that a smaller rear gear could be used. We could do this on Dana's kart because she was using the old style PRD clutch. It would, however, require using the 10-tooth drive gear - a piece with precariously little material between the inner bushing and the outer socket teeth. We'd broken one before and were a little uneasy using it on the street course where the bumps can increase stress on the driveline. But the big rear sprocket was a sure failure so we chose the lesser of those two evils.
Tracy was using the the new Horstman clutch and while we were pleased that it was staying on, Horstman had not even made a 10 tooth driver available. Another idea would have to be found to protect the #99's drive train. The solution we came up with hearkened back to the ground-effects days of Formula One when ride heights were set so low that the bottom of the aluminum chassis had to be protected. Those multi-million dollar teams relied on simple hickory or oak hardwood. If it was good enough for them, it would certainly be good enough for the likes of us and we just happened to have an old ratty hunk of hardwood (not sure it if was oak or hickory - I don't know my lumber like I should) bouncing around the trailer. Todd and Eric Creech held a design conference which then segued into arts and crafts class but the concept looked solid. All that was missing was a few hose clamps but by morning Todd had solved that.
Sunday
Dana completed all practice and race laps on Sunday, wish the same could be said for Tracy - photo by Julie
Both ladies were faster in Sunday morning practice partly because of Saturday's rubber build up but partly due to the Overnight Factor. This is a phenomenon we've noticed in our family before. All things being equal, Conlin drivers will be faster on the second day of driving a new track. And it is not just a family trait, we've heard similar reports from other drivers. My theory is that the driver dreams about the perfect or at least faster lap.
There were two additional entries in the TaG class for Sunday. Brothers Chris and Rich Hale couldn't have had the Overnight Factor, they must have had premonitions because they were fast right off the trailer. Very fast. Very, very fast. The fastest Leopards we've ever raced against. The Ricarts agreed. Fred had a brand new Leopard and was dusted on the straights by the Hale Bros Leopards. Take from that what you want. And they were brave too. Very brave. Very, very brave. Brave enough to do a bonsai, kamikaze pass on Dana on the second lap of morning practice that put one of them into the hay bales at the last turn. Crashing in practice is never a good sign. Seeing the nose come up along side her going into the turn Dana thought, "Oh, come on, this is never going to work", whoa'd her kart down, steered a little wide and had a preemo seat for Mr. Hale's acrobatics.
Racing in front of real race fans was kinda fun - photo by Paul Lyda
Once that particular show was over Dana went on to complete every lap of practice. The same couldn't be said for Tracy, she was stranded about halfway through with the chain off again, very nearly getting run over by one of the Hales when she suddenly slowed. But back in the pits we were relieved to see that it wasn't caused by the pavement, it seemed to have just jumped the gears and we diagnosed it as the chain not set at the correct tension. We adjusted the chain and thought nothing more of it.
Maybe the bravado of the Hale boys is what it takes on a street course because they were real fast in the race too. That is until the one brother took the other brother out and then putting Ross into the hay bales somewhere along the way too (at least that's the story we heard). Which was quite a shame since Ross was leading at the time. For Sunday the organizers agreed to give the TaG class a rolling start rather than the LeMans start because water pumps are driven off of the rear axles and if the kart isn't moving, the water isn't moving. That's why things got a bit warm at the start on Saturday. But the rolling start was a real benefit for Ross (the Ricarts weren't the ones lobbying for the rolling start, it should be noted) since he didn't have to work with Rotax's the low speed bog.
Aside from a few good laps Tracy was let down by her equipment every session - photo by Julie
As it was, Andy led from the pole with Ross next to him, Fred behind with Dana next to Fred. Tracy was to start in P5 with a Hale next to her and a Hale behind her but she didn't make it through the warm-up lap. We thought we'd found a remedy for all her problems so we were genuinely baffled when she didn't come around for the green flag. We would find out later that the engine had pulled back and slackened the chain completely the result, apparently, of the engine not being tightened enough even though both Eric and I had checked it.
At the green the Hales started their expected march through the field. Fred's Leopard and Andy's Sonik were no match for their machines and by the end of lap one they were second & third with Ross last and trailing straw. Meanwhile, Dana was recovering from a slow start and gaining on Fred. Until she caught up to him on lap 4, Dana gained by an average of .4 per lap. Once there she continued to lap quicker but only just - their lap times varied only .03 on laps 5 through 9. Each lap she was looking to get inside at the entrance to Turn 3 but each time she didn't have quite enough. Ross was putting on another show, catching up to both of them quickly. As the three of them entered the right-left of turns 7 & 8 late in the race, Ross misjudged the grip on the outside when he tried Dana there and slid into the hay bales again, loosing all the ground he had made up.
Dana posted the best result of the weekend, a third on Sunday - photo by George Harmon Photography
On lap 8 Chris Hale dropped out at the far end of the course while fighting with Rich for the lead. On the last lap Dana felt she had her best shot at passing Fred going into Three but when she arrived there it was covered with a yellow flag. It looked like we'd have to settle for fourth (actually, we were just happy to finish) but as they came through the last turn on the last lap, Fred ran a little wide and Dana didn't hesitate to move into 3rd. It looked a little too easy from where I was and it looked a little easy from where Dana was too. At the scales she asked Fred what that last corner was all about. He said he knew she was faster all race and felt if she could go through by giving her some room she deserved it. She let him know she might have been faster but she'd been trying to find a way by for the last half of the race and couldn't.
So, two races, two karts, one result. Not our best weekend. But we've got a street race under our belts, learned a lot, had fun, made new friends, helped the show (racing in front of a crowd was cool) and had a couple high points. Being such a high profile event we had plenty of folks supplying us with photos. Many thanks to Greg Wilkinson, Mike Unger, Paul Lyda and Julie for the pics that made this report more interesting. On to the SKUSA weekend at South Bend next weekend with lots of work to do before then.
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