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| March 17, 2011 News |
| Factory Pilot: Gary Carlton - An American in Europe - WSK Euro Series Sarno Journal |
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For 2011, American karting star Gary Carlton will be the lead driver for the Chiesa Corse operation in the KZ1 category aboard factory-prepared Zanardi/IAME package. eKartingNews.com has partnered with Gary to help produce segments over the course of his time as a new factory driver. Working with him on forum blogs, race-event journals, photos, video footage and more, viewers will be able to see first-hand what it is to be a factory driver for one of the top European teams in karting.
To follow his progress throughout the season, visit the official EKN Gary Carlton Page in the Features section.
After relocating to Italy at the beginning of March, Chiesa Corse and the Zanardi/IAME management put Gary to work quickly, sending him to the Circuit International Napoli in Sarno, Italy for round one of the WSK Euro Series. The following his is first journal entry on his 2011 season, including some photos and on-board footage.
 | Gary Carlton now sports the Zanardi-Parilla colors for Chiesa Corse
(Photo: IAME) |
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
When I first arrived in Italy the initial plan was for me to pass up the opening round of the WSK Euro Series due to the fact that I had not driven a kart since the SKUSA SuperNationals in Las Vegas last year. I had never driven the Zanardi/IAME package, and I did not even know if my body could stand up to the abuse a KZ kart can dish out. But upon my arrival, I got a call from Dino Chiesa (Team boss of Chiesa Corse/Zanardi Race Team) and he informed me that the bosses at IAME expressed it was really important that we start the development of the engine right away. Once I heard the news, everything changed and I started packing my bags inside my new apartment that's located inside the new CRG factory.
Being that the Zanardi Factory was an hour away, and at the moment I have no car, the first time I would meet everyone from the team and get fitted to my karts would be Wednesday morning at the track in Sarno. I was able to hitch a ride inside the Maxter Engine Service van and I will tell you, that was one of the longest 8 hour drives I have ever been through. I was so nervous about my collar bone that I had broken only 6 weeks before during a non-karting training incident and had a fairly big operation with many pins and screws holding it back together. I had many exercises that would help it stretch out and spoke with many people on how to deal with the pain, if it became a big problem but would not really know if I was going to be able to race until I sat in the kart and took it on track. I will tell you that I have never been so nervous, yet excited in my whole racing career. I wanted to really show all the guys at Zanardi and IAME that they had made the right choice in bringing me on board to their program and all I could think was how disappointing it would be to tell them that the pain was too much for me to drive.
We arrived at the track around 9:00 pm and headed to the hotel that was located right next to the pit area of the track. It was just completed a week ago and we were some of the first people that had ever stayed inside the rooms. Once we were all checked in, I met everyone on the team. Being that Zanardi is a smaller team and they work real close with CRG, I was happy to know I knew everyone on the team already except the mechanic that would be working for me. Chiesa Corse has only three drivers that make up the team for this season. World Champion Nyck De Vries will be racing in KF1, Canadian Lance Stroll will be racing in KF3 and myself completing the team running KZ1. We made our introductions and during all the excitement of getting all my new Zanardi gear and trying on my new suit, my mechanic’s name had slipped my mind. I would feel stupid asking him again so I figured I would just wait until the next day and was sure I would here somebody call out his name.
Once we finished off with dinner, we headed to our room only to find there was something strange with the bed. I was rooming with my new mechanic (which his name was still a mystery) and I noticed that there was only one bed in the room. Yes it was big enough for two people, but I thought maybe they had mixed up the rooms with someone else. On further inspection all the rooms were set-up like this and everyone that had a roommate had to share a bed. We both made jokes saying, "Well, I guess this is one way to get to know each other quickly!" It was hard to sleep that night. I couldn't stop thinking about my collar bone and if I was going to be able to race. It seemed impossible to sleep. After lying there staring at the ceiling, I looked at the clock and saw 2:00am and thought to myself the morning would never come. I just wanted to get out there and see if I could drive. Finally I dosed off to a deep sleep.
 | The scar from Carlton's collar bone injury from six weeks ago that has pins and screws holding it together
(Photo: G. Carlton) |
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Once I woke up all I could think about was taking a hot shower to help me wake up and more importantly loosen up my right shoulder. When I sleep, the area around my collar bone tightens up and it becomes hard to move my arm. I turned on the water and noticed it was taking a little while for the hot water to come. I let it run for a bit and then after awhile I started to suspect that there was something wrong. I checked the valves and everything, tried turning the knobs in both directions, but still no hot water. After messing with it for around ten minutes, I had to come to the realization that there was no hot water. I washed off the best I could but did not get to far until I called it quits and jumped out shivering cold. Once dressed, we caught a quick breakfast when I was told by the other guys on the team that they had the same problem with hot water, and looked as cold as I felt. I have to say it was a bit strange wearing something other than CRG clothes. For the past 5 years, I have lived in black and orange and now it was traded for white and blue with the Zanardi logo. But something did feel right when I put on the layers of new clothes and got ready for freezing temps outside.
Other than the hotel having no hot water and no internet, it was really nice to able to walk outside the hotel and straight into the pit area. Once under the tent, we had to start work straight away and get me fitted to the karts. It all happened really fast to be honest. Since the checked flag flew after the SuperNationals, I had not driven anything and not even 12 hours after I met my new team, I was putting on a suit and getting ready to go on track. Once on the grid, I sat in the kart with my mind racing a million miles an hour. It seemed like it was happening very fast. Heck, I still didn't know my own mechanics name!
One problem I had was I could not lift the kart up and down with my injured arm. Once we had to get the kart off the stand I was a bit embarrassed to have to ask someone to help me. Being injured sucks and to be honest, I felt like a wuss not being able to lift my kart up and down. Once I was in the kart, the green flag was shown, and I was pushed off. Every race, the first order of business is to break-in the engines. Once I was on track, it kind of took me by surprise on how bright things were on the kart. I had been running a black kart for so long that everything would kind of blend into the track surface, but with the Zanardi being white, everything stands out. The session was 15 minutes long and I only had to break-in the engine for ten minutes. Once my mechanic showed me the sign to start pushing, I did straight away. I remember Dino saying to take it easy the first session to make sure my collar bone would be okay. But once I had the helmet on and started going around the track, all thoughts of my collar bone seemed to vanish. I was thinking like normal, setting myself into a rhythm and started pushing it harder each lap. There was some pain when I was driving but it wasn't bad enough where I wanted to stop.
Once finished with the session, Dino came up and was joking that I went out and pushed 100% straight away. And to be honest, it was exciting to try the new chassis and engine, let alone just drive again. After around 10 minutes after the excitement wore off, my collar bone had a good amount of pain. I stretched it out the best I could and before I knew it, we where headed out for the second session to break-in the second engine. All went well and my collar bone felt a little better this run. I only pushed the last half of the lap before the end, but my confidence was growing. The third session would be the first time that I could go full gas and really start to feel everything out. After two warm-up laps, I started putting the kart through its paces. But after the second lap at the end of the straight, the engine stuck really hard. It was strange because I thought the engine was really rich and I even choked the engine a good bit before I came off the gas. IAME's KZ program is really in the infant stages, so problems like this are to be expected.
Once back in the pits, the IAME tuners took the engine and got it fixed for the next session. The unique deal with the IAME KZ engine is that it is the only engine that uses an iron sleeve instead of a chromed cylinder lining like all the others. So when we have an engine stick, all it means is they have to hone the cylinder and slap a new piston inside. We used the last session to break-in the new piston and the last lap I was able to push at 100% and try to get a feel for the chassis.
After cleaning up the karts and making a few comfort adjustments for myself on the kart, we covered the karts up and headed to dinner. My collar bone hurt a bit, but not as much as I expected. With every session passing by, I felt better. I was so relieved that I was able to drive through the whole day. I knew almost all of the laps I did were breaking-in engines, but I had a lot of confidence that I could make it through the weekend.
The biggest problem I had was my mechanics name was still a mystery. I thought I heard someone say Plats but was not 100% sure. Once the day ended and only Nyck De Vries was under the tent with me, I went over and asked him if he knew. Thankfully he did and informed me that my mechanics name was Blaz. Good thing I checked before calling him Plats. That would have been a bit embarrassing.
After dinner, I checked with the front desk to see if there was still a problem with the hot water and they assured me it was fixed. I did not want to take any chances so I checked before I went to bed. I made a huge fist pump as hot water ran through my hands. It’s always the little things that make us happy.
 | Only a few laps of testing during break-in sessions after three months out of the seat was all that prepared Gary for qualifying
(Photo: Chris Walker - kartpix.net) |
Thursday, March 10, 2011
After a really long and blazing hot shower, I felt a bit stiff in the shoulder but was ready to get out on track and really see what this new chassis was all about. Zanardi had brought two different models to this race for me to try out. The first one I drove was the KZ1 model. This model is constructed with 32 millimeter tubing while the other model, Zanardi KZ2, has a mix of 30 and 32 millimeter tubing. Dino had one kart set-up soft and the other kart stiff and the order of business for the day was to find out which chassis suited me best. The first session went with no problems and I was able to get in a rhythm fairly quickly. I will tell you, it felt great to drive again. My collar bone hurt a bit, but after a few sessions, I felt like myself again. I was back at the track doing what I love most. I was a driver again.
I was really impressed with the chassis from the very first session. I had really nothing to complain about other than I was making a few mistakes due to not driving in over three months. All we did was put more gas in the tank for the second session and I was looking forward to getting more comfortable with both the chassis and engine. Once I warmed-up the engine, I started pushing and on the second lap the engine seized at the end of the long straight. I was a little bummed because I knew sessions were running out and I had yet to have more than 10 laps at full speed. Once back in the tent, Blaz took the engine off and ran it over to the IAME service van. They were quick to get the cylinder honed and a new piston put inside. Once the engine was back, we mounted it on the second chassis so I could feel out the KZ2 model kart. The third session I spent most of the time breaking-in the engine but I was able to push the last two laps and started to get a feel for the new chassis. It was hard to tell in two laps, but the KZ2 chassis felt good. It was very stable and easy to drive.
We had been running on used tires the whole week and with the Dunlop tire on the Sarno circuit, new tires make a big difference so Blaz mounted up a fresh set and had them ready to put on during our final session. On the final session of the day, I took a couple laps on the old tires to make sure everything was in running order and with the session being 15 minutes long, we could come in and make the tire change with enough time to get in a solid five laps new tire run. I dashed into the pits and with the help of Fabiano (Lance Stroll's mechanic), the kart was up on the stand and the new tires were being bolted on. Once on track, I noticed that something did not feel right. Usually with new tires you feel a lot more grip but this time I felt like the rear tires were way too soft and felt like I had less grip than before. After further investigation, we had come to the conclusion that we were way to low on the tire pressure.
It was hard to tell which chassis I liked best. They both felt really good but with the amount of laps I did during the day, it was to difficult to make a decision on which chassis I preferred. Knowing we had three sessions in the morning before qualifying we decided that I would test both chassis again during that time. After speaking with tuners from IAME, they advised us to break-in another piston in the first session in the morning so we had an extra broke-in piston just in case we encountered another problem. Once both karts were cleaned, we covered them, zipped up the tent and headed off to another great dinner at the Santa Maria Restaurant.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Now with me getting back into the swing of things and my collar bone feeling better, I was eager to get out on track and see what I could do. A trip to the IAME van to pick up the engine and Blaz had it mounted in no time. Knowing that the first session we would be breaking-in another engine, we did not make any changes to the chassis. Actually, we had not made any changes to the chassis all week other than switching models to feel them both out. Once I ran in the engine for 10 minutes, I was able to go hard for 4 laps and then the session ended. The chassis felt really good. After each lap, it became easier to drive and I was really impressed with the work Chiesa Corse had done with having very little KZ chassis experience. The chassis seemed liked it had years of knowledge and time spent into development and was a real pleasure to drive.
With having a couple laps under my belt at speed with the KZ2 model chassis, we decided for the second session I would try out the KZ1 model. This model is stiffer, with the all 32 mm tubing design throughout the whole chassis. We kept the same tires being they only had two sessions on them and changed to the second engine. Once on track for the second session, I noticed a problem with the engine. It had no power off the bottom. It was like the brakes were stuck on. I came into the pits and Blaz went to work on the carburetor settings. I checked out the brakes and everything was in order. I went back out but the engine still had the same problem. After another try at the carb, we still could not solve the problem by the sessions end. Once back in pits, we looked over everything and came to the conclusion that it might be coming from the new intake manifold that we had started using at the beginning of the day.
With not being able to feel the chassis because of the problems with the engine, I had to choose what chassis I thought would be best. I picked the KZ2 only because that was the chassis I had done the most laps with at high speeds. We bolted on the number one engine on the KZ2 chassis and Blaz mounted up some new tires for the last session and had them ready to change during the session. I went out and did a couple laps to get everything warmed up and then came into the pits to mount the new tires. Blaz quickly had them on and pushed me off to start the run. The first half lap, I just put heat into to the tires and found a space where I knew I would not hit traffic during the run. There were 51 drivers at this race and with the track being big, they ran all of us on the track at the same time during practice. You could say it was a bit busy out there. Once I found a good space, I began pushing it. Halfway through the first lap, I was already impressed how the chassis was taking to the new tires. As I came down the long straight to start my first flying lap, the engine seized again.
I was a bit disappointed. I think in total I had maybe done 25 hard laps before this session and I was not going to be able to feel the kart on new tires before qualifying. The one good thing we had going for us was having that extra piston that we had broke-in earlier in the morning. So after a quick trip to the IAME van and another hone of the cylinder, the number one engine was ready to go. With 25 laps under my belt, never have driven the chassis with new tires and still shaking the 3 months rust off, we headed to Parc Ferme and mounted up the tires for qualifying. I was able to speak with Dino a little bit about the tires and he explained when he wanted me to push and wished me the best of luck.
I was in the first group to qualify. It was a ten minute session and you could not go into the servicing park to make changes. So if you had a problem, your weekend could turn upside down really quickly. Knowing this, the IAME tuners had told me before qualifying that they had adjusted the carburetion on the safe side and that I should not have any problems. Blaz had me wait for the first two minutes in the session and then he pushed me off. I was able to find a good place on the track and start my qualifying run. On my third lap, I felt the tires had come into their prime so I pushed to my maximum. After the fourth hard lap, I looked at my time and was quite pleased. It was almost a half second better than what I had done all weekend and after all the things we had encountered; I thought it was a solid run. After both groups had finished I was 18th overall and was a half second off of pole. Yes, a half second is a lot, but with the size of this track and the situation that we were in, Dino and Blaz said I did a great job and at the end of the day that is all that matters. And I will tell you, it felt great to have the pressure put on me again. After the qualifying run, I told Blaz that it had been way to long to not have that feel of competition running through me. It was a great feeling and I could not wait until the next day to start racing.
 | The rubber left on Gary's racing glove from the Final on Saturday
(Photo: G. Carlton) |
Saturday, March 12, 2011
When I arrived at the track and looked at the program for the day, I had noticed that they had changed the race weekend. Instead of doing the normal three heats on Saturday and a Pre-Final and Final on Sunday, they had broken it up into two separate days. On Saturday, you start your first heat where you qualified on Friday, and then you will start the second heat where you finished the first heat. You take your two heat point totals and that gives your position for Final 1 that is run on Saturday. This way if you have two bad heats and don’t make it into Final 1, you can try again in Sunday's heats to make it in Final 2. It seems a little strange, but if you end up making both Finals, you have more racing opposed to the normal program because of the added heat on Sunday.
After a satisfying qualifying run, I was eager to get out there and race wheel to wheel with these guys. After a good morning warm-up, I was able to do a couple practice starts and get a feel for the IAME clutch. I was able to get two starts in and I thought they were okay. I still needed a couple more until I could say it was perfect. After talking with Blaz, we changed out the clutch disks and re-adjusted the tension on the clutch cable, hoping I would not blow the next one in the first heat. Knowing your not allowed to make any practice starts during the formation laps of the races I was only going to have one shot to get right.
I lined up for my first heat in the 9th position. Thankfully when the lights went out, I got a great launch and by the end of the first lap I was 7th. There was a small gap between me and the front runners and to my surprise, I caught the group with in two laps. I was just behind my old teammate Davide Fore, looking for a way passed and then coming to the last corner my chain snapped and that was the end of my heat race. After further investigation, we felt that the chain was the same one that I used when I seized all my engines and this is why it failed. Not only did we get many penalty points for not finishing but I now had to start 23rd for the second heat. If I did not have a good run, it would mean possibly not making it into Final 1 in the afternoon. The one good thing was the chassis felt great and even with the engine on the safe side, I thought our pace up until that point was quite good.
After making up a new chain, we went to the grid up for the second heat. From my 23rd starting position, I did not make the greatest of starts. The IAME clutch grabs a bit more than Maxter, which I'm use to running, and I let it out a bit too quickly and lost a couple of spots to make matters worse. But my pace was quite good. I was able to make some really good overtaking maneuvers and the chassis was on rails. It seemed I could brake two-three karts lengths deeper than anyone around me. Some of the passes in the middle of the race, I even surprised myself on how deep I could go. At the races end, I was classified ninth and with that finish guaranteed myself a spot in Final 1. I was pleased to see a big smile on Blaz's face when I rolled up to the scales. He was quick to say I need to do more starts but I did not need to work on overtaking skills. Even Mike Wilson (driver coach for Lance) said he was really impressed by some of the passes that I had made during the heat and coming from a six-time World Karting Champion, well, it made me feel really good about my race.
After all the points were added up I would start Final 1 from the 28th position. I was able to get a great start and get through the first corner while picking up many positions. By the first half, the lap I had overtaken nine drivers and was already in the top twenty. Coming into the tight hairpin in the third sector, a driver went over the top me and caused me to spin. The engine had stalled and I had to get out and push start myself, which was not too easy with my arm in pain. The driver’s rear tire went over my right hand leaving a nice rubber mark over my glove and steering wheel. But I have to count myself as lucky, it was only my hand and not my shoulder to further injure my collar bone. Once back at the pit, I was glad to see Dino was not angry. He saw the incident and was quick to say sometimes it’s just how it goes. Blaz took off the engine, I cleaned up the chassis and when we were done and we covered them up and headed to dinner. This night we went to another restaurant that I can't remember the name of, but Laurence Stroll (Lance Stroll's father) treated the whole team to a fantastic meal. After a full belly and four days at the track, I was more than ready for bed and it did not take but two seconds after my head hit the pillow to fall asleep.
 | Despite not having raced in the rain in three years, Carlton adapted to the conditions well
(Photo: Chris Walker - kartpix.net) |
Sunday, March 13, 2011
When I woke up in the morning and looked out our window, I could see the clouds were already racing over the mountains surrounding the track. The weather had been calling for rain on Sunday all week and they hit it spot on. The warm-up went well. I broke-in a fresh piston and pushed the last two laps and everything felt good. As we headed to Parc Ferme for the first heat, the weather started spitting little drops of rain. The skies started to darken and you could just feel the rain was coming very soon. We mounted up our dry tires as everyone else and took to the track. Just as we made up the grid on the start finish straight, the rain started to come down. We started the race and made two laps before they put out the red flag and had all of us come into the pits. Once back at Park Ferme, it was a frantic affair. Tires were being mounted, impact guns going like crazy, everyone shouting and running around. It was pretty hectic but my mechanic Blaz was totally calm. Once we found our spot to work, Blaz told me he was going to mount the tires and I could make the changes to the chassis as I wanted. I saw Dino against the fence and I told him that I wanted to add a little caster and change the front/rear width and he agreed. He told me what tire pressure to use and that was it - we put it on the grid and watched everyone run around like chickens with their heads cut off. While sitting on the grid, I tried to think when the last time I had driven in the rain was. Then I remembered it was in 2008 World Cup held in Varrenne, France. When I told Blaz it’s been three years since I had last driven in the wet, he had a very worried look on his face and quickly reported the message back to Dino over the radio. When we pushed off for the restart all I could think was I better figure this out quickly.
I made a good start but was pushed wide and fell back a few spots. It took me a couple laps to get used to it again and get the brake bias to where the kart was stable in the braking zones. I was fishing around 11 place and started to find a rhythm, picking drivers off one by one. Then I realized that my pace was quite good and started pushing it to the limit. The chassis was on rails and I was really enjoying driving in the wet. It was up until the last lap while running in fifth position where I made the fatal mistake of driving into one of the corners to hard and locked the rear tires up and off in the grass I went. I fell back to the 11th position and I felt terrible. I couldn't even look Blaz in the face when I arrived at the scales. Dino was coming over the radio saying that I had to buy pizza and beer for the whole team - it lightened up the mood a bit. It made me feel better to know I surprised Blaz and Dino - they both thought I did a great job up until the last lap. And also they could see that I was really pissed at myself so they didn't push it.
With the next heat coming up, we decided to make a gear ratio change and Blaz wanted to go up on the tire pressure. The one thing about the Zanardi chassis, it one beautiful kart with the silver frame and white bodywork. But when raced in the rain, it is a nightmare to clean. But thinking back, I have been quite spoiled on having black karts for a long time now and they seem to hide the dirt a bit more easily. Once the kart was ready, we headed off to Parc Ferme for the second heat. I had another good start but again was pushed wide in the first corner and lost the spots I had gained. It is pretty normal in Europe to have a lot of pushing and shoving at the starts, so I have gotten used to it. Sometimes you gain, sometimes you lose. It’s just the name of the game here and my luck was not the best. I was not able to make up any places during the heat. The balance of the kart was not the best with the different tire pressure and the gear was the wrong way to go. All in all, it was quite alright with two 11th place finishes and with that I would start Final 2 from the 15th position.
Once we assembled on the grid and on the track, in addition to a having a good look at the WSK umbrella girls, the green flag was shown and we headed out for the formation laps. The lights went out and I had a decent start. As we headed down the long straight, there was a good amount of spray and then all I could see was karts going everywhere but straight. With no where to go I got caught up in the wreck and it bent the front of my kart pretty badly. I got restarted and tried to make a few laps, but I was not able to keep the pace even when the race was in full course caution or what they call "slow phase".
It was a bad end to a promising weekend but in all I thought we performed quite well with the situation at hand. Competing with the worlds best, not driving anything for a little over three months, never driven the chassis and engine combination until the race, a collar bone that was shattered 6 weeks before with 10 pins holding it all together, and not being able to get much track time due to the engine problems is no easy task. To show up how we did and show signs of speed out of the box was impressive to me. And the most important thing to me is I came away with full confidence that the people I am working with have what it takes to win races. Yes, we had a lot of problems with the engines but it was to be expected with new engine package. I remember the days testing the Maxter engine with Reine Persson in Sonoma and going through piston after piston, pushing the kart back to the pits after we had blown then engine time after time. But, with a lot of hard work, we made that engine an almost unbeatable force in the United States and I see the same drive and passion here with the guys at Zanardi/IAME.
Many people would come back from a weekend like I just had and maybe think it was a complete disaster. For me, I see it as a total success due to the knowledge we took back from the race. Now, we have set a foundation to start working and can start driving forward. I can’t wait until the next time we hit the track and get into the grind of development of both the chassis and engine. We have one month to the next WSK Euro Series race in Portimao, Portugal and we plan on going through a lot of material while putting in many laps. And that my friend is the true joy of being a real ‘Factory Driver’.
To view the onboard footage, visit Gary’s YouTube Page. |
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