Wreck at the Sandia Quad Regional

[Rick Blood]

First off, I love the 60s. I am still looking for a motor to run in my imaginary over 40 60cc class. Superbox with a tranny.
I have to agree that the 80 jrs are way too fast. Although there are many very talented and skilled drivers in the class, there are an equal number of kids that lack the maturity to be running at these speeds.
It would seem logical and economical that at age 16, dad throws on more lead and you move to K1 but why would any driver want to go slower? Instead you end up with moderately talented 16 year olds driving a heavier, more more powerful 125 rocket.
80 jr should still be a training ground. I would support an 8cc head, 26mm carb and no PI. If that doesn't work then we tie boat anchors to all of them.

[Jeff Welch]

I have raced in both 80 Jr and K1 on the ProMoto Tour, and I see K1 as a definate step up. Yes, the lap times are slower if you compare the best, but I am going faster in K1 than as a Junior because I have improved as a driver. The main reason I see K1 as a step up is the quality and maturity of the drivers. I have gone three wide at the end of the straight at Jacksonville, and all of us made it through. In 80 Jr, all three would have gone out plus the rest of the field behind them. I've been taken out twice in K1, but more times than I can count in 80Jr, most of the time by the young kids.

I think the 60 is a great place for these younger racers that have karting experience. I've watched the 60's, and the 10-13 year old kids have no trouble handling them for the most part. I would be very hesitant about putting a 9 year old or any kid with no previous kart racing experience into a 60 because it accelerates nearly as fast as an 80.

Jeff Welch
Weltek Racing Online

[Charlie Tackett]

Tom Stephans has been kind enough to post a picture of Ted in his body armor on his site, www.kartfinder.com/bodyarmor.htm

Not the best picture, but it will give you an idea of what kind of bodyarmor we use.

[Jussy Rusit]

I use a similar unit from Dainese also. The only concern I have is that I have to have a deeper seat due to the back padding. But since I'm a road race kinda guy, I'm rarely leaning on the back seat anyways

Other concerns are minor like: a larger driving suit, and the extra heat associated in wearing one.
http://www.dainese.com/dainese/english/protezioni.html

quote:

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Originally posted by Charlie Tackett:
Tom Stephans has been kind enough to post a picture of Ted in his body armor on his site, www.kartfinder.com/bodyarmor.htm

Not the best picture, but it will give you an idea of what kind of bodyarmor we use.

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[ August 22, 2001: Message edited by: Jussy Rusit ]

[Henrik Thun Rasmussen]

On the subject of suits I have the Azusa Cordura. I think it is specifically built for karting. It has padding alreay built in on the elbows knees. The Material Cordura is very strong. The material Cordova I would compare to the stuff winch's and ratchet tie downs are made of. it is quit heavy but I would recomend to look at it at a kart shop or track.

[Darin Martinez-Stahl]

I beleive at the Kerman IKF race this year a Junior 80 driver took a very violent ride, and apparently took a helicopter ride out,( as there was no Ambulance on site since they are within a few min of a fire station they can run, this would be a different topic) From what I was told it was a similar wheel to wheel contact. The driver was very lucky to only have a collar bone break.
I work for the promotor @ Prarie City Raceway in Folsom Ca, One of the largest reasons why we have not run an IKF event for two years is because of the speed of the 80 jr's. We pushed for development and testing to be done to slow the JR.80. It was done by a reputable racer and his dad, but the excuse was "They are no faster than a jr.Supebox, and plus the engines where having some heating and tuning problems." So it was abandoned. If IKF or skusa popped in a restrictor or went to a smaller carb for the 80 jr. we would not have a problem running the class. The testing I will question, but it needs to be monitored by board members and done hands on and presented and researched in a methodical manner, also under supervision of at least 2 representatives from an org. From what I have seen at some pro-moto rounds the 80 jr is as fast as a mid pack s-1 racer, so it is a fast package.
But we are beating a dead horse, until more kids are hurt,only then will somehing be done. As the grids grow the problem will become more prevelant.

[Geoff Dodge]

Ok, im not trying to dispute anything said prior, but here are some sandia facts strait from our DA. For 125 FS1 we had top speed at 91 mph out of the draft. The corner which greg had his crash we had 87-90 entry speed (depending on draft) and roughly 75 through the apex, back to roughly 82 by the exit. Nonetheless the track was "wicked" fast. I believe the quickest lap of the weekend was travis roberts at 52.7 seconds, on what i understand to be 1.2 miles. anyone can do the math and understand while straitaway speeds arent as high as say second creek, the track was seriously fast everywhere else. The corner which greg had the accident worried me because even with the extreme width of the track, there was the eminent concrete wall unpadded on the outside. no run off at all there, in what was really the fastest corner that actually put much demand on the kart and driver. should there have been say a king pin failure we could have seen something much worse than a broken coller bone. (which i am glad greg is still doing well, and i was glad to see him back eating the hot dog later in the day). Not to bash the entire event but i felt the "chicane" was fairly unsafe as well. It took the entire oval which i would estimate at around 70+ feet wide, into essentially 12 feet one lane through. I paced it off. The inside bale to the change in track surface was twelve toe to heel steps. Also the nature of the corner workers at the chicane was extremely scary. There was an accident which tore a front corner off a kart, and scattered a bale, and 3 cones in the surface, not to mention the entire tire wheel and spindle assembly. The yellow was painfully slow getting out, and the worker on the corner was more interested in his drink then getting the track clear. He waited past the moment to do so before more karts passed, and the 2 80cc ltds had to pass through the wreckage, with no yellow i believe. I know you saw this doug, and as with carrio and my dad you were very upset. I would tend to guess a solid 5- 10 sec before yellow, and another 10-15 after before the corner worker got the track clear. I would tend to say the only reason it got done that quickly was because of the yelling by people concearned with the tardiness of the work. We were fortunate not to have something bad happen there as well. All in all im glad that greg is ok, and no one else was hurt on what in my opinion was an unsafe track to race on. The scary part is that we had no say in the placement of the chicane, and were treated like we knew nothing. I was happy they changed the grid alignment after only a couple races as well, which was not standard skusa gridding. it had two karts side by side, then about 3 feet back another two offset in the gaps between the first two. (looked like a motorcycle grid) Well ill get off the soap box, as i have given well over my 2 cents.

Geoff Dodge

[John Denman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Geoff Dodge:
Not to bash the entire event but i felt the "chicane" was fairly unsafe as well. It took the entire oval which i would estimate at around 70+ feet wide, into essentially 12 feet one lane through.

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Having run street races in karts with similar chicanes, as well as formula and sports cars on tracks with 1 lane chicanes, I feel this chicane was relatively safe.

Far less dangerous than chicanes found in higher forms of racing, for example Daytona for the 24 Hr race, or Road Atlanta with the optional chicane after turn 7.

In the Geezer race I blew the chicane on one lap and rather than plow into it, I took the cones, and missed out on what should have been a 1 lap penalty. Braked too late all alone. Tim wasn't kidding about the launch and lurch to the right if you dont take the oval exit in the right place.

But then again, I feel fairly safe driving on the Dallas freeways at rush hour too.