Post-Nationals Thoughts and Questions

[Tim Walsh]

Now that I've decompressed from nationals, and thought about what I saw and heard, I have some observations and questions for the "old-timers" in the class. <flame suit on> We've been over the smoke and oil mixture before so please refrain from that can of worms. I'd like to keep this discussion on sound. I truely don't believe our on course sound is offensive to others, I believe it's our in grid and in paddock behavior that's giving us our reputation. I'm turning into a kart guy and even I get annoyed when I hear an unloaded kart motor bouncing off the revlimiter. Makes me want to turn my ears off and is truly an offensive noise.



1. The intraclass comradery is out of this world compared to other classes I've been in. Steph and I are really enjoying this part of the class. It was fantastic to be part of so many karters in one place and I know Steph was thrilled to have other karting women. Also huge thanks to Lefty for loaning us a spare bolt when one backed out and got lost somewhere on the practice course. After nearly a year of karting(and Steff almost 2 years in Keith's kart), I expect we'll be in this class for a long while.

2. I'm not sure why we can't seem to idle the Moto karts at all. I'm not sure if it's because some people have such a leadfoot that they can't NOT touch the right pedal even in grid, or if their carbs are jetted so rich that they load up continuously, and can't idle, or something else? I believe that this is one of the major reasons that we get a bad rap in the solo community. (As a note, I want to thank Mark Segal for his courtesy before KML. They ran Heat 1, so he moved Suzanne's kart to the far corner of grid to run through his jetting/tuning procedure)

3. Why do we need to rev the engine at 7pm at night endlessly? I wasn't able to stay late on site but for a night or two, but was surprised to be hearing karts bouncing off the rev limiter at 8-9pm at night. I'm sure there's a reson for this, but I for the life of me can't figure out why. I can understand this if you're jetting before getting to grid, but in the evening doesn't make any sense since the conditions are absoultely going to change before your run group. I can also understand if you have a shifting problem, but if this was the case, I'd expect to hear the kart shift through the gear, instead of bouncing off the rev limiter.


In the end, I'm asking us to be conscious(and I know some are) about our sound in non-competition areas and also thanks to all those that have helped Steff and I over the last year.
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2002 Birel CR32V/ StockMoto w/PI

[Jared Langenfeld]

I also really enjoy the comradery in this group. It is great seeing so many people helping others out and just hanging out and having fun.

I can't speak for others, but I know my standard practice in grid before the heat starts is to warm the kart up and then when it reaches proper temperature, I rev it a couple times to "clear the pipe". I don't ever do this in paddock, only in grid.

Honestly, though, we aren't any louder than some other cars (FM, FSP, etc.) and so I feel I have the courtesy of starting my kart and revving it a couple times in grid.
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2008 Mike Wilson with Honda CR125 shifter

[Jason Vehige]

I use an IAME inline Thermostat for a nice fast cylinder warmup and only rev it on the stand a little as a quick check that nothing is out of the ordinary... I jet based on experience and RAD.... No stand revving required Do people really jet based off of how the motor sounds on the stand?

Minimizing noise and smoke as much as possible is just good common courtesy IMHO
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Jason Vehige

08 Gillard Charlotte / SGM sl204
05 Vanspeed Sirio / SGM sl204

[Jared Langenfeld]

[Jason Vehige]

[Jared Langenfeld]

[Larry MacLeod]

I use the feel and sound method. I've never been able to get a plug read unloaded on the stand. But I can tell what it will do on course by how it revs on a stand. Though the final judgement is from driving on course. If I hear any lean-pops, then I jet up. Otherwise I keep going smaller.


Lefty
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F125 #196
Old Birel/ hodgepodge Honda CR125
Lefty Funk
Detroit Region

[Eric Clements]

[Joe Ricard]

I run my ICC like Jason does. RAD and the spiffy spread sheet. It's always right.

Rotax came up with a neat graph, Humidity going up and air temp across. Old school barometer and thermometer, where they intersect is the jet to run. done. I like this method even better.
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Arrow AX-8/ Rotax Sr.

[Tom Reynolds]

One thing about idling, I know some of us don't set the kart to idle on purpose. But those same people never rev it very high on the stand, just clear it on the way to and at the line. Often when I hear the crazy revving in paddock, its an FJ parent not knowing better.

PS myself and others tried to make the RT classes like the F125/KM class in the we are all a joking around family but in the end it just wasn't the same. I made a few good friends but overall its much more separated. I miss the karts for that, big time.

[Tim Walsh]

[Jason Vehige]

The neat thing about RAD is if RAD changes by say 6% you can keep your main jet setting the same by changing the area of the main jet by the same percentage... My "spiffy" spreadsheet just eliminates the time to do the math on the calculator.....

But to be honest I now have one "summer" jet I know works very well even if RAD changes within a certain range... Outside that range I still lean on the spreadsheed to keep me out of trouble..... Now if I could just tune the driver as well as the motor
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Jason Vehige

08 Gillard Charlotte / SGM sl204
05 Vanspeed Sirio / SGM sl204

[Tom Reynolds]

On my RAD, I changed a main every 3% with the 38mm/CR125.