[Mike Clark]

Paul,

It’s called maintenance throttle.

You will find you are quick to throw jabs. That is fine, but don’t whine about the push back. It is hard to have things both ways. If I am not mistaken English is not your first language, so that does not help us get what you say.

Also you never addressed my question about who would be the fastest.

I have found some of this info to be quite helpful. More so for me coming from a car back ground.

Thank you all and please continue if you can.

Mike Clark

[Mike Clark]

Tims,

What I find more and more is you ask about some body before dealing with them nobody has anything bad to say about them. If you say what happened after you get a lot of “I could have told you that”. I also have found over a period of many years that most people don’t have the guts to stick up for themselves. When you do you are wrong for it. I think people refuse to acknowledge see the strength in you in because it causes the think about weakness in themselves.

[Mike Clark]

Paul,

I am not conflicted.  You seems to be very good at over complicating things. You entirely missed the point. Sorry if I kept it too simple and gave you the gist of a conversation the happened over 20 years ago or 4 months ago.

Sorry,

Mike Clark

[Mike Clark]

Tim,

Just want to let you know I’m not in the industry and don’t owe you any money. Don’t knee cap me bro! Not sure how you Wisconsin brothers roll.

Years ago I started giving people a chance to cheat me on something small. When they did I knew what they were about. I had plenty of friendships worth less than $25.00!! Maybe i was worth 24.99 or 2 cents, but less than $25.00 anyway.

Recently I had a guy pay me $40.00 he claims he owed me. I had forgotten about it. So it ain’t all bad.

Sorry you are having the problem.

Later sir,

Mike Clark

 

[Mike Clark]

Paul,

Quick question. Who would be faster David Copperfield, Dave Blaney or Harry Houdini?

I bet it ain’t David Copperfield.

At Road Atlanta a fellow student was asking lead instructor Terry Yearwood about if you could figure out the limit of a car, track conditions and all the variables, plug it into a computer program or equation & determine the line you should use in a turn. The answer was: Yes you probably could or you could just drive through it 3 times and be pretty close to where you need to be.

At a recent track walk a parent who supposedly knew about racing was asking how do you know if you are one the right line or not. Well I don’t know about in a kart but in a car you read the tach at a certain point after the turn and use that as the metric. That is what I do in a kart if I can, but I don’t know any better yet. The hard part right now for me is to be able to make observations and remember and utilize the info in an environment that can be overwhelming.

I always try to figure the fastest line and then think about alternate lines. Being on line was also touted as the first priority in a car. If I am fast on line then you have to be faster and be off line at some point to pass me. Often we see passes that are made but sacrifice enough speed so that driver is immediately re passed.

Also some of the illustration of line a academic and pertain to cars. IE it is to convey a concept not be taken as ‘the line’. I have done some mid range rifle shooting and some of the bullet drop graphs remind me of the path a car takes coming off of a straight and into a turn. One thing I have felt is how much you have to add throttle to equalize the energy the tires take working hard in a corner. This was in a formula car.

I have also noticed how much the tires on a kart scrub off speed when you lose control.

You are really only dealing with contacts patches, slip angle and percent slip as nothing else touches the ground.

Keep in mind I am pretty new to karting.

[Mike Clark]

Rob,

My brother is headed to Canada right now, not sure which part, but it is goose hunting related.

Thanks for the response. I probably should have gone LO206 in the first place. At least I have heard a lot of good things about the LO206 in the past couple of days. Lately a lot of Rotax here have been having shorter than expected service life so that is not attractive. Super Sportsman was billed as the way to go. I am disappointed in the way the removal of this class was handled. I am currently trying to get answers on if I can run in a class with no points or awards.

I know there is no perfect class structure. Even minimum weight is hard to please everybody. Cost vs performance vs reliability vs maintain is hard to balance.

The groups will run as follows:
Group 1
JR 1
JR 2
Micro Max

Group 2
SR 4

Group 3
Mini Max

Group 4
JR Max
SR Max
Masters Max

Group 5
DD2
DD2 Masters
S2
S4

Group 6
GTMax

[Mike Clark]

David,

Thanks for the reply.

My choice now is to not race, move up to Rotax or down to LO206. There is a pretty big jump between the two. I am leaning toward running what we have on practice days only or going to the LO206 and put in a ton of laps with races an option.

We just bought another chassis, 2 engines (KTs) all used and sent a KT off to be rebuilt. That is at least 4K we would not have spent if I had known the class was going away. My intent was to get some non partial critique of the class structure and not factor in a rug getting pulled out from under me. So now we have 3 karts and 4 engines that aren’t quite what we need going forward.

[Mike Clark]

Paul,

I keep waiting for you quit leading up to saying “it” and come out and say “it”.

One physical reason is radius needs to open up as speed increases. Another is tires can only do so much work. A lot of this stuff overlaps. It’s all time & distance.

So I am officially saying I am ready to get the ‘Magic’. Or did I miss it?

 

[Mike Clark]

Matthew,

Chassis tuning can also consist of changing ackerman, front/rear ride height, seat location and even moving any added weight around. You can also stiffen the front/rear of the chassis on some. Track width front/rear is also an option. Rear axles can be tuned for stiffness as well as rear hub widths. In short it can be a big ole can of worms. Documentation is a good thing. Gearing for a particular track is also another thing you have to do.

Going see it is better. Nothing like a ride in one either. It is not quite a car and can take some getting used to. Some stuff is similar and some a little counter intuitive to a car driver. It is also not like a concession kart.

One thing is karts are very individual to the driver. So that is hard at first. It is not like I can jump in your kart and have it work for me.

[Mike Clark]

Andre,

Congratulations to all of them.

I thought Ashley Rogero was DQ’d for refusing to go to tech yesterday in the  2013 Pan American- Junior Max Final. That had to be rough.

#238:EXCLUSION-REFUSED TECH

http://www.mylaps.com/en/classification/2906511

[Mike Clark]

Matthew,

Blueprinting is making sure the engine parts are correctly cut and assembled within specs and tolerances to give performance and reliability.  Some of it is crank alignment, port timing, CC’ing the head. etc. Some is not worth doing yourself simply due to tooling cost. This in no way diminishes that there is skill and knowledge involved that has value.

Weight is added by bolting on weight.

My suggestion of find a class you can run locally and take it from there. Every class has a downside. Usually it is either cost or performance. Having a full grid probably helps with the fun and learning. Talk to some of the guys in the class you are considering. We run some hard tires so tire cost is good for us in a local spec class. Most of the expense is fuel/oil, race fees and kart upkeep. Upkeep is mainly engine, clutch, chain & sprockets. Local spec classes are great if you just want to stay local. Our tracks configuration changes often so that is a plus for me.

Chassis tuning is the big issue. This is where you will gain & lose most of your speed. Spending a little on some stuff to get the kart to fit you will need to be considered as well as some pit equipment if it doesn’t come with the kart. Chain breaker and clutch tools are specialty tools I needed. Most other tools are basic. Maintenance is a lot of cleaning and checking. Staying on track makes life easier. Leaving the kart at the track can be a pain in terms of accessibility & I live 10 minutes from the track.

The bang for the buck is in karting. I was going wheel to wheel for less than the cost of licensing in a car. Probably $3K to make it to the first race. Some items can be borrowed at first too. The g’s pulled in the kart and the amount of turns is where the karts are fun for me.

 

[Mike Clark]

Darren,

I’d had have to see it to be sure, but I think it could be done with some Permapoxy Plastic Weld. The stuff is amazing and smells about ten times worse than PVC glue.

http://www.permatex.com/products/our-brands/permapoxy

I have used it to adhere plastic to metal with outstanding results. I got mine at the Kmart on Clearview. (Elmwood Shopping Center)

I’m 10 minutes from the track if I can help you let me know.

[Mike Clark]

Well, first off I am no expert at all. I know anything can be fixed but not necessarily in a cost effective manner. It looks bent fairly far back from the pics.

I would locate a shop that says it can fix it & get a price. Compare that to a used roller. You might come out ahead on a used roller due to the extras that you get. What you have to watch on repairs is the the scope of the repairs quoted becomes more than they thought & you end up with a bill close to what a used roller would have been. Of course used can have problems too. I have not been in this game long but have seen a lot of used ‘race ready’ karts that aren’t. “all you have to do is add gas & go” is a good way to take a ride on the crash wagon. Sometime parts for older kart are a pain to get also, brake pads being one. It can usually be worked around by pulling out your wallet and some sweating, but that’s racing.

Either way good luck on this. I would love to follow the outcome. I know some guys here (New Orleans)  that have rollers for sale if you decide to go that route, but seeing what you can do locally makes sense.

[Mike Clark]

Pics would really help.

Your location and your ability to ship the frame would also come into play.

I know the shop @ Nola Motorsports Park has a frame table and is a CRG shop.

[Mike Clark]

On the sprint track here they run Motards. What strikes me is some ride like road racers & some ride like motocrossers. I only saw a little bit once though.

Yeah, top speed is the rookie question. I try to convey how busy it feels, but that is starting to fade a little as I am getting used to karting. I am going to try to get busy tomorrow as our class should have some decent battles. Another guy and I are about the same speed. He is a great guy on & off the track. The comradery is part of it too. Our class has probably seen the most sharing of equipment and loaning of parts than any other at the track. I got 2 phone calls early in the week both insisting I use their engine if I couldn’t get mine fixed. 2 guy will be running karts they don’t own. Add the children classes and there is a whole other dimension. Everybody looks out for everybody else. When I couldn’t run for whatever reason I still go to help. I didn’t take up karting to make friends but you make friends with the people that you meet there.

[Mike Clark]

TJ, I have described similar to motocross on smooth asphalt.

Most are not race / gearhead types. What most people ask is how fast does the kart go. Then they say it is so low to the ground it must feel faster. What I tell them is I have no idea of the speed. What gets you is the constant turns & never much of a rest. The g’s are relatively high & it is the best bang for the buck.

One of the guys from the car track was surprised how loud the YF200 is.

[Mike Clark]

Just getting ready the days before & getting up in the morning does. It is the ritual I guess.

Any music I like will do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pSlu2okpqM

I like this video as far as driving. Something about it just gets me going:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTbXc4_H4Cc

We race near the end of the cycle of classes. Plenty of time to hear the sounds and smell the castor. Plus the track plays music over the P.A.

[Mike Clark]

$35 is a good deal.  It cost me $50 to TnT with my own cart. If I understand correctly I could show up & drive a kart for 30 minutes for $50. Three 10 minute sessions would cost more than that in the concession karts here. Plus add $5 on top to get in the front gate.

How much do y’all charge for races?

Do you guys change track layout much? I’d say no looking at the website. The rubber looks laid down pretty well.

[Mike Clark]

This is a decent set on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0739mhZc0U&list=PL60FE9F6F8FB6DC99

[Mike Clark]

Joe,

I live about 10 mins from what may be on of the nicer kart tracks in the U. S. It has grass and is highly configurable. There are a few spots going off looks scary. Last couple of weeks going off made a real mess, looks like the kart was covered in grass and dirt. So in ways I would welcome the parking lot. I didn’t even go off track and had to deal with it. Drainage also can be a problem.

What is more of a problem is having people with the time to embrace the newcomers that are interested and can’t make sense of all the variances in classes and procedures at the track.

What I have also seen in many activities is many people want way more than they are willing to pay for. This makes it prohibitive.

I hate to say it but be grateful you have some local tracks that are sustainable. Not having a local track is probably the biggest hurdle for many would be karters. Not being able to put a dollar amount on cost is also a hurdle.

I also shoot rifles. Not having any place to shoot past 200 yds (short range) is a big issue for many. Mid range is 600 yds and is rare. Long range is a real luxury.

Just another take on it.

 

[Mike Clark]

Tim,

Thanks. Once the ‘feel’ came I really saw how I was steering with the brake / throttle. It was as if my awareness went from the upper part of my body to the lower part of me. Almost as if where I perceive my CG is was lowered. The kart definitely beat on me less.

I used one of your Pro Kartlift stands this weekend. One thing I noticed is the stand gives a lot of access to the bottom of the kart. I didn’t raise or lower it though.

[Mike Clark]

I am just following up on this post.

I just raced my 3rd race. I had clutch problems all day, which was discouraging. What was encouraging is that I really feel I was starting to “get it” at the end of the race. In one corner in particular I finally felt the kart working. I felt the kart rotate early on turn in and was barely braking or turning the wheel to get through the corner. The kart cornered more smoothly.

It reminded of first learning to get up on water skis or how a boat feels to be up on plane vs trying to get up on plane. When I got the kart the front wheels were all the way in. I started moving them out.

I drove someones kart the week before for some laps. That helped also.

I DNF’d right before the end of the main but managed to coast into the pit & push to the scale shed. I qualified 4th, .400 off of the pole .

Currently local seat time is the core of the plan.

 

[Mike Clark]

I just want to thank you guys for your responses.

[Mike Clark]

Mr. Bob,

Here is an option. Digital version.

http://www.pocketmags.com/viewmagazine.aspx?titleid=1112&title=Vroom+International

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