[Brian Wilhelm]

Robert, The part number is for the front heater core which is 20% larger than the rear one I use, plus it has 3/4″ tubes instead of 5/8″. I have ordered the Spectra part number, and about 1 out of 5 times I get the one pictured. The other times one of the funky brass, copper, and aluminum one shows up. It’s crazy, but they have the same part number. Autozone shows a Pro-Source OEM style replacement rear heater core that is all aluminum, and the one time I ordered it, the correct one showed up!

You are correct, the fin count per inch is one thing that make these work. They also have “flat oval” tubes, and the wall thickness of every piece is super thin. At AMP this year, Allen and I both had to put two strips of tape over the nose opening to get up to 140deg, and it was in the 70’s, and lower 80’s. Many times at MIS I ran one strip of tape on the nose to get to temp.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Robert, I think it’s your radiator. I’ve had lots of guys try units from “they build radiators for race cars” guys, and every single one runs hot. When they go to the 1989 Aerostar rear heater core (OEM only, aftermarket ones won’t work. The OEM unit is all aluminum, and dip soldered. You can JB weld on an air bleed screw fitting), their water temps drop back down to the 145-155 range. The Ford part number is E99z-18476-B. These little radiators are well designed, durable, and reject a ton of heat. Topeka was in the high 90’s and my water temp max was 165 with the D-C EBP 15 electric pump, with no thermostat. All the karts I’ve built are running the same setup, and getting about the same temps. BTW, below 80 deg I do still run the IAME inline thermostat with two extra 3/32″ bypass holes in it.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Debbie, Snell also says that any helmet that is re-painted loses it’s Snell certification. Looks like we’ll be teching helmet paint jobs soon.

Motorcycle orgs allow helmet mounted cameras as long as they are mounted with double-sided foam tape.

[Brian Wilhelm]

We need to look at what is making drivers not want to race. One reason is silly, emotion-based rules. Spec fuel and no “helmet mounted” cameras come immediately to mind. To date, no one has ever shown me any data that drove the decision to ban cameras mounted to helmets, and I have asked. The answer has been “it’s the insurance” (but no reason WHY), or the worse answer I got was ” it’s just a decision we made”. Huh??

Spec fuel is even worse. It has not changed the finishing order one bit. Oh, except for all the drivers it ran off. Nice move, really looking ahead here. The selected fuel supplier pays the org to provide fuel? Ok, but they don’t even offer a suitable fuel for a two-stroke, according to their OWN engineer.

Another one that keeps drivers home is rough tracks. Ok, ok, yes, I know those tracks are cheap. Carefully note that unless there is special incentive, turnout is smallest at those tracks. I won’t support any race at a rough track, period.

The past three seasons I’ve ran, I’ve been encouraged. Decent turnouts, some new faces, and folks seem happier. Some of the unhappiest folks seem the ones that are spending all their time ranting on the internet about how road racing is in trouble, instead of actually going racing. I had one wag tell me he was getting out of a certain class because it was dying. I told him that at the races I had been to, the class he was getting out of was one of the biggest. I asked him where he heard this. He told me that (name withheld) said that on the internet. Funny thing was, neither of those two clowns had been to a race in 3-4 years.

Get off your freaking computer and go race! The problem is US, ALL DRIVERS. We just aren’t showing up.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Richie, I’m not making the call if it was right or wrong what happened to you, but I believe that you have an hour from the time the results are posted to protest. After that hour the results are final. I believe it’s in the rule book.

The tech guys are provided the unofficial results only for use in determining who to tech. I learned the hard way at another org’s race that you need to keep checking scoring that day until the results from your race are posted to make certain you got scored correctly.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Robert, Race Monitor seemed to be working fine for Mitch and Tony, maybe you had a slow connection?

Anyway, the tuning conditions were very strange in Daytona this year. The LOWEST humidity I saw on practice day was 78%, but the AD was 100-101 all day, with about 65deg almost all day. Even with these conditions, lap times were pretty good.

For Race Day #1, it never rained, it was just a super heavy mist that covered everything. Even with this delay, Robby and his crew did a good job of getting everyone all the track time they could. The races were shortened to about 1/2 time, plus a lap or two. For the F-125 race, I struggled with a bad plug cap that showed up on lap 2, but still pulled off the win. Temps were dropping as the day went on. For F-125 it was 55deg, for Unlimited I about 1 1/2 hour later it was 49 deg. In Unlimited I Johnny jumped out to the lead right away followed by Ron Miller and myself. Those guys were fast like 250’s should be! About 4 laps in, Ron’s motor quit and I got 2nd behind Johnny, and Allen Hollinger took 3rd.

Race Day #2 started cool but the clouds broke and it was sunny and 60deg at race time, and just beautiful. 60deg, 102 AD, 40% humidity. Johnny got another good start and jumped into the lead. There was carnage in turn one with several folks spinning, and Ron Miller passed me taking 2nd going into the first horseshoe. When Ron turned into the left turn going back out on the oval, he spun. As he was spinning, the kart spit him part way out and he flipped right in front of me! He jumped up and flipped the kart back over, but the red flag came out anyway. We lined back up and took the green again. Johnny got another good start and was P1, followed by Rick Fulks and myself. Johnny had some sort of problem and dropped out. Rick went on to win with a top speed of 157mph, and laps of 1:56. He had those 125cc motors cranking pretty good. I got second with a new personal best lap of 1:58.878, with a new best top speed of 147.0. Allen Hollinger took his second third place of the week. All in all, a pretty fine week at Daytona!

[Brian Wilhelm]

I am an enduro racer. I race in F-125 and Unlimited with a Pavesi on a laydown. You are in a good area for the type of racing. Recently I’ve been racing at MIS, (twice a year , (just there a couple of weeks ago), Mid-Ohio, AMP, Daytona, etc. Unfortunately, there aren’t any events at Road America or Watkins Glen, but there are enough other events to keep you plenty busy. Your TKM is a good selection for a F-125.

[Brian Wilhelm]

I believe when you get the new piston, the clearance will be much less than .010. More likely it’ll be around .0025-.0028. Seized pistons generally collapse some. Once you have the aluminum off the nikasil using acid, (do NOT over do this! Remember, nikasil is porous and the acid will go through it and deteriorate the aluminum underneath if you leave it on it very long) the cylinder doesn’t need any size taken out of it. It just needs a standard hone ran thru it to make sure there isn’t any high points. Don’t try to take any scratches or scoring out. It’ll run just fine with them there. My fastest Pavesi cylinder looks terrible, but runs very well.

Where are you going to run your F-125 laydown?

[Brian Wilhelm]

Robert, congrats on your win at MIS! What kind of lap times did you turn? I was a bit disappointed I couldn’t quite get down to what I turned last fall. I was about .6 second off.

[Brian Wilhelm]

I use the 400 or 500 grit stones.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Greg,

It was pretty fast in Unlimited II. The MyChron said 146.7 mph was my top speed for the week. That’s up a little more than 1 1/2 mph from my previous best of 145.1. Typical for Daytona, it wasn’t without a thrash! Something about that place wrecks normal tuning parameters. You almost are better off pitching your notes from previous years. Also like every year, we learned a lot. Small changes can yield solid gains. Like always, aero is huge there and we had a couple of changes to test.

This year saw a wild weather swing from the first race day to the second day. By some accounts, corrected altitude changed 4,000 ft overnight, making tuning a challenge. After a driver-induced motor failure in final practice before Unlimited II, good friend Mitch White urged me to throw his motor on and race it. Thrash again to get it on, and it was a rocket! Looking at the 19 drivers signed up for the race, it looked like about half the field had the speed to win. Both Harper’s, Randy Fulks, Darrin Cuthbertson, Scott Hodges, Johnny West, etc. In the end, it was RH III running fast in 2nd keeping me on the gas.

The big story in our garage was Daytona first-timer Allen Hollinger in another OWL laydown / SwedeTech Pavesi ride. Allen was able to pull off a 3rd place in Formula-125, and another fine 3rd in Unlimited II. We battled issues on Mitch White’s kart and never really got him up to the speed that we know that kart can run. Unfortunately, Mitch had to catch a flight home that kept him from running in Unlimited II.

As usual, we are already plotting what we’ll do different next year at Daytona!

[Brian Wilhelm]

I’ve been running a F-125 Laydown gearbox kart since 1993. I will not run without a sprag, period. The safety factor is huge, the performance advantage is Impressive, and if you stick a motor the damage is minimal since the axle isn’t turning the motor. You’ll pay for the sprag quickly with the parts you don’t tear up, and you’ll like how it frees up the kart in the corners. One of the best innovations ever for gearbox karts.

[Brian Wilhelm]

At Daytona a few years ago I tried taking the sidepods off my F-125 laydown shifter during one practice session. I lost 21 mph off top end and my lap times were nearly 10 seconds slower. I had tried it many years ago (there used to be a 20lb weight break for no bodywork) on my piston port laydown at a tighter track (Hallett, Ok), and lost 3 seconds a lap. I’ve found aero comes into play at about 55-60mph.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Hey Bobby, we’ll be there! Myself, Mitch White, and Allen Hollinger all on OWL/Pavesi F-125 Laydowns. I know Ron Miller is coming with his Laydown Rotax 250. See ya there!

[Brian Wilhelm]

Jim, I’ve used this fuel for 20 + years and I was always very pleased with it. it used to be called Phillips B-32. Unfortunately, I can’t get it easily in my area anymore, so I’ve had to switch to VP-110. It’s very comparable to the TT-111.

[Brian Wilhelm]

I agree with Jeremy, T-3 was the best it’s ever been. It had a nice line and flow.

 

[Brian Wilhelm]

What a great weekend at MIS! Perfect weather and a really fun track. MKC did their usual fine job putting on this event. If you are a road racer and have not made it to MIS, you are missing out. It’s a truly unique track.

A big thanks to MKC for a fun weekend of racing!

[Brian Wilhelm]

I couldn’t agree more with Andy and Sid. Fantastic facility and very helpful staff, great location, motels and food not far away, and the track is freaking awesome! A big thanks to WKA, Buddy, Sissy, Marie, Robby, Phil, Tom, and everyone who worked to put this race on.

Events like this, at facilities like this, WILL help to fuel growth in Road Racing.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Bruce, I noticed that on Jeremy’s video too. Not sure why it looked that way, the track is VERY smooth. There is one bump coming onto the oval, but you can miss it easily.

[Brian Wilhelm]

A big thank you to MKC for a great weekend at MIS!! Fun track and good folks. If you weren’t there, you missed an excellent event.

[Brian Wilhelm]

I’ve used that pump for 10 years, and they work great. During warmup, I do regulate temperature by turning it on and off. I do use a modified IAME Leopard thermostat for those times I may not have adequate time for a proper warmup.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Austin Henry’s wife Jennifer was the photographer for the Road Racing at Daytona. She’s combing through some 9,000 shots she took and will be posting when she has them sorted.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Jennifer Henry was the RR photographer. Her contact info is on the WKA Pitboard.

[Brian Wilhelm]

Ace, I’d like to get 4 of the left links from you if I could.

 

[Brian Wilhelm]

I set up all the ones I did at .085.

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