[Jeremy Baldi]

For bumps I have found the superkart chassis the best.  The sprints are okay but so hard on your ribs that even with rib vest I separated ribs at Grattan a few years back when I drove the KZ sprint.  The handling also feels more like laydown which is nice.  A few guys are talking of putting 125s on SK chassis so you could do that too.  I know you had your converted sprint chassis at one point which I know you had issues with handling but I have been very happy with my Anderson chassis.

[Jeremy Baldi]

That was for west course.  I have not been to either of those tracks.  I just know I used to run 23f 23r on my lay down everywhere except Grattan were I would run 22f 23r.  On west course I ran 23f 23r and it was to much but there was no one else in my class and I was chasing other things and never switched it.  It is pretty tight so maybe and even smaller ratio would be good.

Might see you there in our 250’s this year if weather looks okay.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by Jeremy Baldi.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Grattan gearing would probably be good starting point.  I ran Mid Ohio gear last time I was there in my lay down 125 and it was a little to much.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Bob I’d love to see your pics as they are always awesome but link is not working.  Could you try and repost it.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Always good to see new karts on track.  That track is defiantly my new favorite.

[Jeremy Baldi]

I used MG yellows last year all friday and they were fine. But switched to Vega whites for sat and sunday and grip was very similar and those tires lasted 2 additional weekends after MO. Vegas are a pain to mount though. But I was very happy with performance.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Agreed.  Karters always complain about entry fees.  Yeah it would be great if they were cheaper.  And yeah a club sprint race might only cost $35.  But you are getting to race on some of the best tracks in the country.  We used to race on every major road racing circuit until people stopped coming.

If I want to to go to the Indycar race at Mid Ohio for all 3 days it will cost $65 for general admission and if I want to go in pit and paddock it’s another $85.  That’s $150 to go watch a race and walk around the pits.  If you pre-enter it’s usually like $90 for practice and $110 for each race.  So for just a little over double the price you could get all day practice and race twice on a world famous track.  That seems like a crazy good deal.  Sure you have to have your own kart and stuff and the travel but no other group is letting you get on a professional circuit for those costs.  Talking to a Porsche cup guy once their entry was over a grand for a weekend at Mid Ohio.  Not sure if ever race group is that much but road race karting really doesn’t seem that expensive when you consider what track you are on.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Greg is completely correct in that the Schumacher accident was the beginning in the helmet camera bans in both karting and other sports.  However after more testing and further investigation I believe it was determined that Michael hit his helmet on two different rocks in the exact same spot on the helmet causing the helmet to fail.  Much like a bullet proof vest helmets are designed to take one hard hit.  A second hit especially one in the same point on the protective gear is very dangerous.  That is why after a helmet has been in a crash it needs to be replaced.

They have done more studies on helmet cams and found them much safer than they had thought.  Helmets are tested by dropping large sharp objects on them and they must pass.  So a plastic camera and mount will most likely not do any damage to the very strong shell.  They did find that while a camera will most likely not damage the shell it could cause the helmet to not glance of an object that it might have without a camera mounted.  Many people think concussions are caused by the brain bouncing of the skull.  They have more recently found that concussions are actually caused from the brain rotating in the skull from a sudden stop in movement.  So helmets that are perfectly round can sometimes allow the head to glance along walls or the ground without a sudden stop.  A helmet camera could get in the way of that but that is a case by case thing.  Because they also found in certain crashes a camera could actually act to further decelerate an impact.

Professional athletes still wear helmet cams all the time.  They are used in videos and television all over they world. Heck Graham Rahal wears one during indy car events with live tv footage. This is another case of a rule that may have had a good intent to keep people safe but once something is a rule it is almost impossible to get it removed.  Even if data could prove the rule is not needed.

An another note the first time discounted entry fee is an awesome idea.  I haven’t seen that before but that is great way to let anyone with a kart that’s safe try road racing.  That should be the header of every club/organization’s web page.  This is really a great idea and I hope it catches on.

[Jeremy Baldi]

This debate about how many classes there should be has been going on for long time and I’m sure will always go on.  And the real reason it goes on is because there are two different types of karters.  Those that want to win and those that want to have fun.  And I think there is probably about equal amounts of both.

The reason there are so many classes is because the karters that want to win, want to have a far chance so ever engine or pipe combination needs it’s own class so it is theoretically a fair race.  While these racers would love a big class they also don’t mind small class because a win is a win even if they only raced 2 other people.  But if you combined all the classes together you might very well lose many of these racers because they wouldn’t feel it was fair to their package and they would stop coming and that is lost entry fees.

The second group of karters just wanting to have fun don’t care about winning but would rather just have someone to race, even if it is for 12th place.  These karters don’t like all the classes but still come because there is still track time and maybe a battle on track to be had.  The problem is that if there are too many classes than there is less chance of an on track battle to be had so in that case they might stop coming to the events.  Again lost entries.

But if you look at the two options above I believe the possibility of lost entries fees is much larger if you went to fewer classes.  I think there is greater chance of losing more racers if you went to fewer classes.  So it seems like the more classes the better in this case.  However that doesn’t seem to be working as numbers keep going down.  That might be because of the times both for money reasons but also because of the culture that wants to win more and more and doesn’t know how to lose.  So even if you have 48 classes there will still be a lot of people not winning.  I don’t know why for sure.

So if this system isn’t working than maybe it needs to switch and get a larger percentage of karters that just want to have fun.

Roberts idea of classes is a nice possibility.  My dad and I have also talked about more of a bracket racing method.  You break karts into 6-8 classes.  Sprint A,B,C and maybe  D and Enduro A,B,C and maybe D.  Any engines and body.  With the great timing systems we now have you set times in practice and than are assigned into a speed based group.  If during your race you have 3 laps faster than a certain percentage than your practice times than you move up to the next speed group the next race.  This would prevent sand bagging.  You might have a shifter racing a yamaha can but if their lap times are the same than I beat they could have a great battle.  Organizers often break the karts into many groups because they are afraid of the speed differences.  But In unlimited the lap times from fastest to slowest is often 30sec a lap.  So why not have a slower superkart race a yahama laydown.

Than you race each group twice a day.  Everyone could do 4 races in one kart during a weekend.  There will not be many winners but if you are just looking for fun on track I’m sure you’ll find some racing to be had.  And you won’t be annoyed by the guy not in your class getting in your way because everyone would be in your class on track.  Going to a format like this would not be good for all the championships points races.  It would only be for people to have fun and get track time.

So what we need to figure out is what is more important to more people.  Doing well in your race or just having fun?   Almost everyone will say having fun but if you post on FB about your trophy when there was only 3 karts in your class than you have to really think about whether the getting a good result is more important to you.  There is no right or wrong answer.  Everyone will think their idea is more important and the correct approach.  But we need to find out which method will allow us to keep renting the tracks.

The money or new blood problems are a whole other issue to deal with.  This post really only was thinking about the people who currently or whom have road raced in the past.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Everything is sold.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Kelly,

I was asking about layout because the track has multiple options.  A few years ago DKC/AKRA and than WKA/KART both ran the west circuit.   That is a very fun layout and I would be more than happy to run it again.

But the grand course looks like it would awesome.  But I know cost would be much more because the amount of corner workers needed would be about double.  The grand max straight looks like it would fun track too and would a few less corners workers than the grand course.

No matter the layout thanks for putting on the event.

[Jeremy Baldi]

What layout will the NCM nov race be?

 

 

[Jeremy Baldi]

Updated price.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Updated listing

 

[Jeremy Baldi]

If they do a kart track day there I would be very interested.  We have some new 250’s to shake down.  Have any clue when it might be?

[Jeremy Baldi]

Clark gave some good info for road racing near you.  I know Dart Kart Club/AKRA gets together with CES to do Mid Ohio and Grattan.  And they have 25-40 shifters show up for those races.  And than both clubs have other races that get 15+ at there other events.  They have stock honda classes too but those have smaller class sizes.  The DKC/AKRA series also races with MKC that has 2 races at MIS which isn’t to far from you.

If you’re looking for a kart I’m just about to post my 2011 Zanardi/TM k9b for sale.  Email me at skillege@ymail.com if you’re interested.  If not hope you find a good kart and have great time racing shifters.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Lowered price.

[Jeremy Baldi]

I’m going to run the AKRA event and if you do testing there my buddy and I would be interested.  That track is much closer than Grattan for us so we could get over there pretty easy.

 

 

[Jeremy Baldi]

Could you send info, prices and pics to skillege@ymail.com of these items:

– Two sets of DWT magnesium wheels w/ MG yellow tires

– Multiple sets of DWT aluminum wheels (one set with Bridgestone rain tires)

– 50 mm & 40 mm used straight axles

– 50 mm axle locking collars

– 50 mm x 90 mm CRG rear axle hubs

– CRG NA2 side pods w/graphics & nerf bars & sidepod extenders

– Shifter angled steering wheel hub w/clutch lever

– Sparco kart cover

 

[Jeremy Baldi]

For some reason it won’t let me send you a pm.  You can send email to:

skillege@ymail.com

[Jeremy Baldi]

Hey I know this is old ad but do you still have the nose available?

[Jeremy Baldi]

Mike,

Myself and others unfortunately can’t make the May 4th date.  Thanks for looking to get these events together and maybe we can make the next one.

 

Jeremy

[Jeremy Baldi]

Thanks David.  I had also found on EKN classic an article about his dual core shifter rad for that same “PMK” project.  I had emailed him only a year or two ago and bought one of those rads from him, but that email address seems to no longer work.  I looked him up on FB and no kart pics uploaded but I will try to message him there.  Thanks.

[Jeremy Baldi]

Aero plays huge part.  Along with karting I also do quite a bit of road cycling.  Aerodynamics is a huge part of that industry and bikes only go 20-30mph.  Now your power output is much lower than a kart but still aero is very important.  They say anything over 15mph 80 percentage of your pedaling power is just going to penetrate through the air.  So on a kart I would agree with Brian that anything over 55-60mph aero will play large roll.

On my laydown shifter I have made small changes to body work and found it has changed top speed by 4-5mph and changed lap times by 2-3 secs. Heck one time a gopro placed in a bad place cost 3 mph and 1 sec in lap time.

There was a Jay Leno garage episode were they ran a tag kart on a sprint track with and without body work and I don’t remember exactly but I believe they lost over a second on like a 40 sec lap.

I would except at Daytona in a yamaha laydown you would see a difference of 10 plus mph and 10 plus secs.

 

[Jeremy Baldi]

Here is vid of the weekend including crash.

 

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