vortex’s blog

Yesterday the 20th of January was the first meeting of the 2008 Sprint Karting Season.I entered into Senior National Heavy, and was surprised enough to find another driver had entered the class as well; which was good because all year in 2007 there had been no entries in the class.

There was also one entry in Senior National Light, which we were combined with.

We had changed the setup of the kart completely from the last time we raced, even doing things like running positive camber in the kart and the front clamp out. We also put new tires on the kart because the old ones had been in the trailer since November!

In Race One we started behind the Senior National Light class, and I got off to a slow start. The other SNH driver beat me off the start but I was able to pass quickly and take the lead. I was around 20 kart lengths behind the other Senior National Light driver, who I was able to catch up to and, after having an interesting dice for a few laps, was able to beat to the finish line. My best laptime was a 40.99seconds which was quite quick for my first run in SNH, considering the Junior National Light’s were lapping in mid 39’s.

Race Two was similar, I was quick enough off the start to lead into the first corner, I was able to chase down the SNL kart and once again had a great dice. This time it was a little closer, and my kart felt a bit a bit ‘off’. Over the line i’m not sure where I finished in the dice with the SNL driver; it was that close over the line I won SNH, however so thats what matters. 41.2 was my quickest lap.
Race Three was, once again, similar. Off to a resonable start, and into the lead quickly. Chased down the SNL kart again, and had a dice once again. This time, he bided his time and passed me back on the last lap, and I was unable to get back past. The kart didnt feel fantastic once again, handling was perfect but the motor felt off again. 41.2 was the quickest I went again.

After the race, we discovered the air-box was basically falling off! I was running one of the new KIAA control air-boxes, which I love the idea of,  but they could have been a little better made. The rubber neck was brittle and had broken, and was upsetting the Air/Fuel ratio’s of the motor! We believe this was upsetting the tuning and causing the kart to be off the pace we were expecting in the last two races.