Since my racing is unclear in terms of what my schedule for 2023 looks like, I thought it might be fun to have an “in an ideal world” what’s your 2023 race calendar/program look like.
This isn’t meant to be “what you can afford”. It’s meant to be, if you had the funds and time, what would you want to accomplish in 2023?
I’ll start:
A) full schedule of ALL the NJMP 2hr enduros paired with ALL endurance karting enduros held in northeast culminating with AMP race in November. This would be supplemented with an exploration of the new series (lo206) to see if I’d want to commit to that for 2024.
Or possibly instead of NE Club series for 2024… I’d like to explore going regional racing with Paul and Evan (they have a team I think) and go fight with the more geriatric big boys and girls in ka100.
Full pro-level national schedule (Pro Tour, USPKS) including SKUSA Winter Tour and FWT with a few Route 66 races sprinkled in for fun and to sharpen up.
SuperNats at the end of the year.
I mentioned it on Happy Hour last night, but I never got to run the Florida winter series when I was full-time so I would want to go do that to get sharper before the real season starts.
Thx TJ. I did watch a bit of that last night. That must have been frustrating having the other guys 4 race meetings deep already when you are just getting back out on track in Midwest.
Yeah it was a bit tough; I always felt I was a little weaker the first event of the year compared to others. But I did run Kartweek in Daytona a lot so those years weren’t as bad. I love Daytona, I would want to race there again too.
The fella with the ball cap (Nash racing?)… was he one of guys you raced against? I got the impression he is a team owner and former pro racer like you.
That was Matt Johnson; he’s a bit older than I am and raced top-level stuff in the 2000s all the way to the 2010s. I raced against him for a few years in the Pro Tour stuff around 2010-2012.
I don’t think has any ownership at Nash Motorsports but he is working with them now mostly as a tuner and coach.
A) If funds truly were unlimited, I would be prepping for a run at KA Masters at Super Nats. I would be running all the local races I could with KA and travelling to as many regional/national races as i could (USPKS, Stars, etc).
I would also upgrade my son from 206 to micro swift. He should get to enjoy some of these unlimited funds as well!
B) A more realistic (but still not gonna happen) is to do some regional racing in 206 masters and my son to race in 206 cadet. This would be CKNA North, Buckeye Karting Challenge and then a full season at WHhiteland Raceway Park
C) Hopefully Realistic: Race a full season at the club level and maybe get to 1 or 2 regional/other track races
With unlimited funds, and more importantly unlimited time, I would be in the seat as much as possible. Let’s be real though, the most important constraint here is how much patience my wife has for my karting endeavors lol. At the end of the day, I love karting, but don’t want it to take away from being a good husband and a good dad. That said, here’s what my ideal scenario would look like:
Full season of KZ Masters at the Stars Championship Series
SKUSA Pro Tour race at NCMP
Endless mid-week test days to train physically, and test everything under the sun
A club race at AMP (itching to drive this track)
SKUSA Supernationals
An international KZ Masters race…not picky on track, as there are so many great ones to choose from. Would just love to experience karting at that level and in that setting.
My ultra pipe dream would be to race KZ Masters in the FIA World Championship. Now accepting sponsors
I’m fortunate to have some really fun plans in place for this year, as I’ll be running the full Stars Championship in KZ Masters. Will probably pop out to NCMP for a club race or two, and test as time allows. Since we’re still in the winter months, I’ll just continue to stare at my engine on my office floor and make braaap noises in my head
If I had unlimited funds and time, I would like to be at the track everyday driving, just as a form of fitness building.
Good call on the international race. I would love to do that too. Doesn’t even have to be an FIA or WSK event. I crunched the numbers and reached out to teams about 10-12 years ago to go run Kartmasters or some other events in the UK. I was halfway serious about it.
Even in my ideal, dream world where I have unlimited money and time, I didn’t picture myself in good enough physical shape to jump into a high-level race like that.
Starting Jan 1st I would hire an entire engine team for Flowbench/Testing/Dyno along with a few pallets of engines (206 and KA) John Maddox, Dan Binks and Jeff Bundenthal
I would hire a Chassis team, to design a new chassis from the ground up. This would include a few new CNC machines for the shop along with electronic autofeed benders/Notchers and a crapload of material. Also, lets not forget Ansys program which will also help with next step. Kevin Doran/Noah Baily/Augustin Hanquip (Spelling)
AeroTeam that Anysys for CFD along with kart specific windtunnel. Full scale with a fat body mannequin (Accurate testing is a must) Hambini/Kyle Engineers
So after that multiple (300) million dollar expenditure would have to hire a test team along with myself. Likely people with similar body type that are excellent drivers + Setup (Randal Pierce, Gary Lawson, John Kettlewell)
So in 2024 we might have a product together to race! I actually enjoy the mechanics more then the driving.
In reality, I am not sure at all what I will race next year 2023, maybe race OVKA with goal of being national #1 in 206 Briggs weekly series.
That’s an easy one for me if I had unlimited funds. British Superkart (long circuit) Championship driving one of my friends Raider karts. Wife would love it traveling back to the UK several times a year too Not done any of this since early 90’s so I would be a tad rusty!
I got a quote for 10000 euro to race the world championship as a wildcard entry with an independent team - one engine, one chassis, extras in reserve with the team, a mechanic, “it’ll be more if you wreck stuff.”
I’d have taken it except that I could not get close to the OK weight and they didn’t make a KZ.
Wow, looks like u guys are die hard Kart racer. I guess I will be the one try to race a car. USF2000/skippy/Formula V etc for race or two. Then full club race with new set of tire every day and a few regional race. Most important is to do a few roller coaster laps at AMP.
Not done any of this since early 90’s so I would be a tad rusty!