We are running an 8hr race on Saturday. We have a team of 6 drivers. Bring your own kart not rentals. 206 engine platform. We can only refuel with 1 gal of gas, and pit stops are a mandatory 5 mins.
We have never raced an endurance race and we are looking for tips on getting the most of our day!
If anyone has any good tips please let me know.
Specifically fuel saving for the 206 while not giving up to much power, and anything else you found helpful during your event!
Time to spreadsheet!
So if you are totally new to doing enduros, there’s a bit of thinking that should be done ahead of time.
Generally, what I’ve done is worked off tanguys spreadsheet which I’ll share.
So basically there’s some mandated number of stops you have to make and there’s a total time.
So, schedule it out. Take the total number of drivers and divide it up for 8hrs based upon stops that must be made.
You will edit this on the fly as the race evolves. Stuff happens.
You’ll note that our fuel stops are only twice and that I shoehorn them in the schedule to adjust the heat times. In our case it was 2.5 mins, I think.
Justin-
We ran this 2 years ago. I would suggest to take additional time to check important components that if they fail, will cost you alot of time.
Chain tightness - i’d run an oring chain to limit stretching
Motor mount
Throttle cable
Break cable and pads
Bumper connection
Header bolts
Muffler connection
Axle locks
etc
make sure pull string on motor is in good condition
Are you doing the Dairyland at Badger? I’m looking for a seat if you know anyone that has one.
I inadvertently did this last weekend… Turned out the carb I received with my engine was set to .0890 float height, ie it leaned the engine out. That said, would not recommend as it had a lean spot on when I got back on the gas. Made the kart borderline undrivable.
I dont think there’s much if anything to be found in fuel consumption, other than maybe keeping the rear of the kart free. Obviously you want to avoid power braking. They use so little fuel though I’m not sure what you could do. For sure optimize what you have in the tank… ie make sure you can pickup every last drop out of there. Maybe for fun you could run a Jr slide to reduce throttle to 75%… but gains are questionable (Well unknown to me)
Yes we are doing that! We already have 6 for our team, but I will ask around. I did see your name on a post by Chris Burke on Facebook saying you were looking for a seat. If I hear anything I will let you know!
Yeah. Pay attention to specific rules for this race at driver meeting. The enduros have some unique rules - operational bits, based upon a hot track with folks coming and going. I’ve collected some penalties for being inattentive (once).
Triple zip tie, double nut, or wire every fastener. A mechanical will put you out of contention almost immediately.
The key to endurance races is consistent pace and knowing when to be aggressive and when to be patient.
James, have you contacted the race director? They often have solos LFG and can maybe help you. For the 8hr I’d recommend a group of 4 as 2hrs of driving is totally feasible though you will be wiped. Not sure how many stops you must make but if you keep sessions to 20-30 mins, you’ll be fine despite limited seat time of late.
You may already know all this but it may be helpful to someone else.
I did reach out to Chris Burke who is an official
and organizer of some description.
Could also bring my kart down for it if I can find other drivers to share the $600 entry fee.
Fcck it, bring the 1000 buck Chuck shifter and dominate until you have a mechanical or drive into the forest.
Is it his race? I mean like contacting Chris from EK. It’s his party and he has the dance list for his races. I know that Chris tries to hook solos up with teams, as race director.
They only have a Briggs Jr and Sr class, but that’s OK because the buck chuck is a 206 anyway.
Yeah Chris Burke would be a person to connect drivers with teams.
Info and rules are here: - Diaryland 8 Hours
I was joking on the shifter!
Thanks for the tips and the spreadsheet!! All awesome info.
Ya know, all the enduros I’ve run have been rentals. But, a question would be, what would owner kart folks do at driver swaps?
Throw in 1 gal every stop if needed? Would this add or subtract time to your stop or is it mandated to be X length regardless? Is there time to lube chain? Things like that.
Up your seat / knee / elbow padding game. Nothing worse than developing a bruise in the first hour stint that you then bang around again for an hour next time you get into the kart. Especially important if not all drivers are same size. Maybe consider baseball sliding shorts or some other compression shorts with padding to help with hips/thighs.
If the rules require you to make more stops than strictly needed and you aren’t starting up front, consider getting one of your pit stops done right at the start of the race. Traffic is slowing the mid-pack down with everyone bunched up, you can come out with open track and make up some time.
Do you have a small whiteboard to use to communicate w/ driver? Keep messages short and simple with great big fat letters that are easy to read. Make up a few hand signals driver can use to communicate with pits as well - including “get me out of here” in case a driver is not up to finishing the stint for some reason. Next driver up should be ready less helmet at all times while preceding driver on the track.
Everyone on the team should have a defined role for what they’re doing at a pit stop so nothing gets missed and nobody is tripping over eachother.
If team members have short attention spans and will wander the paddock, bring walkie-talkies to keep folks on the hook to be back to service kart ASAP. Likewise, define specific times team members must be together for pit window, strategy discussion, etc.
If you’re carrying spares, pre-set a pair of tie rods to correct length so you can throw them in without monkeying with alignment tools… won’t be perfect but will be “close enough”.
If you have a pushback nose and aren’t required to have it, swap for non-pushback mounts or defeat the pushback feature with zip ties and duct tape.
Richard brings up an important point, communication. It’s really easy to miss the cues from the pits when you are focused on the track.
It’s not a huge deal if someone misses their signal. You’ll get em eventually! That being said, have something that you all agree on as the switch signal and a spot at which the signaller will signal from, so the driver knows where to look.
Personally I’ve never had a whiteboard big enough that you could read in a passing kart (rip eyes 40+). So, instead, we wave whatever brightest tshirt we have vigorously to signal driver swaps. It works just fine.
I did dabble a touch with comms, but I wasn’t successful and the weather was terrible so my experiment was ill timed.
I can’t emphasize @1pieceatatime’s advice enough… Keep the crew close or know where they are. I was a crew chief for one of two Honda CRXs at the 24 Hours of Nelson Ledges SCCA endurance race back in the day before the wife and kids. One of the cars came in unexpectedly at ~3:00 a.m. and I was the only team member awake. Everyone else had wandered off to take naps or whatever and weren’t even napping nearby. Make sure needed crew are always available or can be recalled quickly!
Wireless buzzers!
Your kart is ready, Sir. 
