Arrival.
I shall call my spouse and son who are currently enjoying Southern California and this view:
Then, I shall kart.
Karting has begun. 2 heats thus far. Fantastic fun. Did some very close racing with a gentleman and we had a good chat afterwards. I raced him hard and he handled it well! He and his son do drag racing and were very nice.
Secret Test List
Going out for my tenth and final heat next. It’s been a cool night of helping Matt Haase test some karts in preparation for the 8hr race in Feb.
More to come.
Well that was a fun day.
I did 10 practice heats in total. I tested a few of the more questionable karts but also got to drive a screamer that they don’t put out with the public sessions. For some reason they have a clone engine on one of the chassis that they keep around for fun, similar to gx270.
That kart, 22, felt nice and was quick. I think I set the fastest of the week on it in session 2. However, it ultimately died on me in a later session.
Overall the karts are really nice. None of the ones I have driven there handle poorly. It seems that all of the chassis are straight and cared for. Some have stronger engines than others, as is always the case.
One thing that is really nice is that their Sodis have both seat adjust abiiity as well as foot tray adjustabiiity. This really lets you get a good seating position and weight balance, just as you like it.
I really like these sodi. I have yet to drive one here that has a handling bug or something broken (like the seat adjuster). Somehow they are all straight and drive true. The difference seems to be engine, mainly. Some are a bit better than others.
As you can see from my 10 heats, there essentially two classes… the ones that I was able to get sub 22 with today and the ones not. But, the gap seems to be relatively narrow for rentals… maybe 1-1.5s at the extremes over the fleet.
I got to drive one of the fast karts they don’t use for the public. Kart 22 has a clone instead of a gx 270 and runs quick. It’s also 9hp, but it’s not run in pub heats and pulls nicely. Unfortunately it dies on me in a later heat. I was at full throttle, lifted a bit to turn in, and then when I went back to full it fizzled out. It was fun while it lasted!
The gas karts, indoors, are really cool. The downside is that indoor gas karting is really "cool”. As you can imagine, airflow is necessary, and the driving space is basically open to outside air. So, it was cold in there. I wish I had thought to bring my new winter gloves.
Overall a great day. I got to drive a couple sessions with Matt Haas who is their race director and knows the track very well. I was happy to see that I wasn’t too far off his pace. In the last session we were within a few tenths. While I did not get sub 21 today, I was very close, with an official 21.1 and an unofficial 21.0. I think if the track had been less frozen, I might have been able to pull it off. Maybe next visit!
Coming Feb 23… the 8hr Race!
Come one, come all! This should be fun. The karts will be good for this, Matt is selecting them specially.
