Woo! I’m not soloing this one, that’s for sure.
Racing with Cruz Vargas
A pal from GRX and SC was in the neighborhood of Xtreme zone, as his wife had a baby shower to attend, locally. We met up at Xtreme to get some laps in.
He had hip replacement surgery so has been out of the seat, recovering, and is just getting back in. He did one race at Xtreme a while ago and wanted to get quicker. Fortunately for Cruz, I know the way (mostly)!
We do a bunch of lead follow and I tried to explain to him line and inputs. He did well, getting to pace (22s) very quickly and was able to get into the low 22s which is v good!
I think we’ll go the 6hr together so he can have a target to shoot for. Will be fun to see his progression time-wise. The race is not for a while so we can get some practice in.
I am content in that I was able to land some sub 22 on a cold track (Sunday was not crowded). I am getting quite consistent here. I have some additional thinking to do about my approach, whether I am still pushing too hard in some spots. We shall see as I play around. The challenge is fixing yourself to try new things mid-flight, but that’s what practice is for.
Anyhoo, example of my consistency these days:
Tires warmed lap 4:
Another thought:
Electric doesn’t compare to gas imo. Every time I drive gas karts I am reminded of this. The powerband of gas 4-stroke teaches the subtleties of throttle relative to corner entry/mid/exit much more punishingly.
The inefficiency of the powerband bottom end in a single gear kart is absolutely key. It is unforgiving when you lose revs and slow to be re-awakened. Learning to drive is learning about this and how to manage the karts inefficiencies. And, those inefficiencies are inextricably tied to the energy cycle @speedcraft described to me.
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Well that was epic. P3. Really good race. I drove very well and am happy as clam.
Tomorrow I will be in Orlando. I am hoping to go to okc and Andretti. Stay tuned!
You would greatly beneficiate from some coaching
lacking context I mistook this as directed at me.
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Some news;
Sunday is a 2hr race! I shall participate with Cruz who will experience rev for the first time!
It also appears that Michael and Adi will join us for their first race there as well!
I saw this which looks a lot like XtZ but is from a race in Europe. Note the bicycling. I wonder what tire they ran?
I am not sure this level of grip is good for rentals. Heavy karts hop sooner. Overloading laterally is easier imho in rentals.
In which I explain how to race and reference @tjkoyen and his wonderful “no window shopping” rule
Timestamped 21:19
After the dinner break I clarify a bit further, 24:54
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Really neat how Ai can be used to break things down…
This is where I give it context as to why I deliberately chose to lose time to make a point.
I’m flattered and all but it is definitely worded to “please” and flatter. So, hmm. 
However it does analyze your results very interestingly and well… but I don’t like how I feel like it’s trying to manipulate my ego.
I fed it my incident… and a lengthy explainer of my decision making
Time stamped 35:05 - give it a few and it gets bumpy
His kart wasn’t on!!!
In the immortal word of Van Halen… “You got to roll with the punches till you get to what’s real.”
Here’s one where chatGPT is less forgiving of my intentional walling of a guy…
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