Yup. What @RyanR said. Did not mean to cause doubt. Sorry!
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Got everything done, going to test fire/ break in the engine today. Monticello has a race next weekend, but I think its the 3rd race in a series. So I’m not sure I could just show up and run around. I probably need to log some test hours since I’m new to Karting anyhow.
Do have a question related to the throttle cable. How much travel is it suppose to have? It seems like mine has about 1/8 inch of total travel from idle to full throttle. Don’t know if thats right?
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Throttle travel should be about 3/4" - take the air filter off and make sure that the slide is closing and opening all the way.
Get good enough at pulling the axle out, and file off the burs at the setscrews, and you’ll be able to pull the axle and change a 1-piece sprocket almost as fast as you can now change a 2-piece. That way you’ll be able to not worry about whether the two pieces are aligned.
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Appreciate your input Charles.
You may want to get the sprint kart 206 header, the one you have that comes straight back is generally for oval karts. Appears to be pointed straight at your bumper, and can certainly melt it. The sprint version has a bend to the left.
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Great catch!
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Did exactly what you sugguested, worked like a charm. Thanks.
Also ordered a wrap around exhaust.
Just got done with the initial break in of the new motor. Let it run and rev on the carrier for 10 minutes. Shut it off for 20 minutes, and tooled it around the neighborhood, on and off the throttle to vary the RPM’s for another 10 minutes. Two things jumped out at me.
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It feels EXTREMELY labored off the start. Like 80% throttle just to get it rolling from a complete stop. Once going, it goes just fine. (Might be gearing)
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Clutch is smoking a bit. But I heard that’s normal at slow speeds on a new clutch?
Any insight? Is this stuff normal or is there something that needs to be addressed?
Sounds pretty normal really. Clutch will smoke a little easier at first while it beds in. But its good to be mindful about slipping it too much.
Just got home from my first time/ day at the local track. Everyone was practicing for tomorrows race, which I’ve decided not to enter, but I’ll explain why.
Wheeled my cart out to the track and everyones reaction was, “Hey, check it out, its a 206.” So everyone at the track was calling me “the 206 guy” all day being the only one out there. Allt eh Subaru 4 stroke guys were pretty awesome and extremely welcoming. Like I’ve said before, all the 4 stokes there are heavily modified Subaru.
Got approached by two different people, who took one look at my kart, then took a look at me, and they all asked, “Are you going to be able to fit in that seat?” The short answer I painfully learned was No! I put in about 10-12 laps and I was so unconfortable (and slow) it is 100% appearant that I’ll need a new seat. One of the guys there had several karts, and asked me to sit in all the seats of various sizes. The XL with pading seemed like the best fit for my 5"11 215lb frame.
So my go forward plan is this. I’m going to upgrade the seat, adjust the ride height as I guess my kart is currently on the lowest setting. Install my new Alfano 6 and log as many practice sessions as I can to gain experience and try to enter the 206 race on June 5th.
Like one of the seasoned guys was explaining, make your adjustments, get some seat time getting confortable with my kart and how it behaves. Then enter your first race in June with the goal of finishing last without wrecking. Just get to know the kart and start having fun while gaining experience.
I was extremely slow today. But part of my problem was I was so self cautious about other drivers. I kept looking back to make sure I wasn’t in someones way. The last thing I wanted to do was slow people up, or hit anybody because some of these 2 stoke guys have some serious money wrapped up in their equipment, and I didn’t want to be “that guy.”
I was later talking about this to one of the other 4 stoke guys, and he told that was the worst thing I could be doing. As everytime I turn to look backward, I may not notice someone else coming around side of me, and I might run into them or worse, run them off the track by being overly cautious. He said, “your slow, they know it, they will pass you when THEY feel its safe and it best suits them to do so.”
That made alot of sense. I was just really paranoid today as I tried to turn laps and get used to things. But the track was mixed, 4 stoke, 125cc, shifters, etc. So it was intimidating to say the least as an FNG just trying to fly right and not cause others harm.
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First of all, congratulations on your first day at the track! This is an intimidating experience to say the least, especially when lapping the day before a race with much faster karts around.
From what it sounds like you’ve already received really good advice from fellow racers. Just keep pounding laps and the paranoia will slowly fade as well as your lap times will improve. I think what many new racers forget about is that some of your competitors have been in a go kart their entire lives. So just enjoy it, have fun, and the competitiveness will slowly come.
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My first practice was an open practice, I get the feeling. Just drive and faster people will get around you safely. You can always point someone by if you know they are there, but don’t look behind you and try to get out of the way. As long you just drive like there’s no one behind you, everything will be good. Congrats on getting out there in a kart that you made. Speed and focus will come with time but that’s the fun of it. Having a bad seat sucks. Make sure to try multiple out with all of your gear on. Those bruises last a while
Here is a vid of what it looks like:
Congrats on first day. It is a bit overwhelming at first but once you get stuff sorted and have a couple race weekends under your belt, things calm down and you start improving for real.
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I think the consensus is clear, stay focused on what is ahead of you not behind you. If you want to take a peak at what is coming up behind you, the best places are on exit of a hairpin or a big double apex where you can see down track.
Most experienced drivers will pass you after corner exit. Some may catch you right at corner entrance (i.e. shifters) at which point you will usually hear them coming and because of the different line they take with all wheel breaking and extreme low end power you can typically point them to the inside and they will be out of your way before you apex.
Remember its practice, not qualifying. Most drivers are trying to focus on consistency or changes for testing.
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Had another day of practice yesterday, and I ran into all sort of issues. Got my Alfano 6 and new Tillett installed, and hit the track yesterday. I turned about 20 laps and my lord does having a correct fitting seat make all the difference in the world. However, although it was confortable ride, my lap times were relatively high. I was like 6 seconds off normal lap times. First off I noticed my engine wasn’t even coming close tot he rev limiter. My average high RPM was around 4,600. Felt like I was out for more of a sunday drive than actually racing around.
Then on my second set, engine wouldn’t get past 2,500 rpm. Turned out the issue was my set screw on my chassis for the brake pedal, I guess all that vibration caused it to back out; thus, applying brake even when the pedal wasn’t depressed. Took me a considerable amount of time to figure out exactly what the problem was.
But as soon as I fixed the set screw issue, I was hitting my rev limiter and there was almost too much power, or at least, more than I was acustom too previously. So I spent the rest of the afternoon breaking loose in the corners as I had to relearn how much throttle to apply through certain corners. Its funny how little things can make such a huge difference.
I was concentrating so much on the motor, it didn’t even dawn on me that the chassis and brakes were the issue. Still learning. . .
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Its official, just signed up for my first race! Signed up for CKNA in Jacksonville and registered for two classes; Serior Heavy and Masters.
So I’m sure I’ll be in the rear with the gear, lol.
Wish me luck. Any advice moving forward would be appreciated. I’m definitely outside my wheel house here.
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Ayeeee congrats! There’s gonna probably be quite a few good LO206 drivers there, Mick Gabriel, Collin Warren, etc. It’s gonna be a great learning experience, have fun!
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Have fun! Record races .
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Don’t worry about your times. Focus on hitting your marks, braking zones and apexes. Most clubs make rookies start at the back for their first few races, so you should have a pretty easy drive. Try to observe the guys in front of you. Turn in points and braking points. You can pick up a lot trying to follow someone faster than you. As you improve, you will pass them and pick up the next faster guy and so on. Eventually you will be in the fight with the rest of the pack. If you become lap traffic, do NOT drive off line. The leaders have enough experience to know where they can pass you safely and quickly.
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This. Do this and the times will drop.