2023 was a return to racing for me after health issues at home that really limited things through pandemic and beyond.
I simmed extensively but not in any series or anything. Ultimately, with the arrival of the SC league, I simmed less and less, finding more enjoyment out of weekly time trial racing irl.
Kartkraft finally died. Its husk remains.
We added Nik Trenchi and Marc Coltelli (new friends from SC) to the Rebel Scum lineup, with the thinking that we run 2 teams now. I will ask a lady to join us for next race as Scum needs to be more inclusively scummy.
2024 will involve the SC league,
I will also participate in at least 5 of the EK events.
I may look into K1 speed series for brass-ring chasing and to annoy my pal Alex Smith who participates.
Iād like to get a bit faster still. I think I can maintain a top ten kind of presence at SC, but the new guys are getting faster.
Somewhere in my driving is an opportunity to learn more stuff. Iād like to maybe work with a coach to help me get some sort of measurable progress system going.
2023 was a bit different for myself as I came into the year knowing I wouldnāt be racing. I believe Iāve spoken before on my ribs injuries and my decision to take a year off to heal. I also decided to semi sponsor a young kid (whom has run with our team for years) a ride in my Rok shifter. So I helped tune that at our regional events, though I did have to miss a couple due to work. It was interesting and frustrating at times.
Tuning the engine was no big deal, but tuning the driver made me bang my head against the wall a lot . Basically every regional event weād spend all Friday and Saturday trying to get my driver to attack the corners more and on Sunday usually be better. Didnāt help that he wasnāt doing many (if any) laps between regional events, and that he is predominantly a 206 guy, but has done some Tag also. I definitely had to set the kart up differently than I would for myself as he loaded the kart differently, especially on the brakes. I can run with less front than some due to trail braking into the corner and keeping load on the front tires and giving me enough to turn in. My driver didnāt do this so much and needed more front end. Some of this due to line selection through the weekend as he always reverted back to an arcing 206 line, versus a point and shoot.
Anyhow, 2024 I plan to get back in my KZ for a full season attack. If everything goes well (and money is okay) I want to hit Rok Vegas this year after not being happy with how 2022 went for me. So hopefully my ribs hold up and I can charge this season so Iām fully race fit going into Vegas, which wasnāt the case last time as I was healing a rib injury.
1: Went well! Won my club race series with 6 race wins and a second place. Did the SKUSA summernats which was a great experience, and I have plenty of ideas on how to improve for next year.
2: Plans include racing at a higher level. STARS, and maybe a SKUSA or USPKS scattered, along with doing the club races to fill the gaps to stay sharp. Switching chassis brands to Kart Republic and running with Team Ferris Racing, which will be great. I plan on promoting my karting software extensively (GoldTune). Secondly I may do a bit of coaching, which I really enjoy.
Currently assembling the new chassis which is awesome so far. Really excited about it!
I did end up racing in late August in a 206 and while a tad sore they were fine. Been okay in my dirt kart this winter also. Think theyāll be good to go for next season.
2023 was a mix for us. Ran 206, tried to run local club and regional, but it proved to be a bit too much. Ended the season with 22 races runā¦whew. Picked up my sonās first W, and added a couple other top steps. Also picked up his first regional podium and finished his first season in TSRS in 7th overall. We also got a Spec Miata test squeezed in. He had to learn H pattern stick on the fly. He also started a sim racing team and is working with Driven Performance Management to develop an esports program.
2024 we are dropping a KA on the kart and chasing 2 stroke. We wonāt be doing dedicated club racing or 206, just too much!!! We will be running TSRS in the KA Sr class for all 5 races. Free weekends will be focused on getting some time on 3 of the 5 tracks that make up the TSRS calendar or driving for the Driven Sim Racing team. If budget and schedule allows we are going to get some more testing in Miata and maybe a seat in a ChampCar weekend.
2023 was the year I finally returned to karting at 30 years old in 206 Senior. I raced my first year in Sportsman Yamaha in 2001 in club while my brother was doing club and national racing. I didnāt get to run the whole season because I flipped my kart half way through the season and pops couldnāt afford another, however some really nice people lent us a kart to finish the last 2 or 3 races of the year in. I could write a short book about that. We quit racing due to funds and life after that so I never got to apply what I learned my first year. That is why this return in 2023 was so important to me. I was doing hpde/autocross since then, and would have got back into karting sooner had I known about the LO206 class being so accessible.
I ended up finishing 6th for the season points, not the way I would have liked to (some fast people got injured or went off to college), but it still felt good.
It was a great season full of learning, ups and downs. I had a top 5 finish, a few 6ths, and my highlight of the year was qualifying 5th at OVKAās Champ Race. The kart eventually got bent up and I was pretty slow the last 2 races.
2024- Iām looking forward to doing things right with brand new equipment, and make a run for the local clubās masters championship, as well as do some CKNA and state series events. If life goes right Iām buying a KA at the end of the year.
You mean, make a run for the local clubās 206 SENIOR championship with me ā¦
My 2023 season was my very first karting season.
Long story short, i showed up by myself to the OVKA swap meet in February to attend their Karting 101 seminar. In March I sold my AE86 drift car to buy a 2019 Birel AM29 from a guy in michigan but met up at NCMP and fell in love with the sport just watching the races. Then in April i attended my first karting event and then ended up doing 11/14 races of the OVKA season in the 206 senior class. I ended up finishing 8/26 in points, as well as had my first nasty wreck where i locked wheels with a kid, flipped through the air, and broke my hand during a heat race. I still raced the feature and had a blast. I also ended up selling my motorcycle to buy my own 7x12 trailer towards the end of the season. I had been renting 6x12 enclosed uhaul trailers all year and sleeping in the back, but now thay i have my own trailer im stoked to get it setup the way i want.The coolest thing though was meeting everyone in the sport, including Mr. Tyler Curley (#35) who I enjoyed racing with this year:
For 2024, I only have one primary goal in mind: race as much as possible. Definitely continue racing with the OVKA, but i also really want to make it a point to visit other tracks and give the CKNA Regional series a shot. I also have a smaller goal to explore kart setup and start fine-tuning. This year I basically made zero adjustments to my kart. I wanted to learn how to race before I started playing with alignment settings, tire pressures, seat positions, etc. So now that I have a few races under my belt, i feel confident enough to start making adjustments. And lastly if all goes well, start piecing together a KA kart for 2025.
ā23 was the year I discovered karting at 62 years young. I bought a ā22 Exprit with VLR and started busting out laps at DKC in Caddo Mills, TX. My class runs in the :52ās so I have a ways to go. After about 5 sessions Iām kind of stuck on a :57 lap time. So my goal for ā24 is to find that 5s somewhere so I can feel comfortable club racing.
Selling my OTK and debating what I do next. Few options on the table that might allow me to race a bit more next year. Might hop into something different to expand my knowledge base or may just pick up another used OTK to rock.
If anyone has a chassis they are interested in developing or testing, Iād be happy to put it through itās paces for you, for the right price. Iām out at Dousman almost every week in the summer pounding laps, and my experience at SuperNats this year help reinforce how much I really like test driving and learning how each kart works.
I donāt have a team and other than the BestKart deal at SuperNats, the only other kind-of-semi-factory backed effort to seek me out was ART GP.
My insinuation was āhey aspiring kart brands, send me a chassis and I will put it through the ringer and give you detailed notes, setup information, and general feedback from 21 years of driving experience.ā
There may be some opportunities with BestKart again next season but Iām not sure how much I can commit yet to an actual season of true pro-level racing again. But I enjoyed working with those guys and I think the project has legs if there is a good solid factory-supported effort here in the States.
Had fun watching the club program at Pitt Race have another double digit growth year in ā23 and also see our shop presence grow again in just its second year. Also enjoyed taking a bunch of people on the road for their first time to Stars or CKNA events. Overall just really had a great time seeing karting be so healthy in our region - 2023 was a very good year.
For 2024 Iām really looking forward to seeing if we can continue the growth weāve seen at PKC and Pitt Race. We are also going to try to get a lot of local racers out to CKNA SpringNats, SummerNats and Grands.
Have some plans in the works to try to make PKC a better outlet for our local racers - more new racer/family instructional and Arrive & Drive programs plus dedicating space for a retail storefront and coaching data/video station. Also working on more outreach programs with indoor venues, local car shows and an expanded social presence.
More excited about this coming season than I imagined. A lot of cool things on the horizon and really, really looking forward to CKNA SummerNats here at Pitt. Itās going to be a hell of an event!
Honestly, not great. There was some progress, such as improving last years setup to be around .5 quicker. Equally, there were so many frustrating moments and issues that it almost seemed to be a net zero on track. I learned 5 ways to lose races from the lead, and all I have gotten from those lessons is more work to ensure they never happen again.
For 2024, I am moving into Spec Miata, so I will be running a very limited schedule for karting. Currently I am planning to do around 3-4 race weekends, but because nothing in SM has been finalized yet I am just hoping that I have the time and money to do everything.
2023 was my comeback to racing after 3 years of no action . we rebuilt our 2 karts and make a small garage from scratch so me and my friends can make maintenance and repairs . Also make the testrun sessions for the new builded karts .
for 2024 i hope we will do our race track practice return , and see where are we " time wise" in pace with the other drivers . Its a driving comeback year !
'23 was a pretty good season for me in old fat guy KA class. I feel like I continued to improve on my driving and technique and overall comfort in the kart all season and had results that reflected that work.
I raced USPKS at my home track as a test for myself to see if I could do it and despite a poor result in the final I feel like I had a good showing on the weekend that Iām still proud of.
Where I was disappointed with myself on the year was on the physical fitness side. Iāve always been heavy, weight has always been a struggle for me and at the beginning of the year I actually had 8 lbs of lead on the kart which was a first for me but by the end of the year I had no weight and was running almost no fuel to even get close to class minimum. In addition to that my focus changed to cardio only instead of weight training just to try to stay lower in weight and the video of me at NCMP / Stars was amusing cause I look like a bobble head toy out thereā¦I simply ran out of steam and it cost me that win too. I hope to set things straight this year and get back to a healthy weight where I can use some lead to my advantage instead of constantly trying to figure out how little fuel I can run in the kart before it will fuel starve.
No clue yet where things will pan out for '24. I know Iāll run all the MCC pro-am stuff but weāre looking at other schedules to see how they work with the rest of ālifeā. Iād love to give a serious go to one of the bigger series but work commitments may get in the way of that desire with what I know Iāve got in front of me the first half of the year.
A thought on the weight disappointment. Be careful what you wish for. I achieved that kind of weight loss but thereās a real cost to quality of life. My personal feeling is that so long as you feel reasonably competitive, donāt beat yourself up about weight. (Unless you really canāt stand the thought of being a few tenths off then by all means go down the rabbit hole. You will have concerned friends and relatives after you lose 30+ lbs though.)
Losing thr ability to enjoy eating is sort of part of the deal with extreme weight loss. I miss food. I also dislike everyone telling me to get fatter.
However, if your knees are totally shot, extreme weight loss will help, probably (for me a huge change in mobility).
I dunno if being skinny is āworth itā. Its self sustaining, past a point, but you have to shrink your stomach and you will come to dislike food. Laptimes have to be more important that enjoyment of eating, I think.
I believe weāre here because the thought of being one tenth off keeps me up at night!
Overall with ā23 I didnāt execute as well as Iād have liked, but did still have fun which is most important. I struggled with setup for a long portion of the year before finally finding what worked for me very late in the season so in some ways it feels like lost opportunities there.
We also had a really good break thru with my son and getting him to a higher pace which should always trump my racing efforts anyway.
For the coming year I know Iām committed to the local club championship again, but havenāt decided on the rest. Like Andy Iāve taken on more responsibility at work which will involve travel and more time commitments, so Iām assuming thatāll take time away from karting efforts. We have all 3 major series coming to MCC this season so itād be relatively easy to jump into one of those big events. My son also is dying to run Junior, but I want him to compete in Mini one more year so that may be a battle on where we end up. At the very least heās getting seat time in a KA Jr this year as I kept my old chassis to setup for him.
. Basically every regional event weād spend all Friday and Saturday trying to get my driver to attack the corners more and on Sunday usually be better. Didnāt help that he wasnāt doing many (if any) laps between regional events, and that he is predominantly a 206 guy, but has done some Tag also. I definitely had to set the kart up differently than I would for myself as he loaded the kart differently, especially on the brakes. I can run with less front than some due to trail braking into the corner and keeping load on the front tires and giving me enough to turn in. My driver didnāt do this so much and needed more front end. Some of this due to line selection through the weekend as he always reverted back to an arcing 206 line, versus a point and shoot.
He also started a sim racing team and is working with 
Iām out at Dousman almost every week in the summer pounding laps, and my experience at SuperNats this year help reinforce how much I really like test driving and learning how each kart works.