SKUSA SuperNationals 26 - TJ Driver Diary

Has the ka always been revving out to 18k+ or is that a recent thing?

Usually 17k is our max on over-rev tracks with tight sections to gear for. So this is quite a bit more than typical.

2 Likes

image

:slight_smile:

1 Like

NJMP can get stuffed at this point. I had to spend one morning sweeping a giant puddle by myself while all the corner workers stood in a circle around an ATV with a jet dryer on it

1 Like

Haha. I feel you. It really is an amazing misuse of potential imho (NJMP).

I love how they spent money on lights but didn’t actually do anything other than increase potential revenue. Like fix track. Get a mechanic.

From a rental racing perspective… they claim that they can only have 12 karts on track for races. For insurance reasons… Wtf. When we show up for EK it’s 30 karts.

You had beef kart pretty hooked up by the end, shame they did what they did with the LCQ.

We experienced that exact thing too :joy: it took them 20 minutes to even start using that dryer, but it would’ve only taken 10 to sweep the puddle off the track

NJMP is a cool track but it’s really far from the majority of teams and drivers running either of the big national series.

Beefy boy had some good front-end by the end of the 3rd heat but unfortunately it was too ripped to flex it’s rear.

1 Like

What did you think of the kart overall? Build quality and ease of tuning? I know you didn’t have long on the preferred chassis.

Build quality was good and the AMV components were really nice.

Once I figured out the steering rate thing I think the first kart would’ve been really close on a fairly baseline setup. The kart has lots of adjustability and responded predictability to all adjustments.

Adjustments only at the steering column? Or is there options on the spindles? Drives me crazy that the OTK stuff only has the single hole in the spindle and you can’t fine tune steering rate and Ackerman. Want to make a small tweak? Well buddy you gotta pull the whole front end apart and swap to the option steering rod.

Has options on both spindle and steering shaft. 5 settings in the shaft and two on the spindle.
OTK has two settings on the column but I very really feel the need to adjust steering rate on the OTK.

I like to make the change between bottom holes on the standard and top holes on the optional steering shaft. Laziness and lack of time between sessions keeps me from swapping columns.

The spindle/Ackerman talk is timely because I need to add steering lock angle to my rentals.

I guess you could (with careful consideration) drill the spindles if you want to go towards the kingpin. Also found spindle arm extensions which I did not know were a thing. My understanding is that these would reduce steering rate and total available lock?

I’ve considering making a small 3D printed drill jig to add an intermediate hole on the standard steering column.

I’ve seen the spindle extensions used before. I think it’s mostly for the little dudes/girls to get more leverage.

1 Like

Careful. Adding another hole adds another stress concentration and another place for the steering column to crack.

Yes, taking the tie rod mounting farther from the kingpin will slow the steering.

Enjoy the behind the scenes reading…I was curious, you stated the costs involved to put forth an effort like this. Any chance you can elaborate more on all the costs involved? I race vintage series and know what we spend, not even remotely sure what an effort such as this would cost. Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide.

Entry fee was $2k, plane tickets were $500, hotel was like $650 I think, then some change for food and odds and ends.

If you needed to rent a kart and KA engine, I’m guessing $2k for the week, but if you need tent space and mechanic you would spend more than that. And in X30 or KZ it would be more expensive as well depending on the team.

And then you have crash damage and spare parts to consider and it’s SuperNats so you’ll probably break some stuff.

$5k is about the minimum you can do it for unless you already own your stuff, then you can get away with spending a little less.

To simply enter and get to the race is likely to be $3k unless you live out of the country.

Seriously! That is a lot of money. What do you get for your money? Obviously the seat time but beyond that?