Enroll now if interested. Email Will and indicate youd like to do the league. There will be a form to fill out. Baffilingly you cannot simply go to website, register, pay, etc. Instead Will will then ask you to show up and pay or take your card over the phone. Roll with it until they get the systems dialed.
Superchargers Discord
also, I started a discord for the league folks. Idea being its a place where folks can find out about stuff other than SC events and LFG etc.
If anyone needs an invite, just say so here and I’ll send a fresh one.
I took first in both my heats. I went and sent it hard in the first heat, channeling my inner Marc Coltelli, and more or less dominated. I think I was over a half second faster than 2. I won’t get too excited because this is quali against random groups as we get sorted. Still, feels nice.
Nick had a great time and really loved it, placing mid pack his first time out. Not bad at all, Son! Bear in mind this was completely new to him… never been on track 1 or at speed 4.
He had thoughts in regards to introducing his girlfriend to karting.
I get flagged for an unexpected reason
He doesn’t think this is what he wants to show her first. He said “I really loved this but it’s different and in some sense has no soul” as compared to the outdoor stuff.
That’s not to say he doesn’t love doing it, he does. But it’s like what I said at the start of season 1,… it’s a whole different thing… how the tracks are laid out, how the kart drives. He instantly caught on to the “there’s no momentum” that the kart needs a different approach.
In regards to facilities, he’d prefer to take her to OVRP which is charming, picturesque, and sufficiently disheveled, imperfect… real.
New faces from Tuesday this time around: (names to follow but fella far right is Joseph Mailloux who is a board sports guy and surfer).
Lap time wise, how does your late PB lap compare with his early PB lap?
If you have access to the info, how does his average lap time for the session compare with your average lap time (excluding obvious traffic influenced laps).
I’m not sure why he want’s to heat his tires up so fast, other than he gets a quick time in early.
I think a more interesting question is why (if he can get a good lap in in the first 2-5 laps of a 10-13 lap session) does he not slow down for 2-3 laps to let his tires cool so he could then try for another quick lap at the end of the session, instead of driving on compromised rubber for the remainder of the session.
Also, why do you get you PB lap at the end of the session?
Is it that it takes that long to get optimal heat in the tires, or does it just take you a while to get into your rhythm, or are you fine tuning your driving throughout the session, so you get things optimized by the end. Anyway, think about those three factors (and any others you feel are at play), and try to figure out what percentage of each you think influences your PB times coming at the end of sessions.
I believe Marc does, he is smaller than me but your normal middle aged sized as opposed to calorie deprived add guy.
Nik can likely help me find our data!
I was talking to him and he mentioned that the tires would get greasy and then he does back off, I think. I am not sure if he goes for another flyer at end. Will ask.
I think it’s because I get more “on it” as I feel out the track. The thing is that it’s developing constantly. So I have to play with it a bit to find the line…
For example there’s one turn on t1 that sets up the while last sector, basically. It’s a tricky one and if you are a little loose there, it costs you.
So quali, I was having trouble getting the kart to stick on that double apex like I like it. As my tires came up, it gets better and I fine tune. By the end of session I’ve usually managed to quilt a good one, but not always. It was cold as heck Tuesday so it was more challenging, surface wise. I think the outdoor temp has a bearing here, despite indoors.
I did send it as hard as I could from the start on Tuesday. I am trying to be more assertive that way.
So yeah, getting tires to temp but also getting Dom to temp.
Also ask which tires get greasy; mostly front, mostly rear, or all 4.
What does "on it’ mean to you?
How would you describe your driving when you are not quite “on it”
Also, what part of yourself keeps you from being “on it” right out of the pits… that is what (physical or mental) constraints are you having to work through to get ON IT?
What do you change (what do you have to fight through) to do this?
I may have used the wrong word. But it’s close enough. On it broadly speaking is nailing the corners and stringing them together well.
Seeking it… to elaborate… I know the line and the corners, and, I think I have a pretty good idea of what the corner rewards (and punishes).
So like I said, the tracks develops, ambient temp really affects the wood surface as well as tire. So, tues night quali I was struggling to keep the kart tight to entry of first apex and tight to second if the double apex. I was greeted with oversteer initially so had to work it out.
While I won both my heats Tuesday I don’t feel like I hooked up the track ideally, as that turn defines the last sector. And while I was able to land some very good ones, the traffic negated those. But, good enough!
Rubber. I don’t consciously drive careful or anything early on, I’m just working the tires into the rubber until I find them sticking. Basically the early laps are understanding what the track has for us tonight and then figuring out how to modify the approach to suit the night. This sounds like I know what I’m doing and that there’s some sort of process I go through but it’s basically just send it and see what happens. Try again. Repeat till done. It’s just “feel”.
This does hint at perhaps anxiety holding me back. I think my simming showed me that I have to own stuff before I can hand it over to the Stig (who no longer exists, at all).
But oddly, in race context, once the lights go green I am pure “do”. There is no “thinking about stuff” on track other than the immediate needs of the moment, if that. I’m just too busy trying to rip.
I feel empowered on track as opposed to feeling vulnerable/insecure. Despite anxiety being an issue IRL, the track is not that, for me. The track is where I am the master of my domain and I call all the shots and make all the decisions, and I don’t question them (much). My driving is now pre-loaded, sorta. I don’t have to access it, it just happens without me consciously willing myself around the track. It just is.
Thought: maybe I have forced myself to drive within the tires range and have an aversion to forceful karting. I aspire to being very smooth and very fast and I dont want to make any tire noises that don’t need to be made. Perhaps in the years of beating back the relentless need to overdrive every corner, I have dialed things back such that I’m missing the learnings of letting the kart be free. I tend to over control the back end, I think.
I believe that there are three main progressions in learning to drive:
Teaching yourself (your inner driver) how to drive. For example through driving schools, books, awesome websites , observation, coaching, etc…so intellect informing intuition (or conscious informing subconscious).
The brain/body self organizes for efficiency; so the intuition/subconscious take over the actual driving, and the attention regulating system adjusts so only the absolutely necessary information is presented to the naturally bandwidth-limited intellect.
These two happen in a continuum, and there can be an extended time of shifting back and forth between #1 & #2.
I feel like you are deep into #2 at this point, and are ready to progress to #3.
Is when you learn to translate the magical stuff that intuition is able to do behind the wheel into something that intellect can understand. This allows intellect to OBSERVE INTELLIGENTLY, to predict what will happen based on intuitions actions, and to provide feedback/intent/objectives to intellect in a way (a language) that intuition will understand. This process integrates you into a complete driver; not a thinker, not a doer, but a complete racer.
This is why I keep replying to your question with more questions.
So anyway, this ‘translating’ (from intuition/feel to intellect/understanding) can take whatever form works for you; colors, sounds, numbers, a location on a slip/G curve, etc., and it is driven by QUESTIONS that you pose to the different parts of yourself. The HOW is up to you, but the WHAT must end up with you having a brain/body understanding of the cascading RELATIONSHIPS of driving. For example, your intuition knows that a very small change to your line entering a turn will have a cascading effect on:
When you have to brake (if necessary)
How much speed you can carry into the turn (maybe).
How much work you are requesting from the outside front tire, at various locations during the entry phase.
How the loads needed for the tire to do that work will build on the outside front tire.
Where, and how quickly rotational energy will build during the entry phase.
Etc.
But do YOU (your intellect) know this?
And if you do, then do you also understand the relationships for the rotation/apex and exit phases of the turn, and the influences on the transitions between entry/rotation and rotation/exit.
Anyway, I know it sounds like a lot, but it all starts with awareness and intention. Don’t just drive anymore, don’t ride along as a passenger; become an observer of, and student of, your own driving.
This is a great observation! So, going back to the original question “how to heat up the rear tires quickly”, once you understand the relationships and you are able to translate between intuition & intellect, then your intellect can say “Hey driver dude, let’s heat these rear tires up by allowing the kart to slightly over-rotate at the apex of the turns (by just a few degrees beyond optimal), before we get on the gas to load them up; that will really make them work… without doing any crazy speed scrubbing stuff.”
This same approach can be used for any driving adjustments you want to make, as long as intellect and intuition can communicate effectively, and you understand the cause/effect, and influencer/influenced-by relationships of: energy movement, the energy cycle, rotation control, and line/trajectory.
I was thinking it was going to blow out the video in favor of the steering wheel and stuff considering how dark it is in there, but the gopro has good range and seems to deal with that fine.
I intentionally slide around the first couple laps and that has moved my decent laps up like 3-4 laps, but I still normally wind up with my better ones in the end.
I don’t feel like it’s realistic to overheat these. I measured the temps coming from a completely cold kart after 12 laps vs a warm kart again after 12 laps and they seem to max out around the same (around 110F) rather than the warm one pushing hotter because it started off hotter. And I weigh like 2 Marc’s
Easiest is to take the link I sent you and walk back to a race you did with him. But I’ll save you the trouble
Hmmm. I wonder if the departure of the Stig and the fact that I can somewhat understand/relate to what you describe above are connected. Maybe I no longer need that and he’s actually a hindrance and thus, he’s gone. Basically, “I’m out, you got this bud.”
oh look a squirrel.
, observation, coaching, etc…so intellect informing intuition (or conscious informing subconscious).
