letting you build traction faster and carry a higher top speed?
[/quote] -Nik quote
That’s a thought. I start higher and therefore get to fast, faster…
But that doesn’t explain the pull on long bits. And this was track 2.
I listed in Gopro support. I have very, very low expectations…
Down to the Wire
We have an interesting final round coming up.
We went into week 5 with Ben in P1, Dom P2 and Ronald P3.
Ben has a pretty solid lead so unless he gets abducted (working on it) he’s pretty much got P1 sealed up.
Ron and I, however, went into the week with me having a modest 2 pt lead over Ron.
We had a pretty decent night of racing and while I did not have a fabulous first heat, I nonetheless managed 4th to Ron’s 6th. In the second heat I managed 2nd to Ron’s third (by .001).
Nik and I did the back of the envelope math after the heat and decided that I’d hold on to my mulligan and that if Ron used his, which he would, we’d be tied.
Oops. We didn’t carry the decimals. So, unfortunately (for me) that ended up giving Ron a couple extra points so we now go into final with him 2 points up on me.
@nikspeeds realized our error in the supermarket, later that evening, whilst stocking up on baby formula (they are expecting #2, congrats)…
Don’t worry though, we reached out to Binotto, now that he’s free and he’s gonna do our strategy going forwards so I am optimistic.
So basically, I go into final heat with a mulli available… which gives me a 50/50 chance of getting P2 back. This means I can drop a heat, and Ron can’t. So it’s down to kart draw, basically.
If I get a shit kart, my mulli will allow me to drop that one, if Ron gets a shit kart, he can’t drop. If I get a hot kart, my mulli won’t matter, if Ron gets a hot kart, that buys him some space to average a potential shit kart.
So basically, I must go do my thing and be fabulous.
It’s kinda ironic, given my advice to Tanguy, that I find myself here. I will have to dig deep and not be a putz.
I will also have to roll with the punches and try to adapt if I get a bad kart.
I did so in the first heat, this time around. I was asking too much of it and fell back to 7th during the 1st heat.
Recognizing that the kart had some issues, I was able to adapt by changing up corner entry ask, and squeezed more and more out of it. I was very pleased to be able to get that POS under 45s, which gave me 4th. All things considered, a good result.
So there are many possible outcomes coming up. I must accept that I may be fucked if luck does not go my way and I get two bad draws.
But I may also get a screamer, who knows!
Either way, I cannot tilt, I must be kalm. I must be a weapon with whatever kart I get. And, I think I am a big enough boy to make that happen.
This season has gone very, very well and I have risen to the moment time and time again. I must not shoot myself in the foot. So, I won’t. I will work the kart and give it all I have.
This is all somewhat complicated by stuff in my personal life that has me stressed in ways that inhibit performance: anxiety, physical stress, fear, etc.
It’s a choice: carry that with me onto the track and let the self-doubt, anxiety and stresses cause a cascade of self-inflicted poor decisions… or just let it go and be the Stig.
I will try to choose the latter. Of late, I have been more and more able to do so. So, with any luck, H6 shall be a success.
Here’s last weeks racing…
H1: P4
H2: P2
I worked the heck out of the kart in h2, really digging hard and making the kart sing (I thought) in the tricky bottom of ramp section. I am generally pleased with what I have done and appear capable of doing, and I seem to be finding new understandings with each passing heat.
Ben absolutely crushed us in H2… BRAVO! I guess that makes up for me getting the hot kart in a previous week, wherein I managed to trounce everyone by 3/4s, so that must have felt awesome for him (it sure did for me).
H2
H1
Or, since you’ve got the mulli, if all else fails, Plan C: 
Are you creating the AI images you have been using for YT thumbnails recently?
Indeed I have been… I can’t get the ai to do an actual go-kart…:
Here’s a weird one that’s supposed to be karts:
Adobe Firefly:
https://firefly.adobe.com
It really doesn’t know what a kart is
Well, this is mildly alarming
Behold the F1 themed (and presumably backed/invested) London location.
A few thoughts:
I like the data panel. I assume it gives you spilts etc. Data is fun and good and something that most rentals don’t offer. I can see how this would be appreciated/enjoyed.
The karts seem good.
The F1 gamification stuff seems OK, too… ie push to pass, with DRS type rules?
The experience seems annoying as heck. The videographer says fast forwards to 3:20 for action and he’s not kidding. They appear to subject you to all sorts of verbal bullshit prior to the race start that might be entertaining once, but that’s it.
Why the f&&k is everyone wearing a full suit? It appears that you need to put on one of their f1 themed suits. It’s indoor karting so, no thank you.
The track is surprisingly not all that cool. I would have expected a 360 karting type design but instead this looks like a Tanguy fever dream of a perfectly flat series of turns. Why? Could be that it’s London and maybe it’s in a shopping mall of some sort with limited space (vertical).
If this is the F1/Fia vision of karting for the masses as a hook for F1, color me surprised. This is surprisingly dumb. It also has a distinctly over controlled feel wherein everything is completely automated and controlled. I assumed Supercharged was about as corporate/sanitized as possible, but I was wrong.
I’d assume that some sort of league would be fun racing, here. I also assume that we won’t see much of that given that racing is bad for profit and getting church groups and drunken girls night outs through would be compromised. Just like Supercharged.
I can honestly say that I’d rather race extreme zone, risking carbon monoxide poisoning and yet more broken ribs. At least it’s honest there and feels like racing should, a little feral.
We shall see what Supercharged ends up being, ultimately. For now, the league and the fact that 360 designs was involved in making the track interesting saves it. Will is trying to have speed 4 practices but they seem to always have more business than they can handle for the speed 3 pub crash fests, so practice never happens. I can see the day where the league just gets too much in the way and it’s bye-bye.
I really should buy another kart and go play bumper bumpy in lo206 or something. The writing appears to be on the wall… less and less outdoor karting and more and more urban entertainment centers.
In the meanwhile, you guys running the gas karts outdoors, offering leagues and enduros, to pay for the actual weekend racing, keep up the good fight, cos we do appreciate it. I hope it continues for a while longer, and if they want your land, make it really expensive, please.
Have a bit of that myself. Go get 'em 
Wtf… Give one of the other providers a try. Here’s DALL-E 3 on Bing:
That’s my favorite part there for sure that looks really cool and would be extremely helpful, even without splits.
I remember probably like 15 years ago I looked at what it would take to franchise a K1. I always thought there was a huge opportunity for it around here. When I heard Supercharged was coming, it just made sense. I do wish it felt more like everyone cared about the racing though.
Open your own place 
Oh that’s my fantasy. Gotta work on these scratchers.
Ran 5 pub sessions today and met some new folks, one of which is joining league.
Running theses crowded sessions (20 karts) means lots of sketchy passes. It’s good practice, in a way… you have to attempt to predict and get around. Good fun.
Generally, you are best served just trying to get around carefully.
Here’s an example of how busy it gets…
You’ll have to show me how to use that. When I try it seems to lead me to ChatGPT which is happy to make me prompts which I can the use in another program that makes images.
That helps but I can’t seem to get ChatGPT to do anything other than words.
Sent
My first kart was strong and the track was cold. I had to be thoughtful and find a way to make it stick. I was very pleased with my efforts and came very close to breaking 50. Just one more lap, but sadly we only get 12. I really enjoyed this drive.
I was sweating on the way up in the car, the kind of cold sweat that comes when you have to step up and make it happen. There’s no rationalizing it away. I know what needs doing, how to do it, and that I can, in fact do it… But I also know who I am. Sometimes I have failed, not because I was not good enough, prepared enough, but because it’s easier to do so. It’s less stressful, in the moment, to choose to let go of ambition, and just give up, to lose before you have even started.
When it doesn’t matter, it’s easy. There’s nothing on the line and I can drive in confidence. There are no cowards in times of peace, I suppose. Stress and conflict bring out either the best or worst I have to offer.
If the pressure is on and if I allow anxiety to dominate, I sometimes shoot myself in the foot, and tear down the house I built. It’s so hard to erect a solid structure, but it’s much easier to tear it down. I’ve chosen that path a bunch of times before, (in things that actually matter, as opposed to a kart race) and I’ve regretted all of them.
So when the lights turn green I just go, now, and do. I don’t want my racing to ever be a source of regret. I am ok with disappointment. I am ok with making mistakes. But, I am not ok with choosing to fail, here, on track. Karting is too meaningful to me to choose the easy way out. I love this so much, and unlike tennis, I’ll never allow myself to throw a match. I just cannot give less than 100%.
Luck is at play, in a sense. You can get a bad kart and there is literally nothing you can do to get up front. Stressing about it won’t help, though, and not making the most of what I’ve been given is a disservice to what I strive to do and a betrayal of who I aspire to be. So, no matter what, I need to send it.
Last night I got a good kart on a cold track and made it work. My drive wasn’t perfect, but I did not panik, did not let my insecurities offer me the easy out. I made the kart work on a slippery track, and did that better than anyone else, in that heat.
And so, I won. And, in doing so, I think I sealed the deal on P2 for the season.
Sorry for the personal nature of the race report. But, I think it’s more valuable to understand what drives me as a racer than to simply share footage that no-one cares about, other than me. Maybe this touchy-feely take can help my dear friend Tanguy find what he wants, for example.
See you again in March, and, hopefully on another podium, ultimately. But, that’s not really the point of doing what I do, anyways. While I’d be bummed to be last, I don’t think I’d turn my back on the opportunity to try and do better, to be better, while I’m young enough to still try.
My 2nd heat was a really nice drive, I thought. Unlike my first kart which overpowered the cold track, this 2nd kart had less grunt and was a less challenging drive. I had much better grip and was able to pretty much nail every single turn. It was a lovely way to end the season and totally chill.
My sincere thanks to those who chose to throw down and I hope to see you all again. Even our new champion Benjamin Caruso, who is faster than me 90% of the time! Well done, Ben!
-Dom
Woo! Party night!
Grey hair gang rocks!
We had some fun driving after trophy ceremony.
Here’s a little thing I made for Brandon who won D1 Weds night league:
A cool photo by Nik
Also, next league starts March 27th…
A few new things:
WEIGHTS
Will says we will be able to run up to 60lbs of lead per kart! Big kids rejoice! Skinny kids shall weep (somewhat although it’s only 60lbs). I figure that will still be tough for the 200+ gang but waaaaaay better than before.
Supertrack and more practice sessions
Will says the supertrack has been approved and that he will try to get practice sessions in.
New nights are Weds and Thurs as opposed to Tues,weds.
Ooooooo! 
Hey Dominique,
We are going to be hosting league practices this week!
Whether you are enrolled in our next league or not, you can still come and guess what?? You can also bring a friend(s) with you to test out league speed. AND if they enroll, you will be rewarded 1 free race per referral!
We will be running practices on two separate days. Tuesday 3/5 from 8:30-10pm we will be running track one. Thursday 3/7 from 8:30-10pm we will be running track two. These will be standard 7 minute races to try and get as many as we can in the hour and a half block.
Please keep in mind that that these are races that you must pay for and are first come first serve. There is no reserving slots or pre-booking for league practices.
Will Mills
@AndreLafond soo about those extra pieces that I have… wanna come get em and try the funky gladiator karts?
Hi @Bimodal_Rocket
If I understand correctly, the kart seemed hotter after the ride than others, right? With electricity, the more aggressively and “incorrectly” you drive, the more power you need to achieve the same result, leading to the system heating up more.
For example, in our championships, it’s very common for two athletes to achieve identical times, but one has a kart that reached 80 degrees with 15% battery left, while the other has 60 degrees and 30% left. This all depends on how efficiently you have driven, as good lap times are not ensured by aggressiveness, but by precision, and those who can find the best balance between efficiency and aggression are often the fastest with the least strain on the kart.
Electric karts’ instant reactions and abilities mean that more mistakes can be made without significantly affecting lap time, but this, in turn, impacts the equipment and consumption.
I hope this provides some clarification. If not, feel free to ask.
I think I may have confused things by using a colloquialism.
What I meant by “hot” kart is “fast”.
What we were wondering is why there are a couple of karts that are significantly faster than the rest of the fleet.
I have had the same kart twice now, on two different occasions, and beat the field by about 1s a lap, both times.
My friends had the same kart in their respective heats and were also significantly faster than usual. Just last night, in fact.
What me and Nik were wondering is how this can be.
There is a set level of charge (in our case the karts are always raced at 100% charge). This does not vary.
The karts are set at speed 4, which, according to race director is 65% of maximum output - allowing for 12-15 laps with zero falloff.
The tire pressures are also checked pre race.
I assumed that electric motors are consistently always the same. Unlike engines that lose power due to jetting or carb or gasket issues, one would assume that an electric motor does not vary at all.
So Nik and I wonder how karts 83 and 70 are so damn fast. What could account for this variation?
The karts performance is irrespective of skill. As a division 1 racer I was able to smoke all the other Div 1 guys. My pal last night in D5, also noted that it was very fast and that he set his personal best in the kart.
I don’t think it’s a tire temp issue. Could the karts somehow be “overclocked” accidentally? Like a CPU can be faster if it’s fed more voltage?
There were many different factors, always nuances that together form the whole picture. We have also encountered situations where we are 100% certain that the program is calibrated equally for everything and all data lines are 100% identical, but go-karts travel at different speeds around the lap times. After long investigations, we find that one kart has a slightly different steering angle, which slightly additionally burdens the kart as well as prevents executing a perfect maneuver, although it’s hard to physically feel unless you are a top-class professional. It depends on what type of bearings are used and how they are fixed, and many such details in total create different advantages or losses in lap times.
The program itself cannot change parameters; it can be done with a remote control, but the remote changes preset parameters, therefore it is not possible to randomly change anything or gain any advantage.
If the motors for the go-karts are on encoders instead of Hall effect sensors, then it’s possible that the encoder could be inefficiently calibrated, but all these are just guesses at this moment, completely not knowing about and around go-karting.
Thanks Artis, so it couldn’t be a case of something like voltage difference or something like one is stuck in boost mode or anything… electric being electric there shouldn’t be variability in the power plant?
The software can get stuck in some mode only because of some remote control system, etc., but in that case, the difference would be noticeable because it would already be a completely different level of power.
But as I mentioned, there are many possibilities, but from our experience, it often has to do with many small details that together sum up to a better or worse result. It’s hard to maintain physically identical karts in rental, even if the power can be controlled equally with electricity
Thanks Artis, appreciate the thoughts!
