TKC at Monza: A Rebel Scum first look
I hit the road North to Foxwoods Casino in CT to race with TKC.
8 practice heats later… I am feeling it.
The karts are quick. I think I got the “pro speed on” that you can pay a club fee for the year. In any case, the BizKarts had plenty of grunt! I feel that they were considerably faster than supercharged speed 4. They were also geared such that they don’t plateau as quick and build power down the line.
Saturday “learn the track” heats
It’s a very fast and fun track, very technical. I had a blast getting the basics down. I was annoyed massively by the bizkart braking/lift power cut off however. Any use of brake or rapid lift causes a power cut, which is problematic if you are using rotational lifts. However, tomorrow we will be racing the gas karts so it won’t be an issue.
The track was busy and there was a wide skill level, making it hard to get good laps down. However, I learned a bunch and feel more prepared for the race in the am.
Really good track with many risk reward opportunities. This track will race well but will also perhaps be crashy. We shall see.
Food, then sleep, then race.
Well this changes things…
I just looked and it turns out this is a 4hr race. Oops. I thought it was a regular sprint race. The laps in the electrics were physical so this will be very tough.
I was wrong, thankfully, it wasn’t a 4 hr, just a regular sprint race. Wel, regular in the TKC manner. Sunday involved dividing us into A and B races.
We started the day with 3 practice laps which then went straight into quali. We then stayed on track, re-grouped and did pre-final.
We then switched up groups and ran the final part which appears to have been a 15 lap race followed by a regroup on track and a 5 lap final race.
It was all a bit confusing, going from practice to quali to race on the fly, but we got through it. I did manage to get confused 2x and pass under yellow, thinking we were racing, but gave it back.
I’m not sure how I did, but what matters is I got around the track pretty well and without causing any messes. I think I maybe came in 8th or something in the B group.
The race went off very well, with few hiccups. It was also well attended and the quality of racing was very good. If you look at my footage you will see that the race footage is very clean looking compared to the 8 pub heats.
The track is tight and very twisty with many opportunities to pass that result in quite a bit of contact for those bold enough to carpe the diem. It also is very fast. In our races we managed to avoid wrecks, pub heats, not so much. A really good challenge for skilled racers, requires patience and boldness. (I chose the patient option, mostly, this being my first visit).
While the track is multilevel, it doesn’t feel like a fantasy track. The transitions up and down aren’t as theatrical as supercharged. Also, the surface seems more consistent. Most of the track is asphalt and the bits that are on wood don’t feel different, really.
The race was on Sodi gas karts, that ripped. I was speaking with one of the employees who also raced and he said that their mechanic takes very good care of the fleet. The karts are within .3 of each other which is fabulous for rentals.
The electrics are very nice BizKarts but they have the tragic double pedal kill switch design. If you so much as look at the brake, it kills the engine. Turns out, if you lift off gas too quickly, it also kills engine. So, you have to manage your feet in the pedal box, hoping you don’t accidentally brush the brake mid turn and lose power for the exit.
While I liked the Bizkarts, the Sodi gas karts were more enjoyable, faster, and raced better. But, the club speed Bizkarts were fast and challenging.
The facility is a pain to get to. It’s in a casino/mall with multiple wings and multiple hard to find self-park garages. So, I gave up and valet parked, which worked out great since they work for tips.
The track appears to be its own thing, not part of a larger chain? They seem to be busy but they also run a quality operation: the heats are appropriately long (very tiring track), the karts are quite fast (perhaps even dangerously so for total newbies), and the track isn’t designed to be risk-free. Its an oddly “racey” facility, given its casino home.
I am glad I went. I had heard from other TKC racers that this one was worth the trip, and they were correct. I will definitely be back. A great track with great karts run by a great team!
Congrats to all who competed and thanks to all who made it happen: Monza, TKC, Alec Vidal and the many others responsible for putting on such a fun race. I hope to see you all again next year!
Here’s the Sunday footage for those who’d like to see the track being raced:
Part 1:
Part 2: