Seeing as how many of us film races and other events, we probably should have a megathread to add these to. This would be a place to post karting endeavors you want to share. This could be hotlapping, autocross, whatever. Folks could feel free to comment, if so inspired.
@KartingIsLife what you think of idea and how to implement?
So, I’ll start us off:
Here’s my beloved 4 corner NJMP as the final series of the year gathers steam. This is the final heat of race 2. I had a “meh” kart in race 1 last week with decent 3rd and 4th finishes. That’s not good enough if I want to win the slightly larger trophy, unfortunately.
Today I grabbed pole in quali and ran to an easy P1 in prefinal. I had nice top end on the kart, hitting 49mph e.o.s., which is as good as it gets. My rear-end grip was more absent than usual, however, so I wasn’t quite able to hook up the exit of 1, which is important, as you shall see.
Now that I’m done making excuses, on to the race itself:
What I did not know as I sat on the grid is that my easy win in pre was because Matty (#13) got spun out in the formation lap due to some over-enthusiastic tire warming shenanigans ahead of him. Anyways, he got a bad start so I had room to run.
So, I began confidently, and immediately found myself being badgered by Matt. Nose down, running defensively, we get progressively faster. As we drop down to the low 44.1’s by lap 5, I figure I am gapping him.
But no, alas, by lap 6 he starts pushing through and it’s game on. Close driving is good fun in caged rental karts, I hope you enjoy.
Skip to lap 6 for the beginning of visible action.
And here’s TJ’s thoughts:
(+admin plus 1) I like this idea. Just throw videos in here, and let’s see what we get. It’ll help us organize some things too. We didn’t race much this year, so I’ll start with some videos last year.
One of my favorite videos from Mcminville, OR last year. I raced in a mixed engine TAG class with my X30 against Rotaxes and ROK GPs, so I have less HP than the other guys.
So on a track like this I just tried to run with as small of gear as possible, so I could get some top speed down the straightaway. Ended up with a ton of back and forth with some of those ROKs and X125s.
Some KA prefinal fun from MCC.
Hooked it up 10:50ish - 11:05. Zooooooom!
That was a whole weekend’s worth of tuning and setup to get the kart to run that way.
Honestly, this was one of the most fun races of the year, because we had to tune our way into speed.
We were 9th fastest on Friday, and arguably 3rd fastest by Sunday. Next to winning, I love weekends like that when it works out.
Struggled all weekend with setup. It felt ok during the race. But after watching the video it definitely was still a little tight on the rear. Also, after watching the video with data saw 2.4 G quite a few times over the day and explains the rib pain. Haha.
Turn 8? The very round turn before start/finish. Can’t tell if you mean to be wide here or not. Overall nice. Looks like you are holding your own and the leaders did come back to you a bit or you gapped a bit on them a couple times.
What you think is needed to get up to those 2? Seems close.
Turn 9. I have no clue what to do at that corner. Its where i lose most of my time. The rest is just being able to consistently lap. That will come with more seat time. Setup is still a big struggle for me. Haven’t quite dialed in what feels fast vs actually is fast.
Hmm. Fixing this might go a long way to catching those fellas. Are you able to get behind one of the fast guys and see how they enter 9?
I have several times. Just can never seem to put it together. They are only about .1 faster than me. But it seems like a lot more than that coming out of that corner. I just need to put in some serious laps there and try different things. I have some ideas but they come with some risk. Also, you couldnt see but i was basically being pushed this entire race. He would close in at turn 9 then i would spend the whole lap opening the gap just to have it closed up at turn 9.
This was my first wet race - Ironman dual track setup, mixed class, random start draw, on old slicks. I was ready to put on rains, but two of the four shifters didn’t have any so… slicks. 
Most fun I had that year, even though I had to tippy toe around all the corners. It really tested my reactions (or lack thereof twice). Well except for being plowed into sideways, but stuff happens, just a little “dented” plastic. Go fast on the straight, otherwise drive like on ice. It would have been nice to have front brakes like the other shifters but… I made due. Never was sure what happened when they stopped us.
I’m just a humble rental karter, but here is the video of my last final.
Some of you may have seen race 2 from this event in a thread I made about passing on a narrow track. This race has a bit more action and I am able to make a few passes stick:
Our 350lb momentum sleds are a truly unique form of motorsport. While I do miss the grip and power of TAG, the rentals are a different challenge that I find equally enjoyable to race. I derive great satisfaction being able to hustle these things quick.
A good rental program is an amazing thing and so important to have if you want to see racers come up. So far, three of the kids I raced with have bought themselves karts and are doing the local series. There’s another few in the wings, too. Not too sure if any of the adults have transitioned over to owner racing, but I’ve had conversations with several.
Anyways long winded way to say, no humility should preface Rental Racer. We feed the rest of racing with new blood. 
Bryan,
That looks insanely fun. That banked half of the oval into a flat 2nd half must be a huge challenge to race. I can imagine opportunities off the banking that must be tempered by the lack of banking on the other side!
Also, the 360 footage on Youtube is cool!
2:02 Glad you brought your shaving kit.
that looks insane. And clearly people like to just muscle their way through haha.
Love rain races. Try a liberal amount of either A. rain-x or B ceramic coating. some cases can help provide better water shedding. Ill see if i can dig up some rain footage to post to show you what i use/how it sheds.
What I’m seeing coming out of turn 9 is that you’re turning too early, and so you’re scrubbing speed on the entry.
There is a dip right at the apex of Turn 9 that if you hit it, it means that you’re a bit early and it slows you down. They roll away from you into Turn 1 and up the hill, because they’re carrying more exit speed out of 9. You’re going so slowly that it just carries for most of that lap into T3.
I’ve got some laps chasing Westland around in my TAG around the same track that might help.
It is pretty intense. Most racers are pretty good about not just pushing others out of the way, it’s just I was behind the worst offender for that race. That racer isn’t usually at the events, but he was this time around.
Ill definitely spend more time checking it out before i head back out there for another practice day. Going saturday but only plan to put the kiddo on track for his first time.