I revisited this one today… Probably the best launch of my life. I was on a ***kn mission after missing qualifying Looking back at it now, those dumpster dive tires were pretty shot I think. You’ll notice the engine bogging near the end… carb issues.
The track is Blackhawk Farms in Illinois, series Championship Enduro. Blackhawk is a road course (as you can tell) and an absolute ton of fun in a shifter. Average speed is something like 87 MPH with top being 105+.
(Actually the average speed shows as 97MPH in Speedhive, not sure if that’s correct, maybe the track length was entered wrong in Orbits the timing system).
That was a Gilles-Villenueve-at-Österreichring-'79 style of demon start.
Blackhawk Farms reminds me of classic Monza in someways: it’s flat, trees in close proximity shade certain parts of the circuit, the first corner is a fast right-hander that connects two long straights. It’s the Monza of the Midwest.
This is a good reminder by the way, CES and the 125 Shifters will be racing at Blackhawk, less than two weeks from now.
That’s right, Blackhawk is coming up… I’d love to try out this four stroke shifter I have and see if I can crack 100… But I doubt I’ll be ready in time.
I went back to the very first thing I posted here and re-watched TJ’s race analysis.
I am glad I did, as it reminded me of some great info that I had forgotten about. His ideas about what I could try such as parking it slightly at t1 apex. The idea of trying to deny him the inside on the exit of 1 was also expressed in two other ways that I have enough experience and context now to understand much better.
Anyways, it is interesting watching a race from a couple years back, seeing the shortcomings, and understanding the why of them better. It is also interesting to be able to understand TJ’s thoughts much more clearly with a couple years distance and laps under belt.
It was cool to listen to Tad’s story. I found his story about starting really relatable. The causal “oh I’ll buy the kart” followed by, “man this is hard”. I also suspected that Tad wasn’t truly content driving below the level he’d like. But, I also understand that their goal (for tad) wasn’t about winning but about family.
I think he’s primed to do better and be more consistent.
I personally would love love love to see a cross-promotional YouTube coaching effort where @tjkoyen engages with a determined @StahlRacing Tad to up his consistency/results/contentment.
Watched the rest and he finished nicely! It looked like he and the kiddo ahead had a good race. Looks like he had the pace to catch him but not the line just yet. Soon! Nice finish also.
It looks like the bambino are deliberately over gripped, yes?
Finally got to watch and a belated “nice race”. I thought you did a great job of chasing the lead down and taking it. The cal speed layout looks fun and very challenging.Some of those turns seem to require patience. Bummer about the finish, must have been frustrating getting pushed wide and losing those spots in the last moment. Were you content with the race and driving?
Great news, you only have 3 turn complexes to learn for the enduro: 1, 2-3, 5. That’s it!
So, lemme give you the cheat sheet:
T1:
This is the trickiest and where you will likely struggle initially. T1 has a bend prior to entry which throws people off line. Assuming a normal entry, try to get the kart parallel to the inside red and white stripe. The dirt patch at the end is from wheels off there and it’s basically the brake point (but work into it). Key here is to hold that right side a touch longer so you don’t turn in too early and get wide on exit.
2-3;
Start with two. The fast line setup is to hold the outside right edge of the track on the way down the “front straight” and delay the turn into 2, allowing you to late apex 2… In defensive mode you will be middle or left of track entering corner (narrow). Sets you up for slightly llate apex into 3, just be conscious of braking here. You don’t want to overdo it and push/understeer midcorner.
If you set up 2 correctly, 3 will allow you to get to apex and push out fast. Early 3 will push you wide and and you will open the inside up and lose at apex/exit.
5: The fast line is hold right side and delay turn in and come from above, coming down to a late apex. In defense mode you will not be able to set up wide right and will have to be thoughtful about sending it into turn. Idea is to get it down to a late apex to power out. Fast entry is no good if you slide or aren’t efficient in the middle.
It’s an easy track on the body. It will take a bit but you’ll get the hang of it. You could get a practice session if you want but they are $40 I think for some reason this time (I’m guessing NJMP wants a cut).
Your call. We have a pretty long warm-up/quali session if you recall. It couldn’t hurt but it’s gonna be hot I bet.
Do me a flavor and watch some footage and drive along or something. Try to pre-experience it.
Train tickets bought, cheapest hotel I could find bought. Just gotta get a case of energy drinks to get me through what’s gonna be a very long day and I’ll be set.
Track looks fun, but longer which is nice, not as hard on the body
Man you had a close call with the barrier there. How do those karts compare to the ones we drive?
Those are the new Sodis. They are very similar. Perhaps a tad better. This one appears slow. A good lap for me on a decent one will be 44ish. Good kart I can go 43 ish.
I think it’s likely that @Chris_McCoy fleet has better parity than NJMP for sure. Chris, if you don’t mind commenting, what’s your engine maintenance plan look like?
I would be surprised if he didn’t massage the karts between events. They seem generally pretty good to me. Less variance than NJMP.
Energy drink stuff I can load up on. Tell me what you like. You don’t want to be lugging water on train. As a professional train commuter, I must put a stop to this insanity.
Pay attention to the corners where I am entering “narrow” in defensive mode. See how I use the braking/positioning. There’s footage of me defending or passing into each corner here.
You’ll learn by doing where to reach for position and where to chill.
If you keep getting crossed over on exit of 1 in a battle switch it up. Maybe one time brake and let him shoot forwards and claim apex while you set up instead for a powerful out under him on inside. Or park at apex as @tjkoyen suggested. Be careful though to not get rear bonked if you park apex.
I probably should not be sharing race strategy/line stuff in a public thread but Content is king. And, I am if the opinion that it doesn’t really matter because the more do the turns better, the funner the race. Tanguy would be cross with me, tho.
I dont think they are deliberately over gripped, but more a factor of the kids not being able to find that edge of grip just yet. Part of learning, I guess? Its fun to watch these kiddos get faster. Thanks for watching and commenting!
It seemed to me that they put the little ones on tires a bit softer than the engines output from what I saw. It looked to me like the idea was to give them enough power to be in grip only, barring weird inputs. Which makes sense given how young these kids are.Those tires look softer than rental hards on slower karts. Not a criticism, just an observation from a Dad who started his kid later and missed this part of karting.
Looking back at it now, those dumpster dive tires were pretty shot I think. You’ll notice the engine bogging near the end… carb issues.
Should be a good race, now that I know what the kart feels like and and how it likes to be driven
