Our 6hr enduro had 8 or so karts have wheels fly off due to spindles breaking. Very very weird.
Man this spindle/barrier talk takes me back… give me a M&M tough nose and a RF vega yellow tucked in against the spindle and I’ll move that barrier right where I want it…
The good ol days!
Everything is bigger in the USA! Look at that bad boy!
The Clyde Grand Prix used some big 600 lb straw bales in locations where karts would likely go off for the 2023 race. Before that there were regular straw bales there that would move and absorb impact, often with minimal damage to the kart. The drawback seemed to be that they often broke, scattering straw everywhere. The big boys bounced you back onto the track… with predictable results:
That’s my son Conor in the 0 kart, the only damage seemed to be a broken steering shaft mount which was quickly replaced.
I see three karts, but only two drivers…
Very observant! The third driver is out of frame to the right. There were actually four karts involved.
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up…
Got out to the track for some testing today and to enjoy the beautiful cool weather we are having this week.
I took video from an interesting perspective.
Will edit and upload later.
It was a real smooth day. Not!
First issue - I broke my chain and gear at the last race, so I needed to replace the sprocket and hub. When loosening the engine up to realign everything, I pulled the threads out of the mount. Someone got a little carried away tightening it last time… so I rocked one clamp on the mount for the day. I made a quick run over to Franklin Motorsports to get a new mount, but I didn’t even run it today because the single clamp held tight for 50 laps. I live dangerously.
Second issue was when I went to test my new spindle stubs, I found they were longer than stock, so I needed more spacers to fill the extra space. Well I didn’t have any extras. So I had to grab some of those at Franklin too. Good thing I’m friends with those guys because the shop was “closed” today but fortunately my buddy Scott was there building engines so I got to hang and eat lunch with him while I grabbed parts.
I also forgot my tool bag at home because I’m a tool bag, so I had to borrow a few tools from friendly track folk.
Otherwise a very fun day. I contemplated not going today because I have a lot of work to do, but I decided the fresh air, greasy hands, and physical exercise were needed. And I’m glad I went! Learned a lot and had fun.
There is no possible way I could bring myself to do that
What’s the worst that could happen? THE ENGINE FALLS OFF? Pfffft.
I don’t know how or when but someday this quote will come in handy.
I raced with two different length rear hubs because I had an OTK nut seize on a stud about 5 minutes before my race. Always fun going out with a zip tie/bailing wire special at the last minute!!
Found my sticker quote for next year
Checking the carb. Coz after major service i had lost my idle rpms . Maybe a good clean . Maybe some advance off the correct … we will see …
Maybe the new clutch system doesn’t disengage at the correct point … i will keep update us
Got back into the kart for the first time in a few months. Tried a bunch of setup changes and finally found some speed in the last session of the day.
This is more of a “What did I do to keep the domestic tranquility while getting more shade to work on our karts in” post but over the last three months my wife and I installed an awning on the front of the garage for shade in the morning and at the same time designed and built a garage pergola to help hide the awning. It also provides some decorative elements to what is actually a 26x40 box with a roof.
I didn’t do a thing to my kart today, but a mechanic did.
I hired a mechanic for this weekend to teach me about chassis adjustments. Ever since I got my kart, I’ve never liked the way it handles at Orlando Kart Center. It oversteers on turn in to high speed corners, especially turn 1 and turn 7. I’m sure this could be fixed by driving around the problem with different technique (seconds vs. tenths like TJ says), but it really isn’t fun for me because I can’t turn in as aggressively as I want to as I’m trailing off the brakes. I catch the slides, but that loses time and cooks the tires.
I asked the mechanic if he could take grip out of the front end, and he did so via a torsion bar adjustment. The kart felt a little better, and he took even more front grip away with caster adjustment. The kart felt the best it ever has and I did my best ever laps at the track. It feels great.
I’m going back tomorrow and I want to see if we can go even further in this direction. It might not actually improve laptimes, but I just want to see how drastic our adjustments would have to be to get the kart to actually understeer. I would like to keep removing front grip until I get understeer and then add some front grip back from there.
Sometimes you gotta adapt your driving to the kart, sometimes you gotta adapt the kart to you a bit.