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Troy,
As much fun as I had doing my article on the GJ race for EKN, I know you’ll have a great time doing this blog. Its a really unique way to look back and remember a fun week. I look forward to the entires and will be checking in often to read them.
Im sure when your finished it will be GREAT.
Best of luck down ther.
With a sponsor name like that you shur yu aint duin that Nakkar thang?
Good luck and GIT R DONE all you Colorado racers!
Hey Troy,
I think Jansen was in a movie titled the same as your thread? :puke
Not sure who all is going to compete out of this states racers, but it seems like there is some great support efforts going out this year from our Colorado Rotax Centers and definitely the best since the Grands were here? It has received a lot of National attention before the start of the season and the build up is reaching a crescendo! Should be good!!!
Want some advise? Don’t worry about what the other guys are doing, just work towards improvement and having fun. At the end of the day that’s what’s important. All those who really love and believe in the Rotax program will be there in force and you will get to see some great spirit in competition. No Leopards, Motori’s, Bilands etc… Just some people who can wring every available drop from the package. And everyone on the same motor (the coolest thing) It is fun to watch and a great learning experience.
The Psl gang are quite possibly the best tuners in the country, take advantage of it.
Hopefully you will get rain the whole time. It is the great equalizer you know. And will keep the bugs down.
Have fun, be safe, change the thread name, pace yourself and keep us updated.
Good luck, bet you like that Crg!!!
Rick
The Dog House will be playing in Norman once we take care of business for race #4 of Racing the Rockies here at The Track this weekend.
The paddock was already filling up fast late last night, as all of our friends from the western slope started arriving.After the race Sunday night, we load the rigs, and move the Dog Pound to Norman!!!
The Dog Catcher has been busy rounding up a fast team for the Grand Nationals this year!!!
Making the trip in the mobile kennels are:Lindsay Brewer and family, Roger Bonham, Jim Keesling, Scott Falcone and Curt Kistler, Ben Schermerhorn and family plus Anthony.
I hope things dry out in Norman by the time we arrive Monday night…
Good luck to ALL the Colorado Drivers…
Jim
Sounds like Dog House has a pretty loaded up team.
The forecast looks good after next Tuesday (wet till then) followed by mid to low 80’s. Midwest WX doesn’t get much better than that.
Perfect for tuners with 20 degree swing from high to low, couldn’t order it much better.
Good luck.
:type: Back home, I mean back at the La Quinta after a long, wet, dreary, no sun sort of day. You all getting my drift about the weather??? 😉
The track day started at about 8 am after breakfast at the hotel, weather overcast and looking ominous all around. We immediately went to work putting sides on the tent in anticipation of rain and spent the rest of the morning final prepping the karts. I was able to get out for one session before the rain started just to feel the track. Rain came about halfway through the lunch hour, at 1:30 PM. It rained the remainder of the day and is still raining. Again, swamp pit…. {Jim – pack all the tarps!} It will be quite interesting to see people moving in tomorrow and Monday with the less-than-ideal conditions in the pits.
We spent some time early afternoon working on carburetors waiting for the weather to change. No change, so on to wet setups and out we went. I managed to keep it on the asphalt and was able to work on my wet lines. We’re told the weather is supposed to get better on Wednesday; tomorrow it is expected to rain again most of the day.
Rick – you are correct on all counts; the CRG is a great kart and the guys from PSL are extremely knowledgeable tuners and even better people! As for the ‘other guys’, you are correct there too…one simple goal – get better & quicker every session!
All the Colorado guys coming over drive safely. Time for some :zzz:
Hope you have the time of your life.
Thanks for the updates to those of us at home. We’ve tries that before and have struggled keeping updates going out when there is racing going on? I’m sure you’ll do better.
The Wx looks good for next week.
@Rick Schmidt wrote:
I think Jansen was in a movie titled the same as your thread? :puke
Rick
Ricky,
I am not sure if it’s lack of sleep, or Lucy’s party last night, but that there was the funniest thing I ever heard your fingers say. Thanks for a great start to another fine raced day & week.
CurtSee you down there Troy, and please feel free to turn the shower off.
Rain, rain, go away…
Yes, another day of rain in Norman. Woke up at 6:15 AM hopeful only to have my hopes dashed when I pulled back the curtain. Breakfast at 7:00 AM and back to the track.
No hurry to get out again this morning due to the weather. Clean the carb and airbox, make a few setup changes and head out for a session. Two more days of rain in the forecast. The sun will be a welcome friend when it finally shows itself again. Thankfully our pit is pretty well located so while it is wet, it is not under water as several are. Speaking of, our pit is a pretty interesting place. Our tent-mates are from the Homestead track in Miami and of American or American/Cuban heritage. Dominic, from PSL, is French-Canadian from outside of Montreal. So, at any given moment in our pit, you’re likely to hear a mix of English, French and/or Spanish.
Stayed at the track late tonight cleaning and rebuilding various parts of the kart as I found the edge of adhesion a few times today and stepped all over it. In plain English, this means I shot it off the track onto the grass (completely grass covered infield here…with the amount of rain we’ve experienced, this is no shock).
Tomorrow will be an interesting day as many more racers will start pulling in as registration and equipment check-in is Tuesday. Wednesday, we officially start playing for all the marbles.
Data to analyze and then some much needed sleep.
:type: NO RAIN! :dance:
Today looked ominous in the morning, but turned out to be an overcast, relatively normal day. Same routine…left the hotel after 7 AM breakfast and on track by 9 AM. The group definitely got a little larger overnight and people continued to roll in throughout the day. Everyone is very focused and while people are nice, the atmosphere is definitely a little more competitive! We left the track early tonight as tomorrow is scrutineering with no on-track activities so we’ll have plenty of time to work on the karts throughout the day. Dominic (owner of PSL) has been terrific and in our pit helping several times throughout the day each day. Tomorrow he is going to open my motor as we’re having some power issues. As my motor was built for high-altitude, Dominic wants to check the compression and open it for a general once-over before timed practice starts on Wednesday. This is a great atmosphere; I have and continue to learn a ton. No matter how I place, the experience has been amazing. Great people all around and the competition is tough! Timed practice starts on Wednesday but you wouldn’t know it…bump drafting right out of the gate today. It seems that every session someone will test to you to see how you respond and if you fight back. Nothing is personal, it’s just racing. Sessions can be tough and when the checkered flag flies, no one so much as exchanges a glance…it’s just racing.
I wish I could comment more on the other Colorado drivers but the truth of the matter is that everyone is so busy it’s all you can do to make your changes and get up to the grid for your next session. Sabre is driving great and her times are very competitive. Tonight she was up with the leaders and I believe she was quickest in her last session. I don’t know how Greg Welch is doing but he looks great out on track, very smooth as usual (he’s up just ahead of me so I can watch his practices while I’m waiting to go out). Blake Gorden is working his tail off and having a great time. He made great progress throughout the day and was closing in on the leaders until some minor motor gremlins crept into the picture. I believe Doug is going to look at his motor tomorrow too.
The day runs by classes which are scheduled by age starting with Micro to Mini,followed by Jnr., Snr., Masters and then DD2. Typical behavior in our pit looks something like this. Stacey is working on Sabre’s kart, and I’m working on mine. Stacey takes Sabre to the grid for practice while I finish kart prep. Dominic swings in to fine tune my carb and warm the motor while I get dressed. I start the long :walk to the grid where I meet Stacey coming back with Sabre, usually at the half-way mark if I’m on time. Stacey takes my kart, does a 180 and sets off back to the grid with me. There, he warms my engine, I get last-minute instruction and off I go. Stacey times me and as soon as my session is over he’s waiting to grab my kart and return to our pit to work on Sabre’s kart where the cycle starts over. By the end of the day, everyone is a little tired but still having a great time and enjoying the event.
Scruitineering tomorrow… :look
Great posting Troy, keep em coming.
Since there’s no practice today might we ask for a few photos?
Good luck out there, all of you.:type: Another day with no rain! Still dealing with swamp pit to a degree, but by and large, not too bad!
Today was ‘the easy day’. Little Tech, little check-in at registration, back to the hotel early, etc. Not so much.
The day started with us meeting a little late for breakfast so everyone could get a little much needed rest before insanity hits in full swing. We arrived at the track at about 9 AM and got to work. I started by pulling my motor so Dominic could take off the top end, check everything and reset the compression. Next up was a complete tear-down of the kart with the exception of the seat and front fairings. Clean, clean, clean…a clean kart is a fast kart, right?! Stacey was working feverishly next to me getting Sabre’s new chassis all set as well as prepping her race motor ready (it was stuck in customs…apparently one of the materials used in the motor bearings can also be used to make explosives so the agents are particularly thorough with any items containing ‘bearings’). Stacey and I would have little ‘tuner races’ throughout the day depending on what parts we were working on at the time. We both went through Tech at 4:55 PM…no sense going early when you can wait till the end and avoid the line. (Stacey seemed to get a sick sort of enjoyment about my stress level throughout the day as it got closer and closer to 5 PM.) You get a grumpy tech agent when you wait until the end, but no line to bother standing in for an hour. Tech was not as daunting as I had expected. Very thorough, but not daunting. After tech it was back to the pit to do a complete setup change on the kart for tomorrow’s “Official Timed Practice Day”. Data analysis last night with Stacey revealed a kart that is too twitchy up front for my driving style (keep in mind, this is my first race on a CRG). With the help of Greg Gorden, Stacey, and Jesus Rios Sr., we put a new setup on my kart. Stacey and I finally finished it at 8 PM under lights in the tent after running out of generator fuel once.
I’ll get some pics up tomorrow night for you all.
Tomorrow starts early with four practice sessions and parc ferme check in by 4 PM. Time to get some sleep.
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