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you must pit in the dirt, you lose all your points for the day, you will be publicly shamed, and we will shave your cat.
The pit spots are going fast, we have reserved 15+ today. We will be out by the end of the week at this rate.
The FM transmitters are available from Techno labs in LA for $159 which will tune from 88-98mhz. I used one at our last MX race and it worked great. I have a larger antenna $79 which makes the range about a mile. My PA will go as loud as you want it is over 5000 watts. I also have a device that records and plays back commercials, announcements or songs, up to 1000 on a hard disk that you can access by a numbered control panel. It is used by radio stations and can be programed to do a 24 hour broadcast. It is called “instant replay”. I will get with Drew and we can program commercials for sponsors, music, or whatever.
I have talked with JB and both of us have received calls from a new dad to the sport that is offering to blueprint Comers for $500. How bout it Comer parents, is this what you want to get started? I have been dreading this day for some time when even the most basic class in Karting has to be turned into “who has the most money wins class”. I might as well just add another $500-1000 to the price of a new Comer kart and start telling new customers that their kids will not be competitive in this class without doing a blueprint. Then I should buy $1000’s of dollars of Comer parts and cheery-pick them and sell them to the highest bidder so that the parents with the most money can have them put in their engine and sell the rest of the inferior parts to the poor families. It reminds me of when I started karting when I was 14 at Valley kart and I bought a used Margay kart from them with a Mac. Back then your starting position was determined by your season points, not qualifying, so no matter what I was in the back since it was mid season and I would never be able to catch up. There were about 15 karts in my class and when the green flag dropped I was left in the haze of Klotz smoke with the throttle pegged. Time and time again I would be lapped by karts and on the straight you could tell there was a difference in power that was overwhelming. At the end of the day I asked around and found out there were three people who built engines. I also found out that if I did not have a needle-bearing block I would not have a chance. Of course I did not have a needle bearing block, I did not even know what a needle bearing was. I was to dumb to ask the right questions and Valley kart was more than happy to sell me a kart without telling me the real story about what it took to get a competitive setup. You had to be in one of the “clicks” with one of the three builders. Then you had to spend money on the cheery-picked parts, needle-bearing block and of course the labor from one of the three builders. This still would not get you the same engine that they ran. If you were a big spender and they liked you then it was possible to get one that would run with the rest of the class. My dad was not into karts so I was on my own; he never went to any races so it was my money that would have to be used to buy my wins. I remember the frustration I felt when there was nothing I could do but wait until I had made more money to get the right rod with the right length, the carb that was closest to the spec, the prized needle bearing block and all the other things that you had to have to even have a chance. Finally I did a job that gave me enough money that I just bought Mike Sandbergs personal Invader reed open kart. It was only then that I realized just what the difference was in performance between what I had raced for a few years and what he had. I have always had negative feelings about that experience that I will never get over it and blame that atmosphere for the stagnation of the sport back then. People would get into the sport for one year and quit because of the entire engine BS, “Clicks” and politics? that were involved. We would spend 3 or 4 hours tearing engines down at the end of each race. In the last couple of days with the calls I have received and the things that were said by these parents I am having a dejavu to the past when everyone hated everyone and there were fights and yelling and hurt feelings and the fun was not there for me or anyone else who got into karting in Colorado. Lets not repeat what was the “dark ages of karting in Colorado?.
And to Scott, please find something else to do if you want to come into this sport and turn it into what it used to be around here when I was a kid.
Doug
Even though I did not take his engines apart I was able to look into the clutch from the outside and could tell it was modified. It can be real obvious when all the karts start from a dead stop and the ones that have been worked on take off like a jack rabbit and walk away from the others in a straight line. You can also listen to the engines when they go by and hear the difference in RPM. I just don’t want this class turning into a $1000 blueprint before you can be competitive. There are specs for everything but the rules say you cannot machine any part, including cutting the piston even if it is not to the spec. You have to run a flywheel key but there are some that have taken it out and set the timing ahead which I have been told was done yesterday by some frustrated parents. If it was up to me there would be a claiming rule for this class to keep people honest. All I can do it try to keep everyone from ruining this class which is already happening by the comments I have heard today. When a childs asks his dad why his kart is slower than the one in front there is motivation to cheat. I know there are kids who drive better than others and there are things to do to tune the engine better but there are those who try to race through their children and will do anything to win for their own egos.I can only tell you what I have seen in the past: Machined clutch shoes to let the clutch come in higher, porting, bored carb, larger carb, offset crankpin for more compression/stroke, piston cut on bottom for more top end. I will tell you that last year there were two karts that ran away in that class and their father told me I could not tear down his engines and I DQed him and that was OK with him and he has not been back since. I believe his two sons raced in the class yesterday if that tells you anything. I sure hope you feel good about winning that way. This type of thing only makes the other parents want to cheat to keep up, don’t even think about it. Stacey I would have your engine checked if you do not know where it came from.
Money does not grow on trees does it JB? You know you have waited to long to have your track ground when they name your bumps.
Leave it to George to make up a rule that no other track has in this state and run off more racers at his track. I wonder how many Rotax racers he will lose with this brainstorm.
