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@larry toby wrote:
You can’t help but ask, will SSC change the location of the Rotax Grand Nationals if the Champ race doesn’t happen in Denver? Remember last year?
There are signed contracts in hand. With Miller, there were no contracts. The deal with Champ Car is little more than a marketing agreement to show karts.
Very few races make money on their own. The vast majority of races outside NASCRAP need an influx of cash to make them viable. Without a coporate sponsor, the Denver GP would have never happened in the first place. Since they are gone, its no surpise that the event is gone. Just another reason to do the Rotax Grands!
(Shamless plug)
Jim was returning the favor of Bill working his races by working one of Bill’s. I do not know of any one from Colorado going down for group B.
While there are still plenty of events, I think Brad, JB, Jim and Stacey have done a great job of getting a monster undercontrol. The races are not spread all over each other. As Brad has pointed out, each track is not fighting over the same 150 guys and gals.
The club series will now have more racers, the CSC will be even harder to win and with the Rotax grands coming, we have the opportunity to race againest the best in the country at one of OUR tracks. The sun, the moon and stars are aligning for karting to have a great year in our home state.
If you are going to get a second set of wheels and you should, make them the same as your first set. Wheels can have different offsets and different flex characteristics that greatly affect handling. By having the same set of wheels, you minimize the differences.
The Douglas magnesium wheels are a good wheel at a reasonsable price.
By the way, new tires (yellows) are good for about .5 of a seoncd over used yellows. If you need more time than that, don’t waste your money on tires. You would be better to spend that money on a driver/tuner coach or just more seat time.
Andy
It is melting like crazy now. The forcast for today is 55 and clear sunny skies. Of course, the low forcast for Friday night is -9. How come you didn’t come to Florida? You would not have believed how aggressive they were. As things get closser, if you need anything, don’t forget to call. And this time, don’t overload the trailer!
We made it back home today. Sunday was crazy racing. It was by far the most agressive racing I’ve ever seen. Our car is sitting in the trailer with a bent axle, bent front spindle, bent rad bracket, both rear bumpers bent, and completly trashed body work. It will take us all day to put it back together once we get back down there in February.
Where to start. We qualifed in 20th spot. At one point, one tenth of a second covered almost 15 spots on the grid. I’ve never seen a grid so tight. The kart was handling a little weird so we looked it over closely. We found a broken seat strut and some missing seat bolts. Greg moved up a few spots in the pre-final but then all kinds of insanity broke out. It looked like the dogum ride at a carnval. Greg was crashed out with a debeaded tire. Some much for bead locks. Not only did the tire come off, it also wrecked the tire!
So that meant we started the main in 37th spot. The back was full of fast guys that crashed out of the per-final including Saturday’s pole sitter and they were going to move forward. Greg got a great strat and moved through traffic well to get in the top 20 then a guy litterally blew through his side pod and knocked him off track by at least 30 feet. He rejoined in the back and again moved up 10 or more spots before it was driven over by a guy. There were some guys who were making no attempt to pass, they were just hitting the guy in front of them out of the way. By now Greg was pissed (I’ve never seen him so made after a race. It lasted all night and into today.)
At one point, Greg was hit from the back so hard, it knocked him up over the back bumper of the kart in front of him. If he had let off the gas, he would have gotten stuck. Instead, he nailed the gas and litterally drove over the kid. Another guy hit him in the side so hard, it knocked him half out of the kart. Still another guy hit the other side, driving his leg in to the fairing and hurting his foot. That one toreup a side pod and the driver’s fairing.
Remember yesterday’s pole sitter. After hitting Greg a couple of times so hard that his back still hurts, he cut the track coming out just in front of Greg. The guy tapped the back of his helmet, asking Greg to bump him forward. Greg returned the favor by not using his brakes at the hair pin and drove the guy sideways off the track. At this point the kart was pretty screwed up and Greg decided that it wasn’t worth wrecking the kart to finish 20th so he brought it in.
Rick, we could have gotten some of the best video ever with what went on out there. It was absolutely nuts.
Zip had a bad day. He qualified something like 44th so he had to do the LCQ. David crashed out at the start finish line without help in the first lap. Short day for him.
Can’t wait to go back. We know we can run with these dogs, now we got to prove it.
I sold out of axles!
After tech, Greg was 8th in qualifying. In the prefinal Greg had moved up to 5th and was passing the Canadian National champ (Luc somebody, the pole sitter) for 4th when Luc pinched Greg into the barriers, Greg bent an axle so he would start the main in 35th.
Greg passed karts at every turn and finished in 15th spot after tech and driving penalties were assesed. It was rough out there. In the main, Greg set 3rd quick time. We were timing the race and for much of it, Greg was the fastest driver on the track.
Thanks for the kind words Rick, every one should race at one of these just once. This may well be the strongest field of Rotax drivers ever in the US. This field has national champs from at least 4 countries. To give you an idea how tough it is, Wes Phillips, the US champ, didn’t make it out of the LCQ.
Dave had a tough day. He injured his back early on (the track is rough) and then he waded the kart up in qualifying. He started the LCQ in the back but was so intimitated by the size and level of competition that he spun himself out of contention. He was done early. I got confidence in the kid, they just want to try that much harder.
Another day done and here we are, tired and sore. Greg is still fast but we have worked our butts off. Lots of fast guys here, Joel Miller and Wes Phillips just to name a few. The best time in the last session was reported to be 49.89 on new tires. Our best was 50.04 on old tires. Dave Zippie joined us today and he’s working up to speed. We’re hoping for a top 10 in qualifying tomorow.
By the way, there must be at least 35 to 45 in the class. There were a LOT of karts on the track.
What guys in Tag should understand, if they are looking for an advantage through the motor, they are looking in the wrong spot. If a motor dominates, it will get more weight added to it to balance things out. They also need to understand that certain motors will have advantages because of the power band requirements. At some tracks, some engines will do better than the others. Where you race could be a big factor in the decision.
High hp motors run at higher weights. So drivers who can not meet the weight limits of a certain motor should look at the heavier motors. A lighter driver should look at the lighter weight motors.
Other considerations, some engines have better local support or last longer between rebuilds. Price, some are cheaper than others. Do you want to work on it or leave it to a service center? All of these considerations are more important than raw hp numbers.
