Off Season...err winter

Forecasted snow for today, Thanksgiving tomorrow, December a week away...winter might finally be here. I know the off season is. Plus it’s been over a month without an update.

Nothing is left of my CRG Kali kart. It got torn down to the bare chassis, cleaned, and put away weeks ago. If everything goes as planned, I’ll use that as my Rock Island Grand Prix and backup chassis, and buy a new CRG Black Star kart. Everything else is in storage hibernating for the winter. Except my engine...its umm...currently sitting on my kitchen table. HA! Makes for a good centerpiece anyway, not sure if anyone else appreciates it. After Christmas its going to the engine builder for a once over and to replace any worn parts. Probably at least a piston and ring, the little Rotax does have nearly 45 hours of use and abuse! Rode hard and put away wet is an understatement.

April 30-May 2, 2010 is the first race next year. World Karting Association’s Manufacturers Cup at South Bend, IN. It’s already marked on the calendar, 5 long months away. Goals have been scribbled out, well, in my mind anyway. Training has ramped up. Lets be real, I’ve always ran or biked one or two days a week. Gotta do better than that, gotta have that edge. Plus the scenery aint all that bad at my local DeWitt Health and Fitness Center. Hopefully I’ll be using Nike+ to track my fitness and training. I’m a dork, I’ve been reading Racer X Virtual Trainer to get inspired. And watching this over and over and over:

How do I really know the season is over? The SKUSA SuperNationals XIII at the Rio in Las Vegas were last week. Biggest. Kart. Race. Ever. This race is on my Bucket List of events to compete at. Some how SKUSA pres Tom Kutscher got big name drivers from all around the world to compete at his race. Leading the way: 7 time Formula 1 World Champion Michael Schumacher.

Other pros included Indy Car driver Dan Wheldon and F1 drivers Nelson Piquet Jr. and Sebastien Buemi. They all got beat by karting’s best. Robin Miller from Speed TV was there covering the event for the Speed Report and Wind Tunnel. Pretty freakin cool. Check out some highlights:

Supernationals XIII from Dillon Felber on Vimeo.

Super Nats XIII Las Vegas, Abbasse (Sodi) Heat #1 from KARTCOM.com on Vimeo.

Thats all for now.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

MRP Race Report

We came. We saw. We did NOT conquer. It was a rough weekend...

Greg and I loaded the trailer Friday night in preparation for an early morning. We pulled out of the 61 Kartway driveway at 0700 Saturday to make the 4 ½ hour trek east to Michiana Raceway Park. It rained on and off for most of the boring drive. I’m not so sure which is more boring, the states to the west or east of us? Maybe its just me. We just wanted to get to the race track as soon as possible. After a pit stop or 2, we were in Indiana with the Garmin leading us down what amounted to a back road cow path. I could hear the banjos playing. The locals must be pissed when WKA or other big series come to town and cause traffic jams. Seriously, the track is in the middle of BFE. Anyway, we made it, got signed in, and set out to get some hot laps on track.

First impression: very fun track and great facility. But, why are those huge tents set up and all these trailers here? It felt more like a regional race than a club race. I had to ask, this is club race #12 right? The last club race here for the season? Track Layout B? Yes to all my answers. I was impressed. After the first practice session on track I came in to make adjustments but that was all she wrote. Mother nature caught up with us and rain set in for the rest of the afternoon and night. I was pretty bummed to get only one practice session in.

I cleaned the kart up and Marshall Martin of LSR Motorsports showed us some new tricks. That literally made the whole trip worth it for me. We BS’d and generally tried to stay dry for the rest of the day. Someone asked where we were staying for the night. Uhh...umm, we planned on rolling into town and getting hotel rooms. No problem. We just overlooked one big problem. Notre Dame was playing at home against Washington. Rooms were $300 on up and we are cheap bastards. We went into town to grab food before going back to the track listening to Chuck and the Irish barely hold on for the win in OT. We slept in the truck. Thank doG it is a crew cab. It gets cold in Indiana this time of the year.

Big surprise, I was up early Sunday morning! I’m thankful that MRP had the wherewithal to put in public showers. The track was still wet from the day before. With 11 classes on the schedule the day looked like this: 9:45 am start, 2 practice sessions, qualifying, 12 lap pre-final, and 22 lap final. The first practice session was useless. We were the first group on the track and it was like driving on ice. The front end pushed like a dump truck in every corner. No grip whatsoever. The second practice session was even worse. Somehow, Rotax International, Rotax Junior, DD2, and Shifters were all put in the same group. Easily 40+ karts on track. It was a mess.

I was about 6th or 7th back in a train when I got punted from behind. Whoever it was got the number one salute as they went by, but they didn’t have a back number plate so I don’t know who caved my back bumper in. Loser didn’t even have the stones to stay anything afterwards. Ha! I almost forgot, I left the freaking choke on when I went out on track! I'm an idiot. Not only was I pissed after getting hit, but the engine was spitting and sputtering. I thought something was seriously wrong with the go power. I didn't realize what I did till 45 min. later back in the pits! Result: no clean laps and in two days only one good practice session, the first time I was on the freaking track!

We all basically threw a hail marry for qualifying. Didn’t work. Dave qualified 7th, I was 9th, and Greg was 1oth. Why did we drive 4 ½ hours to race ourselves? The 12 lap pre-final was uneventful, but I moved up one spot to 8th , with Dave ahead in 7th and Greg behind in 9th. 22 laps is a long way to go in a kart when you’re running 48 and 49 second lap times. We all sniped one spot to move up. Dave and I had a good battle for 6th in the final. I passed him 6 or 7 laps in, he passed me back 6 or 7 laps later, and that’s where we finished for the final; I couldn’t get close enough to make a pass. Greg finished in 8th behind us. It was a workout that I need to prepare better for.

We did good, not great or bad, with so little track time. All said, I was about 1 second off the leaders pace. While the results don’t reflect it, it was a worthwhile trip. Bittersweet anyway. I can think of worse ways to spend the weekend. We packed the trailer, said our thank-you’s and goodbye’s, and got the hell out of Dodge before the day was over. We were back home around 10PM. We’ll be back to MRP next year; rumor is WKA Man Cup will have a Rotax class next year...

I actually had the helmet camera on for the final! It only recorded for three minutes after I turned it on and I was sitting on the grid the whole time! Operator error or something. I’ll have it working for the next race. Link to the photos:

MRP Race

Chase for the Championship

Race #14, the final points race at 61 Kartway, has come and gone. I, uh, didn’t race Saturday. I played golf with the guy who signs my checks and went to a party to watch the Hawks beat up on Joe Pa in Happy Valley. Somehow we dodged rain all day. So did the racers. I couldn’t catch 1st place in points anyway and in the famous words of Ricky Bobby “If you’re not first, your last!” Tony Neilson took home the win in TAG Senior. Check out the results below.
The points have been updated and finalized with the drops figured in. Congratulations to the champions and to those that placed so well. Synjun Bauer held on and is the 2009 61 Kartway TAG Senior class champ. I finished the 2009 season on the podium in the TAG Senior class, ending up in 3rd place for the year. I also finished in 2nd place for the special 5 race Rotax class. I’m happy with the results but always gunning for that elusive top spot. Prep has already started for this weekend’s race at MRP!

Whats Up

Welcome everybody to my little piece of the Internets. Thanks for checking out my blog. I'm new at this, first time...long time, or something like that. Anyway, hope you enjoy following along.

Why do I even have a blog? Good question. 1. I'm bored. 2. Update everyone on Scuderia Schuler Motorsports, AKA me karting. 3. I like reading other people's blogs. If you have some free time, are bored, or like reading real life racing stories, check out Doug Hayashi's and Liam Shubert's. Doug and his cohorts used to race NSX's, S2000's, Evo's, and Porsche's at So Cal big tracks. Now they race Stock Honda Karts w/ SKUSA. Learn about the So Cal real estate collapse, how cool it is to own a Ferrari, and throw in some gambling for good measure. Liam picked up life, moved to Europe, and actually made it all the way to Moto GP. His take on life is refreshing and you can't beat the insight he has on the world's greatest motorcycle spectacle.

This is way past due as the season is almost over. I got lazy. My plan was to start this at the beginning of this year and follow the progression throughout the race season. Didn't happen. So to be proactive, I'm starting this now in hopes of updating throughout the off-season and next year's kart racing season. So the plan is simple really. Take pictures, actually use my helmet camera to record races (Go Pro Camera if you need a small video camera, this is the one and only. Cheap, decent picture and sound, and you won't be pissed when it gets smashed on the ground), then post here so you all can laugh at me. I don't know where summer went, but it is more or less gone, as is our karting season. I've got two races left on the calendar this year. We're hauling our junk out to South Bend, IN to Michiana Raceway Park October 2-4 to race with the MRP and LSR Motorsports Rotax guys. I'm really looking forward to the competition and a big grid full of only Rotax motors. And to cap the year off is the 61 Kartway Challenge money race October 10th. Hopefully enough TAG karts sign up. I want the cash!

If you found your way here, you obviously have some interest. Hopefully this is informative and entertaining, especially with pictures and videos. Add comments, tell me I'm an idiot. Hell, come watch a race and drink my beer!