Tuesday, June 29, 2010

61 Kartway Race #9 Report

I finished prepping the kart Friday night and did a final nut and bolt check for the race Saturday. Would the newly welded frame hold up to the unrelenting abuse about to be unleashed? Nothing left to do but pin it to win it.

Days like Saturday aren’t my favorite to be at the track. It felt like you just got out of the shower as soon as you stepped outside. It was HOT, I saw 96° at one point! The first practice session I took it easy, seeing if the chassis acted weird or if anything fell off. Success! Yeah for not failing! After two more practice sessions and various chassis adjustments all was right in the world and the weld was holding up fine. Because of 2+ inches of rain during the week, the rubber was almost completely washed off the track. Add the heat beating down on the track and grip was at a premium. I went into qualifying telling myself slow in, fast out, be smooth, and hit my marks. Qualified second, a couple tenths and change off of pole. We were on our games and had a couple seconds on the rest of the field. For whatever reason, the TAG class has had a weak turnout for all races this year...






For the Pre-Final I got an awesome start when the green flag flew and jumped out to the lead! Hammer down, I lead all 8 laps green to checker, taking the win. Kyle pressured but couldn’t pass, even though a few attempts were made. With the temps dropping slightly, the track was finally starting to get grippy allowing me to lay down fast lap of the session.






Rolling out for the Feature on pole I knew whoever got the best start would probably take the win. My plan was to shoot inside and then drift out running like hell to get away. AAARRGH! WRONG! This time I got crappy start, banged side pods with Kyle through the first turn, which allowed him to get ahead me as we charged up the hill. He really turned the wick up and it was all I could do to keep pace. I never got close enough to make a real battle out of it, he was just faster throughout the entire race. With a big lead on 3rd place I coasted the last lap bringing it home in 2nd place.






Can’t complain, the frame seems like it wasn’t affected by the welding repair and 2nd place podium finish is cool by me! I was just glad to get out of my sweat drenched driving suit and crack open an ice cold NASCAR Light after a long, hot day!

And finally, actual video of the race! I still need to tweak the camera to get a better view of the action...something is better than nothing though! I should start recording both the Pre-Final and Feature...and I need another camera to use as a “loser cam,” pointing backwards to see the action behind me.

61 Kartway Race #9 from Morgan Schuler on Vimeo.

And here’s the vid from Kyle from the second race of the year. I was just behind him watching the action hoping someone would make a mistake...too bad he couldn’t make the last corner pass, I was waiting to come through too!

Not sure if I’m racing this weekend or not. I could go out to Indy or Road America up in Wisconsin...what does everyone have planned for the 4th? For sure we’ll be racing at the next 61 Kartway club race, July 10th and then take off July 13-17th for the Rotax Grand Nationals.

Your friend and my favorite,
Morgan

Friday, June 25, 2010

My Passion Bucket is Overflowing

Metal was melted and the frame stitched back together:

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
An appropriate solute to the situation:

I got the frame back Wednesday, spent Thursday and Friday nights putting everything back together for the race Saturday. Hopefully it doesn’t rain...

Monday, June 21, 2010

Iowa Corn Indy 250

Indy cars screaming around the track at 160 is unreal. Great race!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Rotax Pan American Challenge Race Report










Wow. Where to start? This sums up the weekend:
















The kart and entire racing operation was prepped during the week to make the 400 mile trek to New Castle Motorsports Park east of Indianapolis, Indiana Thursday night.











I was ready and excited to race on a track I’ve never been to. New Castle is probably the best karting facility in the country! Up to this point, this is the biggest race I’ve ever entered. Racers from Mexico, Canada, Florida to California were in attendance to do battle for the Rotax Pan American Challenge. The winner of the 4 race series earns a spot on Team America representing the USA at the Rotax World Finals in Italy! I thought the kart was ready. I couldn’t have been more wrong!

Friday morning I got registered and set up the pit next to the LSR Motorsports guys. 5 practice sessions were on the schedule for the day. The first session I went out to familiarize myself with the track and concentrate on picking up the apex points learning the track. As the day and practice sessions went on the kart just wouldn’t respond to any chassis adjustments I’d make. Sometimes it would hop in the corners, sometimes it would be loose in, sometimes it would push, sometimes it would be loose off. WTH was going on?

The last practice session for the day I picked up a bad vibration. I aborted early and went back to the pits scratching my head. None of the tires were losing air pressure, nothing was loose, and the axle wasn’t bent. I swapped out the sprocket and chain for new parts and prepped for qualifying Saturday morning.

It rained all night and most of Saturday morning. Luckily the track was dry for our 15 minute qualifying session. By the halfway point the kart was shaking and vibrating pretty violently. I pushed on trying to diagnose what was happening but I wasn’t going any faster and called it quits. By this point I was way down on everything that was happening and bummed.

Remember I’d thrown the chain in previous race weekends? I found out why after qualifying:
http://picasaweb.google.com/morganschuler1/CRGBlackStarChassisCrack

Weak sauce, the frame freaking cracked where the rear cross bar behind the seat meets the second rail motor mount. The second rail is cracked too. At this point I knew my weekend was probably over. Pissed off and bummed out, I spent Saturday cussing and running around looking for a welder or another chassis. I conceded that I wouldn’t be able to make the Saturday races, but maybe I could get everything together to race on Sunday. The motor came off and I got permission from race officials to switch chassis if I could find one. By the end of the day, no one would weld the frame for fear of causing more damage. Don’t blame them. Found a chassis but it was a you break it you buy it deal. No thanks.

All the time, effort and money wasted with two Did Not Starts to show for it. Suck!



















I loaded up and left the track early Sunday morning to make the drive back home. At this point we’re still trying to determine if the frame can be welded and fixed. So for now I won’t be racing, at least this weekend. A new bare frame might be in my future.

No pictures from the weekend. Too busy running around pissed off that I forgot I even brought the camera. No video either. One because I didn’t race, two because race officials wouldn’t allow on board cameras. Never did get an explanation, just a NO.

Since I’m not racing this weekend, I’m going to watch Indy Cars at Iowa Speedway Sunday with my Dad! Thanks Manatts for the sweet (and suite) tickets!

Your friend and my favorite,
Morgan