Race Report: U.S. Rotax Grand Nationals

I’ve put this race report off long enough. When the weekend and racing experience goes all to hell, it’s not very fun writing about it...


The U.S. Rotax Grand Nationals took place at New Castle Motorsports Park in Indiana, July 13-17. The track is 1 mile long with two very long and fast straights where drafting, believe it or not, actually comes into play. It’s just a great karting facility with a restaurant, bar, and VIP lounges.

It was hot and humid all week. Not gonna lie, it really kicked my ass. Though rain never played a role in the racing action, it rained almost every night with a couple big thunderstorms that pounded the area.

Even with the rain, the track just builds up a huge amount of rubber. This was a new experience for me not only driving but also setting up the chassis. The track constantly changed giving everyone a huge challenge. I know I’m better off gaining that experience. It was just difficult in the heat of the moment and very frustrating. My goal going in was to finish in the top 15, although I knew it would be a stretch to get a finish like that in only my third year of karting.

Let’s face it, my experience is lacking considerably when it comes to these big races. Just getting used to the race format is hard to handle. There was basically one day of official practice, qualifying, 3 heat races where we had to start in our qualifying position each time, a pre final where we would start on the average finishing position of our heat races and at the end a final where we would start where we finished the pre final. It’s just a huge amount of racing. The key to success is just getting through all of the heats without wrecking or getting caught up in someone else’s mess.

I finished the last practice session Wednesday night not really knowing what to expect going into qualifying Thursday. I was definitely doubting my chassis setup and tire pressures.

Yep that hurt and a huge ego blow. Qualified 35th out of 43 karts. I ran a 1:06.5 while the pole setter threw down a blistering fast 1:04.9. Do work son! I had a lot of ground to make up...I’m just not a good qualifier but there was still a lot of racing to do. Anyway I went out for the first heat race Thursday afternoon determined to improve, put my head down, and just race. Due to my underwhelming qualifying performance, I started my first heat race 17th out of 21. I got a freaking awesome start and went to work passing the other dorks.

Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta (ok, a midpack gangsta, ha!)...finished 12th out of 21 and made up ground compared to the front runners. Confidence was high and in my mind I was moving in the right direction. With Thursday’s action over I was looking forward to Friday.

I went to the track Friday morning focused and determined to improve throughout the day. I just had 2 heat races to get through. Again, I started 17th out of 21 in the second heat and got another amazing start. By the end of the 1st lap I had charged like crazy to 11th. Flyin high and feeling good. But...(there’s always a but):

DNF should be my F’ing middle name. Disaster happened. Halfway through the second lap, I was making a pass to get in the top 10. I was inside the dude on a turn when some Dilbert driving over his head decided to make it three wide. He hit the curbing while using me as his brake. I was now the meat in this cluster sandwich. With the contact, it pushed me into the guy on the outside and my right rear tire went over his left front. I somehow saved it into the grass never letting off the go pedal and made my way back on track. Pissed off and with the kart feeling fine I pushed on...for 2 more corners.

Unknowingly, through all that contact and off-road romp, it ripped off the lower radiator hose dumping all the water. No water equals overheating engine. I stuck the ever reliable Rotax. Blowed it up good too! Crank, rod, piston, cylinder, and power valve are all toast. And the case halves are probably warped. Not for sure yet but it might be a total loss. I’m not exactly doing this on a shoestring budget but I have my limitations. Most everyone in attendance has 1 or 2 backup chassis and motors. I don’t. The cheapest anyone would rent me a motor was $700 for the remaining 3 races. F that.

Weekend and racing over early again. Complete bummer! This was my first Grand Nats and I learned a few things. Overall a lot of challenges and disappointment but also a lot of good things to take home. I now know I’ve got the race craft to compete with the big dogs and came out a faster and better racer, but...I'm not sure I can or want to compete with the money being thrown around on freaking karting in these type of events. Not to mention teams with multiple factory mechanics and NASCAR type haulers full of spares. People are just out for blood. Everyone's front bumper was bashed in due to all the bumping! One kid even broke his arm and multiple people left the track in an ambulance. I guess that’s what happens when the top 3 in my class get to punch tickets to the World Finals in Italy.

So what’s next? I dunno. My motor is scrap metal relegated to a wall ornament. Either buck up and buy a new motor or find a used one. For now I’m sitting on the sidelines, again. Frustrating year for sure! No video, they wouldn’t allow helmet cams.

Your friend and my favorite,
Morgan

Turning it to Eleven

“What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do? Eleven. Exactly. One louder.” – Spinal Tap.

I just wanted to throw up a quick note before the hop, skip and jump over to Rotax Grand Nats @ NCMP, Indiana:

Watch the 2010 US Rotax Grand National, Live, Streaming Online!

Watch me race, live in color!

There’s your link. Check it out. Practice is Wednesday, qualifying and heat races Thursday and Friday, and the feature Saturday. I’ll update here and Facebook when I know exact times I’ll be racing. How cool is that?

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

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...

Iowa Corn Indy 250

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

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

61 Kartway Race #4 Report

It was one of those days. I had the chassis sticking fairly well in practice. And then I threw the chain in the last practice session. I scrambled back to the garage to get everything put back together for qualifying. In a fit of cussing I crawled around on the garage floor and kart chanting "honka honka, I'm a Tonka. Meep, meep, I'm a Jeep" to get everything buttoned up and appease the karting gods.

I had a pretty nice gouge in my front left tire. Must have ran over something on track? Changed tires and went 1.5 seconds slower in qualifying, but I was on pole!

Rock on! I jumped out to the lead in the pre-final and was cruising to the victory. Then with 3 laps left, ZING! The chain went flying off again! WTH, I coasted back to the pits in dejection. Repeat what I went through before qualifying to start dead freaking last in the final. I got everything put back together in the pits and went out for the final. Starting from last place, I made it up to first within 4 laps! Again, I was in the lead cruising to take the checkered flag. ZING! With 3 or 4 laps left the chain decided it wasn’t up for winning today and went flying for the 3rd and final time. This time I was cussing out loud inside my helmet!

DNF! Did not finish, dead last. F me! I was apparently riding the fail boat all day. The chain and 2 rear gears went in the trash, I’ll be rocking new parts for the next race.

No racing this weekend, we’ll get back at it in a couple weeks. Then June 11-13 is the Pan American Challenge at New Castle Motorsports Park in New Castle, Indiana.

Pixxors from the last race. Sorry about the quality, I had to scan them in old school:

The video did work this time but it was pointed right at my steering wheel. All you can see are my hands and front of the kart. So no video again, but I did LOL when my chain came off and I was dropping F-bombs over Baghdad.

Your friend and my favorite,

Morgan