E_Rak's Karting Saga

[M0nk3y]

Really gearing dependent, probably 60 or 65 in a normal situation, more so if you geared it really tall. About 15 hp.

Gotcha. Do you have different gears depending on the course?

also...and go pro videos yet?

[E_Rak]

Gotcha. Do you have different gears depending on the course?

also...and go pro videos yet?

Yeah, you can change the front drive sprocket and the rear gear to give different ratios.

No footage from me, but here's some from a friend of mine (I'm not in it, but you'll get the idea!).



Anyway, so updates. After the practice session I did a once over of everything and gave her some fresh oil. I notice there was a slight oil seep from the left side engine cover, so I decided to go around and re-torque all the bolts. You can guess what happened next.


IMAG0300 by 686erak, on Flickr

Taking out the seat to assess the situation.


IMAG0301 by 686erak, on Flickr

On the plus side, I found some mismatched bolts and washers holding the seat together so I tidied that up (no pics of new hardware yet).


IMAG0306 by 686erak, on Flickr

Motor out.


IMAG0302 by 686erak, on Flickr

The culprit.


IMAG0304 by 686erak, on Flickr

If you remember from my practice day update a couple eye terminals broke, so I went in and fixed up the wiring. Just checking to see if that fixed the starter issue (it did).


IMAG0303 by 686erak, on Flickr

First race day is coming up Saturday. I have a few things to do when I get home on Friday: finish changing over to Bridgestone YLBs, photograph seat hardware, possibly tidy up floor mounting hardware, install weights and scale the kart, purchase EVS neck collar, put in a baseline setup on the kart, figure out numbering, and pack everything up for the morning.

Will probably post an update Friday night after I'm all done, then again after Saturday.

[Stigissimo]

Subbed Brudda

[danewilson77]

Good luck Sir.

The friendliest forum on the planet!

[E_Rak]

Here's the weekend recap, it should be a good because some errrr - interesting things happened, enjoy!

First sighting of the day before leaving campus.


IMAG0315 by 686erak, on Flickr

Bridgestone YLB's mounted from before I left. Went to the shop and seated the beads. I need new valve stems for next time these were acting up. Tires had about 30 laps on them going in.


IMAG0318 by 686erak, on Flickr

Hitting the scales (Thanks George!).


IMAG0320 by 686erak, on Flickr

Minimum weight: 360. Crap. I had another ten pounder to add underneath the seat but it would have been a total PITA, including removing the entire setup to fit the thing under there. Luckily, George had a five pounder on hand and lent me that. Ran in the races topped off on a fuel as well and came in at about 365, perfect.


IMAG0319 by 686erak, on Flickr

Dat lead.


IMAG0325 by 686erak, on Flickr

OK so story on this. First practice session of the day. Horrible setup on the kart, but I can deal with that later. Five laps in, coming off a turn onto the longest straight, and the kart is starting to feel a bit....... floaty lets say. I make it 2/3 of the way down the straight and decide I should slow down and see what's up. The second I lift, I instantly propel myself into a spin and wind up on the grass. WTF. I get out, fearing a broken axle and a million other expensive things, and see that this happened.


IMAG0321 by 686erak, on Flickr

Yes, that's my rear hub, and yes, there are supposed to be three lugs sticking out. I was three-wheeling it down the front stretch at full tilt. LOL. I (or my friend) must have either overtightened or undertightened one of the lugs, causing it to either fail or otherwise work itself off, forcing the remainder of the studs to fail under the load. The tire did wind up zipping into the busy pit area, but luckily one of the guys saw and caught the thing before it injured somebody.

So what do I do now? Well, being a karting event, everyone tried to help. I had offers to drill the studs out, offers for loaner hubs, new hubs, everything. I eventually found a really nice guy, Roger at Pro Speed Karts, who offered to drill out the studs and install new ones with new lugs as well. $44 dollars, one missed practice, and the butt of a few jokes later, and I was ready to get out.

And by ready to get out, I mean we literally finished bolting the thing back up one minute before I needed to be on track for qualifying. Truly heroic stuff. Went out there on a changed and untested setup from earlier, that miraculously worked! I qualified 4th out of six in my lightweight class (keep in mind, only 2nd day in the machine).

Installed the honorary stickers (wonder how I came up with the numbers... ).


IMAG0324 by 686erak, on Flickr

Pre-final race. Starting 4th, rolling start, packed really tight. I'm squeezed in on the inside curb and have to check up from the guys in front of me bunching up. Lift-off oversteer + cold tires = instant spin. I worked my way back up through the heavyweight guys and finished 5th in the class. Meh. onto the final.

So I start second to last here, so not much room to go back. By now I have a few fans in the crowd and a some helpful advice from Tom Prioli of Checkered Flag in Haverhill. I had a clean first lap and quickly made a move on the 4th place guy on the second lap. Done, bit of a gap to third place. I put my head down and push for some lap times. Eventually I catch up to P3 and have a great nose to tail battle for a few laps, with a little side by side stuff. Eventually, I make my move and get up into the podium spots! It was clean sailing from there and I was feeling great until a kid in a mini max (<13 years old) blew by me at the latter part of the race. He had no other relevant group to run with, so he went with us.

Started to really feel the strain in my neck towards the latter portion of a race, but after setting my best times of the day I had a big enough gap behind to stay comfortable, and a big enough one to first and second that I had no chance of making it. So I cruised (still quickly) to the finish and took home the hardware. Need to work on those neck/upper back muscles, my God what a punishment!


IMAG0323 by 686erak, on Flickr

Big shoutout to Roger for helping me with get on the track with four wheels, and my friend Steve who gave up relaxing on his 21st birthday to help deal with my shit.

[danewilson77]

Nice job!

The friendliest forum on the planet!

[E_Rak]

Nice job!

The friendliest forum on the planet!

Thanks boss, had a blast!

[johnrando]

[E_Rak]

I take no photo nor driver credit, but here's a good friend of mine at F1 on Sunday during the 150 lap Rotax team endurance. Brief update coming - I have a crazy week of school unfortunately!

[E_Rak]

Sorry it's been a while, but here's an update from about a month ago. Came home to do a practice session and got a lot of work done, no photos from the track unfortunately, but it was a fairly uneventful day.

Little workshop upgrade: electricity is nice!


IMAG0359 by 686erak, on Flickr

I was pouring way too much oil out of the top of the valve cover under certain cornering conditions, so I decided it time to install the breather/return kit I had laying around. Quick shot of the top end, looking fresh and clean.


IMAG0353 by 686erak, on Flickr

Drilling through the valve cover.


IMAG0354 by 686erak, on Flickr

Here it is installed, you can see the return line taking oil from the top end back down to the main fill port.


IMAG0355 by 686erak, on Flickr

Here it is from the front; install was very clean.


IMAG0358 by 686erak, on Flickr

Also decided to freshen up the floor hardware with some nice aluminum conical washers and new countersunk allen bolts all around. You can see one set jest next to the black frame wrap.


IMAG0357 by 686erak, on Flickr

Here's the front of the floor. I plan on ditching the plastic heel stops and machining new ones out of aluminum to my own design. Currently they are not in the most comfortable spot for me, and I'll design a new setup during winter break. We have a great machine shop at school that I'll use to make them out of aluminum.


IMAG0356 by 686erak, on Flickr

Glam shot.


IMAG0361 by 686erak, on Flickr