Monthly Archives: October 2007
Oct 2007 Race Report – HUGE FIELD
Went out to Firebird West Track on Oct 7th for the second to last race of the 2007 season. Outside of replacing the left rear hub that we broke at the Sandia race we made no changes to the kart. I forgot to order new tires so Tyler did the weekend on the three heat cycled front tires from the last race and a set of six heat cycled rear tires that we had previously taken off the kart.
We got to the track pretty late in the morning (couldn’t get the tailgate down on the pickup truck and that of course delayed getting loaded up in the morning!) so we were pretty rushed when we finally got to the track.
I dumped in all the left over fuel we had from the last race into his tank and sent him after changing the jet in the carb from the really lean setup we had run at Sandia and a quick check of the tire pressures and the spark plug.
He was looking pretty good and was catching and passing the karts he normally runs with until a few laps from the end of the session when I saw him put his arm up, slow down and pull off the track over on the back straight. After the session he pulled the kart back on track and tried to push start it himself. No dice. As he came in on the tow strap I asked him was was wrong. Ran out of gas! I guess we need to fire the crew chief.
Put the kart on the stand and gave it a once over. Checked the plug (a little rich but looked ok), downloaded the data (top speed on the back straight at 89 mph and the temps and rpm looked good) and filled the tank. Seemed to be ready to go.
Hit the track for the second practice session. After a lap he came in complaining that the engine was sputtering. Quickly changed the plug and sent him back out. That seemed to have fixed the problem.