Getting Fit2Race

31 May

This article on www.karting1.co.uk came to my attention about
3 weeks ago.
It's all about fitness for karters. In one of my earlier entry in this
blog, I believed I had briefly said that competitive go karting is
really more than a 'drive in the park'... much more!

After the last race, Graeme mentioned this on our Facebook
club page, http://www.facebook.com/groups.php?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=45212103499
"I even get out of breath tying my shoelace."

I'm not saying that karters are the fittest 'sportsmen', but there's
always a perception that how tough can it be sitting and driving
round and round the track???

Anyway, let's get to the article by Fit2Race on karting1.co.uk
To be fast is good, to be fast the entire race distance is even better.

The importance of fitness training and conditioning and its influence toward on track performance can often be underestimated. If you spend time away from the circuit to prepare for the physical aspect of your racing you will see resulting performance gains above and beyond what you thought may be possible. Fitness training is often taken as a more reactionary decision rather than a pro-active one. This is understandable as many karters struggle to balance the amount of karting they do against the added pressure of academic studies or work and managing tight budgets. However a small dedication of time will make those hot days in Europe on a rubbered up track a walk in the park.

So what is the benefit of training to karters? And why is it important? Well ask any experienced single seat driver and they will tell you that it is hard work getting in shape and maintaining it as career and physicality of the racing progresses. Yet quite a few will use karting for aspects of fitness condition and to maintain race craft in the off season. So this shows just how hard it can be. But what if you were so well prepared that you didn’t ever consider the physicality of the Kart… whilst others struggle and fatigue after a day of heats, repocharge’s, and finals, you remain fresh and able to push 100% to the chequered flag!

Training for karting is not about becoming big and developing large and inefficient muscles. It’s pointless spending hours upon hours in the gym doing high weight high energy expending activity. As you all know, weight is important so it is key to make yourself strong and effective whilst remaining as light as possible. If you combine an effective conditioning programme with some targeted cardio, then you will be well on your way to fitness excellence. It’s all about training smart.

So what is training Smart?

It is simply about being logical and focussing your attention on planning your training, you need to be specific to your current needs or goals and address highlighted areas of weakness. This will simply mean you don not lose wasted hours in the gym doing pointless exercise that won’t deliver the performance advantage you expect!

Training doesn’t have to be a chore or be a laborious process; it can be fun and easy. Varying your training and keeping your body interested and stimulated whilst keeping it challenging is the key! Change the order and the number of sets, weights and reps and try to be functional in your movements. Think about it, your body rarely triggers muscles in isolation, so why train them in that way? Try to combine different movements into exercises that combine various muscle groups.

To help you get started on your strength and condition, here is a breakdown of what to train when you go into the gym.

If you are unsure of any aspect of training or exercise or are unfamiliar with a gym or piece of equipment you should always seek advice from a qualified trainer.

Lower Back – It is so important to you and your performance, it keeps you stable, protects your spine and helps form a basis of your core that allows postural stability and strength in all movements. As every karter will testify, you take a high amount of impact through your seat and back at every meet regardless of track or competition. Strengthening your back means the impact of the loading is massively reduced, and therefore so is the risk of injury or fatigue.

Get your back pumped with these exercises

Plank – hold your spine and posture in a straight line from head to toe whilst balancing between your toes and your elbows
Deadlift – pivoting from the hips, bend forward controlling movement before using your lower back to pull you back into a standing position
Dorsal Raises – lying flat on the floor, arch your back upwards lifting your legs and arms off the ground at the same time

Core –is the key to strong and functional movement. Your core encompasses your lower back, and it works to stabilise and protect your spine to prevent injury and to allow all bodily movements. The stronger the core, the more efficient your performance will be. The “core” is a name given to the collective group of muscles that include your hip flexors, your abdominals and oblique, and your back and spinal control muscles.

Give these a try…

Pure crunch – from a normal sit up position, fixed heels firmly into the floor and picking a point on the ceiling, reach upwards towards it to a maximum range, hold then slowly control the release
Hip Flexor Bridge with leg extension – starting form the same position as a sit up, push heels into floor and lift your pelvis to form a straight line between shoulder and knee. Lift one foot off the floor and hold out straight and parallel to the body.
Standing Torso rotation – stand sideways on to a cable column, a full arms length away, Take a single handle grip with both hands at a height level to your shoulder. From here keeping a straight arm, rotate through your torso keeping your hips square and feet fixed.

Shoulders and upper back - This is where you will get your strength to drive the kart and throw it into the corners, it will also help you develop endurance to cope with increased grip and hot sticky tracks. It helps form a strong platform for postural strength and spinal protection, and for massively reducing the risk of injuries from impacts. For those looking to step into single seater testing from karting, it is also essential to have strong and effective shoulder complex!

Moves to get you started

Alternate arm shoulder press – sit on swiss ball, with feet wide stance apart. Take weight in each hand and perform alternate arm shoulder press from top of shoulder to a fully extended arm above your head. Maintain your balance!
Seated rear row – place feet into a weight column, and have a bar set level with your chest. Push legs out so they are straight and squeezing through your back, pull bar into your chest, hold and relax. Hold your posture.
Upright row (combined with deadlift) – take a split stance, and with a narrow grip take a barbell and raise it until it rest on the top of your thigh. From here pull the bar upwards until it is level with your chin, and then relax back down slowly. An option to then go straight to a deadlift exists here also

Chest – your chest is not as important as some of the other muscles groups for karting. It will give you added strength in some aspects of your karting fitness, but it needs to be trainer and strong to give you postural symmetry with your strong back

Try these for starters

Bench press – take a bar bell with a shoulder width grip, lying flat back onto a bench. Extend arms fully above your chest, slowly control the bar down until almost touching your chest, then after a slight pause, push back upwards. Raise legs off the floor or widen grip to make move more difficult.
Press ups – press ups are good as can be done anywhere, but try stringing 3 different types of press ups together one after the other. They have a number of variety such as normal, wide, narrow, incline, decline, into a swiss ball, t – press up and split hand position.

Forearms – these are essential as they are the muscles that allow you to grip to the wheel… thy will normally be conditioning with the amount of karting you do, but there is massive benefit in training them as it will reduce fatigue!

Get going with these exercise

Standing straight arm rotation and bent arm rotations – take a light dumbbell in each hand, take arms out parallel to the floor either straight or bent at the elbow and starting with hands palm down, rotate as much as your can anti clockwise, the clockwise.
Steering wheel turns - take a seated position or hold a driving position balanced across a bench. Hold a weight plate in both hands in the same way you hold the steering wheel. Rotate fully clockwise and anti clockwise.

How long and how hard vary… it is dependant on the individual and the level of your competition. Always try to push yourself and make your training a challenge, try to continually push more reps for endurance and when the muscles get used to the weight to the point that your reps are endless, up the weight slightly and try to meet the same. Alternatively you can challenge yourself with minimal rest between sets or combination circuits where you simple move from one exercise straight to the next one doing as many reps as you can.

By Karl Bickley Fit2Race
Karl is a professional motor sports fitness coach with high profile clients like F1's Anthony Davidson, and karters like Alex Walker and Scott Jenkins www.fit2race.co.uk

Setting It Up

29 May

Almost 2 weeks had passed since the last race.

I had been to the track about 4 times since then to run in
the repaired Rok engine and to set up the chassis.

However, during these few occasions it had been seriously
disappointing.
The times from my own kart will not dip below 49 seconds,
which is a more than 2 seconds from what I can do in the race
on track configuration B.

After running in the engine, I went about pushing the engine
a bit and the initial feel was that it is fast. The whole kart feel
quick but the timing is slow at 49 seconds.
Also, Ivan and I after trying the kart we realised that the front
end seems to nervy. It just twitch and turn with the slightest of
movement on the steering. At times, I do not know if the kart
will actually turn or not, then I also have to be afraid of oversteering
it into any corners.
Not a good setup at all.

At least now I know what a quick kart feels like, and I can use that
as a basis to move from here.

Firstly, I checked the Ackerman angle. It was normal.

Then I reset the seat, as I felt that it was leaning slightly too far
back. And it could be this that pushes much center of gravity to its
rear.
Done... but with same result.

Losing heart with it. But I will continue to try all means and way
before I may have to make some drastic actions.

Gear Up

The last race, I had received the new Sparco Coolmax balaclava
and a set of OMP kneepad.

It was ordered together with Leo who gotten his new Alpinestars
KM3 Light suit.

I wanted a new balaclava as the one I am using at the moment
is a tad too thin in material. Thus at certain period of a race,
my helmet seems to move upwards in high speed sections.
It can be very distracting and uncomfortable.
Just glad that I managed to rectify the 'floating' helmet!

The OMP kneepad replaced the Sparco ones I had.
Because I feel that the Sparco ones was too hard in its make.
Maybe it's because that particular make is for the usage of
mechanics. The OMP kneepad is made of good thick foam
that wrap around the knee area nicely. On the Monday after
the race, my knee only felt slightly tight. There was no pain
or bruise which I observed at times.

All in all, I reckon it's money well spent on the right
equipment for the specific usage.

Pics

Managed to capture some still pics of myself from Mark's video.

Coming through the spoon curve with Louis tucking it behind me.
Was in forth then and finish in the position in Heat 2.



Pointing to the marshal to wave the blue flag to Allan Smith.

Going Somewhere !

This is another great article from appm.co.uk

The most important bits from this article, to me, is we should all be
obsessed by personal growth.

It goes to mean always asking how we can be faster on the track.

Should I driver smoother? Turn in later? Brake Later?
Take a different line? Get fitter?
There are many things we need / can do to improve.

Given each of our own resources and equipment, we should look at ways
to maximise them first. Newer equipment can make us go faster, but
with better overall skills and more practice it will carry us even further.


"Being second is being the first loser" / "Winning is everything"

These are just two of the sayings that you hear drivers repeatedly stating. The main objective of being a kart driver should be to become the best and it is very important to have firm goals that point you in that direction.

The problem is that most kart drivers have made the importance of winning overshadow their opportunity to grow and develop as a driver.

Winning on a consistent basis does not just come down to luck or skill, it is a result of someone who gets better and better each time they compete/drive. This personal growth allows any sportsmen to get to the top of, and stay at the top of his/her game.

It is important that you do not let the position you are in, prevent you from seeing the true lesson that is on offer.

The Process:

1. Before you go to each race or test it is up to you to set up your objectives –

write out what has to happen in that outing for you to have a personal victory. It might not be a position related goal, but an internal or technique one, like controlling your emotions, stringing 10 laps together within 2 tenths of a second of each other or pulling off a race start that you are proud of. There are hundreds of these internal goals that you can go for and therefore hundreds of other ways that you can win and lets face it, if you are a novice these are the only wins that are feasible.

2. Give yourself 4 or 5 of these wins –

when we say these wins, we mean these goals. Have a piece of paper in your test / race pack that lists out the rules to winning at that particular outing.

3. Become obsessed by personal growth –

change your view from winning, to making yourself the best kart driver out there instead. Always ask and record at the end of each event "How could I do better". This self growth obsession creates a 'bullet proof' driver who knows how to optimise his/her performance and one who will start to win races as a result of his/her raised levels of performance.

4. Shed the pressure –

when you focus more on yourself rather than on outside results you no longer feel under the same pressure. It is impossible to drive naturally and in the Zone if you start to worry or focus on the win. This can be seen when a driver starts to think about winning their championship a little too much. They have dominated the season but as it gets closer to the end and they realise that if they mess up then they may lose the championship, you see that their driving become less natural and they make more mistakes than ever before. This again is someone putting too much emphasis on the win rather than personal performance.

5. Learn to appreciate the mistakes –

for a karter that only cares about winning, more than personal growth, you will see that they get angry or emotionally beaten when they make a public mistake. From now on if you truly want to become the greatest, you must welcome mistakes. Always take note of them, learn from them and see how it can be avoided in the future.

Remember this statement –

"To have double the success, you must have overcome double the failure".
Every true champion has failed many times.... it is the only way to grow

A Personal Victory

18 May

Remember I wrote about how I missed the aches and pain
from doing a full race distance?

I'm aching in my neck, arms, shoulders, and even in the ankle now
But I love it... and I wish now that I have more aches with good
races soon in the future.

And many thanks to you guys for giving me a giant pat on my back
telling me that I did well.
I hope we will all do well together in races to come.


Race day on 17 May...

The day started fairly normal just like any race Sunday in Johor Bahru.

Although I knew I wasn't to win the race, I had a good feeling about it.
I knew I will do well. I felt prepared.

Reaching the track, I went about preparing the kart.
Changed the tyres to MG FZ from Mojo.
Replaced the gear oil.
Checked the radiator and all parts.
Even the battery seems to work fine.

However when I wanted to start the Max engine, there's a
humming sound without the roar of the engine...

Double checking again, the battery seems to went flat somehow
which mean it had to be charge. That would implies I will not be
able to go out on to the track before the qualifying. Not good.

But still, somehow I feel fine and surprisingly calm.

After moderating the race briefing, I checked that the battery was
charged but the engine still will not fired up... Upon then, I asked
Louis to change out the battery and have to buy another from him
then.

Qualifying

With the new battery installed, the engine came to life and without
any delay I went on to do my qualifying laps for the starting position.

I had to brake much earlier at the beginning of the qualifying laps,
as the track seems very green. From what I gathered there was a
huge thunderstorm the day before, and it had likely washed out any
good rubber foundation.

At the end, the laps went quite well for me.
I managed to qualify 6th out of 15, and this time I was only 0.02
seconds off Leo who is in 5th. This can be considered one of my best
qualifying result.
Considering those in front of me are who I expect to be there.
6th means I should be able to avoid any midfield mayhem at the first
few laps of the race.
A golly good start to the race.
But still I have to be caution as starting from 6th put me on the outside
of the 1st corner.

Heat 1

It started timely at about 12.40pm. ( ok, 10 mins late.... )
The rolling lap led by James and Ivan who were slow and steady.
Everyone bunch up nicely up to the last corner and off we went with
the green flag....!!

Frankly, I can't really recalled what Exactly happened at the very
start. I knew Noel came from the back and went to my left before
the Monza but I held on to my position as he was struggling to pick
up more pace from the corner exit.
Then Mark with his Aixro came to my right just before Monza too
on the next lap, I think.
Meaning I have no chance but to give him the position then to his
50bhp engine.
I had to find some ways to get past him. And it was tough until I
saw his radiator was blasting water out of it onto the track as well
as my visor!
Knowing that his engine will not be able to handle the stress
without the cooling system working well, I just had to keep close to
past him asap..
I was losing time to catch the front packs of Ivan, Gary and Leo
who are all enjoying very close racing.
But before I can join them I need to get past a water spraying
machine!

Finally after following him for ~4 laps, he had to pull to one side.
It's time for me to start chasing the trio.
Within just over a lap, I was just behind the trio having a first
class seat to enjoy the action. It was fantastic viewing it from
this close.
They were even slower with their racing for position than me
being stuck behind Mark.

And I could be fighting with them should I choose to, but I
opted not to.
A three way battle is already heated. A four way war will be
crazy and I'm quite sure it will be messy end to it all. Instead
I choose to stay clear and let them fight it out.... until I saw
Leo started to lose ground to Gary and Ivan, I went closer to
Leo's tail. He was slightly slower in getting off the corners.
I think he was getting a tad tired.

I followed him closely for about 2-3 laps and was thinking I
am ready to past him and then... I heard that the engine sounds
odd just when I was exiting from the hairpin after the downhill.
It got worse. It was losing power gradually.
After it was 3/4 way past the spoon curve, all power was gone.
Clicking on the ignition button, give me nothing too.

I was PISSed... and vented my anger on to the steering wheel
A good race result of a potential 4th just got away from me.
That was on lap 12... just 6 more laps to go!!

Darn !
Back to the pits, Jason did a check by removing the clutch
components and charge the battery again. Cleaning the out all the
dirt from the clutch areas, and when he wants to fix it back he felt
the engine is not really moving well.
Looking at him, I wonder why such bad luck befalls on me
AGAIN... That's about the end of the day/ race for me there
and then.

As I bemoaned to anyone who wants to listen to my unlucky
races, I was also changing from my racing gears already..
Then, Louis seeing me all change out he said to me
"Race lah, use my Biland to race lah."
I was really hesitant. Especially my frame of mind was not there
anymore. I was ready to go home. Or grab a soft drink and watch
the race when it happens.

While I was 70% hesitant, Louis ( the track boss) was 110%
insistent that I hop into his Biland and race in Heat 2.
Even Sherry (the track cashier) was encouraging. With these
much positivity, I just cannot say No.

Changing back into my racing gears, and the mechanics go about
to prepare the kart and put my MG tyres on kart no.4 .

Once it was ready, Louis refreshed my memories about the
engine and asked me to bring the kart for a couple of laps just to
familiarize with it.

Although I had started my competitive karting with a Biland it
had been almost 2 years since I drove it. The Hasse chassis I am
quite familiar with. I also knew the Haase factory brake is
usually soft. Anyway, off I went trying to get the hang of it all.
I did not look at the times at all. I just want to enjoy it.
Feel the air rush through my helmet.
After 5-6 laps, back into the pits people were telling me that I
was quick on it. If I'm not wrong time was on the low 47seconds.
I was pleasantly surprised because I was only then teasing the
engine, brakes and chassis.

Heat 2

Close to 3pm, we had our Heat 2 underway. Mark decides to sit
it out and took race video instead.

Starting from 12th will always be tough. Adding to the fun was
Louis and Graeme both with Iame KF2 were behind me in 13
and 14th, because they both DNF earlier in Heat 1 than me.
Interesting!
I had to think about defend and attack at the same time in the
beginning.

Similarly, we had a good slow formation laps. Starting at the
back it actually give me a chance to warm both tyres and brake.

Coming up to the last corner, it's a go...!
By the time I reached the 1st corner, I saw bumper on the track
and karts were actually slowing to the left and right of it.
There was an accident with Noel smashing and climbing on to
Leo's kart. Leo could not continue.
Because of this incident, I think I make up 3 or 4 places
immediately.
By the end of Lap 2, I am in the middle of the pack at 7th
and inching forward.

Then I chased and passed Yap, and then Noel.
I was 5th before mid point of the race! It was great.
I am getting energized by all these and I was determined to
make this race my best.

After passing Noel, I was inching closer to Louis.
We had a few exciting moments... With me overtaking him, then
he took the position back at 180R just before the downhill !!
We literally had to turn side by side for it!
It was some cool racing from both of us, I must say
He been crazy and me being accommodating.
Then my next favorite was that we both go through the spoon
curve side by side before he edged ahead taking the race line.
I had to bide my time.
hmmmm Where and when did I make my move stick... ??
I can't remember!
It may be just after the 1st corner that I overtook Louis.
From there, I stayed ahead and pull out a sizable lead, lap by lap.

In fact, looking at the detailed timing sheet after the race I am
delghted that I put in a good race with very consistent laps
overall.
It can be that the Biland has good power output even with a
minimum weights requirement met.
But doing laps after laps with differences of 0.3 seconds or less
is good personal achievement.

To add to it, I had a very respectable time of 46.17

At the end of Heat 2, I finished fourth behind Ivan who I was
closing in quite rapidly in the closing stage (without me knowing
until we talked after the race)

The only thing I can ask for more that day was why the Max
engine broke down... apart from that it was a excellent race.

It really felt like a Personal Victory.. I finished 6th overall
after counting points from Qualifying, Heat 1 and Heat 2.
Not too bad, at all.

PS. if you do look at the time sheets, you will probably ask
who's this guy James in first with a track record of 44.86 done in
the last lap of heat 2 with a Rotax Max engine.
well, he's the Malaysia RMC Senior Champion!
So he had shown us all that there are many more to be learnt.
And there's no better time to improve after a good race.

Power it Up...

16 May

Many of us who have take karting more seriously
will have one of those alignment tool for the front
wheels.
And what I have is the Sniper V2.
It is a great tool to use, which allow users to adjust the
Toe In /Out and the Camber Positives/ Negatives.

Basically it is a must have for setting purposes.

However, as time goes by, the battery for the laser will be
drained. Setting out to get new battery for the unit prove
rather tricky. I had to look up on internet to find out that
these battery is use on cameras as well. After looking
through some shops I still cannot find it.

Thankfully, I chanced upon a general electronic store and
enquired about the battery. One look at the battery,
the shop owner tell me flatly ' No have.'
Then he continued, ' You can just buy 2 of these for the device'
showing me, in the process, 2 of 1.5V battery half the size of
the original battery that comes along with Sniper V2.

I was doubtful, but at the price of S$2 for 2 batteries, I decided
to trust the man and try my luck.

And I say now, it worked! The Sniper V2 is now back with a nice
red laser beam!

Once again, tomorrow is race day. I am quite happy that I can sweat it
out on the track again. It seems there will be about 15 participants
tomorrow, so it will be very exciting event.... as long as I stay on track
for the entire 2 heats. fingers all crossed, and prayers for that!

Neck to neck..

4 May

In the coming race less than 2 week away , it will be a race of
2 heats of 18 laps each on track configuration B :
The tricky and 'torturous' bit of this configuration is the spoon
curve, I think.
Of course, there're the fast entry for the downhill (aka 180R),
and the braking, entry and exit for the initial uphill bits of the
spoon. Yes, these are the tricky sections of the track too, but
over the race distance I really believed the spoon is where
one will be set apart from the rest of the field.

This spoon section is one which if you go too slow you will
be slow for the remaining sector leading to the pits area.
And needless to mention, with the wide track anyone not
at race speed will be very suspectible of being overtaken
quite very easily.

On the other hand, if one try to throttle too much on the spoon
the rear end will start to 'fish-tail'. When this happen counter
steer is needed, which in turn means time will be lost. Perhaps
a tenth or more.

At a decent race speed, another challenge will arise. A physical
challenge... of the neck and rib. As we go around this parabolic,
the rib will be firmly pressed on the seat thus without a good seat
fit or a good rib protector one will be struggling for breath in the
latter stages in the race. This is much further aggravated by the
bouncy nature of this section! The rib is literally hitting the seat.


Then there's the neck 'strain' from the G Force through this section.
Fine, we are not driving a F1 machine you may say.
However I do assure you that the persistent centrifugal force on
neck is quite significant over race distance at speed.
It does not help when our first few races did not include the Spoon.
I had some ache (read hurts for 2 days...) on my neck after go through
my pace in this configuration after the previous race in April.

Hence I realised it will be very beneficial to get the neck up to scratch,
else it will be a painful Monday after the race on...
And this is what I discover on the internet:

A combination of high speeds and tight corners means that go karting tends to put your neck muscles under a lot of pressure. Because of the G-forces that affect your body when you take corners, you will often find that your neck muscles ache after even a fairly short go karting session. Fortunately, doing exercises to strengthen your neck muscles can help with this. As a word of caution, it is best to seek advice from a qualified trainer before embarking on strengthening your neck muscles, as it is easy to do significant damage to your body if you are not really sure what you are doing.

Why Spend Time Strengthening Your Neck Muscles?

There are several benefits to strengthening your neck muscles as part of your fitness work for go karting. Firstly, it will go a long way towards reducing the discomfort that most novice go karters experience when first getting involved in the sport. This discomfort is mostly the result of G-forces.

If you intend to move into the higher echelons of motor sport, you will need to be able to withstand high G-forces. For example, the average Formula One driver contends with around 5g under braking, 2 g under acceleration and 4-6 g during overtaking manoeuvres.

What Type of Exercises Will Strengthen Your Neck Muscles?

Isometric neck exercises are a good way to work your neck muscles without injuring yourself. These neck exercises are best done every other day so that you do not strain your neck muscles. This is particularly important if your neck muscles are not used to be exercised regularly. To do simple isometric neck exercises, you can follow these steps:

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Gently push your head backwards and use your neck muscles to keep your head still. After around ten seconds, relax your neck muscles.
• Put your hands on the back or side of your head, and gently push your head forwards. As before, use your neck muscles to keep your head still. Relax after ten seconds.
• Repeat the steps several times.
• For side isometric neck exercises, stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and put your right palm against the right side of your face so that it is just above your right ear.
• Gently push your head to the left as if you are trying to connect your ear and shoulder. While doing this, contract your neck muscles to keep both your head and neck in the right position.
• Do the same with your left side, and repeat the steps several times.

Strengthening your neck muscles is recommended for helping your body to cope with the G-forces that can cause a lot of discomfort later on. While the G-forces that affect you in go karting are nowhere near as big as the G-forces that affect Formula One drivers, you can still end up with a very sore neck in the hours following your go karting session. Before you start any neck strengthening exercises, it is best to consult a trainer to make sure that you are not going to cause any damage to your neck or spinal cord as a result of your intended fitness work.

from: http://www.goingkarting.co.uk

PissedTon

2 May

My engine, Rok, should be ready by next week.

This is the 1st time I see the piston, which look very
worn out as shown in the pics.
At the 1st look I thought mine was very "clean & shiny",
until I was shown what the new healthy piston should
really look like..

Likely reason is an incorrect/ lack of 2T added to fuel.
I have to admitted I was rather clueless at the beginning
along with the mechanics on the percentage of of oil required
for the mix. Anyhow, lesson learnt.

Will be awaiting when the engine is been mounted on my
Haase chassis.