Inching forward

19 July

Race Configuration

Some stats of this configurations:

Each lap is about 1.2km
Number of laps per heat, 15, and we will have a total of 2
heats. Total distance of each heat is about 18km
Average timing for each lap is from mid 50 seconds to
53 seconds.

Over the course of the race, from Qualifying to Heat 2, my
average lap times are on the mid of 52 seconds.
Personal best lap times is 51.69 seconds coming in the 3rd
last lap of Heat 2.

There had been a list of things I had planned before Qualifying
I wanted to complete, mainly on the engine settings and
assess how it really perform on the track. It was absolutely
necessary as this is my 1st time ever to be driving with the
engine! But then all plannings went out of the windows when
the engine refuses to start up after I fill the kart with fuel.
Darn !
It finally managed to start after the magician Jason(mech)
assisted to solve the mystery, which is still remain one to me.


All that means my 1st drive of the day on the 'new' engine
is during the qualifying.
Not something I would liked at all, but something I had to
make do with in such situation. And the end result is 11th
on the grid.

In the 5 laps that I did, I had the 'best' time then in the last
lap with the time of 52.26
I could have went out again and done few more laps and try
to have a better starting position. But I was not entirely
happy with how the engine is going. What I do not like is how
the power kick in over at about 9500RPM and how it seems
lost a huge chunk of power at below 9000RPM.
The main issue with the power coming in this late is
because often at this RPM the kart is already mid way in
corners. That is where we should be smooth on the throttle
and exit cleanly.
Hence, I stopped just after five laps.
Speaking to Jason again, we decided to tune to Power Valve,
have the jetting change, and clean the clutch area.

I only can hope for a better showing in Heat 1.

Starting on 11th position out of 20 is going to be tough.
The mid pack is really where I, or anyone, dislike to be in.
That's where the back guys like to squeeze into once the
green flag drops, and where the mid field runners wants to
make up all the lost places at the start.
My plan is to have a safe 1st few laps and attack along the
way. It is absolutely essential that I keep the kart's nose
clean as I am still racing with the Gillard of KP.

If you're reading this, KP, thanks once again!!
The Gillard chassis perform wonderfully in this race
again.

Heat 1 started at about past 1pm

So what happened in Heat 1?
Plentiful!
I was among one of the finishers of the race proper at 7th.
The rest either were involved in some incidents or had
problems.
My start was conservative and was lucky to make up a
couple of places since there was a small incident at Turn 1
at the very start.
What followed through in the next few laps was that I
managed put in consistent laps and take another position
from Ivan at the beginning of the Spoon Curve in Lap 4.
Knowing Ivan, I knew he will be be very close behind me
and I have to push in the next few sections including
the infamous Black Hole hairpin to keep myself ahead.

Note: Black Hole is a tight hairpin, with cement and black
paint on top of the tarmac surface.
Slippery as hell... one mistake and you may have to visit
the gravel or somewhere unpleasant. so, Be forewarned.

Approaching the black hole, I was braking as late as I
dared and when I was about to turn the steering into
the apex, I saw the Ivan's nose at my side pod.
SHHOOOTTz !
Losing that position was ok, but in allowing him to go
through it put me on the very dirty side of the track.
After that, I was crawling through BlackHole.
My carb was flooded!
20 seconds was lost before I was got going again
I was furious. Not at Ivan but mainly myself in
keeping my foot on the throttle when the kart
was sliding all around.
20 seconds before the engine came alive again,
and these 20 seconds seems like a lifetime as a
few of the guys from behind just whiz me by.
Lesson firmly learnt!

In the next few laps, I was determined. I was
pushing with all that I have. I can see that I was
making up some ground between me and those in
front. Then in lap 6, as I was exiting from the Spoon
curve I could see ahead that there were about 3
karts involved in some sort of incident at the Black
Hole.

The incident watching from a few video captures after
the race showed Ivan tried a very opportunistic move
on the kid on a Mini Rok and he just could not get any
grip with his late brake move then he slided and
whacked heavily into Mark, he in turn hit Graeme.
Ivan and Mark were out of the race.
Graeme managed to get back to the track much later.

That gives me 3 position up, and that's where I finished.
7th place.
Looking at my lap times in Heat 1, I wasn't too happy
because it was just fluctuating too much. Apart from
those few laps which I was fighting for position with
others, some were just plain inconsistent. Then again I
was feeling slightly tired towards the end.
It had been sometime since I push this hard in a race
especially I was in a 2 weeks reservist just before this.
But I did have an improvement of 0.2 sec from the
qualifying time.

Heat 2 started at about 3pm. Rain drops fell when it was
about 2.50pm. So there was a slight scramble to assess if
rain will continue and if we are going for wet setting.
Personally, I just went for a slightly higher tyre pressure
as I reckon the rain will hold or just simmer off.
Thankfully, the rain was blown away.

Starting from 7th posed more or less a similar situation
like in Heat 1. The main idea is to keep the nose clear
of silly trouble in the 1st few corners and see what I can
do from there.

A very interesting issue occurred just before I head out to
the grid, i.e. 2 of the clutch spring were broken, and I was
thinking "Oh no, not again............"
Then came 2 reassuring claims that the engine will still be
able to race. It will be just be like a direct drive engine.
I was hesitating, but since I was all geared up off I went.

My start was pretty normal, but I think I lose a few places
by being too wary of getting hit by someone...
Anyway this will change slightly after I'm on my own kart.
As 1st or 2nd lap progressed I managed to crawl back some
places. One of which is from an incident involving
Mary and someone else at the bottom of the hill.
From that, I made up at least 2 places. Then within another 2
laps I overtook Sam, who returned to racing after one year
absence! He did real well in Heat 1, getting to 4th from the
back but he conceded that he had no more in him to race in
Heat 2.

After overtaking Sam, there was no one else in sight for me
to catch up with until I saw Graeme. Looking at the lap time
sheet, I wondered why did I not managed to close in on him
to challenge for that position (4th).
Perhaps I just lost too much ground at the start, a 0.5 sec here
and a 0.2 sec there is just not enough to stick the kart right up
to kart's rear.

Looking at the bright point of Heat 2 is that I managed to shave
another 0.4 second from Heat 1 best time, doing a 51.69.
The overall lap times are more consistent too.

All in all, that just goes to show starting position is absolutely
important and how to get off from a rolling start is superbly
essentially in determining final finishing position.
That will be one of the keys in all future practice sessions.

August race awaits. Really looking forward to it!