A Memorable One

23 March

A 10 point, indicating a win, to my name! Finally!!

The Final, 2.30pm:

It was already pouring for about 30-40 minutes. The track was flooded. Streams of water were be seen running across the certain sections of the track. The noise from the rain hitting the metal roofing was deafening.

And I thought to myself, "It is going to be a long 25 laps...! Have to start from the very very back. Wet track, wet race and a wet me at the end of it." I questioned the sanity of racing somewhat.

When the time for everyone to form up on the grid, I drove out gingerly and was Very careful not to overdrive which could result me being all sideways. Warming up the brakes was very important as it was the same for the set of wet tyres.

The initial feel was very good. The braking distance was obviously longer but the kart felt comfortable. I could tell where and how the kart was reacting. This gave me some sense of confidence.

On the grid, seeing everyone in front of me was one thing. The other was who were around me showed I will have a tough one ahead of me. Sin Wei and Leo were right at the back with me. All somewhat fast enough to be at the front but was to stuck at the back for respective reasons. Leo had some engine problems in Heat 1, and Sin Wei was involved in an incident. While I was DQ for about 1.7kg off the minimum weight requirement.

The start of the race was not good at all. The grid was all over the places but the green flag still dropped for the race to start. Being the last one, I just had to do more to catch up, and not get overly eager to get into the race. In the first few laps, there were a couple of incidents.

I could not recall clearly who were involved, the first I recalled was 2 karts were parked on the track at the hairpin after the start finish. Then I recalled Jordon on his SA250 was also sideways on certain part of the track too.

With this incidents happening, I was able to drive them by and just climb up the places.

One of the most interesting piece of racing happening just before the mid race, I think, was when Leo was behind me, and I was chasing Sin Wei who was in pursuit of Alan Smith! A very very exciting prospect.

Being stuck in the middle of the pack, I had to be very careful although we were all very close to each other. I had to judge where to make my move but also keep some distance in event either one went sideways and I would still have the time and space to drive out of it safely. It was easier said than done because the amount of spray from the water made the driving almost impossible. The end of the downhill section was particularly was very tricky with massive amount of spray from the front guys. I told myself, however, to stick very close to them through that section. It was important to do so as the 2-3 laps being behind them I could 'see' that they was not as quick as me through the twisty bits of the main pit area. With that, I know I had to make my move soon on them before I got drowned in my own helmet!

It paid off!! Keeping very close to them through the downhill section and the twisty bits I was able to overtake Sin Wei who outbrake the corner, and went side by side with Alan Smith on the straight! With the better exit I was able to move ahead of him before the downhill. Amazing! I was truly elated!!

Then I recalled ovetaking Selvan and Louis at the first hairpin too after that. I just love that hairpin now!

After that I was really enjoying the drive with the sun slowly creeping over the clouds and shone through. It was nice.

It was then I saw someone in front of me, and the distance was closing lap by lap. I realised it was Graeme, the big guy who loves driving/ racing in wet! He must be leading the 125cc Class then, which meant I was already 2nd. Not bad.

With the target in front, I push just a little harder and closed right behind him.
Again, I employed my strategy of tucking in just behind him on the twisty bit, and viola, overtook him on the hairpin before the straight. I was ahead but I knew he would be coming back at me. Hence I drove somewhat defensively after that, and had to protect my line on the downhill section. He mentioned to me after the race that our karts touched then, but truthfully I did not recalled or felt it then. Too focus?

After that I was in the clear. I guess by then there were still about 5-6 laps to go. Anything could still happened, and I just had to stay focus on the track.

In no time, I saw 1 more lap to go. I turned to see. No one was near me.
One more lap for a proper win with 10 points! Stay focus! 30 plus seconds later, I came in first!
I clinched my fist in delight, it was great!

Through this 'victory' I learnt that anything is possible, and nothing is impossible. Now I want to continue to work at tweaking the kart so that it will go faster and hopefully sometime this year there will be a chance for me to have a maximum point haul on a Sunday race.

Will talk a bit on my Qualifying and Heat 1 in another post.

cheers

One once!

20 March 2010

Today I managed to finally finish 1st ... in one of the heats!!

It was rather memorable because I started at dead last from that race.
Furthermore it was raining! The track was all wet!

I have to start last because I was underweight in Heat 1, about 1.5kg off.
Quite very strange as I weight myself the night before and found that I was still at the same weight.
Anyway that Heat 1, I finished 2nd.

With the DQ of not enough weight, to start last.

Started at 2.30pm, the rain had been pouring for already about 30 mins. It was fairly heavy at times, and we have to resort to shouting while at the main area. The rain hitting the roof was really deafening!

More of the race details to come.

But really glad I overcame my somewhat fear of wet driving, and came in 1st of our category.

Somehow, now, one cannot await for the next race!

cheers!

Smooth as you can be

10 March

Came across this great article about driving smooth and hence driving fast. It is not easy to do so, and it certainly can be achieved.

Beside reading, please try to do so bit by bit on the track. Let's not be hasty about it. The time will come down if we practice enough.

Do read on for now.

cheers!

extract from: www.karting1.co.uk/news/news/terence-dove-on-the-hidden-secret-behind-driving-smooth/

“I try to be as Smooth as possible. When I go into a corner, I turn the wheel enough to get to the Apex, but then I make sure I have the wheel centered in the corner as much as possible.” Davide Fore – Multiple World Karting Champion

Davide Fore sums up the whole philosophy of elite kart driving perfectly there for you. The meaning of life for the advanced kart driver is to adjust the steering angle during cornering as little as possible AND to have the wheel as close to centred the whole time.

Now, it seems fairly obvious that driving smooth is fastest. You’ll hear Martin Brundle complaining about drivers sawing at the wheel too much on F1 coverage, or marvelling at how smooth Jenson Button is. It’s pretty much general knowledge that driving smooth is the way to go, but telling someone how to drive smooth is useless without telling them how to drive smooth!

It’s easy to drive smooth, my gran drives very smooth on the way to Sainsbury’s but she aint fast!!

Anyone can drive smooth and slow, so the act of turning the steering gently and carefully isn’t a problem for any driver when the kart isn’t on the limit. It is when drivers start to push that smoothness goes out the window. There are a few reasons for this:-

* Lack of fitness.
* Drivers feel that to go faster they need to apply more effort to the wheel.
* Smooth accurate steering starts with a smooth and accurate right foot.
* The driver lacks an appreciation of the huge significance of load transfer.

The First Key to Smoothness is Strength and Fitness

When you first try to drive smooth it is hard work. Holding the steering straight in a corner against the will of the kart will drain you, and it is far less effort to flick the kart into a corner and lazily hang the rear out. Yes, sliding the rear around is the lazy way to drive! You heard it here first.

There is some good news however, once you master load transfer and the art of smoothness it suddenly becomes very easy physically, but you won’t get to that stage unless you get fit, and have incredible upper body strength and core muscle strength.

Use Your Will Power and Determination Away from the Track to Get in Shape – Not on the Track When You Drive!

When you get into your kart to drive, you need to have done all the hard work already in training and studying your art. Push ups require hard work and effort, but the actual act of driving takes finesse and care. If you don’t train for driving, but show up at the track with the attitude that you can make extra efforts while you drive to win, then you will likely overdrive and be slow.

Accurate Throttle Control Determines How Smooth Steering can be.

If you struggle to be smooth on the exit of a corner, no matter how much you concentrate on using the wheel carefully, then you should shift focus on to what your right foot is doing. If you are aggressively trying to get onto the throttle early and too quickly before the kart is ready then you will unsettle the kart. Apply the throttle exactly when the kart is ready, rather than hitting the gas and hoping you can control it.

The Tricky Bit for Advanced Drivers – Load Transfer

Car driver coaches get right on my nerves when they spout the following nonsense:-

“Kart drivers come into cars without a clue about load transfer, karts don’t have suspension and therefore hardly any load transfer, and karters just think they can throw a car around and get away with it”

In fact karts are extremely sensitive to load transfer, and are completely dependant on load transfer in order to go around corners at all. The best karters have an accute awareness of load transfer and it is the key to driving a kart with the minimal steering inputs possible.

Quick Explanation of Load Transfer for Karts

When you brake the load transfers to the front of the kart, the weight on the front wheels increases.

When you turn right the load transfers to the outside of the kart, i.e the left wheels (and the opposite side for left handers)

When you accelerate the load transfers to the rear wheels, so the weight increases on the rear tyres.

Key Point for karts

When you turn into a corner at first, the castor and jacking effect starts the process of lifting the inside rear wheel. Once that initial turn in is done and you get into cornering, then load transfer to the outside of the kart takes over the work of lifting the inside rear wheel. This is because the front of your kart is more flexible than the rear and all that load transfer deforms your chassis enough to keep the inside rear tyre off the road enough to allow the kart to turn.

Phew, boring bit done. But that particular characteristic of karts is what allows Davide Fore to straighten the wheel most of the way around corners. Once the kart is loaded to the outside wheels (which means the initial turn in is done and the kart is cornering steadily) then the chassis deforms under that cornering load and can’t help but lift the inside wheel. Just having that inside wheel pressuring the ground less then the outside driven wheel is enough to allow the kart to turn around the corner with very little steering angle.

How to Take Corners Smoothly Step-by-Step

1. Brake a little bit early, and gently releasing braking pressure as you approach the turn in point.
2. Before you turn in properly, introduce the kart to turn in by starting to steer as small a degree as you can manage (almost like taking up the slack in the various steering components).
3. Begin to turn in to the corner, turn the wheel as gradually and slowly as you can, imagine you are gently loading up the chassis with cornering load and that the front of the kart is steadily bending with that load
4. Once you have turned the wheel enough for the kart to make the turn, hold the wheel at the same angle until you pass the apex. The kart is now loaded like a spring, if you adjust the steering now you could overload the spring or release the spring suddenly and destroy your corner!
5. As you pass the apex gently unload the kart by slowly straightening the steering wheel. You are now gently allowing the inside rear wheel to meet the track again and as you do this you will feel the traction increase and you can accelerate away rapidly.

All the time imagine the kart chassis as a spring that you need to load and unload gently. Any sudden opposite lock movements can unload that spring suddenly and ruin the corner. And as you get better and better at this process you will find you use less and less steering, eventually getting to the standard of Fore where you can corner with a straight wheel.

By Terence Dove
EvenFlow Driver Coaching

A Pain in the neck

7 March

Again, I am suffering from acheS today.

Particularly, moving my neck today is really quite a feat to perform.
My shoulders and forearms were somewhat aching but it was bearable.
The neck... is just a pain!

This is the result of me being laid off training since possibly Dec.
3 months of being a lazy bum!!
During these 3 months, I did feel somewhat lousy. It was like I am missing something, missing doing something. Importantly I felt 'Fat' and I was indeed gaining weight.

I knew I had to start doing the basic workouts and the jogging. I knew BUT the inertia to move those lazy arse of mine was just too much to get going again.

Therefore I was glad that Louis had a mini race for the 8 of us yesterday.
His aim was actually to test his Swiss Auto engine kart with the rest of us driving the Rotax Max.
We were ok to do it just for fun. It was a very good training. I needed it to remind myself exactly how fitness is paramount to karting fast and consistently and this will be a good guage.

In the mini race, I had the opportunity to lead from the front because at the start we were all over the places on the track waiting for one another. Assessing the situation, I drove to the front and tried to slowed those who came out earlier. In that way, everyone could joined and formed up for the start.

Louis was the closet competitor to me in that mini race, especially when we will be at a clear disadvantage as SA250 will be pumping out about 35bhp while Rotax Max only has 28.5 bhp. We only have the chance to race him because of his degraded tyres. Even with that, he could overtook me just before the downhill section. The difference of power showed quite clearly.

Personally, when it was half way through the 18 laps I was knackered. I was about to looked at the numbers of laps left. From experience I did not, because I knew once I looked the remaining laps will be a torture. And it was, when I saw 5 more laps to go. It was the longest 5 laps. Not that I was heading the field, and someone was right behind. It was the longest because I am already drained! Finally, the flag was out to shown the race was over with me finishing it at the fore. Not actually a win, because i felt I was just better prepared especially with better tyres while the rest ran with a mixed combination.

What gave me encouragement was that after the 18 laps I had the chance to dice with Khamil. He is using a Tony Kart with Rotax Max but without any weights, which is easily about 12 kg off what my kart is running with. In that about 10 laps, I managed to really stayed with him relatively close. The timing was show 45.6s. Good! Then by about lap 8 my body is gone, my head was going all sideways at every other hairpins. I could hardly see the track straight on!!
I tried for another 2 laps, and with each lap the effect of the head leaning all the way this way and that. It was just too much. I had to call it a day.

It was a good day in all. The mini race forces me to drive the long stint training the stamina, and the drive with Khamil put me into pace of sorts.

Today, although with all the aches, I felt alive. I felt delighted. I felt generally happy. To feel more of the same I will need to start doing my off track activities.
So if someone would like to really kart competitively, ignore the fitness at your own peril.