Pierre Martins

Rassel, Deon's first race report is HERE.

The smile on his face after race 2 was priceless.

Pierre Martins

And I got to test this '76 3.5 RSR for a friend during Friday's open practice. Shared the track with a 917, 956, Lola T70, Ferrari P33 and a slew of other prototypes. A day I'll never forget!

Pierre Martins

Im heading off to Welkom Moto GP race track in a few hours, very un-prepared. Last few tests haven't gone well and I've Been ****ed around to no end on numerous issues.

Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it this weekend.

Cheers,
Pierre.

BrandonH

Acknowledging that the 250 Superkarts are not go karts, but to answer the question:

Best online resource for learning about US karting is www.ekartingnews.com
Karting in the US is very fragmented, both by class and regionally. Four cycle oval racers (dirt or asphalt) vastly outnumber sprint karts, (road racing) which are carved up into many scattered series and definitions. Sanctioning bodies don't agree on class specs so if you are west coast racing IKF you'll be racing different configs than east coast dominated WKA. Shifters have their own sanctioning bodies, while so called TAG karts (fast/onboard starter) come in more flavors than Baskin Robbins. Various attempts are made to create new unified standards eg Rotax which is a spec series sponsered by Bombardier, or Stars of Karting, a "National" series aligned with WKA sponsored by IRL (and of course this year Champ cars announced a Rotax alliance, but now! Champ Cars and IRL may combine, what then?) The big karting expo held last month in IL featured an invitation-only symposium of karting industry representatives around the topic of "how to fix/save/improve" karting in America. At the same time, I read this morning about an amazing new 37HP wankel kart engine now being imported from Germany. Incredible technology and innovation, but also a fair amount of confusion. Lots of hand wringing over costs but my son can race nationally/regionally/locally almost every weekend of the year for what I'd spend on 4-5 PCA club races.

My best advice after slogging up the learning curve these past three years with my son: Find the nearest track, see what classes are popular, and run what they do. I'm convinced there is nothing you can do to yourself or your racecar that will make you faster, sooner and more cheaply, than karting...

Happy to opine more specifically in a PM!

Benton

Gator,
If you are in Gainesville, there are a good bit of sprint tracks in your area. Check out Rotax karts; they are the most fun you can have with your pants on and still have $$ at the end of the day. There is a North Florida Rotax Max Challenge that runs in Jacksonville, Gainesville (I think), Ocala, and some others, plus Moroso. I might be running the N. Florida tour this year; I'm still on the fence as to what official series I will run on top of my regular, unofficial races.

Gator_86_951

Hey guys. I ended up deciding against doing the karting thing for the moment. I might pick up the idea again in the fall. One of the girls I go to school with is married to the guy that runs the track down in Ocala which is about 40 minutes south of here. She said I can go down there whenever I want. I challenged her to a race after exams.

Between Law Review and the other journal I am doing now and school I am beyond swamped. I might save some of the money from summer clerkship to get into a rotax kart or something. I haven't decided yet. The biggest issue is somewhere to store/work it since I have been living in an apartment. I can probably scam a family friend or somebody I am in school with to store it somewhere, but what do I do with it when I get out of school in dec. of '07?

Thanks for the info anyways. I looked at ekartingnews.com everyday for about a week. Nothing ever really came of it.

Red,
If you are ever coming into town let me know. I don't think they run the kart races at GIR though. The track in Ocala is supposed to be awesome. I can watch you dominate and then grab a beer and talks smack about p-cars. We rented out GIR for rennstock, and from reading the series information I am still convinced they don't run at GIR. PM the websites if you find a series that does.

Benton

March 18 & 19 - Ocala GP
April 8 & 9 - Gainesville Raceway
April 29 & 30 - Palmetto
May 6 & 7 - Moroso [Dbl Race Weekend-Combined N/S Race]
June 10 & 11 - Moroso [Dbl Race Weekend]
June 24 & 25 - Gainesville Raceway
July 8 & 9 - Jax 103rd Street Complex
August 12 & 13 - Ocala GP

Just found this schedule online. I probably won't make it to any of the races early in the season, but as I improve I might try to make it to some of the later ones. I probably won't be dominating anything in my first season, but I'll try my best.

Pierre Martins

Just got back a few hours ago. It went exceptionally well. Good weekend. I'll have a race report up soon.

Cheers,
Pierre.

Pierre Martins

Welkom Race Report

Pierre Martins

Prepping, prepping, prepping. Fookin shopping trolley is keeping me busy!

damn, now I got oily finger prints all over my keyboard...

Bruce P

Hey Pierre-- I just sold a race car to a gentleman in Pretoria. It was a 962 powered center seat car that was listed here on Rennlist. Purchasers name is Anthony Corin.Do you know him?

Pierre Martins

Hi Bruce, no I don't know him, but I'm happy to hear another Porsche classic is coming to our shores. We have one 956 actively competing here, one of the original TRUST cars now in GULF livery, owned by Franz Pretorius. Franz runs away with every race he enters of course. Some competition will be good, I hope this Anthony guy is gonna race his 962.

Cheers,
Pierre.

ps - we need more cars that can match superkart lap times.

Pierre Martins

More ramblings...

If you're a track racer there might just be a lesson or two somewhere in this post. The driving dynamics in 250 Superkart racing are totally different to driving fast in a car on a race track. In a way Superkarts are more like bike racing. Things happen way faster. There is no time to think. There is no time to change your mind and change your line. In Superkarts you drive on basic instinct.

In Tin-Tops you're pushing the car to its limits and taking it around corners. You can bang and barge your way through. You can lose your mirrors on the first lap. You can have off-track excursions in the kitty litter, get back on track and continue the race. You can even barrel roll or hit the wall and walk away from it without injury.

When the rear end steps out in a tintop you can catch it with a bit of opposite lock and steer it on the throttle (unless you're on oil of course). In a superkart the rear end doesn't step out slowly - It snaps around faster than your brain can register and before you know it you're in big ****. Chances are you gonna get hurt when you go off track in one of these little things. Just like a bike. Make a mistake and it's gonna punish you. If you've ever raced bikes or did a track day and got throttle happy and highsided, you'll know what I mean.

I'm actually writing this to put my own mind back in order. I need to get this "car racing" mentality out of my mind for the moment...

I'm all for out-of-the-box thinking. I'm for new ideas and new technology. Making improvements to the kart and being innovative. Take the F1-style Powershifter I just fitted to my kart. During free practice yesterday we were plagued by electrical problems due to this thing. Nothing worked. Then in the last session I went out not using the powershifter and I was much quicker, (though I sandbagged bigtime 'cause most of my competitors were on pitwall with stopwatches on me).

Just now I sat down behind my computer to type my track notes for Wesbank Raceway and I realised I'm my own worst enemy. Istead of learning to drive the kart I'm bringing in all these new ideas and dependending on technology to go faster. The result right now is every time I'm out on track I end up having to process all new information intead of just working on my driving and getting faster. I'm afraid I've lost myself in technology.

Yup, I feel like an A-hole right now. Back to basics I guess... Hopefully I'll have my mind sorted before next weekend's racing.

Byron_944

Pierre-I think I know what you mean. I havent even started karting yet, but I heard that I should start out with a relatively slow kart in a fast class, so that I dont rely on brute power to get me up to speed, but rather, smooth driving.

Pierre Martins

The size of your ego and cheque book can get you lost in technology quicker than you can pull your head out of your *** and wipe the **** from your eyes.