Talladega

[Chad Lee]

Are any of the local, semi local shifters planning on running 'little' Talladega in April. I think James Frank said he was planning on it but I can not remember for sure. I would like to...the extra speed will be SWEET!! My little girl turns 3 on the Friday before so I have to keep my priorites straight and wait and see how the B'day party plans out.

Chad

[James Frank]

Chad, I'm planning on going. It's a two-race one day event. You can arrive friday night up till 9pm when they close the gates for the night, and then they reopen about 6am. Plenty of space to park. Registration should be at the gate, and safety tech is handled at the old red scoring building on the old front straight. Driver's meeting around 8:30 immediately followed by practice groups. Should get 3 rounds of practice, about 15 minutes each.

Shifters usually get their own group of 125s and superkarts. First set of races should start around 11 till completed, followed by one round of practice for day two and then the second set of races go. Being this is a big south regional and not a WKA national event, its much more lax.

Our race group will likely again be CIK 125, WKA 125, ICC, and Stock Honda. Last year was about 30 total shifters with our group, 15 or so superkarts. I run CIK 125, standard CIK bodywork, 385 lbs. WKA 125 allows more bodywork options and has a higher minimum weight, think it's 410 or 420 lbs. According to ekartingnews, Robby Harper said no WKA license is required for this event, you can get it at track if they change their mind.

Gear your kart around 1.27 to start with, go up a couple main jet sizes to be a little richer due to the long duration open throttle. You can lay down your radiator some, won't need all the cooling ability and it cuts down drag. Safety wire all your brake bolts, bolts holding together the caliper as well as the bolts mounting the caliper to the chassis. Need to either have a rear axle tether or drill/tap your hubs front and rear through the keyways to put in a set screw for backup retention. an M8 set screw is usually all it takes.

Got any questions let me know.

[Chad Lee]

James,
That's good to know, if I can make it down I'll have to leave EARLY Sat. morning and at least I will know somebody and won't feel totally out of place. The next day the track is open and you are out there I'll get with you and go over some of the things you talked about in your reply if you have the time. I have gotten in the parts for the water pump and a new float for carb. I have not gotten them installed yet, maybe Friday if things go as planned. Thanks again for all the advice/direction a couple of weeks ago. I feel better everyday out there... still aways to go...need laps,laps,laps.
Thanks
Chad

[Mike Green]

Hello karters Im new to shifters and planning to go to Talladega grand prix for track time. Ill start with the 1.27 ratio for gears that you suggested. What would be a good tire to get for this event. Mind you I will be the guy with a big X on my helmet and a sign that says "pass with care!" I have 2 karts, I should be running a Tony kart w/ a 125 honda. This will be the first go kart race I have entered in 25 years and that was in a KT100. I talked to Robby and he gave me some good insight about getting back into Karting. For now it's just track days and play dates.
Thanks for any help
Mike

[Chad Lee]

Mike

Please check your P.M.

Thanks
Chad Lee

[Russ Emick]

James is there a requirement on the rear bumper? I thought some road racing required a wider bumper

[Russ Emick]

Also is there a tech manual or something of that type?

[Charles Wright]

When is this?

[James Frank]

The 09 ruling on the bumper is it must cover at least half of the rear tires but be no wider than the outer edge. It's a WKA national roadrace rule. Now Talladega is just a Big South event and they may be a bit lax on that. Hopefully they are nice since you're already there and this is a new event for you, they'll let you run. Robby Harper and his team are pretty easy going. They are going to take a look and make sure all your stuff is bolted down and wired. I'm almost positive a driver from california came to run and he didn't have the wide bumper.

Being they emphasise repeatedly in the drivers meeting that no bumping of any kind is allowed, even getting very close before overtaking is discouraged, I don't see the necessity of an oversize bumper. I understand the safety aspect of "just in case" though. At 95mph, you touch a rear tire and you'll be up and over the front kart in an instant.

The only way to get a tech manual is when you order a license for the year from WKA or off their website. I wish they would just post it online like SKUSA did. I've got the 08 book and very little changes year to year. Can't recall if my 09 book arrived.

FYI, I've still got my old RR bumper (free, $0), it's not wide enough to cover all the tire, but it goes to the inner edge (08 rule). There's no mounting posts though, so it would have be clamped/bolted to the standard bumper to work.

Sorry I forgot about this before, it's one of those silly CIK Euro things that got pushed over here a few years back. So at 75 mph, open tires are safe, but at 90, they are not? Go figure. They caused all kinds of confusion when the 03 bodywork came out and new karts had the extra loop in the nerfbars, but older karts with breadbox sidepods didn't have to upgrade :mad:.

Talladega is April 11 (one day combined event).

Oh, a 1.27 is a good ratio, I'm using 18/23 (1.278). I'd run a medium tire if you can, you'd eat up a soft tire too fast. A set of MG yellows will last all day, comparably Dunlop DCS, Vegas blue (I think), Maxxis XP5. Nothing wrong with a harder tire like YHC, MG Orange, consistent grip. My best lap is around 1:03 (2007), with a higher HP motor, possible you could be high 1:01's. The track is fun, not busy like BTK, simple but technical at the same time.

[Russ Emick]

I have a new cylinder on the way. I had a ring weld itself to the piston on a new top end and damaged the cylinder. The rest of the family is traveling, so I am planning on being there. I sent Jeremy a PM to see if he could come as well.

[Russ Emick]

By the way, current weather.....72 and sunny for the 11th.

[Charles Wright]

Might be a nice day for a bike ride down there.

[jeff ford]

Derek and I will be there in our DD2's. My new arrow and his RM-1 with the road racing gears. We will be in the open sprint class. Looking forward to seeing everyone.
Charles , we saw Shelton and your wife at Road Atlanta end of last year. He was wrenching for the one and only crazyman Jeff Metter.:rolleyes: The boy is an absolute nut but you gotta love him. That rig he shows up in is unbelievable. He bought the Super Clean Super Kart when we were there. That thing is blaz'in fast!!:eek:

Mr. TENNESSEE;)

[James Frank]

Jeff, we were wondering where you were for race 1. Thought I saw your picture in WKA magazine from Roebling Road. Don't know where I'll be pitting since I'm arriving first thing saturday morning. I usually like to grab a spot near the old scoring building. Weather looks even better, 75 and sunny, which at Talladega will probably feel more like 80. Looking forward to seeing everyone there. Hope Robby has the "fun run" at the end of the day. Planning on letting Jason take mine around to drive on the newer layout. I'd love to try a superkart out sometime.

[jeff ford]

James-

A superkart that is tuned right is a screaming beast. You know, you've seen them at Road Atlanta. I'll give you a good idea of their speed. At Roebling the front straight is roughly 4,000 ft. long. In a DD2, in the draft, we get between 115-120 mph. We had a pack of DD2's in practice that was crossing the start finish line which is roughly the 2000 ft. mark and a Superkart caught and passed us going into turn 1. What made this unbelievable was when the DD2's crossed the start finish line the Superkart was just entering the beginning of the front straightaway.:cool:
Sorry to be so long winded but talking about speed gets the ole' adrenaline flowing!!:eek:
Look forward to seeing everyone. Maybe we can get Keith Karr out there:confused: this time!!!!

Mr TENNESSEE

[Russ Emick]

I am sure that is spooky in a kart. I have raced with the Porsche Club there running a 944 and got passed by a GT Cup car in the enduro, but I saw it coming. Physics (A = F/M) is an amazing thing. It is incredible how fast they close. The first time it happened I almost drove off the track 'cause I never expected him to get to me.

[jeff ford]

Yeah Russ, I know what you mean. In a kart you have just enough time to flinch as he goes by and disappears into the sunset!;) Some of the guys are utilizing these special designed mirrors that attach to either side if the front cowling. Seems like there would be too much vibration to see anything. It's like a lawn mower with a cup holder. All the beverage fisses out and your left with nothing but dry grass clippings!:p

[James Frank]

Wow! Talladega was alot of fun today. Unusually chilly at only 60 at best all day and the sun never came out. Chad, wish you could have come out, but you had a good reason with your little girl's birthday. I finished 3rd in race 1, 5th in race 2, dropped out at halfway with a gremlin which popped my pulse line off the engine. But racing in a 4 kart pack for the lead in race 2 for 15 laps was awesome. Had I been able to make the finish, it could have been anyone's race to win. Showed the big money spenders how good a YZ can be. My best lap was 1:02.0, which I didn't even expect today weighing in at 400lbs total. I came out to go for a win today, and had a legit shot at it. Next time its mine!! Good job on your first time out Russ, hope you enjoyed it.

Oh, they were lax on the bumper rule being it was just a regional race.

[Russ Emick]

I had a great time. Considering I had fired the motor the first time at 10PM on Friday, I was happy to be there at all. The track is a lot of fun, I will plan on making it again it the future. Thanks for the help and coaching at the track. It is a lot more fun when you know some folks there.
It was good meeting you as well Jeff, hope to see you at a track again soon.

[Chad Lee]

James,
Great job...way to represent!! Sorry I wasn't there. By the time we were all cleaned up Friday night I was wore out from the kids, but Gracie had a great time an the weather didn't get too bad. Russ glad to hear you made it down. We will be ready in August! See you guys this weekend!
Chad

[James Frank]

Jeff, how did you finish in race 2? I checked the timesheets before I left the track but forgot to look at your class. The fastest lap posted for CIK 125 race 2 was 1:01.9 I think by Howard Rice. The best I could hope for was they would keep fighting and slow each other down and I'd take a chance outbraking them or timing a run off the exit. Never got that chance but that was my plan once we got to lap 28 to make my move. Glad everyone enjoyed it.

[jeff ford]

I won the 2nd one. Should have one the 1st won but the red flag for the flipped kart screwed up something in timing and scoring. The driver who was in 2nd wasn't man enough to fess up and tell the truth. I like beating the boys with more horsepower. They look great down the straightaways but are slow in the turns.
I'm loving this new Arrow DD2. Great horsepower and excellent handling.

James, your kart looked hooked up and pretty fast. We all had a good time

Mr. TENNESSEE

[jeff ford]

Best time I saw on my Mychron was a 1:04:0;) 4