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Donnie and I went there yesterday afternoon and did four sessions. I liked the track even more after running there a second time. It will be a lot more fun and challenging when they get the 9 hp karts. Most of the karts are pretty even, but kart #15 was a dog and I think #5 was off. They tested #15 after I ran it and they think it was about 5 tenths off the other karts, the motor was not yet broken in.

The Marketing person there (Scott) formerly ran Formula 3000 in South America & raced against Christian Fitiapaldi, he was very nice and helpful when it came to tips about running the track. He also ran a session with us and provided some helpful tips. He shared some cool ideas they have about running some of their leagues. Donnie's best was a 33.0 and my fastest was a 32.704, given the weigh difference between Donnie and I (about 35 pounds) he probably outdrove me. There was definitely more time out there, we just didn't have the talent to make it happen. The guy who ran the track record the other night of 31.8 is very fast, but also only weighs 128, so that is a big help. It's really hard to compare times b/c the karts and condidtions (track and air temps) can make a huge difference in performance as we've experienced at other facilities (e.g., cold air makes more power). Regardless, it's fun to race and the practice of looking ahead and being smooth with one's imputs while karting is awesome practice for autox.

Eric

Great job Brian!!

Mike Whitney must have got the same kart that you did because he was quite frustrated also. One thing that I learned last night was the tires on the karts have been on there since they opened (14 days ago). The owners said that they would be changing them today (as their tire changer had just arrived yesterday). They said the tires were past due to be changed. We were estimating that the tires had probably gone through about 500 heat cycles in that time frame. It was amazing just how quick the tires would loose heat (and thus loose GRIP)!

After most people left, Mike, David, and I were talking (and still drinking). We noticed another group set out on the course and when we saw all the times where in the 32's, we decide to step outside and look. It was the track workers running their "end of night" sessions. We saw no break lights when the guys had open track in front of them. However, they feathered the throttle alot. I had problems with the back end "hopping" on the big right handed turn in the middle of the track. One of the track workers told me after our session was over that I needed to feather the throttle more to prevent the "hopping" and I would knock time off my laps (wish I had that info before we were done driving!!).

I'd like to get a list of times from all three groups so we can see how we did overall. I'll post group 2's info shortly.......

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Rob Harvey
919-697-5485
1997 BMW M3
1992 Acura Integra (Simon)