Southern Go Kart Club – Bolivar – 15/7/2016

A step into a different class.

The Rotax Pro Tour is a 7 round National Series, which utilises a single engine supplier across all classes. The base engine is the same from the kids to the adults, with various changes and restrictions applied to the engine for the lower and younger classes.

We had to make some minor changes and adjustments to race in this class.  There was the simple task of fitting the engine, which basically required rebuilding the entire kart to somehow jam it in there, and it still didn’t quite fit.  We then had to add a whole heap of weight, and finally, put on tyres which were totally different to what we had ever used before.  Trivial, really.

Being a national event, we had official practice on Friday.  We quickly learnt we had a lot of work to do, and so I got to work on the mechanicking.

Qualifying didn’t go very well.  The kart had very little grip and Jim qualified 19 out of 21.  He would start there in the first 3 heats.

Lots of changes were made to kart over the next 3 heats, but nothing seemed to help.  Christine just wasn’t co-operating this week.  Jim finished 18th in heat 1, and 19th in both heats 2 and 3.

Cue the now traditional Saturday night frantic mechanicking session.  I had been threatening to take the angle grinder to Christine for quite a while now, and I finally snapped after what she had dished up on Friday and Saturday.

Jim started the pre-final in 20th, and the angle grinder seemed to have had a positive effect.  Jim looked a lot racier, and the kart seemed to be handling a bit better.  Jim finished the heat in 18th.

Jim had a decent start in the final, getting up to 14th.  He had a decent battle with some other kids in that pack, dropping back to 15th, moving back to 14th and generally having fun.

Unfortunately, the kart started to go off, as we had dialled in too much grip, and Jim dropped back to finish in 17th.

As per usual, we had fun, we learnt heaps, and Jim got some excellent experience racing against the best kids in the country.

Thanks to Alicia for taking the photos, Dave Haak for lending us an engine and providing a LOT of tech support over the weekend, Jim’s grandparents for coming out to support him, and Tim and Denise for their support of Jim as well.

Thanks also go out to Jim’s sponsor Iocane, and to all the people at St George Kart Centre and CRG Australia.  Jim would also like to thank all the officials and volunteers, without whom we wouldn’t be able to race.

Score Check.  Christine (the possessed kart) pulled out something different this week.  She ignored setup changes, was just being painful, and drew blood via a minor injury to a finger.  Admittedly she was trying to remove the finger, but thankfully she stuffed up.  I’m awarding a point for the combined effort.

In a twist though, I’m also awarding a point to myself for the work with the angle grinder.  Christine was slightly better behaved after her encounter with a cutting disc, so I will assume we have renegotiated our relationship.

Current score: JP 2 (survived 2 weeks without hurting himself, use of Angle Grinder Persuasion) – Christine 4 (Burn by exhaust, Degreasing of the eye, Magical Goggle Piercing Metal bit, Special Combo).