Dublin Go Kart Club – Monarto – 21/8/2016

Hey – JP Here.  I’m back.  I managed to to survive the review process which questioned my mechanicking capabilities, so I’ll give you a run down on this weeks race…

As I’ve mentioned previously, the SA Restricted Zonal Championship is a three race series designed to give the people who race in the restricted engine classes an opportunity to compete in a series.  For us, it’s a good chance to have a hit out before the final round of the State Championships in 3 weeks time.

So, this was our official launch of the EvoKart.  Jim was pretty excited, and he thinks it looks good…

I wasn’t so worried about how it looks.  It sort of needed to go fast or I would be checking out ads on seek.

The WIFA Racing review process was fairly thorough, and the team decided to impose a few minor restrictions on what I was allowed to change on the kart.  I was given the following list of changes I could make to the kart setup without approval:

Amount of fuel in the tank

It was recommended I also check in with the team once I had added any fuel, to make sure it was done correctly, but I was given absolute discretion (well very strict instructions) on how to put the fuel into the tank.

I’m guessing I did the fuel thing pretty good, as Jim managed to qualify in second.  No changes were approved to be made to the kart for heat 1, so there was no mechanicking performed.

In heat 1, Jim dropped back to third at the start, and the first 4 started to pull away.  It was all pretty close, and Jim finished in 3rd, with the top 4 finishing with 1.3 seconds of each other.

Jim got a good start in heat 2, getting a gap on the field after some excitement in the first corner.  He put in some fast, consistent lap times, and took out the heat win.

In the pre-final, Jim started in 2nd.  Again, he dropped back to 3rd at the start, and then the first 3 started to build a gap on the field.  Jim had a couple of goes to try to get into 2nd, but had no luck.  Jim finished in 3rd, with 0.4 seconds separating the top 3.

A mechanicking change was requested and approved for the final – Time for me to shine.  I duly tightened a bolt one half turn.  The kart was now ready for the final.

In the final, Jim started out of 3rd.  Again, the first 3 began to move away from the field.  Jim managed to briefly get up into second, but he was taken a few corners later.  While this fighting for position was going on, 4th managed to catch up and slip by Jim.  Jim had a crack into the last corner, there was some contact, with Jim going past and the other competitor falling back to 4th.

Jim ended up finishing 3rd, and I survived for another week.

Jim would like to thank Iocane, WIFA Racing, EvoKart Australia, and his mum and sister for all their support.  Thanks also to all the officials and volunteers, without whom Jim couldn’t race.

The team is suggesting Jim went well because I didn’t touch anything.  I know what really happened though.

When we got back from Melbourne, I closely examined the kart.  Unfortunately, I had let Jim’s new kart get too close to his previous kart, and Christine had managed to jump from the old kart to possess the new one.  I duly performed an ancient Mesopotamian ritual to exorcise the spirit – it failed.  Thankfully, I was also in possession of a Babylonian talisman to bind the spirit, so I reckon we have Christine under control for the moment.

Current score:

JP -> 3 (Survived 2 weeks without hurting himself, use of Angle Grinder Persuasion, Ancient Spirit Mumbo Jumbo)

Christine -> 4 (Burn by exhaust, Degreasing of the eye, Magical Goggle Piercing Metal bit, Special Combo).