As most of you know, I've been karting (yep, that's with a k) since I left Cornell as it is a reasonably inexpensive way to stay racing. I also do Lemons from time to time, but I kart about ever 2-3 weeks. Because this eats up so many of my weekends, Caroline thought it would be cool to do a post about it.
The local track is F1 Outdoors (www.f1outdoors.com), a very nice track which can be run clockwise or counter clockwise and in two different configurations. It is a dedicated kart track which has their own "arrive and drive" karts for events and the like. A half hour private track rental runs about $1,800!!
The club at F1 Outdoors runs both shifter karts and TAG (Touch-and-go, a type of class) karts. Previously they ran the Rotax series which has many more regulations and only allows Rotax engines. As such, I have a kart with Rotax engine which is probably the most common type of engine in single speed karts at the moment. I have a CRG chassis which is what the local shop sells and supports. I (true to form) bought an older kart (~2004 chassis) for only $2,600 instead of buying a new one for around $8,000. I'm not regretting the decision, but I have been lusting after the newer karts which have better adjustability and supposedly are quicker. I've negotiated a friend at the track that we'll trade karts for a practice session - he gets video and data analysis and I get to see what a new kart feels like.
Some stats about my kart:
Single Speed, centrifugal clutch
Displacement: 125cc
Max RPM: 14,200
Max Speed: ~100mph, but I gear it to be RPM limited at around 73mph at the local track
Lateral acceleration: ~2gs
Longitudinal acceleration: +1.2Gs/-.8 Gs (The kart does better under braking)
Fuel: 93 octane 2 stroke
I've just barely put a data logging setup on the kart in addition to my GoPro (video recording). It means that I can capture acceleration (in 3 axis), yaw (how fast the car is turning), speed, lap times, GPS coordinates, and front wheel speed currently. I can add a bunch more sensors which I plan on adding when I get the time. These are probably the most important for the moment. I'm hoping that this will help me figure out how to drive faster and make the whole thing a little more "engineering-y" rather than "seat of pants-y". Most karters are very much "seat of pants", which works pretty well, but I have to believe that data and science should help further. We'll see! I'm sure I'll post later when i get more data and get better at looking at it.
Check out the RaceCapturePro here: http://www.race-capture.com/
The really cool thing that having both data and video is that I can do overlay videos. Check out this video for what it all look at!
The local track is F1 Outdoors (www.f1outdoors.com), a very nice track which can be run clockwise or counter clockwise and in two different configurations. It is a dedicated kart track which has their own "arrive and drive" karts for events and the like. A half hour private track rental runs about $1,800!!
The club at F1 Outdoors runs both shifter karts and TAG (Touch-and-go, a type of class) karts. Previously they ran the Rotax series which has many more regulations and only allows Rotax engines. As such, I have a kart with Rotax engine which is probably the most common type of engine in single speed karts at the moment. I have a CRG chassis which is what the local shop sells and supports. I (true to form) bought an older kart (~2004 chassis) for only $2,600 instead of buying a new one for around $8,000. I'm not regretting the decision, but I have been lusting after the newer karts which have better adjustability and supposedly are quicker. I've negotiated a friend at the track that we'll trade karts for a practice session - he gets video and data analysis and I get to see what a new kart feels like.
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| I'm number 28 |
Single Speed, centrifugal clutch
Displacement: 125cc
Max RPM: 14,200
Max Speed: ~100mph, but I gear it to be RPM limited at around 73mph at the local track
Lateral acceleration: ~2gs
Longitudinal acceleration: +1.2Gs/-.8 Gs (The kart does better under braking)
Fuel: 93 octane 2 stroke
I've just barely put a data logging setup on the kart in addition to my GoPro (video recording). It means that I can capture acceleration (in 3 axis), yaw (how fast the car is turning), speed, lap times, GPS coordinates, and front wheel speed currently. I can add a bunch more sensors which I plan on adding when I get the time. These are probably the most important for the moment. I'm hoping that this will help me figure out how to drive faster and make the whole thing a little more "engineering-y" rather than "seat of pants-y". Most karters are very much "seat of pants", which works pretty well, but I have to believe that data and science should help further. We'll see! I'm sure I'll post later when i get more data and get better at looking at it.
Check out the RaceCapturePro here: http://www.race-capture.com/
The really cool thing that having both data and video is that I can do overlay videos. Check out this video for what it all look at!
So, how have I been doing? Well, at F1 Outdoors I'm usually in the upper middle pack. I've gotten one win (see previous post), but it was in partial rain and wasn't the same as winning on a normal day. I'm motivated to figure out how to get quicker (hence the data analysis coming up), but I recently took a trip to New Hampshire to a different track and actually won! The first time on a track with very little practice and I was about a half second faster than the next fastest person. It makes me even more convinced that I haven't yet "figured out" F1 Outdoors, either from a kart setup or driver setup perspective. Hopefully future posts will be about doing testing, analysis, and getting faster!
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