The importance of having a Plan B

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I’d left my bro’s 40th birthday part early (and avoided alcohol) so that I could get up early. I was up at 6:00am adding plastic packing foam to my trailer lid to minimise the kart jumping when we hit a bump. I approached Clay just after 9:00am, in plenty of time to get things set and in glorious sunshine. And then I turned into the car park… as soon as I saw the trailers, lavish awnings and motorhomes, I knew it was game over – this weekend, as it turned out, was round 2 of the 2013 Easykart championship!!! I swear it wasn’t on the calendar when I checked the Clay schedule two weeks ago and the lesson for today is ALWAYS PHONE THE CIRCUIT THE DAY BEFORE HEADING ANYWHERE FOR A PRACTICE DAY! I instantly thought of Dunkeswell, which is some way west of Clay but I had no idea if there was an open practice day, or whether they would entertain non-license holders. Unfortunately, Mansell Raceway, who run the track, only have an answerphone and didn’t return my call in the 30 mins I waited outside Clay. Having been so well prepared (it’s all relative, of course), I was hugely disappointed at the prospect of missing out. We headed back towards Yeovil, giving us the time it would take to reach the A303 to find out if Dunkeswell was going to be an option. There was no reply from the club secretary, nor from my good buddy who was off racing at Llandow. Two miles before the point at which we would head back to Bristol, I got the call from the aforementioned buddy – Dunkeswell was on!!!

Now things were about to get a little more difficult – we were following another Dad with Satnav which resulted in us leaving the A303 prematurely and heading into some farm lanes (reversing a Clio with trailer in farm lanes is not something I enjoy doing). Then we switched to Junior’s iPhone as he had the route mapped and could see the track at the end of the journey. Somewhere between here and there however, the destination changed and we found ourselves routed to a forest in East Devon. Lessons two and three for the day – never trust Satnav and never trust a 14 year old who has no awareness of direction other than following a blue line on his phone!

It was around noon when we reached Dunkeswell and I was immediately struck by how big it was compared with Clay. With nothing else on which to base an opinion, Clay had previously looked fine but Dunkeswell just has something else about it. Maybe it’s just those extra corners and a decent sized straight but looked like a proper Grand Prix track for karts (at least to a noob). We wanted to get ready quickly so I left on my 82 sprocket from our last cold and dire practice at Clay. I ran the slicks at 13psi, then double and triple checked the wheel nuts, hubs and engine mount brackets. My mission for the day was threefold: not to lose any wheels, not to lose any engine mounts and not to burn myself on the exhaust! At the end of the first session Junior jumped out with a huge grin on his face – it would be fair to say he was instantly a big fan of the track. You could see he was starting to attack the track much harder in the next couple of sessions, getting his times into the 51s and the engine revs up to 15.9k rpm. I wanted to change down a sprocket but this would mean touching those bloody engine mounts – I had to do it but there was some trepidation having run so well since our issues at Clay. Eight minutes into the ten minute stint he backed off but proceeded to drive a lap before it slowed and the engine revved wildly many more times than I would like to have heard as the chain was clearly off. He pulled off and I picked up the engine mount bracket and bolt that was on the kerb next his kart. My worst fear for the day was realised. I still don’t really know what is causing this – I am certain the bolts were tight. Were they really not tight enough, or too tight? The engine mount bracket thread seems worn at the lower end of the thread but it bites and fits tightly once it reaches the upper part of the thread. I think a new engine mount might be my next step. There is more investigative work to be done here and I might end up calling in the A-Team. Still… with everything replaced, tightened and quadruple-checked the final session ran smoothly.

All in all it was a very good day – Junior’s best time was a 50.2 and he really seemed to up his pace over the initial sessions. He was still easing off far too soon down the back straight, whereas the other drivers would hits the brakes much harder and far later into the corner, but it was a very positive day. The only other issue we had run into was when he came in reporting a ‘hissing’ sound and saying he thought it was fuel or tyres. The starter battery had died so I couldn’t fire it up on the stand to investigate and it was only then that I wondered if the excess fuel I had wiped from around the carb earlier in the afternoon could have been relevant. As it turned out, the mechanic had not fitted one of the carb gaskets correctly – it was only mounted on one bolt and had slid down under the carb. Another item to add the list of mistakes not to make again. Lesson four for the day – trust the feedback your lad gives us, he knows what it feels like far more than you do!

It’s a shame that the JTKM grid at Dunkeswell is  poor to non-existent (the only other TKMs at the track were a junior and a senior – both from Clay!) but we’ll definitely come back. The only thing that I forgot to bring was the sun cream! It may only have been 12 degrees but that was more than enough for me…

Cost of day: £25 petrol (it was something of a road trip!), £4 petrol for the kart (still plenty left from last time), £25 practice fee (half day)

Total spent so far: £2,348

There is no such thing as a sympathetic weld

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I was perhaps naively hoping that a small, discreet crack could have a small, discreet weld. Some hope! I should have taken a photo but was in a bit of a rush to get the kart reassembled for Saturday so I rubbed down the blistered paint around the weld, touched it up with a hastily borrowed pot of Tonykart paint and then put the kart back together.

Nothing ever goes smoothly and yesterday’s challenge was the front bumper bars – the upper bar clips were too loose and, after not an insignificant amount of headscratching and wondering what the Hell I had done, out came Junior and suggested I put the bumper on! That pushed the bumper bars apart and all was well. Remember – I am making myself look stupid so you don’t have to…

Cost of repair: weld £10, paint pot £6

Total spent so far: £2,294

Time to weld that crack

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It’s been a while since my last post; a week preparing for a vacation followed by a less-than-relaxing but very enjoyable two week family holiday. Now it’s back to business! We are planning to practice this Saturday and I need to get the crack welded beforehand as we are hopefully approaching the stage where a) I can keep the kart running without it losing wheels :S and b) Junior will start to push the kart and attack the track a little. I had a huge list of things to do in the garden at the weekend with only an hour or two pencilled in to get the front end of the kart stripped in preparation for welding – after all it is only a case of undoing a few nuts to remove the nassau, bumper and floor tray, right?

It was quite straightforward until I got to the bumper bar! First problems came when I found that two bolts were threaded – the first was the lower of the nose centre clamp bolts, the second on the lower nassau support bracket. A new 4mm metal drill bit was the answer to those particular challenges. The biggest issue came when the lower front bumper bar refused to move on the one side. I was aware that the kart had been involved in an accident prior to buying it and thought that the crack was the only issue resulting from that but it appears the bumper bar has been ever-so-slightly bent also – sufficiently enough cause it to have become wedged on one side of the chassis. In the end I needed the help of another noob Dad (thanks, Nick!) and his portable blow torch that enabled us to heat the bar and knock the hitherto fixed bumper bar free.

With most of the afternoon gone, I decided to make the most of the lack of floor tray and clean the underside of the chassis that is not normally accessible. My tip of the day is Elbow Grease General Purpose Degreaser – it was recommended by a former kart man and I cannot fault it, especially if you can find it in Poundland for a quid!!!

Still a little annoyed I didn’t see this before handing over the readies:

Chassis crack :(

My nice, clean chassis complete with top-of-the-range carb/engine cover:

Clean chassis :)

I love karting (again)

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Setting a PB lap time should be a good thing, right? Not if your son, his mate and his Dad all set better PBs than yours and especially if there is 0.8s difference between the quickest and you! It took some time to get over this devastating December evening – had I received £1 every time I said I was gutted, we could have afforded a 2012 Tonykart 😉 Anyway, tonight was our first time back on track at TeamSport Bristol – initially it was just going to be a Dad’s thing but the kids funded their own places. The track was in decent shape and it was a really enjoyable evening – four different karts, none of which were ideally suited to my driving style but had great fun attacking the track and outscored Junior 3-1 in setting the fastest lap of the sessions 🙂 🙂 🙂 Ok, so I am 0.5s off the very quickest blokes there but it was nice to be back on top in the family/friends battle and set a new PB too (only marred by my second ever black flag – I thought it was harsh but I was getting a little ‘bumpy’!). The Heikki helmet just brings a continual smile to my face! If only I could break the 35.0s barrier 🙁

Some well earned self indulgence

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This evening, I’ll be back in the driving seat for the first time this year as I’m off to Teamsport Bristol with another noob karting Dad 🙂 What was once a monthly outing has had to take a back seat of late, in fact I’ve not been since Junior was quicker than me for the first time at the back end of last year. I’m really hoping to put that disappointment behind me – it took some time getting over 😉 It also means I get to wear my birthday present from last year – in my opinion, it’s the best present ever! What do you reckon?

helmet

Practice 2: one to forget

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Our second practice session took place on Saturday. It was in doubt throughout the week; primarily because the weather forecast looked downright miserable. In the end, we decided to go for it and hope it didn’t rain the whole day. This was our first truly solo session – no friendly experts on hand, nor other noob Dads for moral support. We left late (again) but this time there were no stops for trailer adjustments; I had my cargo net in place to keep the cover on the kart and a couple of removable bits of ply wood to support the full width of the rear tyres with no overhang. So far, so good but then it started to go a little ‘pear shaped‘.

First, whilst the cargo net had kept the kart cover on the kart, it hadn’t stopped the front of the cover from coming loose and flapping around. Consequently, the kart cover had split and frayed in at least four places (does anyone make covers suitable to cover karts on top of trailers?). Then, during the pre-flight checks, I fired up the engine with the remote starter and Junior gave it a bit of throttle which duly stuck open – cue very loud, revving engine and lots of looks as Dad frantically tried stopping the engine. The brakes didn’t do it initially although what seemed like minutes was probably only 5 seconds. I don’t really know why this was – removing the airbox, I could see that the carb butterfly was open more than it should have been but only a little. The throttle was opening and closing ok although I subsequently realised that the throttle cable swivel assembly was upside down, so whether or not this played a part I am uncertain. Anyway, one carb change and successful remote start later we were ready to go. Pleasingly (and one of the few good things to have happened over the day) was the kart bump starting very easily once again – no waved yellows needed! Disappointingly, the kart decided it was going to head straight into the pits at the end of the out lap as the rear hub and wheel came off at the top bend and veered into the pit entrance. This was a little embarrassing given we’d had a wheel come off during our first practice day because I had negated to check the nuts between sessions. I put the wheel back on the axle and pushed the kart back on the trolley as discretely as possible. Junior pulled the wheel off as we were passing a couple of Dads in the car park but I scolded him and quickly put it back – I don’t think anyone one noticed 😉 Luckily the kart was undamaged and I added hub checks to my list of post-session checks… I cannot and will not let this happen again!

Then the real problems started – the kart stopped on track during our next outing with what had sounded like the chain coming off. It had but we’d also lost an engine mount clamp. I had been suspicious of the engine mounts during our first practice day as the chain was looser after every run and sometimes the engine would be flush against the engine restraining bolt when I had left a gap of a few millimetres prior to a run. I had a replacement bracket and bolt amongst the spares and fitted the engine once again, making sure the bracket was tight. Junior made it back to the pits complaining something felt wrong and when I looked, the chain had came off again. Getting a little bit annoyed, I started to wonder whether the front sprocket was worn but, as this was one spare part that didn’t come with the kart (and if I’m honest, I am not sure how the front sprocket is fitted), I changed the rear sprocket (it was getting colder/wetter again so I was planning this anyway) and fitted a longer chain before sending the kart out again. By this point, Junior had lost all trust in the kart; driving very hesitantly and a few laps in, he stops on the exit of Billies Blind once again. I find that the engine is once again mounted on a single clamp which this time has worked loose, leaving the engine rather precariously fitted to the chassis. I’ve now had it too!!! I pushed the kart straight to the shop to get an expert opinion from Mike, the shop owner. Mike took the engine off and checked everything over – bolt and engine threads, chain, sprocket – the latter is worn but still ok, as is the chain which has a tight spot but wouldn’t have caused the problem. We decided to fit some OTK engine mount clamps, which look much bigger/stronger and put everything back together. Mike had some contrasting views on the chain (tighter than I’d been running before) and the engine restraining bolt (flush against he engine – I understood this would put stress on the chassis but I was happy to try anything at this point and I’ll research this again later) and we went off for another go. Finally!!! We had arrived at 10:00, participated in only six of the twelve 20 minute sessions but at 15:40 we managed a full session with no dramas. It was nice to see Junior attacking things a little without actually looking fully committed (understandably so I guess).

And with that, it was time to go – there was a birthday party waiting at home! Unfortunately there was still time for one more hiccup – the trailer jockey wheel worked loose on the way home, dropped down and got wedged beneath the trailer. I could have swore *a lot* but I am very good in front of the kids; the last time I swore in front of one of them was when Nicholas Bendtner spurned a late chance to put Arsenal through against Barcelona at which point I jumped up and shouted in disgust “That was sh*t, Bendtner” in the direction of the TV although, to be fair, it was complete and utter sh*t! All he had to do was bring the ball under control and stick it past the ‘keeper, instead he demonstrated what is known on the terraces as ‘the touch of a rapist’. But I digress… 😉 the trailer wasn’t budging, my son had friends waiting for us at home and I had to call the AA. Then the hail came down, so we sat it out in the car whilst the kart was buried in ice. When the storm passed I managed to lift the trailer, free the wheel and cancel the AA call out although it was scant consolation by that point!

I never did think it was going to be easy…

Cost of day: £12 petrol to get there, £15 petrol for the kart (only 3l out of 10l used!!!), £35 practice fee, £30 engine mount clamps and bolts

Total spent so far: £2278

Birthday boy

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Question: What do you get for a boy on whom you’ve spent over £2000 in the past month? Answer: Absolutely nothing! Ok, that isn’t strictly true – we gave him a karting t-shirt, a small Toblerone, a small packet of jelly beans (Jelly Belly, of course) and a large packet of Parma Violets!!! Having received his next 20 birthdays worth of presents last month, he wasn’t ever getting much from us. We did allow him to have presents from other family members which basically consisted of something he wanted – a mirror red visor for his Bell KC3, and something I wanted – a Mychron 4 USB data key. I’ve wanted to sit down and play with the AiM Race Studio 2 software so now is my chance. And as these things weren’t funded out of my now-empty coffer, I’m not adding them to the total cost 🙂

Our first test day!

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We had our first test day during the recent school holiday. I spent the evening before getting everything together. When I bought the kart, I was struck by how much harder bump starting had been compared with the Venom we had rented for the day. I had started the Venom with relative ease but the EVR was another matter altogether – the seller and his son had done all of the pushing after my initial lightweight effort merely repositioned the kart at the pit exit but it was hard work and the sight of them disappearing around the pit straight bend (a misnomer, if ever there was one) was a little concerning. Also concerning had been the need to lift the back end high, nose dragging, bumping it down hard and push harder for as long as it took! My previous starting experience had been so much nicer – lift a little, drop down and run 10 yards. Anxious to avoid any ball busting push starts, my friendly local expert (cheers, Mark!) had come over to check out the carb and recommended leaving the butterfly (throttle valve???) very slightly open to ease any starting woes. With the remote starter battery charged and my two 5l cans of fuel filled with Shell V-Power (after I had verified with the pump attendant that V-Power was the Shell Super Unleaded!), I figured I had everything set.

It’s funny how all karting preparation takes so much longer than you think; I had planned to set out at 08:00 so that we could get down to Clay by 09:30 and be ready to roll when the track opened at 10:00. My pre-flight trailer checks took an eternity and we arrived 45 minutes later than planned, making four unscheduled stops enroute: one to remove the kart and trailer covers, which were clearly not planning on staying on the trailer for much of the journey, and three to shift the kart after it kept hopping sideways on the trailer. Note to self: do the ratchet straps up as tightly as they’ll go otherwise the kart will move (I had been trying not to stress the frame overly). We got the track in glorious sunshine – it was probably the nicest day of the year so far and I was hugely relieved to see my aforementioned friendly local expert, who had decided to bring his lad after all – thanks again, Mark 🙂 It was a day for the noobs – my son has two other friends who have started karting this year and we arrived within 10 minutes of each other and set up camp. Fearful of screwing anything up, I had typed up the following list of things to do!

1. Fuel mixing (5l:300ml):
1. Add 300ml oil to 5l petrol and shake well
2. Put a paper filter into my filtering jug and fill the 3l tank

2. Carb settings:
1. Run the low jet at 2.5 turns
2. Run the high jet at about 10 mins past

Note: The low jet is screwed in at zero and then rotated clockwise in half turn movements. The jets screw IN clockwise then OUT anti-clockwise. Screw it clockwise until it touches, then just wind anti-clockwise.

3. Chain/sprocket:
1. Use the 82 sprocket unless he is passing 15k, 79 might be more appropriate in dry conditions

4. Tyre pressures:
1. 14psi for slicks in colder conditions and 24psi for wets
2. Go up a psi or two if it gets colder, down if it gets warmer/lap times drop
3. Minimum 9psi for both

5. Starting:
1. Remove the spark plug and sit it on top of the engine
2. Remove the airbox
3. Remove fuel pipe from carb
4. Blow the fuel through until it’s almost at the carb
5. Replace fuel pipe
6. Cover the carb whilst rotating the axle and hope to see the fuel being sucked into the carb
7. Replace everything
8. Start the engine on the trolley using the remote starter

6. Bump starting:
1. Lift
2. Run
3. Drop
4. Push
5. As kart starts to fire – light acceleration
6. Lightly choke if still not going
7. Couple of stabs on accelerator if needed

I know that some of the above would be considered sub-optimal – we ran a large sprocket when we bought the kart as my son really struggled to get the revs up on the straights and the tyre pressures fairly high as he wasn’t getting any hat into them.

Prepping a kart seems to take 90 minutes regardless – this was the case at the Clay Open Day where my son trialled a JTKM and Junior Max, when we rented the Venom and when we bought the EVR so I shouldn’t have been surprised that we weren’t ready to roll until 11:45. So on to the big moment (as per Section 6) –  I set myself up at the back of the pit lane to give myself maximum pushing time before I got to the point I’d be running around the bend under waved yellows! Lift – run – keep running – something isn’t right, it doesn’t sound like it’s firing – we stopped at the bottom of the pit exit. “Dad, the spark plug isn’t in”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oops! With the spark plug in, it started perfectly – minimal lift, 5 yards and he was off 🙂 I watched from the centre of the track with the *hugest* smile of satisfaction – all the effort, hours reading online, watching kart sales, hassle of towing, haggling, buying – were forgotten. It was open track and, with no more than eight karts on track at its busiest, we were able to kart, kart and kart. My son’s previous times were massively off of the pace – 10 seconds off in the Venom, 8 seconds off when we bought the EVR but his early times now were in the 42s. His revs were > 15k so we moved down to a 79 sprocket and let the tyre pressures down to 11psi as the track warmed. His best time was a 37.5 until he lost a wheel (Lesson #145: always check your nuts) and then things got colder and the wheel loss seemed to create some doubt in his mind as he never broke 40s after that. It was a fantastic day though – I only forgot to put the spark plug in one more time and he’d have carried on all night if he could have (as it was we used the 10l of fuel we brought and it was getting time to think about leaving). 140 laps in the bag, a kart than ran beautifully and started every time, no offs and 8 seconds quicker than his previous best. I even had a chance to take some nice pics too courtesy of Greg, who lent me a very, very nice piece of glass 🙂

Cost of day: £12 petrol to get there, £15 petrol for the kart, £35 practice fee, £40 Clay Pigeon Loyalty Card

Total spent so far: £2170

The great garage/unwanted toy/crash helmet clear out

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In a bid to recoup some of the not-budgeted cost of the Bell KC3 and to clear some space in a now very crowded garage, I’ve been having a bit of a clear out. Gone are the petrol hedge trimmer that I hated using because of the fumes (ironic, huh?) and the kids bikes that have sat unused for three or four years. That’s £50 back. Going are a couple of fantastic items on eBay 😉

Firstly, a mightily impressive Traxxas E Revo 1/10 Monster Truck that has sat on top of my son’s cupboard for over a year. Pleasingly that soared to £170 in the first three days and has over 50 watchers. Unfortunately, with every desirable item you get any number of people enquiring as to whether or not you have a Buy It Now price in mind – I have sold a lot of desirable stuff on eBay and only once have I turned down an offer and not made at least as much by letting the auction run. I added a comment stating I’d let the auction run but that hasn’t deterred the bargain hunters…

Secondly, I have listed my son’s first crash helmet – a Nolan N62 Melandri Replica. I searched high and low for a decent, not bland, extra small sized lid that my son would really love and found it in this Melandri replica. Everything about is cool – the colour, the number, the skeleton teeth… 🙂 Anyway, my son is not happy about it as he prefers this to the plain white Bell but it needs to be done. Currently going for £9.52; it’s always interesting to see the random amounts people bid – is it that they think a little extra over the exact pound or 50p will seal the deal?

Total funds raised for the cause: £229.52 (guaranteed)

All these bits soon add up!

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Three orders placed with Spellfame inside the first week – that’s planning for you! I ordered:

  • Spark plug spanner – £7.50 (the handle is too short for my liking)
  • T-Bar socket for wheel nuts – £7.50
  • Mechanics gloves – £4.75 (hands still freeze in them)
  • Carb cleaner – £3.45
  • 3m fuel pipe – £3.45 (fuel pipe on kart was very brown and hard to see where the fuel was so it’s been replaced)
  • Pulse pipe – £1.56 (seemed like a good idea to replace the piping but that little wire tie on the engine looks delicate – not yet installed)
  • 3x Fuel funnel filters – £2.25
  • Fuel tank brass filter – £9.50 (recommended by a friend to help avoid getting dirt in the carb)
  • 9v battery – £2.50 (spare Mychron battery, necessary to make up minimum order for free postage!)

Including VAT, Spellfame are £50 better off for my custom. In addition, I have also splashed out on:

Total spent so far: £2068!!!!!!!!! (£568 over budget – hope the missus isn’t following this blog)