October 12th, Toledo Octoberfast


Results

Well, Saturday we finished our outdoor season at the Toledo Speedway. The last couple times at the track, we were creeping up on the speed and handling needed to win. In our first practice session, we found we were pretty close on set-up. We made some changes for the 2nd hot laps session, but a couple laps in, broke the throttle cable. They let us go back out during the Heavy class hot lap session though after we got the cable fixed. The kart was great in that session too, being one of the fastest karts out there. The kart handled great, but could've used a little tweaking. We made some little adjustments for the 1st heat where we started on the outside pole. We didn't get the greatest start, and got caught on the outside for a lap or two. When I finally got to the inside, I was in about 4th place. We were all still tight and racing hard when coming out of turn 4 I felt a bump. Next thing I know, the kart wouldn't turn and I'm heading for the wall. We did get it stopped though with a little addition to the kart. The kart behind had hopped my left rear tire, breaking his nose, and getting attached to the kart. After we got seperated, we restarted in 8th. The kart didn't feel exactly the same, but that always happens after an incident. It was still fast, but due to the set-back in track position, we couldn't make much up and finished around 7th. We had been having little problems with our motor throughout the day as well. So, before something major happened, we decided maybe we should change to a fresher motor. We put one on for the 2nd heat that we never ran before. We started in the back, so if it was a good motor, we could only move forward. Well, we were able to come home in 8th, but the motor had the wrong gear, and jet in it. The kart handled pretty well, but again, could use some tweaking. So, for the feature, we changed jet, gear, camber settings, weight percentages, pretty everything but the tires and oil! Again, we started 8th for the feature, and all our changes would make us heros or zeros. Well, the kart handled great and our adjustments worked well, but the motor was junk. We ended up zeros, and came home in 9th. Actually, I was kinda hoping the thing would blow coming back to the pits, but that didn't happen. So, we learned a lot yesterday for next year.
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