Making the grade
Time to wrap it up and put the 2008 National Guard Supernationals in the rear view and give my overall opinion of how we all did. First, my performance. I give me a solid D-. Not a complete failure because of the preparation and effort but once the rental ride was incapacitated my five year old worn kart just didn’t have the brakes and handling. It’s only the difference in my case of a couple of seconds but I didn’t make my performance goals which were to run on the lead lap or be within 2-3 seconds of the lead pack. Early on there was a glimmer that I would make it as my best rolling lap in the CRG a 47.2 with only about 20 minutes in the package and a support crew second to none. I had a best theoretical lap of 46.3 in the CRG but once we had to go to my backup, I added another 5 secs and spent the next few days rebuilding brakes and struggling to get the car to respond, particularly as the track rubbered in and missing most of my track time. It wouldn’t stop and it wouldn’t turn and frankly had this been just another regional or local race, I would have parked it. It was a struggle just to get the car safe enough to be on the track. But I wanted to extract some enjoyment from my at that point more than US$6000 investment in money and about a years worth of labor. No way was I going to walk away at that point. By then, for me it was personal.
I used the budget I’d saved for my sports car program next year so I could race out this season in karts, instead of running TT and HPDE to get the miles for my big car license without fast tracking school. I’d do the SNATS again if I had the equipment and support but realistically that money would be or have been better spent on a form of motorsport that was more suited to my build. That 6K would have paid for fast tracking my SCCA license (and in turn my NASA license) and gotten me a ride in at least one or two weekend local club races at Willow Springs or Buttonwillow. Or it would have gone a long way toward building the car or buying one that’s been for sale here in town for the better part of the year. Either way, I’ll keep at least one of the karts because I enjoy them and I hear that MRP may open the Xplex after the first of the year. At least the shifter will help me develop the sports car program. The current plan is after we get settled in the new house (we close Dec 15) to go to Skippy at Laguna and do the one day Mazda test drive to see if I like the car before we spend another 20 grand on getting a race program off the ground. If I like it (which I’m sure I will) I’ll either fast track the license with Skippy school or buy/build a car and go the cheaper, longer route using HPDE and TT. Either way, my days of doing anything other than lapping sessions and our local club track in my kart are done. Just wish I could have gone out on a higher note.
I give my team for the week an enthusiastic A+++. The entire gang at Evolution Karting was incredibly supportive and helpful. Thanks to Jason Lee for the driver coaching and tips, Garrick Miller for the tuning and generously sharing your knowledge and Kurt Mathewson for allowing me to rent the ride under the tent. Hope I didn’t stink up your program too badly. The best part of my week was hanging with those guys. These guys don’t have the biggest tent in the paddock but they can hold their own against the best. If you’ve got a young ‘un that you want brought up through the ranks, give Kurt a call.
As for the event itself, overall a solid B. The presentation and stature was outstanding for a kart race. Top notch, and A++ for that but other areas were lacking. For those outside karting it was a great way to expose them at a fantastic venue. The problem is that I saw zero publicity in town surrounding the event. The circuit layout was fantastic, I quite enjoyed the little time I had on it. It was however, very rough and bumpy and it took race control a day or two to work out run off areas in the plastic canyons. It’s a trade off to fit the track in the limited space but there were a couple of areas that could have used a bit of run off. There was also angst and unnecessary drama with respect to how race control communicated with the racers. At times the lack of professionalism was surprising. Thursday’s session was at times I thought unnecessarily dangerous. With flaggers doubling as security guards during hot track sessions all of the focus wasn’t on the green, crowded track. In some classes, particularly TaG SR race control did not appear to be able to exert any discipline or control on the class as there were several red flags. Eventually a couple of people were parked (or so I’m told) but based on what I saw first hand, it was anarchy out on the track for the first day or so and it seemed they did not have control of the racers. You don’t get control of the situation by making whiney announcements over the PA. You do that by laying down the law and enforcing the rules.
All in all even with the few misteps and faux paux it was a premier karting event. The presentation was excellent, the racing was fantastic and the track was a blast to drive. While at this point the promoter is operationally and logistically at the limit of what they can achieve given the current resources, the event will still continue to be the ass slapping daddy of karting events in the US.
Good luck, race safe and we’ll see you from the bleachers next year…
Tags: SNATS Race Things