Round 2 - PFI - Practice Day
Post the dramatic setup day it was naturally a hope that Sunday practice should be a stress free session allowing sufficient time in the kart and getting used to the very difficult track that is PFI. Naturally it wasn’t to be and the day was riddled with mechanical issues throughout.
PFI is the fastest track of the season with karts reaching in excess of 70mph in some sectors, as such the load applied is much higher than most other tracks and given the pre weekend repairs it was no surprises that we had the issues we had.
The day started off with Ryan doing 3 laps to ensure the kart felt ok and whilst it was apparent that the inboard R/H clutch was in the incorrect orientation (setting) it would have little detrimental effect on the performance of the kart.
Clutch engagement settings
Ben, Curt, Alex and Ryan spent the next couple of hours trouble free putting in some respectable sub 1’9 lap times.
Upon the second round of runs Curt had a clutch throw a retaining bolt but with a quick repair and a new bolt kit from Lucas Racing we were back out for some more stints, Ben would take the Kart out next whilst Ryan cleans up and gets into his kit.
Upon swapping out Ben for Ryan, Ben noted some flexibility issues in the kart and upon closer inspection it was apparent that that kart had sheered at the welds and thrown a second clutch retaining bolt. It was apparent now that the loss of clutch was due to undue strain on the chain given the chassis was flexing in all the wrong places.
Speaking to Dave of Lucas Racing he suggested pleading with Dan the rental man (the same guy who fabricated a tool for the Transit) to sleeve the sheered sections and weld up the broken joints.
It was always a long shot that it would last the 6 hours of the race and the chassis would be overly stiff (resulting in greater oversteer) but by this point just crossing the line would be sufficient.
Dan got to work with the incentive of a pack of beer and did a cracking job of repairing the broken sections.
Once having the Kart returned from the workshop in a bunch of bits, we got back to replacing the engines, fixing the broken clutches (having also broken a spring) and rebuilding the kart.
Post repairs this allowed time for the team to get back on track, with Ben dropping off race fuel and Ryan getting control tyres fitted, Curt and Alex got a few more sessions in.
We had one more loss of chain during Alex’s session but given it was the end of the day and it would have been the 8th time taking engines off the Kart it wasn’t too much of a trouble.
Going back to the awning and prepping for the following days race was now a necessity, having gone over the majority of the kart, settings, tensions and correcting clutch positions we did our upmost to ensure we were ready.
Given how many times the kart had been taken apart its a surprise we didn’t miss anything, or did we…
With a relaxed early evening on the agenda we all got together for some fajitas and a well deserved beer which quite honestly couldn't have come sooner.
An early night and good sleep was well deserved before race day.
