Thursday, April 30, 2009

Yaw Moment Racing Logo

I made an initial sketch of my team logo and am happy with the way it turned out. It certainly has the dorky engineering flavor I was going for. I made it in powerpoint so it is a little rough. My girlfriend is going to transfer this into Adobe Illustrator to get logos made for my kart and trailer.


















It's supposed to rain all weekend in the Columbus area so I am going to use this weekend off to go visit family. All the parts I need to prep for the May 9th race at Circleville have been ordered, and I learned a lot from the mishaps last weekend, so the result should be much better!

Monday, April 27, 2009

MSOKC Points Race # 1

In the Midstate Ohio Kart Club championship, your best 9 out of 12 events count and you must race in at least 9 events. Points Race # 1 will certainly be a drop for Yaw Moment Racing. Sunday was "just one of those days."

In practice, I ran my fastest lap ever at Circleville Raceway (on old tires) at a 44.9 so things were looking up. I mounted new tires and prepped for qualifying. As I'm sitting on the grid, I notice my right rear tire is losing pressure. I hop out to find 5 psi in the tire and my group takes the green flag before I can find the leak. This is a mistake I will certainly learn from.

I get the tire problem fixed for the 6-lap heat race and line up at the back of the 11 kart grid. I make two passes on the first lap and set my sights on catching the pack of 3 karts in front of me. I'm gaining on them in every corner as they are dicing and slowing each other down while I have clear track until my chain pops off and I come to a halt safely off track. Bummer.

Ok, new chain, new sprocket and YMR is ready for the feature race. Now I have 10 laps to try and move up through the field. My friend goes to start me on the grid to no avail. He tries again and again and still nothing from the motor. My class takes the green and a very frustrating day comes to an end. Back in the paddock, we find that my ignition coil failed on my Rok TT. I pulled one off of a competitor's motor to troubleshoot and the motor fired right up.

Next race is in two weeks and YMR will bounce back from a tough season opener. Congrats to Paul Milleman for taking home pole and the win.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Long day at the track

Yaw Moment Racing's first race of the season is tomorrow, so I hit the track for a few practice sessions today. Each session, small improvements to the kart's setup and reliability were made so tomorrow looks promising. We increased radiator angle for improved cooling, tested different tire pressures, put on fresh brake pads, and made a few chassis tweaks. It was 80 degrees and sunny in Ohio which gave the track much more grip than in my previous colder test sessions so setup had to be adjusted accordingly. The kart understeered quite a bit especially in high speed corners, but this has been much improved. Humidity was high so carb tuning may be necessary in tomorrow's pre-race practice.

Here is quick video from today's sessions.


Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Prep for this Weekend

This Sunday is my first race of the year. I am racing in TAG class with the Midstate Ohio Kart Club at Circleville Raceway Park in Circleville, Ohio. This is a 12-race series and this weekend's race is qualifying format instead of the usual heat races and is worth 20 bonus points. YMR will be at the track for practice on Saturday and then qualifying and racing on Sunday.

http://www.msokc.org/home.html
http://www.circlevilleraceway.com/ (The website is in the process of being updated)

After a solid month of practicing, I am ready to take on this weekend with a fresh set of sneakers, new chain, new sprocket, and fresh brake pads. I am going over my AIM data from my last few sessions so I should be able to make a solid game-plan for attacking CRP this Saturday. This will actually be my first time running the kart on fresh rubber so I can't wait for qualifying!

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Update for 2009 Season

Since the end of last season, Yaw Moment Racing has gone through a few changes so here is the quick rundown.

I sold the A-mod racecar so I can focus money and time on kart racing.














I bought this 6x12 Haulmark Trailer for my karting team. This sure beats racing out of the back of a pickup truck.















I switched to a Vortex Rok TT TAG engine from the Rotax FR125 so I can run at a higher minimum weight. The Rok revs higher, has more torque, vibrates like crazy, and is all-around a different beast than the Rotax. It should be a big improvement over last season.















That pretty much sums up my off-season improvements. I made it back to the track in late March and have completed 3 test days so far and taken a kart driving school. I've shaken off the winter blues and have made steady improvement over the past few weeks. Here is a video from my first practice at Circleville Raceway Park in 2009.

Welcome to the Yaw Moment Racing Blog

Thank you taking a look at my new blog. This year, I will be racing in TAG class with the Mid-State Ohio Kart Club, Great Lakes Sprint Series, and the Great Lakes Pro Series. I may even attempt a WKA national race at the end of the season to judge my progress. This will be my first full season of kart racing and I am excited for the challenge.