NTK Spring Race # 3 Recap

Using the Kerbs in the NTK Chicane

I raced with the North Texas Karters this past Saturday in Denton, TX. It was great karting weather and Ali and her family joined me for the day which was a huge help. To keep the budget down, I am trying to save all of my used SWRC tires to use for NTK club races. Oklahoma Motorsports Complex has high tire wear, so my tires were close to the wear bars at the start of my event. This worked OK, but I could have used some new tires as I had to keep mounting and swapping tires to keep four decent ones on the kart. Despite this, I was able to lower my personal best time around NTK by 0.2s.

I ran about 45 laps during the day which will be good preparation for the SWRC race at NTK in May. Qualifying started at 1PM on Saturday and I was able to secure pole position for the heat race with a qualifying time of 37.74. This was a few tenths off of my fastest practice lap, but still got the job done. In the heat race, I was passed by Andrew Perkins in the CRG kart on Lap 2 of the 8 lap race and he checked out. With two karts directly behind me for the whole race, it was an exciting race and I was able to cross the line in 2nd place.

I lined up 2nd on the grid for the 12-lap feature race, but things went downhill from here. As I entered Turn 2 on the warm-up lap, I felt the rear-end start to walk out, and then I did a 360 off-track into the tire barrier. As I sat in the grass, it was immediately apparent what the
culprit was as I saw my right rear tire folded up in the center of the wheel. At mid-corner of a 2G 50mph corner, my right rear tire de-beaded causing me to lose all rear grip and lose control. Luckily, I was fine and the kart was not damaged, but my race was over. It was a disappointing end to a fun day these things happen in racing.

Right Rear Tire Failure during Feature Race

More photos from the race:



photo credit: Charles Rutherford

My old 1976 Honda XL125 Lives!

One of my two best friends from high school, Aaron , gave me this old 1976 Honda XL125 dirt bike back when I was a senior in high school. One of his Dad's friends gave it to him because he couldn't get it to run, then Aaron had no luck, and then I fiddled with it every once in a while without success getting life to the engine. After dragging this Honda to Ohio, then Texas, Ali and I decided to make an art project for her out of it. She was going to clean it up, paint it crazy colors, make a stand, and put it in our house as a decoration...but this never panned out.

Finally, I decided to give it to one of my buddies at work who is great at getting old POS's back to life, and he got my old Honda to rumble. He got it running with a hot wheels battery and some other junkyard parts and it now runs like a champ for him. We went out riding at the Twin Buttes Resevoir this weekend and it ran well until he put it down which caused an oil leak around the gear shifter. Once he gets this fixed along with a few other minor issues, this bike should be a great dirt bike for Shawn. I'm just really happy to finally see the thing run.

Busy Day of Dirt Racing this past Saturday

Dirt Bikes Loaded up for Texana Off-Road Ranch

Ali and I made the trek with a few friends to Blackwell, TX for the Blackwell 250 which is the first round of the Baja Racing Texas series at Texana Off-Road Ranch. I've been into Baja and off-road racing since my Baja SAE adventures in college so the chance to check out this race less than an hour from my house was too hard to pass up. We loaded up the dirt bikes in the truck, but this was futile as we weren't allowed to roam the 38 mile course without being a "crew-member" so we were confined to the large paddock area...so only the pitbike was really needed. Anyway, there were about 50 cars running the race and the start was fun to watch as all 50 cars rocketed off the line at 30s to 60s intervals. We watched for several hours and roamed the pits talking to racers and peering into crashed racecars. Before the 9 hours Blackwell 250, there was a two-hour UTV race the paddock had approximately 80 to 100 cars in it....so there were many different types of racecars to snap photos of.

Buggy on the starting line

Bugs and Buggies and Trucks on the Starting Line

Huge "Truggie" lined up before the start

Victim from the Texana UTV Race

The most exciting part of the race was talking to several drivers who run 1989 Honda Pilot FL400s in the Formula Desert Lights class which is meant for small buggies with less than 1200cc engines that compete against the brand-new UTVs like the Polaris Razor. I need to keep investigating the rules, but there is a chance I could prep "Gnarly Garbage" my 2008 UVa Baja car to race in this class. I would need to swap in a 500cc or less 2-stroke motors and get my chassis approved...but there is a chance I could be racing my homebuilt Baja car in the Texas desert next year. Here are the class rules: Formula Desert Lights Class Rules

Here are is a video from the Blackwell 250:

We left the ranch around noon, and after a quick lunch and workout, I went to the shop and hopped into Gary's truck headed for Odessa. Gary and I left around 4PM for his Saturday night Sprint Car race in Odessa, TX. During the two-hour drive to Odessa, we saw a huge wildfire that filled the sky with white and black smoke. I later read that it has consumed over 4,000 acres and destroyed 34 homes...scary stuff.

4,000 Acre Wildfire WAY too close to Midland

The track conditions in Odessa were pretty terrible as the temperature reached 100 degress before sunset, with 30mph winds, and a very dry dusty track. We tried some different setup options during the hot laps but we were struggling with rear grip center off. After the pill pick for the heat race, we started 6th out of 6 for the heat, but Gary made several nice passes and moved into 3rd place. After another pill pick to jumble up the top 6 for the Final, Gary drew P4 so we lined up on the 2nd row for the 20 lap final. Being his only crew-member, I bump-started him with the ATV and quickly moved to the infield to watch the 20 lap battle. The track was terribly dry and the windy conditions made the track a dust bowl. Visibility was non-existent but Gary was able to stay clean and move up to 3rd place by the checkered flag. Garry took home $250 in prize money and we got home at 3AM.

Photo from the Infield of Gary's Heat Race in Odessa

After 6 hours in the car, and watching dirt track racing from 8AM Saturday to 3AM Sunday, I was exhausted and fell asleep on the couch watching F1 live....fun Saturday.

New Dirt Biking Spot in San Angelo

One of my co-workers introduced me to the off-roading trails around the Twin Buttes Reservoir in San Angelo, Texas. This a great spot for desert-landscape trail riding which I really enjoy, and it's only 5 minutes from my house. The site has miles of trails with different terrains (mud, loose dirt, packed mud, rocky, sand), elevation changes, wide-open beach sections, and tight, technical courses rutted and winding through the trees.

I've been out there a couple of times over the past few weeks with my 2-stroke Kawasaki. I'll take some pictures and video next time out. I've heard there are many more spots like this surrounding San Angelo so hopefully we will have more places to explore.