03/04/02 A friend and I are looking at buying a shifter kart. These things are incredibly fast, and are the most inexpensive way to get extensive seat time in a very high performance vehicle. We went out to PIR to check out Portland kart races and take a look at a couple machines for sale. When we were there, the 125 shifters were lapping the track at 1:17, which is considerably faster than ANY of my other vehicles (with the possible exception of the Westfield, but that is not done yet). Here's a video of them going around the track. This is most likely the one we are going to get:

There are a lot of neat details, including cool carbon seat and fairing. The brakes are really fancy as well:

The kart comes with a whole bunch of spares and some help from the present owner in getting it going.

04/14/02 Finally picked up the kart. Well, at least we paid the money and drove it on the track. We had made an arrangement for the seller to come out and help us with setup and tuning. This was an excellent idea in retrospect. The kart started out running rough. We changed jetting, which helped a little but not a whole lot. It would just start missing coming out of corners. So then the needle level in the carb was changed and the thing just came alive. This is INTENSE! The chassis is very controllable, sustained power slides out of corners are the rule. Blasting up through the gears on the front straight is a total rush. Only bikes come close, but somehow the kart experience seems even more intense than that - probably because you sit an inch off the ground. In 500 feet of the front straight this thing gets up to over 80 mph. Running aggressive laps is hard work. I had to remind myself to breathe. My arms are now sore. But is this FUN! An experience that leaves lingering grins and recurring surges of adrenalin just thinking about it.

Earlier this morning I also fired up the Westfield for the first time. I like days like this. More please ;)

04/27/02 After a few fixes by the seller, the kart is finally home! Coincidentally, today was also the first time the Westfield moved under its own power. The two must be linked somehow, since I didn't plan it this way... The kart arrived in my friend's truck (he's also the partner in this crime and half-owner of the kart).

Sitting next to the Westfield in the driveway the kart looks tiny... and it is (except in width!). Amazingly the performance should be pretty similar for the two. Time will tell.

When all the fun is done, all the toys are safely in the garage (well, OK, the 900 is in California). Sometimes I feel I need to pinch myself to make sure I'm not dreaming ;) OWWW.

05/04/02 Our first 'unsupervised' outing at the track. The kart ran quite well, I'm getting used to it a bit. I'm still slow but have picked up cornering speeds somewhat. Yes, even little kids in less powerful karts pass me. Well, in the first three sessions anyway. In the last one I was doing a bit better, but was still nowhere near what the kart is capable of. Of course at the end I was in the way of a faster driver and he gently tapped me, sending me in an instant spin off the track. Part of playing the game :) Even at our modest pace the tires get quite a workout:

Also made the first modification to the machine. The first time we ran it, both of us noticed that in left-hand turns the kart seemed to have a mind of its own, applying power early and causing a few exciting moments. We tracked it down to the fact that right foot was sliding to the right from the cornering force and leaning against the throttle cable, essentially pushing on the gas. So my solution was an aluminum throttle guard riveted to the floor. Worked like a charm.

A bolt fell out of the floor pan, will need to be replaced. Two exhaust retaining srpings broke. Radiator shroud came loose. The kart vibrates a lot and things tend to break. This thing will require constant maintenance.

05/12/02 Meant to take the kart out today, but decided to play with all the other toys instead. The kart needed some work - in routine maintenance and cleanup I realized that we had no rear brake. A bit of experimentation (had to figure out how to bleed this system) and some tests figured out the problem. Somebody had used a hard steel washer instead of a soft aluminum one under a bleed screw in the caliper. What's worse the washer had a dent in it - through which all the brake fluid escaped in about 10 times using the brake. I replaced the washer, re-bled the system and we are now good to go. Learn something every day :)

05/15/02 First REAL kart track day. OK, second, really, but the first time we could focus on driving rather than figuring out which way is up. Still pretty slow, but getting better. Started out at 46-second lap, got down to 40 towards the end of the day. Track record for 125 shifter is 32.8 seconds. Quite a ways to go. So you think we're going slow? Decide for yourself! (the video is not of the best lap, but only the best one that the camcorder could handle. I guess it has a problem wth 2-g turns). At the end of the last session, a cooling hose came off:

This spilled water all over the outside rear tire and made for some entertaining moments trying to stay on the track. I only partially succeded. Unfortunately the camcorder was way too far gone by that point to record anything useful. Oh well. The overall video setup does show promise, I just need to debug it. There's a small camera attached to the helmet, and the camcorder along with camera battery and microphone go in a little pouch that hangs around my neck and right shoulder.

With a bit of tinkering I am hoping that this setup can be made to work reliably in the karting environment...

05/18/02 More maintenance. Reinstalled the water hose and tightened all the clamps, refilled the coolant. Got and installed a new O-ring exhaust manifold to prevent oil spraying all over the place, hope this will work. Installed new exhaust springs, taped down the seat pad, lubed the chain, replaced missing sidepot retaining bolt, cleaned and retightened sparkplug which came loose, cleaned off all the oil splattered everywhere.... Whew. Fired it up and it seems to run fine, so we didn't stick the piston. Good. Also got a new camcorder bag and put some tape over the microphone so hopefully video will work better. Ready for more fun.