TW1NTRB0
forum member
I figured I'd do a little write up about how I spend my weekends when not at the drag strip or road course. I run TAG karts in the 32+ Masters Series at the GoPro Motorplex down in Mooresville, NC. My current kart is a 2014 Dave Sera Deadly X3 with a KartSport IAMI X30 running class spec Hoosier MMX-A slicks. The class rules are pretty open but weight is minimum of 405lbs and I tipped the scales at 408lbs with a load of fuel. The structure for the class is 2 practice sessions, 1 qualifying, and two points paying races. Your qualifying is set for both finals by the 1 qualifying session. We do not run Pre-Finals any longer.
During Prep for the day my engine supplier had released a carb update which involved a complete carb swap from Tryton to Tillotson. I also found out that the Carbon Fiber Reeds are class legal this year so I grabbed some of those as well. I did not have the time to make the changes before Practice 1 so I went out as is.
Tech - I nut and bolted the kart but did not have time to do the carb swap before Practice 1. Kart passed tech no problem and we were ready for the day.
Practice 1 - I finished the session in P6 out of 10. I did not feel too comfortable on the kart but the times were decent and I knew I had the air pressures a little off and the back end was tail happy in and out of the corner.
Pits - I swapped the manifold, gaskets, and carb and headed out. I decided to leave the fiberglass reeds in to grab a baseline and compare Practice 2 with my qualifying session. I made zero changes to the carb, I ran it right out the box/ I did change to a hotter plug though.
Practice 2 - I finished P4 out of 10 after dropping the air pressures half a pound on all four tires. The tail end was still very snappy but manageable. I made zero changes to the carb again as it felt good out of the box and I didn't want to chase multiple issues in a short session.
Pits - I made no changes to the kart as the last session felt good and I felt I could knock more off my times in qualifying.
Qualifying - I ended up P6 out of 10. I could feel the carb change made a difference in the power down the straight but I had the low jet off, the high jet felt good though. Kart handling felt the same and I never figured out why it was so loose in and out of the corner.
Pits Pre-Grid - The kart was still too tail happy from qualifying and I figured I would move the ballast around to try and resolve the issue. I moved them to the top of the seat to see if that would help. I also went to do the Carbon Fiber reeds but ran into an issue with one of the screws, I stripped the head of the screw and could not make the change. So fiberglass it would be for Race 1.
Race 1 - I made grid but carb problems started right on the warm up lap. I had to pull off on the first lap and drop from the race. I did get a classification of 10th out of 10 with a DNF but it's important to take the green or you get 0 points. I could not get the motor to run above 10k rpm, it was shutting off so my first thought was the air filter got sucked into the carb or something of that nature. It ran clean below 10K so I knew it was something I touched prior to grid.
Pits Post-Race 1 - I saw no issue with the air box and decided to pull the carb and check the plug. The plug looked fine and as I went through the re-assembly process of the gaskets, manifold, and carb I noticed that the new manifold had only one hole compared to two on the old manifold and gasket. The gasket was also recommended to be re-used with the updated manifold and carb. I started flipping it around and noticed that the gasket only goes one way and knew I made a boneheaded mistake and basically blocked off the high jet. Lesson Learned! This left me with no time to make any adjustments to the kart. I bolted everything back on and headed for race 2.
Race 2 - The warm up lap felt great and the race started off without a hitch. Two karts failed to make the grid so I was P6 out of 8 as the two that failed to make grid qualified behind me. For the first two laps we were all nose to tail except first place, he had the field covered by almost a second a lap. Kart 2 was edging 3 - 7 by about a half second a lap and I started to lose ground to 5th place by lap 5. I also had the temp gauge warning light going off as my water temp was 158. 140 or so is good but 160 is very bad. I had put on radiator tape and folded the ends to make them tear-offs. I had to take off all three by lap 4 but in the end I took off one too many as the temp dropped down to 128 by lap 7. I had the tape on as the temps were coming down and I figured I would need more heat but I calculated wrong. I was able to stay consistent from lap 5 - 10 and the gap stayed the same between myself and 5th place. I could tell I was pulling away from 7th and 8th pretty good and felt I had my position on lock but at the end of lap 10 I heard a strange noise. It sounded like a deflated tire but the kart felt good in and off the corner and the noise got louder and louder. By the end of lap 11 I figured out the issue was the chain. I had to retire before lap 12 of 17. My final classification was 7th as a karter was DQ'd for not making minimum weight after the race.
All in all it was not a great weekend but I learned a lot about the kart and my new engine package. I was previously running an Arrow X1 with a Rotax FR125 Sr. package. Two completely different animals and the way they make power is a lot different. The X30 is faster off the corner. The top 7 qualifiers were all running X30's and the back 3 ran the Rotax. It's also worth noting that the Rotax minimum weight is 415 vs 405 for X30's. The chassis are completely open to any and all. We had Arrow, Deadly, FA, Tony Kart, CRG, & Italkarts all make the grid. At the end of the day I sit 7th in points and hope to make up some ground at the next race weekend.
I did have my GoPro on but my second race the battery died immediately and I was already on grid so I could not change it. Race one recorded but I had no useful footage as it was just me chatting in the pits after the pull off. A few notable people were there like Joe Gibbs, Ricky Rudd (he signed up but never made grid) and Lake Speed. A lot of Pro Drivers have garages there and you see quite a few Nascar drivers. I've been there on track with Max Papis, Kevin Harvick, Dale Jr., Trevor Bayne, Kyle Larson, Kase Kayne, & Denny Hamlin to name a few. I'm not a Nascar fan but it's neat to run the track with these guys. I chatted with Lake Speed for a bit about my kart stand. Just to give you a grasp on how competitive this stuff is. Lake Speed is the only American to ever win the World Karting Championship. He finished P9 and P8 in his class out of 16 I think it was.
I do have some photos to share though.
Here is the track I run.
My kart the day I bought it new and ready to race.
Track day photos...
During Prep for the day my engine supplier had released a carb update which involved a complete carb swap from Tryton to Tillotson. I also found out that the Carbon Fiber Reeds are class legal this year so I grabbed some of those as well. I did not have the time to make the changes before Practice 1 so I went out as is.
Tech - I nut and bolted the kart but did not have time to do the carb swap before Practice 1. Kart passed tech no problem and we were ready for the day.
Practice 1 - I finished the session in P6 out of 10. I did not feel too comfortable on the kart but the times were decent and I knew I had the air pressures a little off and the back end was tail happy in and out of the corner.
Pits - I swapped the manifold, gaskets, and carb and headed out. I decided to leave the fiberglass reeds in to grab a baseline and compare Practice 2 with my qualifying session. I made zero changes to the carb, I ran it right out the box/ I did change to a hotter plug though.
Practice 2 - I finished P4 out of 10 after dropping the air pressures half a pound on all four tires. The tail end was still very snappy but manageable. I made zero changes to the carb again as it felt good out of the box and I didn't want to chase multiple issues in a short session.
Pits - I made no changes to the kart as the last session felt good and I felt I could knock more off my times in qualifying.
Qualifying - I ended up P6 out of 10. I could feel the carb change made a difference in the power down the straight but I had the low jet off, the high jet felt good though. Kart handling felt the same and I never figured out why it was so loose in and out of the corner.
Pits Pre-Grid - The kart was still too tail happy from qualifying and I figured I would move the ballast around to try and resolve the issue. I moved them to the top of the seat to see if that would help. I also went to do the Carbon Fiber reeds but ran into an issue with one of the screws, I stripped the head of the screw and could not make the change. So fiberglass it would be for Race 1.
Race 1 - I made grid but carb problems started right on the warm up lap. I had to pull off on the first lap and drop from the race. I did get a classification of 10th out of 10 with a DNF but it's important to take the green or you get 0 points. I could not get the motor to run above 10k rpm, it was shutting off so my first thought was the air filter got sucked into the carb or something of that nature. It ran clean below 10K so I knew it was something I touched prior to grid.
Pits Post-Race 1 - I saw no issue with the air box and decided to pull the carb and check the plug. The plug looked fine and as I went through the re-assembly process of the gaskets, manifold, and carb I noticed that the new manifold had only one hole compared to two on the old manifold and gasket. The gasket was also recommended to be re-used with the updated manifold and carb. I started flipping it around and noticed that the gasket only goes one way and knew I made a boneheaded mistake and basically blocked off the high jet. Lesson Learned! This left me with no time to make any adjustments to the kart. I bolted everything back on and headed for race 2.
Race 2 - The warm up lap felt great and the race started off without a hitch. Two karts failed to make the grid so I was P6 out of 8 as the two that failed to make grid qualified behind me. For the first two laps we were all nose to tail except first place, he had the field covered by almost a second a lap. Kart 2 was edging 3 - 7 by about a half second a lap and I started to lose ground to 5th place by lap 5. I also had the temp gauge warning light going off as my water temp was 158. 140 or so is good but 160 is very bad. I had put on radiator tape and folded the ends to make them tear-offs. I had to take off all three by lap 4 but in the end I took off one too many as the temp dropped down to 128 by lap 7. I had the tape on as the temps were coming down and I figured I would need more heat but I calculated wrong. I was able to stay consistent from lap 5 - 10 and the gap stayed the same between myself and 5th place. I could tell I was pulling away from 7th and 8th pretty good and felt I had my position on lock but at the end of lap 10 I heard a strange noise. It sounded like a deflated tire but the kart felt good in and off the corner and the noise got louder and louder. By the end of lap 11 I figured out the issue was the chain. I had to retire before lap 12 of 17. My final classification was 7th as a karter was DQ'd for not making minimum weight after the race.
All in all it was not a great weekend but I learned a lot about the kart and my new engine package. I was previously running an Arrow X1 with a Rotax FR125 Sr. package. Two completely different animals and the way they make power is a lot different. The X30 is faster off the corner. The top 7 qualifiers were all running X30's and the back 3 ran the Rotax. It's also worth noting that the Rotax minimum weight is 415 vs 405 for X30's. The chassis are completely open to any and all. We had Arrow, Deadly, FA, Tony Kart, CRG, & Italkarts all make the grid. At the end of the day I sit 7th in points and hope to make up some ground at the next race weekend.
I did have my GoPro on but my second race the battery died immediately and I was already on grid so I could not change it. Race one recorded but I had no useful footage as it was just me chatting in the pits after the pull off. A few notable people were there like Joe Gibbs, Ricky Rudd (he signed up but never made grid) and Lake Speed. A lot of Pro Drivers have garages there and you see quite a few Nascar drivers. I've been there on track with Max Papis, Kevin Harvick, Dale Jr., Trevor Bayne, Kyle Larson, Kase Kayne, & Denny Hamlin to name a few. I'm not a Nascar fan but it's neat to run the track with these guys. I chatted with Lake Speed for a bit about my kart stand. Just to give you a grasp on how competitive this stuff is. Lake Speed is the only American to ever win the World Karting Championship. He finished P9 and P8 in his class out of 16 I think it was.
I do have some photos to share though.
Here is the track I run.
My kart the day I bought it new and ready to race.
Track day photos...
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