Timeline

OUR FIRST RACE, 9/24/22.

Summer prep

Over the summer of 22, we planned out the frame design as well as parts we needed and where to buy them. It was a slow process but set us on the track and mentality we needed to begin work as soon as we all got back to school.

08/23/22

The first Monday of school we woke up at 6:00 am to start work. We discussed and drew out the go kart on the ground. We also bought a lot of supplies over the summer, including our predator engine! We plan to race in "open class" in the future, but this is our first time building a go kart from scratch and racing it, so we decided the best choice is "stock class". (212 cc limit, no modifications)

8/29/22

With a brand new engine we had to break it in. We got some sea foam and conventional oil, letting it run for 3 hours before changing the oil. After that, we "tuned" the engine to produce the best possible rpm with a tachometer and spent time learning how it runs as well as its limits. We learned a lot to say the least; how to avoid valve float, when we're pushing it too hard, and where it best idles.

9/3/22

We learned how to bend pipes! Using a manual pipe bender and angles marked out as our reference, we decided on these dimensions based on our driver, Grant and how we want the kart to handle.

9/9/22

Our axle arrived and we immediately began to work as this references where many other parts of the kart should go, like our steering spindles and where the driver will sit. We attached our pillow block bearings so it can sit flat on the kart, while providing enough room for both driver and engine.

9/16-18/22

This weekend we seriously buckled down and tried to get as much done with the kart as fast as we could. We fully welded the kart frame as opposed to being tacked together. We installed the steering column as well as the steering rack. We also had our tires and brake disk come in.

The brake setup proved to be difficult, but Matt and Jamin came in and built a plate to hold the caliper and a pivot to transfer force from the pedal to a hydraulic piston.

We welded our roll bar onto the kart and changed how the engine sits on the kart, adding an incline of roughly 8 degrees due to the edge of the engine rubbing against the tire. Things were really coming together!

9/24/22

This past Wednesday (9/22) we received the last part of the go kart, the sprocket gear. The team met at 7pm and we began discussing last minute design criticisms and delegating tasks. That next morning, at 2am, our kart was running. We then realized a few of our mistakes, the biggest being that the steering was backward.

This embarrassing mistake made us all cringe but the next morning after only four hours of sleep, Jamin went to the shop and fixed the steering and added in a few last minute design touches like holes for internal cable routing for the throttle and a heat shield between the exhaust and the driver. Overall it was awesome that we reached our goal, the night of 9/24 our kart was running. Grant, our driver, could get one week of practice.

Prep Week

We are spending the final week before the race testing the kart and letting Grant see how far he can push it. Grant has been setting up chicanes and cones to weave around, with Lars using our tachometer to see how to get the best power out of the kart while avoiding valve float.

We think we had the kart ready for the races but it would be an understatement to say it was done.

First, the day after the kart was finished, we began testing but we forgot a snap ring for our right, rear rim. The rim came loose during testing, damaging our rim and rubbing the tire on the engine. Getting brand new rims in less than a week before the race was really concerning. We were also concerned if the tire still worked and if it could hold air. Thankfully the damage was minimal.

Later that week, during testing, Grant sent the kart into a tree and bent the frame, lifting the front left tire off the ground, but we fixed it by setting it on bricks and literally jumping on it!

The following day during testing there was a fire ant hill near some of the driving gear for the kart, getting into Grant's helmet and stinging grant when he put the helmet on! This sent him to the hospital the night before time trials, the laps that set our starting position in the race. We didn't know how long he would be out for and began making plans for a new driver. Thankfully Grant's recovery was fast and with his friend's approval he was able to drive the next day.

9/30/22 Time trials

Today we got up early and checked in on Grant after his trip to the hospital, he is excited to drive but we are going to be careful and attentive. Today we are going to race!

After moving some tools to the "pits" we mingled with the other teams and prepared mentally for the races to come. Grant then donned his race suit and Lars did some last minute checks with Mr. Pool to ensure the kart would not fall apart during time trials. Today counted because it would set our place among the other karts at the starting line and would give Grant valuable time to drive on the course before race day.

We ended up not doing to great and got fifth out of six places but we had high hopes for race day, as during time trials we were not pushing the kart or engine as hard as we thought we could.

10/1/22 Race Day

Today was the big day, all of our long nights and hard work have led up today!

Grant was feeling good, we had changed tires and gearing by four teeth and let our engine rev a little higher. In addition to these changes, we unveiled our use of dry shot nitrous oxide!

Grant crushed it through the first race and got second place, during the second race our engine was sputtering but we thought it was due to a lack of gas. After filling it back up and checking eveything else over quickly, Grant took his place at the starting line and when the flag dropped, hit the gas and nitrous but the engine instantly died. We could not start it and ended up taking third place overall by default.

Lars thinks the engine died due to being pushed too hard and when the nitrous was engaged, it revved the engine too high and caused the piston to hit the floating exhaust valve, destroying the entire internal drive train.

It was disappointing to not be able to race in the final heat of the day but we are just amazed we finished so much in so little time!

This was the track, starting at the outdoor pavilion and going down society drive before taking a left between two buildings and then a right to go around the corner café before taking a left at I.T. and going through cones in the Weller drive parking lot.

3/35/2023

Second season, enduro and sprints.

Enduro

The enduro is a LeMans style, 5 hour race around a simplified track, testing the endurance of both drivers and karts.

We rotated drivers every hour, with Mr. Pool putting down our first hour of laps. Grant followed, almost getting a black flag but aggressively gaining our best lap times. Lars was next, having a small crash on his second lap but continued to drive. Matt was consistent and precise with his lines. Jamin drove last, having a hard crash and breaking a rim before he kept driving.

For this season, we made some changes to the kart, including moving the seat and engine forward, putting wider tires on the front, swapping clutch for CVT, adding headlights and a killswitch, and making foam seat inserts for comfort.

Enduro results

We had raced for four and a half hours and were second overall, ahead of all the stock class carts and all but one of the open classers. And then tragedy struck, Jamin was driving and the bolt holding CVT driver pulley sheared off inside the crankshaft of the engine. We attempted to get it out but couldn't, and even if we had, we could not have made up the time lost.

So we sat down and watched the race, defeated but knowing that there is nothing that we could have done to prevent our karts' demise.

Sprints qualifying

Lars prepped the kart for quali the night before but it still had issues during the day with fuel delivery due to metal fatigue in brackets from the enduro.

Sprints 4/15/23

After last season's defeat at the sprints and the following enduro, both due to mechanical failures, we paid attention to every detail and had the kart in perfect condition before this season's sprints.

We had not placed very high in qualifying but were confident that we now had the most well-built stock-class kart and a fearless racer behind the wheel.

The karts were placed in their poll positions, and the engines were roaring; the flag dropped, and they were off! In the first lap, Grant had taken one position and was hot on the tail of the first pace kart. He was looking for a place to pass when the first-place driver made a mistake, taking a hairpin turn too tight and spinning right as Grant rounded the turn. The bumpers locked together, and the track was instant chaos, with people running to help separate them. But in the confusion, third and fourth place rolled past the mess. The first-place kart was out of the race due to mechanical failures, but Grant was zooming through the turns, trying to catch up to and pass the other two karts in the race. But he only had two laps left, and the best he could do was be on the bumper of second place as it crossed the line.

Only first and second place continued due to how the heats were set up, so we were out of the sprints before we had really gotten in due to another driver's misjudgment.

We were disheartened, but that's racing, so we enjoyed the rest of the day, mingling with other teams and listening to karts zip around the track.

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