Oooooohhh, new suit!

Its recently been my birthday, and one of my birthday presents was to choose a race suit that I like and have it embroided with my name on it so I have a personalised racing suit!

After a look of searching the internet I have found a race suit that I really like; what do you think?

When I order it, I will get my full name embroidered on the waistband - my surname printed onto the right leg and my name and the protrain logo embroidered on the back of the race suit! Comment on what you think about it? 

"Slam On The Brakes"

"Slam on the brakes" is something that I have heard a lot of from the Protrain team. However its not something that I'm very good at, I am very apprehensive as I always fear that I'm going to break the kart!

But apparently its the best thing to do on the particular corner that I have trouble with, its called the Dogleg and on most occasions I spin the kart! The tactic, braking hard, allows you to brake a lot later than usual and allows you to have complete control over the kart as you turn into the apex of the corner and allows you to accelerate out of the corner.

The Mychron 4

Nowadays, most karts are fitted with some kind of lap timer - The Tyro karts are all fitted with a Mychron 4 which is mounted onto the steering wheel, this measures many things - in this entry I will show you how to set up and use a Mychron 4.

1. Mount the Mychron 4 onto the steering wheel using the bolts and screws on the back of the device like so...

2. To get lap times to be recorded and displayed on the device you need to connect a 'timer cable' which looks like this...

3. Connect the cable to the middle socket on the rear of the Mychron 4 and bolt the speed sensor to anywhere on the kart (mine is positioned under the seat)...

4. If you the Mychron 4 to act as a temperature monitor, connect this cable (below) to the top connection on the rear of the Mychron 4 and slot the other end of the cable into the engine pocket ...

5. If you want the Mychron to act as a rev monitor, connect the cable (below) to the slot on the back of the Mychron 4 and the other end of the cable to the appropriate area of your engine (refer to the engines manual!)...

Your Mychron 4 should now act as a lap timer, a temperature sensor and a rev monitor! Comment on your success if you try it yourself!

Intermediate Tyres

The Tyro kart that I am currently racing (No. 93) races on intermediate tyres! (See the picture below)

Intermediate tyres have many advantages but also have many disadvantages. One of the advantages is the fact that you do not have to change your tyres during the day. Another advantage is the fact that one set of intermediate tyres usually lasts for the whole race season (March to October).

However intermediate tyres do not perform very well, in my opinion, in wet conditions! When racing a Tyro, in the rain, as soon as you hit the brakes or turn a corner it spins out of control - however this was probably because I was still getting use to the handling of the kart, I'm sure that my driving in the wet conditions will improve in time!

"Mum, I've shredded another set of tyres!"

One of the most heartbreaking thing you can hear someone say whilst racing is; "Mum, I've shredded another set of tyres!"  A new set of wet and dry tyres costs between £150 and £200, and you usually need a new set of tyres each weekend, however if you drive inconsistently you can go through a lot more sets of tyres than that! The unlucky thing about tyres and karts, is the fact that if one tyre becomes shredded or has a deformation due to racing, all 4 tyres have to be completely replaced to balance out the kart again.

There are 3 types of tyres...
Wet Tyres
Obviously judging by the name they are designed to be driven in wet conditions - if you drive them in dry conditions they don't even last 10 mintes, and this is the problem that many people face, they put wet tyres on at the beginning of the day, but as the day goes on the track dryes up and shreds their brand new set of wet tyres.

Wet tyres cost around £60 to £100

They tend to have a lot of grip on them so assist in going around the corners, as if you didn't have the grip, in the rain, you would spin the kart.

Dry Tyres

Obviously judging by the name they are designed to be driven in dry conditions - if you drive them in wet conditions they cause the kart to spin because there isn't enough grip on the tyres to manage the corners.

Dry tyres cost around £50 to £90

They tend to have a not much grip on them so you can skid around the corners which ultimately improves your lap times.

Race Day At Rissington!

Well today has been very eventful! Luckily today it remained dry and allowed me to break the time barrier that I had set for myself.

Once again we did a rolling start on the three heats and the final - and the picture below is of Josh (No. 94) and I (No. 93) on the rolling lap.

However on the final race, Kart driver No. 99 suffered serious mechanical failures after her engine had been rebuilt and the carboretta not been fitted properly. This faults resulted in her kart not being able to accelerate effectively and once getting to 9500 revs the engine would cut out! I was very pleased with my result, on the other hand, I came in 3rd position!

Second Attempt At Rissington

Today I returned to Rissington for another attempt at the race meeting! The conditions today were not one that I particularly enjoyed - it was raining! (Below is a picture of me on the practise grid!)

The rain hit us at about 13:30 - and as I'm sure most people heard me complain on several occasions, Tyro's do not perform well in the rain! I will discuss the reasons for this in a follow-up entry after this race week-end is over!

Obviously in the rain, lap times in general are slightly slower as braking distances increase due to the different surfaces. However, it shows that I must have improved somehow as my times where identical to last time and the conditions were very different! However as the rain got heavier the time significantly increased again as the Tyro does not handle water well at all.

However, all is not bad! I have a new item to add to my collection, I bought some new Sparco racing gloves which I really like and should last a while as they are a bit big on me.