Visiting Inagawa circuit

I was planning on taking park in this meeting at Inagawa in Hyogo prefecture but have decided to let the body recover in the off season with a view to getting back in the saddle in the new year. I was glad I did too as there were 2 very nasty crashes during the finals.

In the Rotax class someone got (leaned?) into the tire barrier (the one at the right hand side of the picture above) which strew tires all over the circuit and bought out the red flag. The driver was limping but seemed ok, but I think he'll need a new frame. Another crash happened in the expert class where the 4 leaders were all pushing each other. Right at the end of the straight (and Inagawa has a very long one) just as the leader was getting on the brakes he got turned into the pit wall and was thrown out of the kart. It was a good sight to see him get up (while his body was still spinning in the middle of the track) , then run and jump over the pit wall!

Some handy footage from on-board from You Tube:



And where it is:


大きな地図で見る

First proper days practice

Finally a fulls days running. My ribs stood up quite well - they were aching a bit through the day but some adjustment to the new seat (a lot of padding, especially where my arse is as I have no arse!) made all the difference. The next they still ached but weren't too bad.

We started off with the teams bosses practice tyres (they don't wear, but neither do they have any grip) and then in the afternoon stuck on my new fresh rubber. They needed a lap to bed in but I set my fastest lap of the day on my first run with them - a 37.485 - my best lap ever!
The times were a bit all over the place though as the rear was a bit lively, so the boss increased the rear track width a bit which made all the difference. I couldn't set as quick a lap time but 10 consistent laps in a row - all at 37.5 to 37.9 made me very happy indeed.
So next, the team boss wants a go. Well, he did build the thing... His first lap is within a tenth of my quickest (remember, this is the first time he's driven this kart!) and he finally sets a 36.551! I've still got a long way to go...

Not a total loss though, the boss was totally finished after these laps!

Kart racing

I've started racing karts properly this year. Well, not quite. I've done 2 rental kart races and lots of practice in this rental kart. It has a 100cc air cooled engine - the Yamaha KT100. It's not a common engine in the UK but forms the backbone of kart racing in Asia, Australia and the States. It's not so powerful for a racing engine with only about 15 horses, but it is cheap at around $700 (350 quid) a pop.

The video is from mid-summer. Was over 37 degrees C that day, really hot! Being a rental kart the tires are very hard, but on a hot day like that it really didn't matter. It was nice being able to keep up with everyone else for once! (at least in the corners anyway...)

Satellite shot of the course below:

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