Imagen Racing again

Our next test weekend is fast approaching Friday 19th-21st July.  Slit between Ellough Park Raceway Norfolk and Wildtracks Suffolk we should have a good weekend.  

The new R4 Tillett Rib protector will be in full test mode so lets hope its not overly challenged this time!  The curb riders and running heights will will be properly adjusted so this should help.

Dean & Adie will be setting the karts up on Thu for an early start Friday morning I'll be hacking down the A17 (oh joy) and the rest of the guy's will be joining us over the weekend. Hopefully this dry patch will last and we will get some good running.

I'll aim to get some more video footage and stills to post after the weekend.  If you have not seen it yet have a look at our first video and leave a comment if you like it (or not)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5BMWD9iXJ4

If you get the chance come and join us on the Friday or Sunday, more the merrier.

What Rib protector ?

After a some-what abrupt end to a weekend of karting a couple of weeks ago with the addition of a fracture to my rib cage, I have decided to do a little research into the world of Rib protection.  A totally non scientific study into what is on the market, how it can help protect you, how they work, and then finally cost.

I should also add I was wearing rib protection with my incident and can't help but think it could have been worse if I was not wearing said protection?  or did it actually add to the problem?  

The details of my accident are I think quite simple, exiting a tight anticlockwise hairpin onto a start finish straight I lost traction on the exit of the corner and the kart slammed sideways into the end of the tyre wall, spinning me around (see footage from rear camera @ 1min 55sec in our new video).  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5BMWD9iXJ4

The impact forced the weight of my body 90 degrees to the right and the top of the seat created an extreme pressure point on one of my ribs creating the fracture.  As I understand the rib protector is used to dissipate the point of pressure over the whole ribcage therefore moving all the ribs together and not disengaging one, which happened with me.  

The rib protectors as well as helping with impacts also help with the extreme forces the body endures while simply racing karts, spreading the load the seat can put on your ribs on each corner of each lap.  As we all know it can be very physical racing karts with extreme changes in direction at high speed creating G-forces that test the whole body especially ribs and hips.

Here are 4 different makes of rib protector available from http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/karting/body-protection they range in price from £41.00-£121.00 + vat

The Sparco --- http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/karting/body-protection/sparco-spk-3-rib-protector
The Alpinestars --- http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/karting/body-protection/alpinestars-bionic-rib-support
The OMP--- http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/karting/body-protection/omp-carbon-rib-waistcoat
The Tillett--- http://www.demon-tweeks.co.uk/karting/body-protection/tillett-ribtec-r4-rib-protector

After looking into the options Its my opinion that any protection is better than none and generally the more you pay for the protection the better it gets, talking with racers and people in the industry while researching this the overall thinking is the new Tillett R4 takes a lot of beating.   However, it is only protection and not a guarantee of safety, motor-racing can be dangerous and the occasional accident and circumstance can go against you but in general any protection has to be a good thing.

I have just put my order in for a new Tillett R4 `i'll let you know how I get on if my ribs are better by our next outing at Ellough Park Raceway in Norfolk on 19th July.

Video of Wildtracks karting test weekend May 2013

The full weekend at  www.wildtracksltd.co.uk/karting  in May gave ample chance to take photos and video of the thrills and spills of Rotax Max karting.  View the link for the video and leave feedback if you like it, or not.
Enjoy! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5BMWD9iXJ4

A cracked rib

Just to confirm the little off I had on Sunday has been confirmed as a fractured rib, which is quite sore especially when you forget about it.  

Well you live and learn, make sure you alter your chassis running heights when you add curb riders or this could happen to you!  

Should have plenty of time to mend before our next session which isn't until 19th July.

3 Day Karting Weekend at Wildtracks Norfolk Day 3 part 2

After my minor incident with the tyre wall my ribs were a little sore so I decided to take a few pictures and video instead of banging them around any more in the karts, so my loss will I hope, indeed help the blog.
Here are some more stills from the weekend.

Adie out on track in the Wright Kart getting quicker and quicker:

Dean in the playstation Cosmick, lifting the rear wheel coming into the corner at the end of the main straight:

Dean closes in on Steve but finds it hard to find a way past:

Steve in his CRG, enjoying a quick kart and good reliability:

The morning was pretty good but we had a few problems with some of the karts throwing chains, stripping sprockets and binding brakes again.   

More problems with more than one kart throwing chains:

A binding break, the disk had moved on the axel of the Tony Kart, one of the disc carrier bolts had sheared:

One dead sprocket, when they go they go! :

The "Evil" Tony Kart that launched me off the track!

Adie Steve & Fiona discus Tony Karts and fractured ribs:

Then it was time to run the Birel again after fitting a new sprocket and chain. Dean and Steve set up the Micron 4 before heading out again:

The final session starts, all out on track, Steve gets a run on Wiley:

Fiona takes to the track in the Tony Kart:

Dean gets his head down in the Birel and sets the best time of the day, a 29.3s lap, good effort! :

Steve takes the final flag of the session:

Video from the session still to come....

3 day Karting Weekend at Wildtracks Norfolk Day 3 part 1

The third part of a 3 day weekend of karting at Wildtracks which took place Friday 17th - Sunday 19th May, involving testing, building, rebuilding, repairs, fast laps, wheel to wheel racing, minor incidents a few sore ribs but a lot of fun.

Sunday 19th
Early start today, alarm at 6:15, thats pretty early for us Yorkshire folk after a midnight finish.  Getting karts, tyres, wets, overalls, spares, video cameras, still cameras and a big cuppa tea ready!  Loading up, checking tyre pressures and we have a flat, make that 2 flats, great start!  Adie and Fiona get to us for 8:15 and we set off for Wildtracks by 8:45, 15mins late.
Steve and Wiley are at the track when we get there with Steve's 2 CRG Karts, Its sunny and warm:

We unload all the karts and get them on stands for final checks.  Dean and Adie work on the Birel its looking good:

Its time for Adie to get out on track with the Wright Kart:

Steve & Wiley on track:

Dean on a flying lap:

Now for the first minor problem, I (Pete) went out in the Tony Kart with "newly fitted curb riders" after a couple of laps to warm up I opened it up on the final corner coming onto the start finish and duly slammed into the tyre wall without hesitation, owwww.

As stated on an earlier blog we are all beginners at this and what I did not realise is that an additional 5 or 6mmof curb riders means that effectively the chassis is lower to the ground, and when it touches the main track (not the curb under racing conditions it breaks your tyre traction and you head straight to the scene of the accident.  At this point i'm not sure but it looks a lot like a cracked rib, as I said before owww.  That was my days racing over :(

More Day 3 to come..........

3 day Karting Weekend at Wildtracks Norfolk Day 2

The second part of a 3 day weekend of karting at Wildtracks which took place last Friday 17th - Sunday 19th May, involving testing, building, rebuilding, repairs, fastest laps wheel to wheel racing minor incidents a few sore ribs but a lot of fun.

Saturday 18th

A full day of repairs, building, rebuilding and prepping the karts at Dean's.  Adie Steve Dean and I worked all day to prep the karts for Sunday.  The strange sound from the engine turned out to be a cracked clutch plate, which led to identifying a second clutch problem on the cosmic, two for one :(

We also worked something else out, Karts are designed for 13 year old boys and although non of us are exactly big in the butt department we all need extra large seats, except for Dean who thinks he still is a 13 year old boy!

Next we worked on the new Birel, with Steve's help it was a relatively painless affair, everything but the rolling chassis came from the Cosmic that had developed the unidentifiable vibration the day before. The Birel runs a really nice brake system with a floating disc, I must say when it was finished it looked a pretty cool kart.  

Michele, Dean's wife and my sister, kept us fed and watered all day until we eventually finished at midnight.  Thanks Sis x 

Sunday still to come + lots more photographs and videos from the full weekend.

3 day Karting Weekend at Wildtracks Norfolk Day 1

The first part of a 3 day weekend of karting at Wildtracks which took place last Friday 17th - Sunday 19th May, involving testing, building, rebuilding, repairs, fastest laps wheel to wheel racing minor incidents a few sore ribs but a lot of fun.

Friday 17th
Consisted of a dry grey dull day an empty track and lots of time to get to know the circuit. Dean Adie and I (Pete) walked the track with the circuit director Martin, who was great all weekend helping us with tips and suggestions and a few spares (sprockets, chains and alike) that they now sell at the track.  Then it was out on track and trying to get our lap times down, swapping karts  changing seats looking at which chassis and karts we liked best.  We were testing the Playstation Cosmic, Tony Kart, Wright Kart and a second cosmic.  

By the end of the day we had got our lap times under the 30 sec mark which we were pleased with, but unfortunately one or two of the engines started to sound not quite right + an unexplained vibration on the Cosmic? 

Overall though a pretty positive day!

Saturday and Sunday still to come + lots more photographs and videos from the full weekend.

When a Rotax goes bang!

These are the days you don't want to happen too often, here are a few picks of Dean and Adie's sick engine.  Steve is sorting the rebuild, I hope he remembers where all those cogs go!

New Birel joins the stable

Heading to Derbyshire early tomorrow morning to pick up a very nice looking Birel for Dean to join the stable of karts we are racing.

Its a rolling chassis in very good condition so very keen to see how it performs when we get a Rotax in it.  From what we understand its a stiffer chassis than the Tony karts so drives with very different characteristics.  Should be interesting.  I'll let you know what karts we run next week and how we get on.

Dean & Adie had a Rotax go pop on them a couple of weeks ago ooouch! so I'll let you know how they get on with a rebuild.

Attention all 40+ Karting enthusiasts!!

I'm just trying to get a feel to see if there are any other groups or individuals in the UK  that are made up of slightly more mature (over 40's) karting enthusiasts racing Rotax Max Senior!  How do you get on and organise yourselves, how often do you meet, do you organise private events / meets / testing.  Do you race Tony Kart, Birel, Wright Kart, CRG, Gillard?  

If you are interested in what imagen-racing are doing or would like to join in, follow our blog or let us know via the comments below and come and join us testing, more the merrier.

We currently buy most of our parts and karts from e-bay, has anyone got a good, cost effective supplier you can recommend as pricing and quality seem to vary a lot from most sites?

What are the best tracks in the north of England as there seem to be masses around London and quite a few in Scotland but a distinct lack of tracks in Yorkshire & Lincolnshire other than the great PFI track.  We currently race in Norfolk but are looking for options, any idea's?

imagen-racing launch

This new blog is to track the highs and lows of getting involved and learning about a very exhilarating and fun filled hobby. 

Imagen racing is a group of karting enthusiasts in our 40's that meet when we can for testing days and wheel to wheel racing on various tracks around the country.  We all race Rotax Max Senior Karts with various chassis including Tony Kart, Wright Kart, Gillard and CRG.  Although we all have enjoyed racing karts over the years non of us had driven a Rotax before this year and we now have an ever growing stable of karts, currently all bought from ebay.  Some are good some are great but all are extremely good fun.

My brother in law Dean is housing quite a few of the karts, his garage has become quite a  pit bay! 

Over the following months i'll blog about what we learn good and bad about running Rotax Max Senior Karts.  Tracks, set up, victories, and disasters also using photography and video to tell the story.

We are all learning so please engage with us and let me know your thoughts.  

Next test session at http://www.wildtracksltd.co.uk/karting  on 17/05/13