The Bench Racers Journal

[Terry Bentley]

Chapter 142

It was around 3:45 when Paul flagged us off the track. For the next 15 minutes is was reasonably quiet considering where we were. There was a lot of people  unloading karts and pushing them in the pits.

Since we had been here working in the morning, I lucked out picking one of the better choice of pit spots. Right in the middle of the pits is an overhead light. We picked this spot since it is well lit and close to the pit entrance. It was also up against the fence so there was not a lot of unwanted traffic walking all around.

We took a break and watched as everyone was arriving and parking their cars. It is surprising to see how many creative ways people come up with to load karts on their cars and trucks. Some of them even have fancy trailers that could carry most of the equipment too.

Here comes a 4wd truck pulling in. Sure looks like he can go just about anywhere in that thing. There are four karts on the flatbed. Wow, that could be a lot of work keeping them all running.



There were two karts sitting on top of a station wagon using the luggage rack. Plenty of them stuck out of the trunks of cars. Pickup trucks had managed to stuff three and four karts in the bed.

On top of one car looked like a manufactured rack for karts. It was pretty slick. And probably expensive too. But seemed like it would be difficult to get the kart on and off that rack without damaging something or scratching the paint. A closer look at the rack, I saw it was held in place with suction cups that stuck to top of car. Then straps were also used to make sure it stayed put. Oh well, whatever it takes.



I noticed a small boat trailer that was converted over and double stacked. This sure makes it easy to get all of your stuff to the track. I got to wondering if there are any old used boat trailers sitting around that are cheap to buy. How hard could it be to change one over?



There was even one Thunderbird that had the kart strapped to some small framework secured to the rear bumper and angled up over the removable top. A little bit of padding and several straps then all was good.



For some reason this made me think of Frank. He mentioned carrying a kart on the back of his Volkswagen once. I wonder if he is really going to show up tonight. Then remembering back each time we were out here with him.

Those first two practice days turned into a nightmare for me. Its like most of my time was spent working on Franks kart. That first day he arrived at the track and not even bothered putting the kart together. He said there were only a few things needing to be tightened up. Yea right!

Last year when I was in the seventh grade like Chris is now, we had the usual words and definitions to match up on these daily tests. New words and then try to match with a definition from a list of given choices. Mostly boring daily tests, but some new ones were worth remembering.  

There was this one word I had never seen or heard before, Quagmire. I passed on this one word until all of the other choices were picked. That meant the last definition should be correct. But the right definition did not really match with the sound of this word at all.

In my thinking just from the pronouncing the word,  a definition would be more like an unsolvable situation, or something there is no coming back from. This definition would be a perfect fit for the word to describe the situation finding myself in both times when helping Frank at the track.

The main definition was very disappointing to me when I realized what this word meant. But later reading in a dictionary the secondary definition is what would be the prefect choice if on that test. A difficult, precarious, or entrapping position : predicament. With this definition then it does fit. But just using this word in describing any situation when referring to Frank explains everything about him perfectly. 

So helping Frank that first practice day, over a half hour was wasted just digging thru all the boxes of parts trying to put his kart together. Right after finishing and telling Frank to suit up is when I found out he did not even bring any fuel. It was lucky for him we had some extra to loan out.

The second practice day out here was even a bigger disaster or more suited, a quagmire. Frank had layed his hands on that super duper prototype special Rupp wannabe A-bone Dart kart like he was some kind of mechanical engineer. No, even one better than that. Like a mechanical genius.

This is more to what he would describe himself. Franks kart was perfect in every detail. Even better than ole Mic himself could have done to a production built kart. Except this kart is a special prototype. It was special since Mickey Rupp aka "Mic" to Frank had said so. That is why Frank bought the kart. Or maybe the discounted price he paid had something to do with him buying it

He was so proud of his accomplishment right up to him unsuccessfully completing that first ill fated lap. Watching his exaggerated attempts to steering the kart around was more than comical. His attempt of driving was a total clown show that would have drawn maximum reaction from the crowds watching. Unfortunately it was no act for him. He literally thought his kart was possessed from how horribly it now handled.

After he finally calmed down, I offered him a ride in my Cates kart. Curiosity got the best of me and I really wanted to get him away from his kart for a while. Then try to figure out what he did to make it handle so bad. The first practice day we were here, his kart seemed to get around decently. Even better if you didnt factor in his lack of driving skills. But since I am not yet a mature responsible adult and just a rookie at this kart stuff, it was not my place to say anything about his abilities. Or in my opinion his lack of abilities.

Back in his garage a few days earlier, I had asked Frank about some things he changed up on the kart. His answers made perfect sense at the time. But the result of those changes messed his kart up terribly. So while he was chasing Steve around on the track, gave me a chance to check over the kart and see if it could be fixed that day.

After a lot of persuading, I convinced Frank to let me take his kart out for a lap. Explaining to him I just to find out what he was talking about with the kart not handling. There was no mention at all about what I had changed on his kart. But he was not giving in. Then telling me it was a good way to get myself killed since his kart handled so poorly. Especially if it really was possessed.

He went into how much more power his engine had compared to ours. The speed difference alone was a deal breaker. Along with an evil handling chassis, he was not going to be so irresponsible to let me drive it on the track. But also assuring me I was not capable enough to even keep it on the track. It was that evil from his almost one completed lap.

After some pleading, he agreed to follow me around in my kart going very slowly so he could get an up and close view of what his kart was actually doing on the track from behind. Frank actually thought this was a good idea. This was Steves idea for Frank to analyze the kart with an engineers perspective and then better figure out what the problem might be. This allowed me to take his kart for at least one lap. Then he can decide if more laps would be allowed.

It didnt take the first turn to realize that everything that Frank fixed was the very reason for the kart to be so evil handling. I loosened up all the things he worked on and adjusted his kart back to how the other karts are set up. Since the track is not really flat and the kart is all twisted and torqued driving thru the turns, it does not make sense to expect everything on the kart to stay square and plumb to the ground.

That does not mean things can be all lopsided or bent. Running in a straight line, all four tires need to sit flat on the ground with even amount of weight from side to side. The front tires can have toe in/out and even obvious camber. Whatever it takes to make the kart handle well with the least amount of rolling resistance.

You could set the front end to stay hooked up and never break loose. But the kart scrubs off too much speed this way. It might feel like your kart is glued to the track, but loosing too much forward motion is the same as going backwards in a race. The same goes for the rear end too.

There is a fine ba1ance between enough traction and forward motion. You can also set the kart up too loose. It might feel like you are flying thru the turns only to be passed by someone else more hooked up. This way your kart may be moving sideways more than forward in the faster turns. Sideways motion is the same as going backwards.

One thing really critical is how much power your engine is producing. Our junior bushing class is on the very low end of power. As in not very much to work with at all. So any adjustments can be immediately felt out there on the track. Especially if you have another kart to compare against every time.

So back to working on todays problem. Chris was sent back out on my kart after that first attempt of driving his almost one lap. From his description there may be a slight understeer if he was comparing to the way it used to drive. With the new live axle his kart would seem much tighter than he had been accustomed to.

After checking over his kart I found out the tire pressure had not been properly set. Since the back end stayed really hooked up when I drove it, may also be too tight, So decided to widen out the rear tires. Even tho it was only a minor adjustment on each side, the difference should be noticeable.

We made those axle spacers 1/4 inch wide. Two of them for each side. So I had moved a single spacer out on each wheel. This made the rear axle tread width 1/2 inch wider. Since this is a written journal, all of these minor little details are important to record. A lot of repetition helps keep everything fresh in my head.

With these types of adjustments making a difference, to me means the kart is close to being set up fairly well. If there was very little or no real difference in handling, then we were still way off on where the kart needed to be set up. At least this is how I have figured out one way to make adjustments to my kart.

I am still not sure what the tire pressures need to be set at. The pressure seems close to being right for current track conditions, but if something changes, unsure of what direction to go yet. We need a lot more drive time before making changes with the little bit of difference in track conditions we have experienced so far.