22/10: TDI Cup Karting Qualifier
In September I attended the Volkswagen TDI Cup Karting Qualifier at F1 Outdoors near Boston. The top ten from the event would qualify for the final selection and be eligible for a free ride for 2010 which will go to the top karting qualified driver at the final selection. For details see volkswagenjettacup.com. My writeup's a little late but here's what went down.
I drove up to the Boston area the day before and the drive was horrid; almost 11 hours due to heavy traffic on some stretches and a few wrong turns. I finally got to my hotel close to 10PM and crashed early without eating much all day.
The morning didn't start off too well either. I got up early at 5:30 and left the hotel at a reasonable time to make it to the track at 7AM. Unfortunately roads in Massachusetts don't seem to have street signs, and that combined with my lack of navigation skills meant I got to the track late, last of the 19 registered drivers.
There was a quick drivers meeting where the we went over the format of the day, and Jan Haylen, lead instructor/judge gave a few pointers. There would be three groups, and each group would run four 10 minute sessions. The first session would not be timed, the second and final sessions would be timed for fastest lap and the third session would be timed for fastest 5 laps. The judges said they were also looking for improvement through the day and would be taking into consideration everyone's various experience levels in the karts.
Next there was a long block of time for kart fitting, which seemed kind of pointless to me, since the Rotax powered CRG karts we would be driving aren't so adjustable and all seemed to have the same sized seat. Fortunately there were some inserts and padding to use which I desperately needed. Since the kart fitting didn't take too long there was a long period of waiting and hanging out with the other drivers and those involved in the series. It was certainly nice to meet people from different backgrounds during this time and after that, most of the nerves started to go away.
Finally the first group went out for the first session and – as I've come to expect in every first session, there were a lot of spins – just on the outlap several karts spun in the first few corners! While the first two groups were on track, I made a point to walk around to a few different spots to get some different views of the karts around the track. The track at F1 Outdoors was pretty impressive. The layout we ran included most of the whole complex and was probably a bit under a mile in length including a mix of sweepers and hairpins. The configuration was very fast with several turns having camber to hold you. The landscaping around the track was equally impressive and the grass around the track was smooth and neatly mowed.
Next it was time for me to get in the kart. I took it easy for the first few corners then quickly stepped up to what for me was a moderate pace. I was feeling decent with my pace and got comfortable with the track quickly. I caught up to another driver and followed him for a lap or two – I was slightly faster but not so much to have a easy opportunity to pass. Soon, he pulled over and let me by. I was not sure if he had a problem or wanted to find open track. Regardless, I continued on my way for another lap or so when I braked for a tight hairpin. As one driver passed me on the inside, I felt an impact to my rear and saw a kart spinning behind me! That was interesting. Luckily the karts had a plastic rear bumper so there was no damage or karts flying through the air. I finished the session feeling decent about how I'd done.
The second 10 minute session would be the first timed session. I went out and continued where I left off, carrying more speed through the corners and feeling a little faster. Towards the end of the session though, I was starting to feel it in my neck and this was a concern to me. I had actually been trying to work out my neck in preparation but it is pretty hard to simulate the forces you experience in a high powered kart on a high grip track. After a short debrief, the laps times were posted and I was surprised to see that I was 3rd fastest in my group and only around 2 seconds off the pace of the fastest guys, given my lack of experience in racing karts. I also wondered if I perhaps went too fast, particularly since I knew my neck would give me trouble in the later sessions. In fact, I had set my fastest lap on lap 2, while all other drivers had set their fast laps later on. We had a long lunch break and I got to watch a helmet cam video from another driver in my group who had turned laps close to mine, which was pretty cool.
For the third session I worked on being smoother as this was the feedback I got from the judges. I wanted to show the judges I could adopt to their feedback, I understood that the session would be judged on the average of the best 5 laps, and given that I thought smoother would be less physically demanding, I felt this was the best strategy. I finished the session thinking I had run about the same pace as before, if not faster, but I was disappointed to see that my best lap was over half a second slower, and I was slowest of my group!
I went out for the last session with the plan to absolutely attack the course on the first few laps to set a good time before my neck got fatigued. Given that improvement would be a criteria my goal was to at least improve on my time from the 2nd session. After a spin on my first hot lap, I pushed hard for the next two or three laps and felt like I was going pretty fast, faster then I had all day. The next few laps I dialed it back before I decided to make a final push in the last few minutes. Even though I was tired and could not hold my neck straight in the fast corners at all, I pushed through it anyway. I was so disoriented coming off the corners I could barely see and was frankly surprised I kept it on the track.
Given my limited experience I had no idea how fast I had run, and unfortunately, due to some logistical issue we never got to see our times from the last session. There was a long wait while the judges did the scoring. I truly had no idea if I was among the top 10 qualifiers. Everyone seemed to had done a decent job given their experience levels. Finally, the judges came out from the trailer to announce the qualifiers. The names were read off one by one in random order and I can't say I was not quite disappointed when my name was not called.
The specific scoring criteria was not revealed so of course, I was second guessing myself afterwords wondering if there was something simple I could have done differently to qualify. It was frustrating because I truly believe I was good enough to qualify, but on this day, 10 other drivers had performed better based on the judges standards. Regardless, I've since been invited to the final driver selection event anyway since another driver has backed out. In the end I had a great time and was glad to have met the people I met. I'd love the opportunity to attend the final selection, although I don't have all the funding yet. It's a long shot but
I'll be trying a few things to raise the money for the entry fee. Let me know if you can help or have any suggestions for me!
I drove up to the Boston area the day before and the drive was horrid; almost 11 hours due to heavy traffic on some stretches and a few wrong turns. I finally got to my hotel close to 10PM and crashed early without eating much all day.
The morning didn't start off too well either. I got up early at 5:30 and left the hotel at a reasonable time to make it to the track at 7AM. Unfortunately roads in Massachusetts don't seem to have street signs, and that combined with my lack of navigation skills meant I got to the track late, last of the 19 registered drivers.
There was a quick drivers meeting where the we went over the format of the day, and Jan Haylen, lead instructor/judge gave a few pointers. There would be three groups, and each group would run four 10 minute sessions. The first session would not be timed, the second and final sessions would be timed for fastest lap and the third session would be timed for fastest 5 laps. The judges said they were also looking for improvement through the day and would be taking into consideration everyone's various experience levels in the karts.
Next there was a long block of time for kart fitting, which seemed kind of pointless to me, since the Rotax powered CRG karts we would be driving aren't so adjustable and all seemed to have the same sized seat. Fortunately there were some inserts and padding to use which I desperately needed. Since the kart fitting didn't take too long there was a long period of waiting and hanging out with the other drivers and those involved in the series. It was certainly nice to meet people from different backgrounds during this time and after that, most of the nerves started to go away.
Finally the first group went out for the first session and – as I've come to expect in every first session, there were a lot of spins – just on the outlap several karts spun in the first few corners! While the first two groups were on track, I made a point to walk around to a few different spots to get some different views of the karts around the track. The track at F1 Outdoors was pretty impressive. The layout we ran included most of the whole complex and was probably a bit under a mile in length including a mix of sweepers and hairpins. The configuration was very fast with several turns having camber to hold you. The landscaping around the track was equally impressive and the grass around the track was smooth and neatly mowed.
Next it was time for me to get in the kart. I took it easy for the first few corners then quickly stepped up to what for me was a moderate pace. I was feeling decent with my pace and got comfortable with the track quickly. I caught up to another driver and followed him for a lap or two – I was slightly faster but not so much to have a easy opportunity to pass. Soon, he pulled over and let me by. I was not sure if he had a problem or wanted to find open track. Regardless, I continued on my way for another lap or so when I braked for a tight hairpin. As one driver passed me on the inside, I felt an impact to my rear and saw a kart spinning behind me! That was interesting. Luckily the karts had a plastic rear bumper so there was no damage or karts flying through the air. I finished the session feeling decent about how I'd done.
The second 10 minute session would be the first timed session. I went out and continued where I left off, carrying more speed through the corners and feeling a little faster. Towards the end of the session though, I was starting to feel it in my neck and this was a concern to me. I had actually been trying to work out my neck in preparation but it is pretty hard to simulate the forces you experience in a high powered kart on a high grip track. After a short debrief, the laps times were posted and I was surprised to see that I was 3rd fastest in my group and only around 2 seconds off the pace of the fastest guys, given my lack of experience in racing karts. I also wondered if I perhaps went too fast, particularly since I knew my neck would give me trouble in the later sessions. In fact, I had set my fastest lap on lap 2, while all other drivers had set their fast laps later on. We had a long lunch break and I got to watch a helmet cam video from another driver in my group who had turned laps close to mine, which was pretty cool.
For the third session I worked on being smoother as this was the feedback I got from the judges. I wanted to show the judges I could adopt to their feedback, I understood that the session would be judged on the average of the best 5 laps, and given that I thought smoother would be less physically demanding, I felt this was the best strategy. I finished the session thinking I had run about the same pace as before, if not faster, but I was disappointed to see that my best lap was over half a second slower, and I was slowest of my group!
I went out for the last session with the plan to absolutely attack the course on the first few laps to set a good time before my neck got fatigued. Given that improvement would be a criteria my goal was to at least improve on my time from the 2nd session. After a spin on my first hot lap, I pushed hard for the next two or three laps and felt like I was going pretty fast, faster then I had all day. The next few laps I dialed it back before I decided to make a final push in the last few minutes. Even though I was tired and could not hold my neck straight in the fast corners at all, I pushed through it anyway. I was so disoriented coming off the corners I could barely see and was frankly surprised I kept it on the track.
Given my limited experience I had no idea how fast I had run, and unfortunately, due to some logistical issue we never got to see our times from the last session. There was a long wait while the judges did the scoring. I truly had no idea if I was among the top 10 qualifiers. Everyone seemed to had done a decent job given their experience levels. Finally, the judges came out from the trailer to announce the qualifiers. The names were read off one by one in random order and I can't say I was not quite disappointed when my name was not called.
The specific scoring criteria was not revealed so of course, I was second guessing myself afterwords wondering if there was something simple I could have done differently to qualify. It was frustrating because I truly believe I was good enough to qualify, but on this day, 10 other drivers had performed better based on the judges standards. Regardless, I've since been invited to the final driver selection event anyway since another driver has backed out. In the end I had a great time and was glad to have met the people I met. I'd love the opportunity to attend the final selection, although I don't have all the funding yet. It's a long shot but
I'll be trying a few things to raise the money for the entry fee. Let me know if you can help or have any suggestions for me!