Daniel Rogers Racing » chassis

Super 1 Round 6 – Buckmore Park

Dan — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 18:44:49 +0000

The final round of the British Championship, and on Friday practice we were very quick in the last few sessions and things were looking good for a successful weekend to secure a strong place in the final standings. The first heat went well with no problems, but I was aware that our speed might not be enough to produce a race win, so we ended the day still thinking of ways to find more speed from the kart. We started Sunday with the beleif, as always, that the kart would now be right, but things coudn’t of gone worse, when an accident on the first corner put me into the wall and bent the steering. I was able to restraighten the stub axles enough to take the restart, and we had a decent result considering the damage.

By heat three, it was apparant that we had the speed, it was just not usable i.e. it was on the wrong bits of the track. The kart was particularly struggling through the hairpins compared to others and was ‘bouncing’ on the back due to the amount of grip. We tried everything we could to solve the problem, but nothing was working. The remaining heats gave me enough points to start fifth for the final. I knew that I had to try to beat Rhys Jenkins to maintain my position in the championship, but this was always going to be difficult due to his speed on the day. A red flag half way through the race should have bunched the field up again, but the restart was a mess and the race became very strung out. I finished the final 6th.

When we got the kart back to the van, we found the chassis had cracked, and would need re-welding before next week. We also beleive that it’s twisted, because the front won’t line up correctly. Ok, so I’m being a bit negative, but I wanted to end the year on a high and frustratingly, we tried everything but didn’t get the results I was looking for. However, the final points didnt turn out quite so bad. I scored enough to fnish 6th in the championship, and when I look back over the year, then I’m pleased, as its a respectable number and I hope to improve on it next year! Check out the video;

Formula 6 Round 7 – Lydd

Dan — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 20:17:02 +0000

Another great weekend with the new chassis; perhaps white is my lucky colour! Qualified on 2nd, but won both the heats, which put me on pole for the Final. Not a lot more I can add to be honest, as it turned into quite a comfortable win thanks mainly to Ryan not finishing the first heat, and so having to work his way through from the back in the final, and not having the pace to regain the huge gap I had pulled at the start. Things are looking good for the championship now too, as I’ve had two maximum points rounds in a row.

New Chassis

Dan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 21:56:04 +0000

Last weekend we picked up my new chassis, which is another Tal-ko, this time its from 2008, and hopefully will gain that little bit extra speed that we’re searching for. The chassis is in brilliant white, which is going to be difficult to keep clean, but the advantage of it being white, is that its easier to spot any cracks, than it is with the darker coloured chassis’. The kart came with the VEN05 brake, which we will test, especially given the problems we have been having with the Magura brake I’m running at the moment. I’m not sure when we will first use it, but we need to transfer everything across from the old kart; we may be able to have it ready for Lydd F6 next weekend.

Le Mans Karting 24Hr

Dan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:12:40 +0000

I was asked by Adam Nichols to join him in the Le Mans 24Hr Kart race, which is an anuual event held at the Le Mans circuit in France. The event is a 24Hr endurance race, which would be done in a prokart. Due to the cost of organising the event, the cost to enter one team with their own kart is £1750.00. I would have to fund a quarter of this, due to the team being of four people. Unfortunately the cost was just too high, given all the issues with the cracked chassis recently, and it looks like a new chassis is on it’s way, so I would not be able to afford the cost of this race as well. It would of been a fantastic opportunity, but sometimes things just don’t work out

Formula 6 Round 5 – Ellough Park

Dan — Sat, 30 May 2009 18:09:03 +0000

We were able to have the chassis re-welded and this weekend was a test to see whether it had kept its performance despite the damage. The speed we got out of it was good, given what had happened to it. I was able to still have confidence in it, and could work my way through the feild comfortably. In each of the three heats I finished either 2nd or 3rd, from the various places I started (front, middle and back).

I started 2nd for the Final, and made a good start to secure my position out of the first corner. We were roughly 0.1 seconds slower than Adam and over the 18 lap final, I was unable to catch him to make a move, so had to settle for a happy second. It seems the kart has not lost its speed, so things look good for the next few races. Just need to find that extra bit of speed to make it a race win. Image from UK Karting

Super 1 Round 3 – Larkhall

Dan — Sun, 24 May 2009 19:18:12 +0000

This has to be our worst weekend in a long time. The first heat was done on Saturday, when I was feeling really unwell, which affected my performance. Fortunately I was better by Sunday, and we were a lot quicker. My luck however did not improve. I got caught up on the start on the second heat, and had to fight my way back from last up to 7th. The third heat started much better; I got a good start and got up to 4th but then was punted off back to last. On the Final heat the carb rubber split and this just topped off our run of bad heats.

In the Final I started 11th and did well to get myself into a strong 5th position with the speed to move forward further. I set the joint fastest lap, but things got close on the first corner on lap 14, and I got put wide onto the grass. I rejoined on the fastest bit of the track, where it narrows and unfortunately just got clipped as I came back on. It snapped the chassis and bent the stub axles. I couldn’t continue and had to retire. The results from the day are on UK Karting here