Daniel Rogers Racing » glan y gors

Senior TKM 4 Stroke: Top Speed

Dan — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 22:54:48 +0000

With the ability to analyse speed and g-forces by using the MyChron 4 with GPS, I took a look back through the data that was recorded from the Super 1 round at Glan y Gors in April. The circuit is extremely physical and had an very long back straight, which required the lowest gearing we’ve ran in a long time.

The top speed was acheived on the back straight and was recorded at 68.9 mph, at just over 11500 rpm. It was interesting to see the raw information as often commentators, tv presenters, etc will make really high claims about the speed of junior classes reaching 70 to 80 mph, when in fact the speed you can acheive on track is nearer 60 mph on an average, twisty track.

In terms of g-forces, the Senior TKM Stroke runs on Maxxis Red slicks, and normally you would expect to acheive about 1.5G, however at Glan y Gors, we reached 1.81G laterally and 0.94G underbraking. I have recorded in the past around 2.3G on tracks such as Shenington however it depends on the conditions.

Hopefully that gives you a rough gauge of the performance of the kart, and the sort of forces that are exerted to it and the driver.

Engine Rebuild

Dan — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:09:49 +0000

We sent one of our engines back to Tal-ko to be rebuilt at the end of the Super 1 Round at Glan y Gors in Wales, after the problems we have had with getting speed from it in a straight line. We had decided that it has probably just done too many hours and is in need of a once over. Fortunately for us we had our spare engine to use for the F6 rounds in between getting it back. Tal-ko have been investing a lot of their time in getting the TKM 2 Stroke TAG engine ready, and unfortunately the rebuilding of our engine was delayed, and it looks like we will pick it up again at the next Super 1 round (already run in), and I just hope that it will be as quick as it has been before and we’ll be back up to speed otherwise Scotland is a long way to go for a poor weekend.

Image from Karting UK (for illustration only) http://www.karting.co.uk/Imgs/News/2006/20060809-TalKoEnduroRadLrg.jpg

Formula 6 Round 3 – Lydd

Dan — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 20:47:35 +0000

In qualifying we came 6th, which was our own fault, as we thought we were on a sprocket three teeth higher than we actually were, which we hadn’t checked properly since racing at Glan y Gors. Changing this, we gained half a second, and this put us back in the running for the win.

Heat 1 was really weird; one of the Senior Opens, which were on a mixed grid with the Senior TKM 4 Strokes, had dropped oil on the first corner (which is a flat out left hander) on the formation lap. Therefore on the next lap round, we stood no chance of making the corner, and it caught out nearly all of the grid that was on the racing line, as it was not visible at all on the track. Luckily for me I was able to rejoin, and in the remaining stages of the race, made up the time I had lost on the two in front to finish 3rd, the video will show this whole scenario a lot better.

Heat 2 was pretty uneventful compared to Heat 1, where I got a good start and moved up to 5th, and was beginning to catch the group in front, before one of the Senior Opens got completely in the way and slowed my progress to the point where I lost too much time to catch those in front of me. After I passed him I set the fastest lap, and closed a lot on the group in front, but had lost too much time to be able to overtake the guys in front.

I started 4th from the final, but was still a bit wound up from heat 2, as I felt I should have finished higher up. Perhaps this worked to my advantage, as I fought my way through from 4th to get myself into 2nd and managed to hold this right to the end, and required some defending on the last couple of corners as the race became very close. I was pleased with the final result, it was a shame, that Adam, who won it, got away so much when we were battling for 2nd, but this couldn’t be helped. Results are on MyLaps here

Super 1 Round 2 – Glan y Gors

Dan — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 20:14:18 +0000

Glan y Gors is in North Wales, six hours drive from home, but I felt that overall it was worth the long journey. We had good overall pace all weekend and feaured regulrly in the top five fastetst laps. The problem seemed to be that we just struggled for speed in a straight line, which meant I had to drive very defensively to defend my position on the straights, and could only attack in the more twisty sections of the track, which frutrated me, and those behind me.

Nevertheless, in the heats we got on well, finishing 5th, 4th and 6th respectively in the first three heats. Heat 4 didn’t go quite as well, where I finished 11th. For the Final I started 6th, and got a great start, but just struggled to hold my position, due to the straight line speed issues. I finished the final 7th.

At the end of the meeting, we sent one of the engines back to Tal-ko to be rebuilt fresh before the next Super 1 Round at Larkhall. Hopefully a rebuild will bring us back up to speed, if not then we need to do some serious testing to find out why we struggled so much. The result are online on Karting UK website here. We scored good points for the Championship, and are now joint 6th.