so who's in to battle Team GT-ARRR?? gotta have atleast 12 teams entered to get the $1000 prize so who wants to step up? :D


what: VIR kart track/Ynotsportshots 3 hour karting enduro
where: VIR
when: Oct. 20th, 2007 9am - 6pm (i believe)

teams must have a minimum combined weight of 425 lbs. cost is $375/team before Oct. 1 and $450/team after Oct. 1.



also, theres a thanksgiving karting race with cash prizes as well.


click here for the info on both kart races:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=129407379&blogID=286804145

Bring a kidney belt, you'll thank me later. 30 minutes on a kart can be rough but boy sounds like fun.

yea, i need to invest in even thicker foam padding.


nihilation & I have won 2 NASA karting enduros and each time we both drove about 1 hr each. VIR kart track is very demanding on the body for sure.

What's the minimum on a team?

maybe you can run it by yourself if you're atleast 425 lbs :rofl but you'd have to talk to VIR about that.......


minimum combined weight is 425 lbs. myself & 2 other people on team gt-arrr just pass the limit.

anyone running with john (poser) and josh (nihilation) is almost guaranteed a victory. Id go, but ive got an autox to attend. I'll let someone go who needs the money more than I. ;)

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/228/img4019en9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

ok, teams are filling up quick. just paid for my spot today, there are now 9 paid teams i believe? the max teams they are allowing is 12 teams......so register now!

also, they just got brand new 9hp Stratos karts that look a helluva lot more comfortable than the old karts. these new ones have sliding seats (i think) and a belt. should make for a less painful experience when hitting the rumble strips. :)

http://a648.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/67/l_451971e20d563bed35bd935e1a6c92df.jpg

They are also running reverse direction now. Regular direction was causing over-revs and blown engines on the new karts because of the downhill front straight. Or so they tell me :D

Jon

interesting :eyecrazy


i guess the normal uphill won't be such a battle for everyone now!

I also heard rumors that the new karts don't have as much of a disparity in lap time vs. driver weight like the old ones did. Must be all the extra HP. It's definitely good news for fatboys like me regardless :D

Can't wait to get down there and find out,

Jon

you gonna be running in the 3hr enduro? :D

Are you ready for the gun show?

you gonna be running in the 3hr enduro? :D

I've been an event every weekend since mid-August, and Oct 20-21 is my only weekend off until Thanksgiving. So, I doubt it. :(

Jon

Seeing grown men driving around little go-karts makes me :rofl

the event was such a joke. :(

So i take it u didnt win...

why so? lol

Nope, didn't win. karts were so fking inconsistent it wasn't even funny. :rolleyes

there was too much BS that happened on Saturday. I am pissed that I dropped $125 to run that rigged race.

all I know is i am not going to kart again @ VIR with how ridiculous the karts are right now. the old karts were so much better and more consistent.

Basically we drove four different karts during open lap practice. Jumping from one kart to another back to back for 15 minute sessions revealed nearly a 2 second difference in lap times. 2 full seconds, mid 48's to mid 50's. This was beyond huge. To top it off the track owners tried to say it was fair when I brought it up to them. Kart #8 was the slowest of all that we tried. It understeered horribly on any left hand turn and it also pulled to the left when going straight. Right turns were alright.

So 2pm rolls around and qualifying starts. They had a "special" kart that was geared differently to use. The first 3 teams qualify and the laps turn slower and slower. Finally a kid who actually works at the kart track goes out and comes back in saying that there is something wrong with the kart. Duh... there was something wrong with most of them, lol. Idiot. So they decide to draw numbers out of a hat. This would determine which order the teams got to choose their kart. John picks 10... out of 10. We get the last kart left...#8. Fuck. The same slow ass kart we had used in practice. I tried to get them to put on new front tires but they said the wear indicators weren't all the way down yet but the insides of both tires literally had a stepped lip to them. None of the other karts's tires looked this way. Hmmm... so then they said grid was reverse order of the kart selection, so we got to sit on pole. I think it's because they knew kart 8 was shitty and they didn't have time to fix it, tried to make us content. My team was not content.

Sitting on pole... woo. More like "defend my line like my life depended on it". And that's what it was. The worst was a series of 3 left hand turns before the front straight. I had to slow the kart down to almost a crawl to complete the turn only to get bumped in the back lap after lap, sometimes almost being pushed off course and into the tire wall. Not even half way in to my hour long stint and I wanted to just beat the fuck out of the next guy who rammed into the back of my kart. Furious at the situation did not begin to describe it. Our best lap of the 3 hours was 50.06 compared to 1st place at ~47.8's.

You can say we were just out driven all you want but that wasn't the case. Both John and David were in the mid 48's during practice with kart #14 and #15 but couldn't break low 50's during the race in kart #8.

There goes $450.

After I busted out 48's in kart 15, I finally convinced Josh that the difference was in the karts, not because of my shoddy driving. :stickoutt

And yea....to anyone who thinks we couldn't drive the kart to it's limits....Josh and I have won 2 NASA karting enduros @ VIR (the old karts) by a margin of 4 laps each time.

This time around, we were 8th out of 10 places and lost by atleast 7 or 8 laps? :mad

Ok, I understand that no 2 karts will ever be the same and there will always be slight differences. VIR's old karts were awesome. Even if you had a 'crappy' kart and could not hang in the straights, atleast you could keep up in the corners. You would think with brand new Stratos karts, they would all be pretty consistent....not.

Just like in all motor racing, 2 seconds is a huge gap - especially when it comes to karting. We brought a knife to a gunfight. Oh, (and not that it would've mattered for us) there were only 9 teams who showed up so no cash prize.

.....ok, end rant.....

It's all John's fault for not having enough skill choosing a random number out of a box. What a noob.

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/228/img4019en9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Is that the STIG there in the middle ?!@# :eek:

^ Yes, that's The Stig. Real identity still unknown.

I'm going to write them a nice letter expressing my discontent.

sorry to hear about that guys i know you all should have won :(

maybe next time, and maybe next time they'll have more even karts.

sorry to hear about that guys i know you all should have won :(

Don't say it like that. If the karts were fair and we lost, great, at least we would have known that we just got out driven.

When John and David were in karts #14 and 15 they were turning mid 48's in practice. Looking through the "best laps" column on screen yesterday the fastest kart, #9 ran a high 47 and the rest of the field(except kart #8 and #6) were all in the 48's.

:rolleyes

So u guys would have had a good race on ur hands.. Judging by lap times.. I mean hey sh*t happens.. remember allsports josh during that mini GP when they left the choke on and I was giving up like 5 karts a lap to everyone else... they just said "sorry" and that was that...

Yea Kevin, I remember how much that sucked. Here's a copy of the email I sent Tony.

Hello,

I am writing in light of this weekend's 3 hour endurance race. There
were several things I noticed from this event:

a) Uneven tire wear among several karts. Tony told one team that even
though the inside of the tires were stepped they were fine because the
wear indicators were still showing. There were two karts in the field
that had this condition. Ironically these were the same two karts that
could be heard from the pit lane with squealing tires from understeer at
turns 6, 7 and 8. Coincidence that they also had the slowest lap times?
How about ensuring identical condition tires on every kart prior to the
green flag?

b) If the field of karts were fair why would you even bother to have
numbers drawn to pick the kart your team wanted at qualifying? If an
experienced racer jumps in kart A and runs low 48's then jumps into kart
B and runs mid 50 second lap times does that not tell you there is a
problem and that the playing field is not fair?

c) In any event put on it is bad business practice to allow employees to
participate. Rumor has it that whoever was in kart #9 was an employee
of yours. Was kart #9 fine tuned by this employee as well? I can only
assume this is why a vote was taken to remove kart #9 since it was
stated by Tony to be the fastest of the group after your qualifying kart
had two mechanical failures.

Lap time discrepancies such as these are over looked in normal arrive
and drive situations. This however is unacceptable at an event that is
taken as serious as a 3 hour endurance race with an entry fee of nearly
half a thousand dollars. There are teams that drove ten hours to
participate and spent hundreds more in hotel fees and anticipated a
professional event.

I ask you for your thoughts and and want to know what will be done at
the VIR Plantation Valley Kart Track to ensure a professional
environment at future races. I look forward to your reply.

Regards,

Josh Taylor

too bad you didn't have a dSLR to document the race :devillook:devillook

Don't say it like that. If the karts were fair and we lost, great, at least we would have known that we just got out driven.
+1

Our team was like the Scott Speed at this event. We had the talent, but our race car SUCKED!!

+1

Our team was like the Scott Speed at this event. We had the talent, but our race car SUCKED!!

rofl..... So go to NASCAR then...

I just want to take this opportunity to say that Josh and John are fast drivers and will win something one day soon, stay tuned...:cool

rofl..... So go to NASCAR then...
lol!!!

actually, he's in ARCA/Re-Max aka NASCAR minor leagues. p00r!!! :(

btw - it's so sad to see all the open wheel guys doing stock car now.....villenueve, montoya, speed, franchitti, hornish jr, allmendinger, etc...
I just want to take this opportunity to say that Josh and John are fast drivers and will win something one day soon, stay tuned...:cool
maybe one day we'll beat you in autox or forza2. :mad

I just want to take this opportunity to say that Josh and John are fast drivers and will win something one day soon, stay tuned...:cool
What am I? Chopped liver?

What am I? Chopped liver?

We've all seen you at AllSports...:D

We've all seen you at AllSports...:D
ALLSPORTS IS GAY!!! GAY!!!

lawl!

What am I? Chopped liver?

he he, yes Dave you are fast too. i didn't know you were in the enduro. btw OT, show some respekt for autox man! ;)

he he, yes Dave you are fast too. i didn't know you were in the enduro. btw OT, show some respekt for autox man! ;)
I am going to start autoxing, just to shut John up. It's just a matter of time before I am faster than him in every form of motorsports.

which means that will never happen.

which means that will never happen.
A few months ago it was 2 seconds, a few weeks ago it was .2 seconds, this last sat was .02 seconds. Next year, I will probably be at least a second faster than you at karting. And I beat you at Redline cause you DNF...rather, DNES. :rofl

My super sawing action will prevail at the next autox.

i am gonna rape you so bad in karting next time.........RAGE!!!!11!!1!1 :mad

i am gonna rape you so bad in karting next time.........RAGE!!!!11!!1!1 :mad
Do it! I'll be in kart 9 and you can be in kart 8. I will lap you repeatedly like I did in the earlier practice sessions. :rofl

Sunday November 18th....lets go

VIR

I just want to take this opportunity to say that anyone who is sad to see scott speed go to nascrap is super mega ghey

Email received back-

First thing first, VIR NOR the plantation valley kart track put the endurance race on this weekend, Tony Oldham and Leblue water put the event on, all we did was to rent them the track and karts for the event, in any thing you read of was told, nothing is said about Vir dooing this races, as for the concern about the karts , we have dicide not to do any more endurance racing or money prize racing at the kart track again, the race weekend on the 24th of november has been concealed. Too many people thinking VIR and the Kart Track was putting on the event, To the fact of the employee racing, he was contacted by the Newman Haas race team to race with thier 2008 female driver of the 34 champ car, they state they wanted to win the event, we are still trying to fix the problem with the karts, engine are turning too many rmp, some engines for newer and faster then others, this is being worked on now. NO ONE SET UP ANY KART, OR FAVOR ANY TEAM IN THE RACE, ALL TIRES WERE CHECKED BEFORE THE START OF THE RACE, ONLY TIRE WE KNEW WOULD NOT LAST WERE REPLACED, I PUT NEW TIRES ON 7 KARTS BEFORE THE RACE STARTED. We draw for karts because the 3 kart was set for qualifying, it has the new gearing on it we will be running on all kart as soon as it comes in, the throttle cable work lose and cuased the first delay, the second delay came when the team in kart 15 wreck and knock the tire off the kart, the only thing left was to draw for your kart, not enough time to qualify for the race, racing started at 3 to 6pm. Can I ask what other way it could have been done, the teams were split on what karts to run, pull the fastest 3 out and run the 3 slower karts or run what they had. I am sorry we could not have the kart more equal, becuase they have run all day for the last 21 day straight, did not have time to equal out. We try to please all our costumers.

Thanks
Michael C Fowlkes
Kart Track Manager

For those of you who had eye trouble reading that mess I'll sum it up for you:

* Their employee was contacted by Newman Haas's race team to participate with their female champ car driver as they(Newman Haas) stated they wanted to win the event.

* The track manager put tires on 7 different karts... but somehow missed the two in the worst condition

* The track manager clearly admits to not having equally performing karts at the track at this time

I'd request my money back after a statement like that from the track manager....srsly

I just want to take this opportunity to say that anyone who is sad to see scott speed go to nascrap is super mega ghey
Your car is gay.

Your car is gay.

"your baby is gay"

maybe that girl will be replacing sebastien bourdais as he's going to F1 and maybe she'll team up with graham rahal..........but even still, i think we had similar practice times with her in kart 15. :D

She ran a 47.4 in the race though. I hope she finds this thread, so we can confirm if she was looking at your ass or not.

maybe that girl will be replacing sebastien bourdais as he's going to F1 and maybe she'll team up with graham rahal..........but even still, i think we had similar practice times with her in kart 15. :D
Graham Rahal, your mancrush <33333333


























:shifty

thats leh keen

it changes every week


edit: but yimmy is right.....me & graham have the same b-day <333333

And Al Capone shares mine, what's your point?

Dammit, I have the same bday as Marilyn Manson.

Dammit, I have the same bday as Marilyn Manson.
that actually explains a lot........ :confused

maybe too much....

Another email from them-

On Wed, 2007-10-24 at 11:04 -0700, Tony Oldham wrote:
hello josh taylor
> as far as the uneven wear on the tires all the karts wear the same way, the kart manufactor put 10 degree of caster in the spindles. wear by the driving style of someone, the tires were changed as needed. We changed tires in the last hour of practice to ensure everyones tires would last the race.
>
> as for the squelling of the tires slow down in the corners should stop that and your times should pick up.
>
> after we had problems with the qualifily kart after the 3rd guy go out and used his heel to stretch the throttle cable, we took a vote to qualify the 9 kart or the 3 again after we fixed it
> then the same guy went out and blew the rear tire hitting the tire barrier, then we revoted again to draw karts and we drew numbers 1-10 and 1st chose and so forth
>
> as far as entry it was open to anyone who would pay the fee, running the kart track backwards was equal to everyone since he had no time on it running backwards. The mechanic of the kart track was ask to drive for the Newman Haas team, they wanted their new female driver to win, so they asked the track record holder to team up.
>
> as far as VIR and the kart track they had no dealings with my race I rented the track from them and put it on myself so any greivences Take it up with me Not VIR or the kart track
>
> I ask that you stop bad mouthing VIR and kart track
>
>
> thanks
>
> Tony Oldham
> Ynotsportshots

And my reply:

Hi Tony,

First off I am not slandering VIR nor the kart track. There are many people who know what happened. Word travels fast when people have bad experiences. Bringing me to the fact that I do feel that my team was practically scammed out of our entry fee because of the kart conditions. We didn't drive down to participate just for fun. We were out there to be competitive just like everyone else. Clearly you assume we have no experience in the kart world. The understeer experienced in those karts was not experienced in the other karts driven during the practice sessions. I encourage you to take a closer look at them. From my email with Michael Fowlkes I understand that the karts were not even as you told me. In his exact words "I am sorry we could not have the kart more equal, becuase they have run all day for the last 21 day straight, did not have time to equal out." Our previous sessions at your kart track have all been enjoyable and we do appreciate the effort taken to run such a nice venue. The point of my email is to come away feeling confident in you and your team's ability to prevent this scenario from happening again. As a business you go the extra mile to please your customers. If nobody brings these issues up then they will most likely go unresolved which is why I am going the extra mile to please my team mates and all participants of the upcoming 2008 NASA season. Thank you for your time.

-Josh

i think that was a great email josh... who knows maybe you all will get a free session or two... but i agree you did do the right thing by telling them

Neither is the epitome of professional in their correspondence eh? lol

I'm going to write them a nice letter expressing my discontent.

Probably a good idea. If you keep your head and mention your previous experience with the old carts, you'll probably get some response. I'm looking forward to hearing the results.

Neither is the epitome of professional in their correspondence eh? lol

lol my thoughts exactly...sounds like it was written by a 13 year old

> as for the squelling of the tires slow down in the corners should stop that and your times should pick up.
o rly? thanks capt. obvious!! especially when your kart can't turn, i guess you would have to change your driving style to adapt to understeer.