march 2013 prokart newsletter

ProProProProKart MagazineKart MagazineKart MagazineKart Magazine

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ProProProProKart Magazine Kart Magazine Kart Magazine Kart Magazine Issue 16: Issue 16: Issue 16: Issue 16: March 2013March 2013March 2013March 2013

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Since our last issue, ProKart have crowned a new Australian Championship Team in addi-tion to State Champions for both NSW and Queensland. Without doubt, 2012 was the year of the Phantom. Simon Ham and his Phantom Racing squad dominated the 4-round National series, with a 50% win-rate, finding themselves on the podium for 3 of the 4 events. As a highlight in a year full of highlights, they convincingly won the toughest karting event in Australia, the ProKart 24 hour. Their championship win was hard-earned and well-deserved and they rightly headed into 2013 as clear favorites. In Queensland, the MF-Tech team also enjoyed a 50% win-rate, taking victory in 4 of the 8 State Championship rounds and ultimately winning the championship ahead of Phantom Racing. Whilst the team essentially disbanded at the end of 2012, drivers Ian McMah and Glenn Firth strengthened their links with Kart manufacturer KnK and joined the ‘factory’ KnK Australia Team in 2013 along with Scott Pearce: taking victory first time out in Round 1 of the 2013 Australian Championship at Coffs Harbour last weekend. A full race report can be found in this issue. Finally, Andrew Starkey and the team at Starkey Motorsport took victory in the New South Wales Championships, narrowly edging out season-long challengers Bell Pipes Racing. The NSW Championship was fiercely contested all year and it was only in the final hour of the fi-nal race that the gap between the Top 2 teams became sufficient for Starkey Motorsport to claim the Championship. The 2013 Championships are all now underway and with tremendous support from the team at KT Cable Accessories should be one of the best and most fiercely contested championships ever seen. Personally, I can’t wait to see how the season unfolds…

Ian McMahIan McMahIan McMahIan McMah

TORQUE IT UP: FROM THE EDITOR

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TORQUE’N TOUGHTORQUE’N TOUGHTORQUE’N TOUGHTORQUE’N TOUGH

• Brian Briton (aka Dr Damage) unleashed his expertise on the French, contesting the 2012 LeMans 24 hour kart race. You can read all about his exploits

and experiences on page 64

• ProKart have advised that from April 2013, plastic rear bumpers will not be allowed in the regula-tions. Rear bars must now be made of steel– full details avail-able at www.prokartt.com.au

• A new sponsor has joined the ProKart championship in Qld with KT Cable Accessories now naming right sponsors for 2013. Competitors will be eligible to win products and prizes from KT Cable Accessories—their full catalogue is available at www.ktcables.com.au

• KnK exoect to have more karts on the grid in this years’ cham-pionship than ever before. KnK Australian importer Guy Tingey indicating that as many as 12 teams will be running KnK chassis’ in 2013

• Whilst we don’t have a race report from the recent round at Eastern Creek, a few NSW teams were kind enough to send us their individual feed-back on the meeting, which we have included in this newsletter commencing on page 102. If we continue to get these and a few more it should allow us to get sufficient information to write race reports for the NSW se-ries; next we need photos!

Phantom Racing, the 2012 ProKart Australian Endurance Cham-

pionship National champions have announced major backing

from Castrol, a company renown for its motorsport support and

heritage.

In announcing their new 2-kart team, Phantom Racing also de-

tailed a new-for-2013 driver lineup headed by team owner Si-

mon Ham, 2012 drivers Carl Brown and Nicky Laskazeski with

new recruit Alan Gurr.

With a Queensland Championship in 2011 and the Australia n

title and 24-hour wins in 2012, the team heads in to the 2013

season with high expectations, especially as one of their two

entries will sport the #1 reflecting their Australian Champion sta-

tus.

The teams’ second entry will be spearheaded by James Ste-

venson who drove the #152 that won the National Champion-

ship last year, brining a level of performance and driver skill

that should see both Phantom Racing karts capable of chal-

lenging for wins and the championship.

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For as long as he can remember, KnK Team Australia’s Glenn Firth had always harboured an ambition to drive an F1 car. Racing has always been a major part of his life and whilst he’s

had tremendous success in everything from Karts to Formula Vee, F1 has always seemed a dream, or at least it was until 2012 when Glenn finally had the chance to fulfil his dream and drive an F1 car. Not any F1 car either, but one driven by a former world champion and at one

of the world’s most prestigious and historic venues: Monza

Before that could happen however, his pilgrimage to Monza included preparation in a number of other race cars, including the F3 you see him in below.

Read all about Glenn ticking off one item on his “bucket list” on page 90

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RACE REPORT: NATIONALS

Round 1: Coffs Harbour

Photo by Ian McMah

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Round 1 of the Track Safety International ProKart Championship Series

doubled as the �rst round for the KT Cable Accessories Queensland Pro-

Kart Endurance Championship and as Round 2 in the New South Wales

Series.

With a number of new teams and a massive �eld of 26 entries, it was al-

ways going to be a challenge to �nish unscathed. Some of the wettest

conditions the series has ever encountered greeted competitors as they

arrived for the event at a venue new to ProKart—the Co,s Harbour Kart

Club.

The weekend was dominated by the all-new KnK Team Australia, a team

formed through the consolidation of several existing KnK teams and the

won both 6-hour races in this 12-hour season opening event.

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Photo by Glenn Firth

The first round of the Australian 2013 Track Safety International Australia ProKart Endurance Championships was contested last weekend in Coffs Harbour. As the first round of the Australian Championship series, this event also comprised Round 1 of the KT Cable Accesso-ries Queensland ProKart Championships and was the second round for teams contesting the Track Safety Internation-al New South Wales Championship. Despite the anticipation and testing that usually precedes an Australian Championship round, talk in the week leading up to the event was dominated by the weather. With torrential rains prevailing for most of the past few weeks, there was a very real chance that the track would be inaccessible for those travelling from both Sydney and Brisbane – be-fore it was even considered whether the track itself would be operational and capable of hosting the race. As it turned out, the weather and track conditions would play a factor throughout the weekend; The inclement weather didn’t keep teams away however and a total of 26 teams ultimately entered the event, which was held over two separate 6-hour races: one on Saturday and the final 6-hour on Sunday. Teams were greeted with torrential rain on Saturday morning and it remained the same throughout the day. The rain was unrelenting, although local forecasts suggested that Sunday would see showers and possibly even dry running at some stage. This presented teams with a dilemma however, as the race format meant that teams were required to start Sunday’s race on the same tyres they finished Saturday’s race – regardless of weather conditions or other factors. Tyre man-agement and strategy calls would again play a large part in the fortunes of many teams as the weekend progressed with most teams trying to second-guess the weather and gain an advantage at various times. As expected however, Qualifying for Saturday’s first 6-hour race was held in pouring rain, with Team HTB’s Adam Mercer demonstrating why he is the current Queensland TAG Light champion after a series of sensational laps saw him take pole position by almost a full second over current Australian Champions Phantom Racing.

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RACE REPORT: NATIONALS

Round 1: Coffs Harbour

Reflecting their status as Australian Champions, Phantom Racing have brought an all-new look and somewhat of a revised line-up to the series in 2013. A single-kart team ever since their commencement in the series, Phantom are this year running 2 MS Karts with primary support from Castrol and additional sponsorship from Racer Industries. Certainly among the best presented teams at Coffs, Phantom Racing had all-new livery, apparel and some new driv-ers, including former V8Supercar competitor and multiple car and karting champion Alan Gurr. Many considered them ‘the team to beat’. After their convincing win at Eastern Creek in the first round of the NSW Championships, the team from Horsepower Racing were also favoured to be well among the front runners this weekend – a prediction that was not without merit as the team continued their strong performances, ultimately qualifying in 3

rd place and setting themselves up for an-

other strong weekend. Joining them as leading contenders were current NSW champions Starkey Motorsport, NSW runners up eWish-ingWell.com.au Racing in their #23 chassis and a new 2-kart team from KnK Australia, which had been formed with drivers from existing KnK teams including 2012 Queensland series champions Glenn Firth and Ian McMah of MF-Tech Racing, former race winners Scott Pearce and Dustin Pocock from RPM Motorsport and Nathan Pearce from the KnK Tigers. KnK Australia Kart #5 featured support from Brisbane Motorcycles, Rock Oils, KnK and Alpinestars and was driven by Glenn Firth, Scott Pearce and Ian McMah. Kart 4 was piloted by Dustin Pocock and Nathan Pearce and also sported an all-new KnK livery. The team held high hopes but the late arrival of their chassis and inclement weather had limited their opportunity to test prior to the event, a situation that had faced many teams including Phantom Rac-ing, who had also only received their chassis’ late in February.

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After qualifying the Top 5 were:

The race commenced in the same conditions experienced throughout practice and qualifying: torrential rain and plen-ty of it. Visibility was limited for teams running down the order with significant levels of spray emanating from the lead-ers as they commenced the first of two 6-hour races for the weekend. Team HTB’s Adam Mercer was untouchable throughout the majority of the first hour, all but lapping the majority of the field. His deft touch, bravery and remarkable reflexes saw him pushing the MS Kart of HTB Racing beyond the limits of grip more often than not, in the process enthralling many spectators who remained focused on his efforts to extend their race lead. The battle for second intensified in the first 15 minutes with Horsepower Racing in their #777 kart and eWish-ingWell.com.au’s #23 changing position several times. As the race progressed the initial order saw Team HTB lead eWishingWell.com.au from Horsepower Racing, KnK Australia’s #5 entry and Phantom Racing. In 2013, the regulations have been changed to ensure the first and last 30 minutes of any race are not diluted or clouded by pit activity and the pits essentially remain closed. Competitors can pit, but their stop will not count towards the minimum required (by regulation).

Pos No. Name Best time In lap Best speed Diff Gap Laps

1 87 Team HTB 00:46.497 6 51.874 7

2 1 Phantom Rac-ing 00:47.403 6 50.883 00:00.906 00:00.906 11

3 777 Horsepower Racing 00:47.557 10 50.718 00:01.060 00:00.154 13

4 29 Kaizen Rac-ing 00:47.580 8 50.694 00:01.083 00:00.023 10

5 5 KNK Australia 00:47.652 9 50.617 00:01.155 00:00.072 12

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This change has considerably impacted on the strategy of many teams so it was not surprising to note that just after the 30-minute mark the pits came alive with activity as many teams stopped to change drivers or in some cases ef-fect repairs. At this particular venue, a pit stop for a driver-change, including the pit entry and exit time, amounted to almost a full lap on-track and gave many team managers a lot to contemplate as they worked to determine the opti-mal time to get their karts into the pits for the first of their mandatory driver changes. In ProKart competition, teams must pit at least once per hour, every hour including the need to undertake a driver change at least once every hour. The manner in which teams manage this strategy can and often does have a signifi-cant impact on their results. At the end of the first hour’s racing, after the initial round of pit stops, Team HTB continued to lead from the #1 kart of Phantom Racing, with Horsepower Racing in 3

rd, Kaizen Racing (#29) in 4

th and Custom Decals.

With the rain continuing, Phantom Racing’s hopes of a win took a massive blow as their #1 coasted into pit lane on lap 129, where it would remain for many laps as the team rallied to repair an inside sprocket carrier that had sheared the keyway. At the time of the failure the team had been running strongly in the top 3, waiting, like many, for their strategy to come into play as the race moved into the final few hours. Unfortunately, repairs would take almost 70 laps and the team dropped to 22

nd place before re-joining around lap

200, looking to salvage any points they could. They would ultimately recover to finish 19th.

At this point Team HTB led from Horsepower Racing and KnK Australia’s #5 entry in a solid 3

rd. The team from eW-

ishingWell.com.au are always a factor and in 4th place and running a differing strategy, looked likely for at least a po-

dium. The fortunes of Team HTB changed quickly however as they not long after lost a chain and had to pit for re-pairs, losing a number of laps in the process. They would ultimately recover to finish a strong 3

rd and may have fin-

ished higher had circumstances differed at the race’s conclusion. The race continued and the rain continued to be relentless, at times intensifying and leaving the in-field so water-logged that any kart running off track would be invariably bogged and unable to easily re-join the circuit.

Photo by Ian McMah

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It was clear that the almost-flood-level rain when combined with the remnants and residual damage of actual flooding at the venue only weeks prior were contributing to one of the exit curbs deteriorating rapidly. Eventually, around 4 and a half hours into the 6-hour race, ProKart and Coffs Harbour Kart Club officials deemed that the race be red-flagged to allow for a full assessment of damage and if required, to effect temporary repairs to allow the race to continue. After a red-flag stoppage of approximately 20 minutes, teams were given the order to restart their engines and to pre-pare for resumption of the race. ProKart and the Coffs Harbour Kart Club had identified a temporary solution, the re-sult of which was that the final corner was deemed a ‘permanent’ yellow zone with no overtaking possible. This, and the tyre barrier moved to cover the damaged curbing would result in a number of late-race penalties for many teams. The call to restart led to a flurry of activity in the KnK Australia pit as the team struggled to get one of their engines restarted. The engine initially appeared to have seized during the race stoppage however after a few frantic moments the engine turned over, restarted and clearance was given for the race to resume. It was only later that evening that the team discovered a stone had lodged between the fan blade and engine cover – evidenced by an upwards dent discovered late in the evening on Saturday, the team relieved that no apparent damage had occurred to the engine itself; On the race restart Scott Pearce in the #5 KnK Australia entry pushed to extend their lead as the other front runners all played a game of cat-and-mouse, second guessing not only each other but ProKart and Coffs Harbour Kart Club officials’ determination on whether the race would run the full 6-hours or be red-flagged and declared beforehand. Many teams adopted different strategies before officials ultimately declared the event just under 55 minutes shy of the 6-hour mark. This left many teams pondering ‘what-if’ and paddock discussion continued well into the night on how the end result may have differed, if at all, had the race run the full 6-hours. Ultimately the #5 entry of Team KnK Australia won by 2 laps from the #777 of Horsepower Racing, with Team HTB in 3

rd.

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The top-10 finishers were:

The format of this event was such that whilst teams were able to undertake some maintenance on their karts after the first 6-hour race on Saturday, they were not able to fit new tyres. Tyres were immediately impounded by series offi-cials after the conclusion of Saturday’s race and teams returned to their pit area with no wheels or tyres on their karts. Given the relentless rain and consequential mud and debris, almost every team worked well into the evening prepar-ing their karts for the following day’s 6-hour event.

Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed

1 5 KNK Australia 316 5:05:14.507 00:48.084 22 50.162

2 777 Horsepower Racing 314 5:05:46.374 2 Laps 00:47.799 12 50.461

3 87 Team HTB 312 5:05:58.116 4 Laps 00:46.973 32 51.349

4 23 e wishing well.com.au 311 5:05:25.487 5 Laps 00:47.596 7 50.677

5 48 Starkey Motor-sport 311 5:05:43.078 00:17.591 00:47.993 17 50.257

6 153 TJ Phantom 310 5:05:45.696 6 Laps 00:48.083 33 50.163

7 7 Bang Bros. Racing 307 5:05:59.812 9 Laps 00:48.088 23 50.158

8 34 Custom Decals 306 5:05:38.293 10 Laps 00:46.297 98 52.098

9 212 CJ racing 303 5:05:30.220 13 Laps 00:48.868 41 49.357

10 29 Kaizen Racing 301 5:05:50.105 15 Laps 00:48.273 7 49.966

Photo by Ian McMah

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All indications were that Sunday’s weather might show signs of improvement; some teams electing to modify their setup and consider revising their strategies whilst others remained convinced the status quo would remain; one thing was certain though, all teams would be starting the race on their used-wet tyres from Saturday. Dawn broke on Sunday morning and whilst it was overcast, at that point there was only very light (and at times no) rain. Teams returned the track to commence final preparations for Sunday’s 6-hour event. On arrival, they reported to ProKart officials in parc ferme to receive their tyres, distributed to each team minutes be-fore the start of Sunday’s 10-minute qualifying session. Qualifying was held in damp conditions, the track surface wet but the rain abating for the duration of the 10-minute session. At the conclusion of qualifying, the #1 kart of Phantom Racing, piloted by James Stevenson, took pole position ahead of the #34 of Custom Decals, with Barts Karts (#34) and KnK Australia’s #5 entry rounding out the front 2-rows.

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The Top 10 in qualifying were:

Pos No. Name Best time In lap Best speed Diff Gap Laps

1 1 Phantom Racing 00:48.585 5 49.645 6

2 34 Custom Decals 00:48.767 6 49.460 00:00.182 00:00.182 7

3 64 Barts Karts 00:49.008 7 49.216 00:00.423 00:00.241 8

4 5 KNK Australia 00:49.421 8 48.805 00:00.836 00:00.413 9

5 17 Racer X 00:49.479 8 48.748 00:00.894 00:00.058 8

6 87 Team HTB 00:49.597 4 48.632 00:01.012 00:00.118 5

7 212 CJ racing 00:49.742 4 48.490 00:01.157 00:00.145 4

8 7 Bang Bros. Racing 00:49.807 5 48.427 00:01.222 00:00.065 6

9 131 onlinekartshop.net 00:49.828 6 48.407 00:01.243 00:00.021 7

10 70 Life Style Auto 00:50.110 7 48.134 00:01.525 00:00.282 7

Photo by Ian McMah

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The race commenced in the same conditions experienced in qualifying, with a wet track but only very light precipitation falling. James Stevenson in the #1 of Phantom Racing maximised his pole position and took the lead after a first corner chal-lenge by both the #34 of Custom Decals and a fast-starting Ian McMah in the #5 KnK Australia entry. James’ lead was to be short-lived however as he lost traction under braking for Turn 4 and ran wide into the sodden grass and lost a number of positions before re-joining the circuit and commencing a fight-back that would ultimately see him re-join the lead group. On lap 35 a hard-charging Adam Mercer took the lead in the Team HTB’s #87 entry and the lead changed a number of times until the first round of fuel stops as teams ran on differing strategies. The rain stopped and a dry-line started to appear as early as 90 minutes into Sunday’s race. Teams were continually referencing radar imagery and second-guessing the weather to determine when, or even if in some cases they would contemplate a change to slick tyres. Meanwhile, many teams had been and were receiving penalties for impacting the tyre barrier put in place on Saturday to protect the damaged final-turn exit curbing. Whilst repairs had been effected on Saturday night, it was determined that this area would remain a no-pass zone and the barrier would remain in place to ensure no further damage oc-curred– the penalty for contacting the barrier was initially a drive-through, escalating to increasing stop/hold/go penal-ties for repeat offenders. Whilst this wouldn’t change the outright results, it did have an impact on a number of teams early in the event. By the third hour many teams had changed to slicks, their wet-weather grooved tyres almost to the canvas. Several however elected to ‘roll the dice’ and gambled on the rain returning and stayed on their wet weather tyres, working hard to minimise tyre wear and ensure some tread pattern remained should it rain again.

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Photo by Ian McMah

With a tyre change taking approximately 3 laps, it was a gamble many felt worth taking. For most of the 3

rd and 4

th hours the lap time variance between those who’d moved to slick tyres and those remain-

ing on wets was marginal. With cloud gathering on the horizon there was a period where it looked like those who gambled to remain on wets had made an inspired decision, however ultimately the rain didn’t return and as the dry-line increased lap times started improving dramatically. One team to try and stay the distance on rapidly wearing wet tyres were the team from KBC with drivers Kevin Mikile-wicz, Corey Emr and Gary Emr looking to minimise the loss of 6 laps early in the event to fix a stalling motor and to change a tyre that kept deflating – a situation they’d noticed on Saturday afternoon and were unlucky to not be able to address prior to Sunday’s race given the format required teams to retain the same tyres for Sunday’s race start. At the conclusion of the 6-hour event the #5 entry of KnK Australia won by a margin of more than 3 laps, drivers Scott Pearce, Glenn Firth and Ian McMah all having set fastest laps during their final stints. The #5 entry would leave the event with 2 wins from 2 races and a full complement of championship points. Finishing 2

nd again as they had on Saturday were the #777 of Horsepower Racing. This team demonstrated just why

they’d won the opening round of the NSW championship only weeks earlier and are now surely considered favourites to take the NSW title with a win and a 2

nd place overall to their name from the first 2 rounds of the series.

In third on Sunday were the team from TJ Phantom in the #153 MS Kart. Taking advantage of the ‘team’ regulations in place for 2013, Phantom Racing had elected to basically swap drivers from their #1 and #153 entries on Sunday after the #1 kart’s sprocket carrier failure (and subsequent poor finish and low points haul) on Saturday. They would place 4

th overall for the weekend.

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At the chequered flag Sunday’s Top 10 were:

The championship battle for both the New South Wales and Queensland series will recommence in April at Wollon-gong City Raceway (NSW - April 13) and Willowbank (QLD – April 6)

Pos No. Name Laps Total time Diff Best time In lap Best speed

1 5 KNK Aust 481 6:00:24.728 00:37.684 451 64.006

2 777 Horsepower Racing 478 6:00:35.441 3 Laps 00:38.294 460 62.986

3 153 TJ Phantom 478 6:00:59.306 00:23.865 00:37.897 414 63.646

4 23 e wishing well.com.au 475 6:00:38.554 6 Laps 00:38.177 420 63.179

5 71 KBC Racing 472 6:00:47.512 9 Laps 00:37.834 437 63.752

6 131 onlinekartshop.net 470 6:00:58.221 11 Laps 00:38.229 439 63.093

7 7 Bang Bros. Racing 467 6:00:47.227 14 Laps 00:37.940 437 63.574

8 1 Phantom Racing 466 6:00:58.582 15 Laps 00:38.008 433 63.460

9 87 Team HTB 464 6:01:00.649 17 Laps 00:38.032 428 63.420

10 46 Starkey motorsport 463 6:00:30.386 18 Laps 00:38.111 401 63.289


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Photo by Dustin PocockPhoto by Dustin PocockPhoto by Dustin PocockPhoto by Dustin Pocock

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What is Race Monitor?What is Race Monitor?What is Race Monitor?What is Race Monitor? Race Monitor is a live data protocol from MyLaps that allows users to view live timing and scoring data directly from the AMB timing system utilised by Pro-Kart. How do I connect?How do I connect?How do I connect?How do I connect? Using your device, detect ProKart’s wireless network.

In the last month, ProKart have spent considerable time and funding to boost the range and power of their existing wireless network system (photo of the new portable aerial is pictured right) and this should now mean we have seam-less wireless networks at all events.

Once you have selected the network, start the race monitor application (available on iTunes or for other devices such as PC’s and Android’s visit www.race-monitor.com).

Once the application is open do the following:

1. Make sure that you are on the same wireless network as the Race Monitor server is on

2. Enter the IP address of the Race Monitor server. You will need to get this in-formation from the track. It will usually look like '192.168.1.1'

3. Enter the Port of the Race Monitor server. You will need to get this infor-mation from the track. It will be numeric and is typically 50000

4. Tap connect

R�� M��

What it does and why you need itWhat it does and why you need itWhat it does and why you need itWhat it does and why you need it

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Next event...

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Alan Bilsborough can’t take a trick… good preparation and qualifying speed and yet the Alan Bilsborough can’t take a trick… good preparation and qualifying speed and yet the Alan Bilsborough can’t take a trick… good preparation and qualifying speed and yet the Alan Bilsborough can’t take a trick… good preparation and qualifying speed and yet the team from Frog Racing, who should have been in their element with all the wet weather, team from Frog Racing, who should have been in their element with all the wet weather, team from Frog Racing, who should have been in their element with all the wet weather, team from Frog Racing, who should have been in their element with all the wet weather, instead found themselves with broken steering in the first few laps of the race.instead found themselves with broken steering in the first few laps of the race.instead found themselves with broken steering in the first few laps of the race.instead found themselves with broken steering in the first few laps of the race. Probably didn’t help that Alan appears to have his eyes closed!Probably didn’t help that Alan appears to have his eyes closed!Probably didn’t help that Alan appears to have his eyes closed!Probably didn’t help that Alan appears to have his eyes closed!

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Alan Bilsborough can’t take a trick… good preparation and qualifying speed and yet the Alan Bilsborough can’t take a trick… good preparation and qualifying speed and yet the Alan Bilsborough can’t take a trick… good preparation and qualifying speed and yet the Alan Bilsborough can’t take a trick… good preparation and qualifying speed and yet the

Photo by Ian McMah

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Doctor Damage does LeMansOur resident Doctor ticks an item off his personal bucket list

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Doctor Damage does LeMans Our resident Doctor ticks an item off his personal bucket list

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Doctor Damage does Le MansOur resident Doctor ticks an item off his personal bucket list

After several failed attempts to get an Aussie project up and running, I decided to go on my own. I contact-ed my friends at Kelgate and asked if they could introduce me to a team that would take me on. Within minutes I was introduced to Dean and Sharon Evans from Team Banzai out of the UK and the ball was finally rolling. Sharon and Susanna sorted out the finer details, we booked our holidays and off we went. After a couple of days in Paris playing tourist we made our way to the hotel at Arnage to meet the team and get on with the business of racing. I was told to look out for a gentleman by the name of Bob, and I would know him straight away. Sure enough, we walked in to the courtyard at the hotel and there was Big Bob, the larger than life character that runs the series on behalf of the Teesside organization, holding court over drinks with a dozen or so eager racers. The next person we met was Kelvin Nicholls, the technical guru for the MSA, who keeps a firm reign on the engine specs. Since we were in France, we nicknamed him “Le Grand Fromage”, (The Big Cheese). Believe me, what this man doesn’t know about Honda en-gines is not worth knowing. Kelvin spent some hours that night discussing the technical aspects of endur-ance racing and was most interested to hear about how we go about things. Time to get some sleep as there would be practice tomorrow. Arriving at the Alain Prost circuit on Friday morning, we went looking for the Team Banzai garage and were greeted by the beaming smile of Sharon Evans the team captain and organizer extraordinaire. She introduced us to the team. Dean Evans. The lead driver in the team is a pocket rocket, standing 5 foot bugger all tall and 75kg wringing wet. A real live wire and life of the party. Brian, (the other one). The best mate of Dean is an ex Ilmor F1 engineer and a master of setup and anal-ysis. One lap in the kart is enough to determine a dozen changes. Johnny Gravel, “Rockstar”. Johnny got the name, not from his devilish good looks or his travelling entou-rage, but more for his tendency to return the kart filled with rocks. Jack., “The Stig”. I reckon young Jack is looking for the top job. All in white with the Diamond Back helmet, just like the other Stig. Talks with his right foot. Harry, “Der Schtik”. The Austrian Stig. Has been known to drive from Austria to do a 24hr race and back again without sleeping. Harry reels off countless laps with Austrian precision and speaks Yoda-like phrases, such as, “I tinkso my laptimes is notsobad” Me. Since we already had a Brian, we decided on the name “Oy, Dickhead!” That’ll do. I felt welcome already, this team is just like my own crew back home.

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Doctor Damage does Le Mans Our resident Doctor ticks an item off his personal bucket list

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Midday on Friday the rental karts were allocated to the teams and practice commenced. The first thing I noticed was that the Pro/Clubman class karts were over 3 sec faster due to a substantial weight advantage and the GX160 engines being fully blueprinted. Brian quickly determined that our kart may have a slight twist and the motors were a bit lazy off the turns. Nothing we could do about it as we were only allowed to change tyre pressure. Johnny qualified our rental kart 7th in class which would earn us grid 28 in a field of 46. That’s 21 Pro/Clubman karts and 25 rentals. The nature of the rules is, well, there aren’t any. Pit when you like, fuel when you like, see you in 24hrs. There was one pit garage dedicated to the rental karts where the Teesside mechanics would perform any repairs during the race. They were not busy. The only thing governing your stint time was fuel use, which meant we would have to drive for TWO HOURS. Suck it up, cupcake and get on with it. Race started at noon on Saturday and Johnny gets escorted off the track on the first lap, putting us back to 40 something and I am hoping it’s not a sign of things to come. A huge led billboard on the infield would keep us informed of our position. Slowly but steadily we make our way forward, but the pace of our kart was making progress difficult. Sitting around 12th when I got in for my first stint, I struggled to stay out of trouble and maintain pace. I was constantly being hammered from behind as the faster karts rammed their way thru, seemingly desperate to win every lap. I survived the first 2hrs without an off and physically in rea-sonable shape. On into the night and Sharon is looking for a volunteer to do the graveyard shift, 2 to 4am. “That Aussie bloke thinks he’s tough, he’ll do it!” “Oy, Dickhead, you’re elected!” By democratic process, I was in, and everybody but Sharon went to sleep. After another 2 hours of battering and trying to hang on to the horribly heavy steering, I was done. I watched half asleep maniacs spear off in all directions and again managed to stay out of it, though the team felt I was being a little too polite. I then tried to settle in for a nap while coughing up fluid and watching my fingers swell to twice their normal size. At dawn the faster drivers would charge hard to bring us closer to the front. Brian was running 3rd in class at about hour 19 when the inside chain broke. Into the pits for repairs and a driver change, then Harry returned to the pits 5 minutes later with the other chain broken. Once back on track we fell to 7th where we stayed till the end. Not too bad I suppose, 26th outright, 7th in class. The race was won by the Racing 4 Holland team with the two MS Kart teams second and third. My time with Team Banzai was a lot of fun and bloody hard work! Now I can tick that one off the bucket list. Doctor Damage.

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Suppliers of Promotional Products and Corporate Diaries Official ProKart Merchandise Supplier

We can provide all of your Team Race suits, Shirts, Hats, Jackets, Banners, Flags and Bags all embroidered with the colours you

need.

www.corporateimpressions.com.au

Steve Clarke (CIA Racing) 02 97347444

Manzi Computer Services Small Business Professionals We provide all of the answers

for your computers, laptops, phones, websites and Adwords needs.

Call James Waters (CIA Racing) www.manzi.com.au

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Official series Merchandise now available

Support your Sport, available now, Prokart Merchandise.

We now have available a range of quality items all branded with the Prokart logo for you to buy.

There are Race Suit Patches, Stickers for your Trailer or Car, 4 different Cap designs and T-Shirts. Also in time for the Tamworth 24 Hour a quality Winter Jacket so pre-order yours now in time to take delivery at the event.

You can view the entire range and place your order just by clicking the

following link,

www.corporateimpressions.com.au/shop or

contact Corporate Impressions Australia on

02 9734 7444

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2013 is shaping up as an yet another exciting year for ProKart .

We continue to bring ongoing development across many aspects of our series, all designed to take

ProKart Endurance karting to a level never seen before in Australia and potentially surpassing any kart-

ing series in the country for promotion, participation, value, exposure and enjoyment.

The FUTURE OF

PROKART

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The series has already introduced;

• Revised and improved engine sealing

• Track Safety International LE D Safety Lighting systems

• The all-new ProKart Power Pipe Mu6er

• Live timing

• Live broadcasts (not active at this time)

• On-location multiple race timing screens

The ProKart Power Pipe introduced 2 seasons ago is approximately 1

second per lap quicker and very reliable. When combined with the new

-for-2013 updated UT2 spec Honda GX200, the series is faster than ever

before without any reliability impact. Faster and durable, these new

engines have signi�cantly improved performance and drivability.

As exciting as these developments are; most importantly ProKart are

aware that changes cannot be introduced in an ad-hoc or poorly timed

manner and will keep competitors regularly updated as developments

continue.

ProKart continues to lead the way in Australian Endurance Karting.

The FUTURE OF

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Ticking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket List

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Ticking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket ListTicking the Bucket List My drive in Formula 1My drive in Formula 1My drive in Formula 1My drive in Formula 1

By Glenn FirthBy Glenn FirthBy Glenn FirthBy Glenn Firth

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Adam Clark Racing is proud to announce that they are now an agent for X-treme racing, and to celebrate are offering 20% off retail to all new

or current ProKart teams wanting to upgrade their look. (* conditions apply)

So if you’re looking to improve the presentation and professionalism of your team, contact Adam

at Adam Clark Racing on 0412 291 364

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Impressions: Eastern Creek Kart #365 CIA Racing Reflections: Eastern Creek Kart 23 eWishingWell.com.au

Reflections: Eastern Creek Kart 71 KBC Racing The start of the 2013 championship saw 24 competitors line up for one of the toughest races on the calen-dar, a 9 hour ‘sprint’ race conducted overnight at the Eastern Creek long circuit. The line up included last years NSW champions and winner of this race, Starkey Motorsport, consistent front runners and previous race winners Horsepower Racing, e-wishing well.com and Kaizen Racing, fast looking entries from Cus-tom Decals, KBC Racing, CIA Racing, Barts Karts & Parts and CJ racing combined with a large and enthu-siastic field. This promised to be a good fight. Qualifying saw the top 9 karts covered by just 0.6 seconds over a 1:28 lap with Horsepower narrowly tak-ing the honours by 1/10 from KBC racing. A race start at 11.00 pm had the field away and the, new for 2013, rule of no pit stops in the first 30 minutes resulted in a great race for the lead with the top group fighting hard, kicking up dust and using all of the track and then some to get the job done. Two safety cars close together at around the time of the first fuel stop threw the race upside down.

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At least two teams ran out of fuel, team managers where pacing anxiously up and down the pit wall wait-ing for the pace car to return to the pits only to find the fuel bay with, at times, 5 karts waiting to re-fuel. E-wishing well where one of the front runners to be affected, forced to sit for at least a minute waiting for fuel, a deficit they tried hard to recover but ultimately fell short. Winner of the last round of 2012, Kaizen Racing, experienced the highs and lows of Motorsport retiring with significant damage to the front of the kart but where determined to be back for the next round. The race turned into a duel between Horsepower and Starkey, the two sharing the lead through the night and racing hard. The fastest race laps where set as the sun rose on Sunday morning with Starkey’s set-ting a jaw dropping 1:26.442 with about 10 laps to go as they tried to chase down Horsepower. The final gap was 52 seconds after a night long battle with Horsepower relieved to hang on from Stark-ey’s. e-wishing well was third from a fast and consistent Custom Decals. KBC Racing rounded out the top five debuting their new chassis after a three year absence from the series. The series now moves to Coffs Harbour in a short three week turnaround with lots of teams showing great potential and speed. The series looks to be as challenging and exciting as ever.

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As like everyone else, we were looking forward to the start of the season and after much preparation and a new look kart we were quietly confident about our chances for a good result this year.

Down 1 driver we arrived at the Creek ready to go and decided to enter ourselves into the revived Heavy Class to give us a chance at maybe winning something. We were asked if we still wanted that fourth driver for the night as someone was looking for a drive and being the first race for a while we decided to invite Bryce to join us. Great decision. Not knowing who he was or what he was capable of the instruction was very simple, keep it on the black stuff and keep it straight and that he did.

Heavy Class hmmm, we just scraped in with the addition of some more lead weight that we borrowed that put us over the minimum 195kg so off we went. After seeing Bryce in practice the decision was to let him qualify to give us the best chance possible and low and behold we found ourselves in position 6, our best ever.

As those of you who were there know the start of the race was pretty clean and that first 30-45 minutes was some of the closest racing seen for a while with nobody really bolting away and the front 7 karts run-ning nose to tail for nearly the whole time. The times were close and the pace was frenetic.

Almost 2 hours in and everything going sweet and smooth and then we find out that #365 just got fastest lap for the race so far, we’d never had that before so obviously the young gun driver is comfortable and confident with the kart and pushes on.

For the next few hours we go through pretty much drama free and maintain our position in the top 10. Whoops spoke too soon as we’re hit in the rear with someone trying to hitch a ride in the tight middle sec-tion of the track and that pushes the airbox onto the throttle linkage and dislodges the accelerator cable somehow and we lose power to 1 engine. A trip to the pits and thankfully this is a quick fix. This little prob-lem however haunts us for the rest of the race but we still manage to finish with our best result of 12th place and we’re happy with that.

Impressions: Eastern Creek Kart #365 CIA Racing

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Unfortunately for us Kart #46 got fastest lap near the end of the race, well done Mitch.

Great first race for the season with clean racing for pretty much the entire night.

In addition to getting our best finishing result we also win Best Presented but to our disappointment we are disqualified from the race due to being underweight by a mere 400grams (a cheeseburger). Not to ar-gue but a DQ is a bit harsh and a time penalty probably would be more appropriate.

Thanks to those teams who replied in support of a change in the rule and allowing us back in the Heavy Class for the rest of the season.

Regards, Steve ClarkeSteve ClarkeSteve ClarkeSteve Clarke Director

Corporate Impressions Australia

Unit 1, 90 Heathcote Road

Moorebank NSW 2170

P: (02) 9734 7444

F: (02) 9734 6655

M: 0438 645 816

E: [email protected]

www.corporateimpressions.com.au

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Impressions: Eastern Creek Kart #365 CIA Racing Race Report Eastern Creek 9Hr 9-10 /2 / 2013 We arrived at the Track with a brand new DSR Raptor chassis, a new design never raced be-fore. Our drivers Dion Scott, Matt Mosse-Robinson and Luke Wall were happy with its performance in practice, and we qualified fifth. Horsepower 777 was on pole. The race started and we were mixing it up with the lead pack of four or five karts. At about the time for the first fuel stop the safety kart was deployed a number of times forcing us to eventual-ly queue for petrol costing us time and putting us down the leader board. We then identified kart 34 Custom Decals as our biggest threat for a podium finish. This kart was of equal pace to ourselves. A strategic battle ensued which lasted until about the 7th hour before we were safely enough ahead. We then tried to run down the leading two karts, but they were too fast for us, Especialy kart 46 Starkey Motorsports which set a number of fastest laps of the race in the final session. The final results being 1st 777 Horsepower in their DSR predator chassis 2nd 46 Starkey Motorsports 3rd 23 eWishingWell.com.au 4th 34 Custom Decals 5th 71 KBC

Santa

Reflections: Eastern Creek Kart 23 eWishingWell.com.au

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We would like to acknowledge our sponsors: eWishingWell.com.au Personalized Favours.com.au Homebush Karts

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In our next issue...In our next issue...In our next issue...In our next issue...

• Features: Data Logging

• Race Preview: Warwick

• Team Pro�le: Phantom Racing

• All the latest ProKart news and much more…

All submissions welcomedAll submissions welcomedAll submissions welcomedAll submissions welcomed

[email protected]

2013

march 2013 prokart newsletter

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