Bruce Brothers Racing is a family-based kart racing team in Columbus, Ohio. I've created this site for family and friends as a convenient place to post race reports, pictures, etc. I have started from the beginning, thereby creating an archive of all the race reports since we began this adventure in 2003. Watch this space for future updates and race reports...
Bill
Thursday, October 8, 2009
MSOKC Race No. 12 – October 4, 2009 – Well Used YHCs
NEWS – Bruce Brothers Racing was back in action for Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club Race No. 12 at Circleville Raceway Park this past Sunday. Most everything was still ready to go from Race No. 11, which was postponed because of rain. Laura missed this event, as she was spending time with family in Kansas City. The weather was typical for central Ohio in October – cool and crisp in the morning with periods of clouds and warm sunshine in the afternoon.
PRACTICE – After a quick spin in Turn 2 on the first lap, Peter’s practice sessions went as planned. Conor complained about a lack of front-end grip in his second session. For the optional third session, we decided to replace his one-race-old Bridgestone YKC tires with some well-used Bridgestone YHCs. He was immediately 0.4 seconds per lap faster, so we decided to leave them on for the rest of the day.
YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – Peter started his first heat from pole position. He got a great start, but got pinched down on the exit of Turn 1, which resulted in a lazy spin. He somehow managed to avoid being collected by the rest of the field and rolled off the track backwards into the infield. He was high-centered, and when he got out to give himself a push, the engine died leaving him stranded. He got another great start from the rear in his second heat, gaining two positions in the process. He made a nice pass on Lap 2 and ran in fourth to the finish. There was a lot of confusion at the start of Peter’s feature race, where he was lined up in fifth. The head flagman was not happy with how fast the front row starters brought the field around. After several unsuccessful attempts to slow them down, he sent them back to the starting grid for a talking to. The pole sitter was quite angry, but should have known better. The penalty involved inverting the front two rows for the restart, which came off without a hitch on the first try. Peter maintained his position at the start but dropped to sixth on Lap 2. His lap times were up and down for the first few laps, after which they stabilized in the high 46-second range. He ran on the tail of the lead pack to the finish.
80cc SHIFTER – I’m always glad when the random draw for heat race starting positions has Conor in the front and the back instead of two in the middle. He can usually make up a few positions when starting from the back and stay towards the front when starting from the front. Such was the case on Sunday. Starting from the ninth position in his first heat race, Conor worked his way to fifth by the end of Lap 1. He got bottled up behind a slower kart for a few laps, but managed to get around on Lap 6 for a fourth place finish. From the outside of the front row in his second heat, Conor got a flyer of a start and was in the lead by the apex of Turn 1. He pulled out a bit of a gap over the next few laps but got reeled in at about mid distance. He got a little loose coming out of Turn 10 on Lap 6 but managed to hold his position and held on for the heat race win. A forth and a first earned Conor the second starting position for the feature. He made another flyer of a start, but had to back off and settle for second in the first turn. He latched onto the rear bumper of the lead kart and kept him honest for 10 long laps. Conor finished second but recorded the fastest lap of the race (44.822 seconds) along the way.
NEXT RACE – The make-up date for the rained out MSOKC Race No. 11 is next Sunday, October 11, 2009. The rained out race was a qualifying format event in the reverse direction at CRP, so the make up will be the same. Peter is pretty well fixed with his position in the championship, but Conor is hanging on to a slim margin for third place. We’re going to have to dig through our pile for another set of those well used YHCs for Conor…
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=482508
PRACTICE – After a quick spin in Turn 2 on the first lap, Peter’s practice sessions went as planned. Conor complained about a lack of front-end grip in his second session. For the optional third session, we decided to replace his one-race-old Bridgestone YKC tires with some well-used Bridgestone YHCs. He was immediately 0.4 seconds per lap faster, so we decided to leave them on for the rest of the day.
YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – Peter started his first heat from pole position. He got a great start, but got pinched down on the exit of Turn 1, which resulted in a lazy spin. He somehow managed to avoid being collected by the rest of the field and rolled off the track backwards into the infield. He was high-centered, and when he got out to give himself a push, the engine died leaving him stranded. He got another great start from the rear in his second heat, gaining two positions in the process. He made a nice pass on Lap 2 and ran in fourth to the finish. There was a lot of confusion at the start of Peter’s feature race, where he was lined up in fifth. The head flagman was not happy with how fast the front row starters brought the field around. After several unsuccessful attempts to slow them down, he sent them back to the starting grid for a talking to. The pole sitter was quite angry, but should have known better. The penalty involved inverting the front two rows for the restart, which came off without a hitch on the first try. Peter maintained his position at the start but dropped to sixth on Lap 2. His lap times were up and down for the first few laps, after which they stabilized in the high 46-second range. He ran on the tail of the lead pack to the finish.
80cc SHIFTER – I’m always glad when the random draw for heat race starting positions has Conor in the front and the back instead of two in the middle. He can usually make up a few positions when starting from the back and stay towards the front when starting from the front. Such was the case on Sunday. Starting from the ninth position in his first heat race, Conor worked his way to fifth by the end of Lap 1. He got bottled up behind a slower kart for a few laps, but managed to get around on Lap 6 for a fourth place finish. From the outside of the front row in his second heat, Conor got a flyer of a start and was in the lead by the apex of Turn 1. He pulled out a bit of a gap over the next few laps but got reeled in at about mid distance. He got a little loose coming out of Turn 10 on Lap 6 but managed to hold his position and held on for the heat race win. A forth and a first earned Conor the second starting position for the feature. He made another flyer of a start, but had to back off and settle for second in the first turn. He latched onto the rear bumper of the lead kart and kept him honest for 10 long laps. Conor finished second but recorded the fastest lap of the race (44.822 seconds) along the way.
NEXT RACE – The make-up date for the rained out MSOKC Race No. 11 is next Sunday, October 11, 2009. The rained out race was a qualifying format event in the reverse direction at CRP, so the make up will be the same. Peter is pretty well fixed with his position in the championship, but Conor is hanging on to a slim margin for third place. We’re going to have to dig through our pile for another set of those well used YHCs for Conor…
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=482508
MSOKC Race No. 12 – October 4, 2009
Here are come pictures from MSOKC Race No. 12 on October 4, 2009 (click to enlarge).
Bill
Bill
Thursday, October 1, 2009
MSOKC Race No. 11 – September 20, 2009 – Rained Out
NEWS – Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club Race No. 11 was supposed to be another qualifying format event a week ago Sunday, but was interrupted by a slow and stead drizzle that began during the qualifying sessions. We had made a number of improvements in preparation for this event, including new axle bearings for both karts, and were looking forward to a competitive showing. Peter’s class managed to complete their qualifying session, but the drizzle came just prior to Conor’s qualifying session. Conor’s class was to be split into two groups for qualifying and, in an effort to take advantage of the driest conditions possible if it did start to drizzle, we lined him up to go out in the first group. We were trying to figure out how to nonchalantly move him back into the second group to take advantage of what would be a drying track if the drizzle were to stop when it was announced that the day’s activities would be called off., so this became a moot point. The make-up date for Race No. 11 is Sunday, October 11, 2009. In the mean time, MSOKC Race No. 12 is Sunday, October 4, 2009 at Circleville Raceway Park.
Bill
Bill
Saturday, September 19, 2009
MSOKC Race No. 10 – September 5, 2009 – Hog Roast!
NEWS – The annual Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club Race Hog Roast event was preceded by Race No. 10 a week ago Saturday. To allow plenty of time for food and fun in the evening, the race was a qualifying format event at CRP that followed the normal Sunday (non-night race) schedule. Peter attended a driving clinic the weekend before and logged a massive 84 laps in our Yamaha SuperCan kart. We also took this opportunity to do some back-to-back tire testing for Conor in our 8Occ shifter kart. Both Peter and Conor had new tires for Race No. 10 – Bridgestone YHCs for Peter and YKCs for Conor – and Conor had new extended front wheel hubs to help with his understeer problem.
PRACTICE – Conor went out during open practice to give his new hubs a try and to scuff in his new tires. Peter practiced initially on old tires before scuffing in his new tires in the second practice session. Conor was content with his set-up during his first class practice session and elected not to go out for his second session.
YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – The combination of new tires and applying what he learned during his driving clinic resulted in a new personal-best lap time for Peter during his qualifying session (46.449 seconds). Unfortunately, the other karts in his class have also been getting faster throughout the season and many of the slower karts have stopped coming, which resulted in a fifth place starting position (out of seven) for Peter. With the starting order determined by qualifying times, qualifying format races tend to be a follow-the leader affair. Except for a great start in his heat race, which netted him a promotion to fourth place for the first three laps in his heat race, that was exactly the case for Peter’s day. After finishing fifth in his heat race, he started and finished fifth in his feature race. He did manage to improve on his personal-best lap time in both his heat race and his feature, however (46.204 and 46.042, respectively). He is knocking on the door of a sub-46 second lap.
8Occ SHIFTER – Conor put a nice series of laps together during his three-lap qualifying session, which resulted in the third place starting position for his heat race (out of nine). He lost one position but gained another at the start. He dropped a position on Lap 3 and finished fourth. Conor got away reasonably well from the fourth position at the start of his feature race, but the kart that started in third jumped the start which impeded Conor’s progress somewhat and allowed the fifth place starter to get around Conor in Turn 1. The next 10 laps were frustrating for Conor. While he was quite a bit faster than the kart in front of him, he could not find a way to get by and finished fifth. Conor’s best lap time for the day was only 0.2 seconds slower that his personal best, so we seem to be going in the right direction on the new YKC tires.
NEXT RACE – The penultimate race of the season is another qualifying format event on Sunday, September 20, 2009 at Circleville Raceway Park. It is also a reverse direction event, which both boys seem to enjoy. The day prior to this (today!) is Conor’s 17th birthday. Happy Birthday Conor!
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=468804.
PRACTICE – Conor went out during open practice to give his new hubs a try and to scuff in his new tires. Peter practiced initially on old tires before scuffing in his new tires in the second practice session. Conor was content with his set-up during his first class practice session and elected not to go out for his second session.
YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – The combination of new tires and applying what he learned during his driving clinic resulted in a new personal-best lap time for Peter during his qualifying session (46.449 seconds). Unfortunately, the other karts in his class have also been getting faster throughout the season and many of the slower karts have stopped coming, which resulted in a fifth place starting position (out of seven) for Peter. With the starting order determined by qualifying times, qualifying format races tend to be a follow-the leader affair. Except for a great start in his heat race, which netted him a promotion to fourth place for the first three laps in his heat race, that was exactly the case for Peter’s day. After finishing fifth in his heat race, he started and finished fifth in his feature race. He did manage to improve on his personal-best lap time in both his heat race and his feature, however (46.204 and 46.042, respectively). He is knocking on the door of a sub-46 second lap.
8Occ SHIFTER – Conor put a nice series of laps together during his three-lap qualifying session, which resulted in the third place starting position for his heat race (out of nine). He lost one position but gained another at the start. He dropped a position on Lap 3 and finished fourth. Conor got away reasonably well from the fourth position at the start of his feature race, but the kart that started in third jumped the start which impeded Conor’s progress somewhat and allowed the fifth place starter to get around Conor in Turn 1. The next 10 laps were frustrating for Conor. While he was quite a bit faster than the kart in front of him, he could not find a way to get by and finished fifth. Conor’s best lap time for the day was only 0.2 seconds slower that his personal best, so we seem to be going in the right direction on the new YKC tires.
NEXT RACE – The penultimate race of the season is another qualifying format event on Sunday, September 20, 2009 at Circleville Raceway Park. It is also a reverse direction event, which both boys seem to enjoy. The day prior to this (today!) is Conor’s 17th birthday. Happy Birthday Conor!
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=468804.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Ghetto Engineering
The braking performance on Conor’s 8Occ shifter kart has improved significantly since we installed a cooling duct fabricated in part from a piece of downspout (click to enlarge).
Bill
Bill
Monday, August 31, 2009
MSOKC Race No. 9 – August 15, 2009 – Hot August Night
NEWS – Mid-State of Ohio Kart Club Race No. 9 was a Saturday night event under the lights at Circleville Raceway Park and another event that featured standing starts for all classes. Thank goodness that most of the activity took place after the hottest part of the day because it was hot – and humid. Many repairs were required prior to this event following the Commercial Point Grand Prix. The one repair I saved for the day before – installing a new spindle on our Yamaha SuperCan cart – is the only one that didn’t go well. The spindle I ordered had the wrong size bearing, so I straightened the old one out for the third time and reused it. We also devised and installed a brake cooling duct on our 8Occ shifter kart – using a piece of downspout that was left over from when we had new gutters put on the house…
PRACTICE – We arrived at the track a bit early for shake-down runs to test all of the repairs we made. Peter felt comfortable in his kart, but Conor complained of massive understeer in his – in spite of using Bridgestone YKC tires that are only one race old. We tried increasing tire pressure in his first class practice, which didn’t help. We have his front end as wide as it will go using his standard wheels, so we went narrower for his second class practice to see if that would help. It didn’t. For the last-chance practice prior to the driver’s meeting, we decided to try the front wheels, hubs, and tires from Peter’s kart, which allow the front end on Conor’s kart to be about an inch wider per side than with his own wheels. This was a massive improvement – partly because of the width and partly because Peter is still using Bridgestone YHC tires. We put Peter’s practice tires on the front of his kart, which felt fine to him, and decided to go with this swap and some heavily used YHC rears for Conor for the race.
YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – Peter started his first heat race from the third position (of six karts in his class). We obviously have a good clutch setup on this kart because, like Henry at the CPGP, Peter had good starts all day. He gained a position at the start and ran in third until Lap 4 (of 8) when he dropped one position. He held on to finish fourth. He also gained a position from third at the start of his second heat and ran in second until Turn 1 of the last lap. He had a wiggle coming out of the previous corner and the kart behind made an aggressive move up the inside from quite a ways back. The contact allowed two karts to get by, which resulted in another fourth place finish. The offending driver received a rolled black flag warning for the infraction. Peter made another great start in his feature but had another incident in Turn 1 of the first lap with the same kart. Peter had to recover from being completely sideways, which put him at the tail end of the field. Just as he was beginning to find his groove, he experienced a rare mechanical failure that put him out of the race – the same clutch that had provided him with such good starts all day lost the gear off of the drive basket.
8Occ SHIFTER – Conor started his first heat race from the fourth position (of seven karts in his class). He maintained his position at the start, made one pass on Lap 2, and another on Lap 3. He ran in second to the finish but, on the last lap, the lead kart lost an exhaust silencer and was disqualified, which gave the win to Conor. In his second heat race, Conor started fourth again but dropped a position on Lap 2. He caught up to the new fourth place kart on Lap 4 and followed closely for two laps. Conor was setting up for a pass when the kart in front slowed dramatically. Conor could not back off quickly enough and hit the other kart from behind. After another momentary airborne adventure, Conor landed hard on his right rear wheel, which bent a wheel and flattened the tire. A first and a last were good enough for a third place feature race starting position. He maintained his position at the start and set out after the second place kart. He got a good run through Turn 4 on Lap 7 (of 10) and made the pass in Turn 5. He then set out after the leader, and while he came up a bit short in the end, he did set the fastest lap of the race (44.733 seconds) in the process. In addition to the other changes we made, the downspout-based brake cooling duct seemed to help, too.
NEXT RACE – The annual MSOKC Hog Roast is Saturday, September 5, 2009. This event is preceded by MSOKC Race No. 10, which is a qualifying format event at CRP that follows the normal Sunday (non-night race) schedule. There will be plenty of food for all and all are welcome to attend. Laura will be taking Henry back to Providence for the start of his sophomore year at Brown University that weekend, so they will miss the fun (we'll miss them, too). In the mean time, Peter has attended a driving clinic given by a club member/racer/parent who is also a test driver for Honda Research and Development in Marysville, Ohio. Peter is looking forward to putting what he learned into practice. We also did some back-to-back tire testing with Conor that day and clawed back most of the time we lost when we switched from YHCs to YKCs. Peter’s clutch has been repaired and his new spindle has been installed, Conor will have new wheels and extended front hubs, and both boys will have new tires – YHCs for Peter and YKCs for Conor.
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=461520.
PRACTICE – We arrived at the track a bit early for shake-down runs to test all of the repairs we made. Peter felt comfortable in his kart, but Conor complained of massive understeer in his – in spite of using Bridgestone YKC tires that are only one race old. We tried increasing tire pressure in his first class practice, which didn’t help. We have his front end as wide as it will go using his standard wheels, so we went narrower for his second class practice to see if that would help. It didn’t. For the last-chance practice prior to the driver’s meeting, we decided to try the front wheels, hubs, and tires from Peter’s kart, which allow the front end on Conor’s kart to be about an inch wider per side than with his own wheels. This was a massive improvement – partly because of the width and partly because Peter is still using Bridgestone YHC tires. We put Peter’s practice tires on the front of his kart, which felt fine to him, and decided to go with this swap and some heavily used YHC rears for Conor for the race.
YAMAHA JR. SUPERCAN – Peter started his first heat race from the third position (of six karts in his class). We obviously have a good clutch setup on this kart because, like Henry at the CPGP, Peter had good starts all day. He gained a position at the start and ran in third until Lap 4 (of 8) when he dropped one position. He held on to finish fourth. He also gained a position from third at the start of his second heat and ran in second until Turn 1 of the last lap. He had a wiggle coming out of the previous corner and the kart behind made an aggressive move up the inside from quite a ways back. The contact allowed two karts to get by, which resulted in another fourth place finish. The offending driver received a rolled black flag warning for the infraction. Peter made another great start in his feature but had another incident in Turn 1 of the first lap with the same kart. Peter had to recover from being completely sideways, which put him at the tail end of the field. Just as he was beginning to find his groove, he experienced a rare mechanical failure that put him out of the race – the same clutch that had provided him with such good starts all day lost the gear off of the drive basket.
8Occ SHIFTER – Conor started his first heat race from the fourth position (of seven karts in his class). He maintained his position at the start, made one pass on Lap 2, and another on Lap 3. He ran in second to the finish but, on the last lap, the lead kart lost an exhaust silencer and was disqualified, which gave the win to Conor. In his second heat race, Conor started fourth again but dropped a position on Lap 2. He caught up to the new fourth place kart on Lap 4 and followed closely for two laps. Conor was setting up for a pass when the kart in front slowed dramatically. Conor could not back off quickly enough and hit the other kart from behind. After another momentary airborne adventure, Conor landed hard on his right rear wheel, which bent a wheel and flattened the tire. A first and a last were good enough for a third place feature race starting position. He maintained his position at the start and set out after the second place kart. He got a good run through Turn 4 on Lap 7 (of 10) and made the pass in Turn 5. He then set out after the leader, and while he came up a bit short in the end, he did set the fastest lap of the race (44.733 seconds) in the process. In addition to the other changes we made, the downspout-based brake cooling duct seemed to help, too.
NEXT RACE – The annual MSOKC Hog Roast is Saturday, September 5, 2009. This event is preceded by MSOKC Race No. 10, which is a qualifying format event at CRP that follows the normal Sunday (non-night race) schedule. There will be plenty of food for all and all are welcome to attend. Laura will be taking Henry back to Providence for the start of his sophomore year at Brown University that weekend, so they will miss the fun (we'll miss them, too). In the mean time, Peter has attended a driving clinic given by a club member/racer/parent who is also a test driver for Honda Research and Development in Marysville, Ohio. Peter is looking forward to putting what he learned into practice. We also did some back-to-back tire testing with Conor that day and clawed back most of the time we lost when we switched from YHCs to YKCs. Peter’s clutch has been repaired and his new spindle has been installed, Conor will have new wheels and extended front hubs, and both boys will have new tires – YHCs for Peter and YKCs for Conor.
Bill
p.s., Lap times, lap charts, and results can be found at http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=461520.
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