Round 4 of the Club 2000 championship held at Red Lodge Karting took place on the 6th April 2024. After learning a lot at 2024 The Kart Championship Round 2, this was very much an opportunity to put that learning in to practice.
Qualifying
For qualifying we decided to try the setup from GYG as Riley described it as amazing. Initially, things looked promising, however very quickly it became obvious this wasn’t the case. We also tried a different brand of brake pads. The kart was not doing what Riley needed. Setting his best time of 42.186 this was only good enough for 15th some 1.5 seconds off pole time.
Heat 1
After qualifying, we reverted the GYG set up back to the known OTK setup and threw the OTK brake pads back on. What a difference! A good start saw Riley up to 11th by the second lap. A couple of overtakes back and forth through a group and Riley crossed the line 12th. Impressively his fastest lap was 41.173 which was a top 3 time!
Heat 2
Heat 2 saw Riley line up in 12th place. A reasonable start meant he didn’t lose any positions. Times were a little hit n miss, with a decent lap time followed by a slower one, then a decent one. Then on lap 7, after setting his best time of 41.638 disaster struck. The times plummeted, positions were being lost each lap. Riley crossed the line 16th and last, some 2 seconds behind the pack.
After collecting him from parc ferme, it became obvious there was an issue with the brakes. They were binding badly. When back at the awning, we tried to remove the pads and could not get the caliper piston back in. After a wrestle and some brute force, the piston returned in to the caliper and we removed the brake pads. They were so hot, the paint on the back had boiled. New pads were installed, and when attempting to get them to self adjust there was nothing. No brakes. We attempted to bleed them but nothing was coming out. With no brakes it was game over for the day. Which was a shame given the pace in heat 1.
Conclusion
After this round, we have sent the engine off to GMS Motorsport to get a full rebuild. I believe this is the first the engine may have had, and after feedback from the top end rebuild a few other jobs will be done.
Although we had an early bath, it was nice to try and see the difference that the GYG setup made. Riley has been working hard on steering input which showed with hitting the top 3 times in heat 1.
The biggest achievement for the day though was Riley’s attitude. We didn’t qualify as high as we would have liked, but we knew why. We tried hard to get the brakes working and get back out, but Riley understood the risk and was able to handle being out really well. The maturity and composure Riley showed was commented on by others.
Since the event, time was taken to resolve the brake issues. This included a brake master cylinder rebuild and caliper rebuilds with all new seals throughout, new pistons and renewed brake fluid. Lets see what Warden Law brings.
Thank you as always to our sponsors helping make this happen.
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