 Over the course of the year I had taken the kart out for a few practice runs. It was usually for six or seven laps and never more than once during practice on Saturday. It had taken me less time than expected to get up to speed in most instances. I felt I was driving fairly well. I thought I would feel more rusty. I had mentioned to Gerald a couple of times that I would not mind racing at the Nationals. Marilou's class was running on Saturday. I could jump in her kart on Sunday and have a go in a different class. Gerald suggested that we should build up the spare chassis or my old Coyote Bullet. I did not want to bother. Too much extra work. We had worked hard on the setup on the main chassis and the other karts were unlikely to work as well. It was important to have the kart performing well for Marilou. If it worked for her then it should be fine for me as well. Over the course of the season I had probably learned more than if I had been driving myself. I had a new perspective. I could draw on my years of experience from driving and setting the kart up for myself. Marilou was a true rookie behind the wheel. She had never raced before and had by-passed 4-cycle racing and gone straight to the faster 2-cycle machines. Few racers these days take that route. She did not know the tracks that well. Usually when I was driving she would come with me and walk the track before practice, but you look at it differently when you are going to be the driver.  After each practice session this year Marilou and I would discuss how the kart felt on the track. Did the front end push? Was it steering where she wanted it to go? Was the back end tight or loose? Gerald and I would watch the kart in different corners. He would tell me what he saw, make some suggestions, then I would decide what to adjust. Sarah came to a couple of early season races and her experience helped out too. There were times when we had other people dropping by with suggestions as well. Sometimes it got a little ridiculous. I guess they figured Marilou was a rookie and she needed their help. Too much advice is not a good thing. We knew what we were doing. We would try different adjustments to the kart and draw diagrams of the corners to discuss the optimum line. Marilou and I would go out to a corner she was having trouble with to see how other people were driving through it. Sometimes the changes we made worked and sometimes they did not. By the end of the practice day on Saturday, Marilou had become familiar with the track and she would be down to a competitive time. Later in the year she started to become comfortable reading the tachometer and temperature gauges, which some veteran racers never master. Many drivers can be seen adjusting their carburetors during the race to try and get the optimum settings.Very often after the race the other drivers would be standing around the scales waiting to weigh in saying how hot their engine was getting or how their clutch kept coming in at a certain rpm. Marilou never adjusts her carb while out on the track, and most of the time during a race the tach/temp gauge was turned off. She usually finished ahead of the guys fooling with their carbs. She just put her head down and concentrated on driving. The readings from the gauge did not matter. It was how you finished in the race that was important. It was the first time in years I had not spent the week before the Nationals getting prepared. I needed to get a fresh set of Bridgestone tires for the race. Roy did not have the right sizes in stock. It seemed even though I drove for Kart Klinic and got my supplies there, there was always some reason once a year to make a trip to Canadian Performance Products to see my old friend Charlie. He has been one of the enduring characters on the karting scene for as long as anyone can remember. His bottle of schnapps that comes out after the racing is over is legendary. I know it makes his day when I show up wanting to buy something. One night during the week I went out to my parents' house in Oakville to mount the tires and pick up a few tools. All my karting equipment still fills up one half of the garage. I did not tell them I was going to race at the Nationals on the weekend. My mum was happy that I had quit driving. They thought I needed the supplies for Marilou. |
||