Race Report by Trevor Hilliar, Kart # 1
The T Karts 300, October 16, 2004 at the T-Bone Ranch, Counter Clockwise
Looking at the results of the second half of the Tuesday Night Fights series, someone might expect that I would do well in the T Karts 300. My kart has won all but one of the last 5 points and non-points races we have run. My T Kart prototype T1 has been bullet proof all year and with some chassis tuning mid season, the kart has come alive and been very easy to drive on the limit and has great straight line speed as a result of good corner exit grip. The race was also in my back yard, and I had two-time SCCA F500 national champion Elivan Goulart as my co-driver. One would think we had a pretty good shot at a win, but after a look at the stiff competition and a win might not be so simple.
Fourteen teams came together on Saturday the 16th to run a 300 lap endurance race, the first long race since we added the AMB timing system. To this point, in order to run a long race, we had to assemble a group of timers to keep track of laps, and even then it was a hit or miss affair. The new timing system now lets us race as many karts as we like for as long as we like, needing only a flagger to let us know when we are done. Even though the 300 lap race was an enduro, several drivers lacked a co-driver, and elected to run on their own. Seven pit stops were required for each kart, and karts running the stock Honda fuel tank would need to refuel mid race.
Any notions of it being an easy win went out the window after qualifying, when Elivan posted only the 6th fastest lap, a full .7 seconds off of the surprise pole winner, Dillon Gallagher of Cornish, NH. Gallagher brought his Margay chassis down for only the second time this year, but was able to turn a scorching 27.245 second lap to set the pole by over 2/10ths. Pete Rice would qualify second, followed by Daniel Rutan, Steve Bonanno and Todd Samuelson rounding out the top five. Qualifying results are available at tkarts.mylaps.com
The LeMans start was good for us and Elivan moved up from 6th to 3rd on the start. An early battle with Pete Rice, Steve Bonanno and Todd Samuelson bumped Elivan back to 6th, before he regained 3rd during early pit stops. Our first driver change happened on the 43rd lap, with me taking over in 5th place. I moved up slowly and was back in 3rd on lap 46, second on lap 53 and took the lead on the 58th lap. The kart worked flawlessly, and I handed the kart back to Elivan on the 80th lap, without loosing the lead in the pit stop. Pete and John Rice were a strong second at this point and Steve Bonanno and Lou Delorso ran 3rd.
The race progressed well for Elivan and I, with no spins or mechanical woes. On lap 120 we lost the lead as a result of a pit stop, and ran second for 4 laps before regaining the lead for good. The use of an enduro fuel tank eliminated any need for refueling, a task that would cost the second place team of Daniel and Deborah Rutan over 2 laps of time. Considering that team Rutan was almost exactly 2 laps down in second place at the end, one has to wonder how it would have ended if they had been driving their new T Kart, rather than their Margay.
Throughout the race there were many great battles for position and almost everyone was very clean and fair to race closely with. Fifth place finisher Greg Faucher was the only driver I had to black flag, and after we had a little talk in the pits, he drove a much cleaner race. It is truly amazing what sitting still for 10 seconds will do for the racer. Recognition also goes to William Rutan and Mark Burdick who ran the entire race without codrivers.
I certainly have to thank Elivan for a great drive and all of the other karters who came together to take part in this great event. It has taken over 5 years of back yard karting for me to win my first long, timed race, but it was worth the wait. Now, hopefully I can follow it up with some more.