Not a great day at the track but karting was good

Once again the Fiat is down for the count with a spun bearing :clap:. During the second session on the track I heard the knocking. It wasn't a good day all around. I had two guys all over me in a old beat up Golf and a Scirocco with a VR6 in it, I am out of practice for sure. I neglected to put the SD card in the Go Pro and I shut the power off on my GTECH pro before saving the data. After the second session I nursed the car half way home then the oil light started to flicker and so I called a wrecker - again.

Photos Courtesy of Paul Valente








I did have a bit of redemption last weekend at the kart track. After 2.5 year hiatus I could still kick it with a fast lap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G032oG-YGlY&list=UUdWAaAbbcPalT0W_OKAyEug. I am currently ranked 58 out of the top 100 of the month - not to bad.

Paul, a coupla things...

1. In the words of Billy Crystal's character "Fernando"... 'It's better to rrlook good than to feel good! You rrlook mav-a-lous!'

2. That #13 kart was either slower or better handling than the #19 kart. I think the #19 kart was faster though and when the tires heated a bit you seemed to have had more control. What was with the brake on the #13 kart?

3. Geez... with all you did it appears the "chick" in the #3 kart still whooped yur butt!

HA!

Thanks for posting, really enjoyed it!

Like the commercial says: "that's not how it works"

Here are the lap sheets - that should make more sense:
First Run


Second Run:


The video is of the second run. The kart (13) kept cutting out that is the "pop" "pop" noise you hear. The kart tech thought I was hitting the gas and brake at the same time (which I do) but not in this case. After I changed to a kart that was not all FUBAR I got some proper laps. It was not a race but a lapping trial. I lapped all but one guy in that heat and note where car 3 was.

Aw crap!

That sure sucks.
Do you know what happened and why?
Spun bearings aren't very typical of our motor, are they?

Only when starved for oil

I had a bearing let go in the 1300 in my 128, but it was because the oil level got low due to a massive leak.

Didn't the PBS book mention something about oil starvation in long sweeping turns being a problem?

Yes starved for oil but don't know why

I won't know until I tear it down in the spring. I have less than 600 miles on this rebuild and had just made the first oil change to synthetic a couple of days before the track day. It could be a latent issue from the #3 rod who knows. I have always used OE parts in the past and never had an issue even with high RPM. I changed to SCAT rods and some off brand bearings but have a new oil pump so who knows. I suspect something went wrong when I had to replace the poor quality oil pan gaskets a few miles after start up. I am running the PBS baffle and it requires the removal of the oil pump to replace the gaskets. I can't really speculate on this one but if I keep on with this POS SOHC engine I will go back to the stock components. The Abarth engines are starting to appear regularly on ebay and I am thinking that is the way to go going forward.

For the record I ran many years of track events without a baffle and without issue - 13yrs. When I visited PBS in 2007 I felt obligated to buy something since I took up so much of Clark's time so I got one of their baffles. It has worked with and without it so I can't tell you which is the better option.