Sept 8, 2009 Racing

It was a Gorgeous nite for racing! Our results were consistent for the season. We started at the end of the pack and we finished there. We had a good nite thought for my last night as Caleb's Pit Crew Chief. Next week I am back to school and he will need to find someone else. Hopefully he will do already. We made some changes to the height adjuster on the axel and played around with the rear tire width and stagger. We had a guest pit crew assistant last nite as well. Little Miss Sarah helped with the tire washing, tool holding and upkeep of pit moral. She was a great help and Caleb was the ONLY boy with an all female pit crew this year! What more can a boy ask for except that the girls were more his age and not his mother i guess.
Caleb had a bit of an attitude problem last week but was much more receptive to his pit crews assistance this week. Sponsorship threats to pull funding may have contributed to this but my resignation could also have been a factor. Depending on how he does next week without me maybe this will have been my last race. The best results i managed to help him towards were 4th last. If he places better next week maybe i should just accept defeat and step aside. Take my gold watch and go home.
This could be my last blog of the season depending on situations. September 27th and October 4th there is potential racing in Tillsonburg. It is a different type of track being an arena filled with dirt and has walls. The track is smaller and we will need to change our gears around and hopefully not roll and kill ourselves on the walls. Caleb is the king of crashes! I don't need to find out where the hospital is in Tillsonburg let me tell you. Anyways THANKS TO ALL OUR FANS! That have been checking out our blog this year. All your support is greatly appreciated and I love you for that. Caleb is already planning his graphics for next years kart. I will have to post information after the banquet on November 29th to let you know how that went. Until next time that we blog again remember -It is not just about the torque of your engine but how you handle the curves and obstacles!

Did You Miss Me Race Fans!?

Sorry to all my faithful followers who MAY have been looking for updates on Caleb's racing. I have not updated for the last 2 weeks due to various reasons that i will not go into. First off for anyone that i did not talk to last nite, Caleb is fine from last weeks horrible ordeal. All the x-rays came back fine and there were no lasting effects. Thanks goes out to the quickness of the Welland Hospital in assessing him and getting him looked after. He was none to happy about being strapped to a backboard with tape across his forehead and hair for a few hours because he had to not move his neck. Caleb claimed he felt fine and wanted to get back in his kart and race. The fact that he had potentially 280 pounds of kart and driver sitting on top of him on his head was irrelatant. Safety first so he had to endure not racing, missing Bob Davidson's annual BBQ and Corn Roast and miss out on points for the nite. VERY UPSETTING. I am just glad I don't have a quad in a wheelchair.
OK back on topic. Racing Tues August 26th!
Being the excitement of last week and our visit to the hospital, bill yet to come, Caleb was a little OK a huge amount nervous to race again. Pit Crew Chief said " RElax we are here to have fun. Just go around the track and cross the finish line. I have no problem with you finishing last just get yourself out there!" Yes we started last and finished last. Good Phase 1 complete. Next huddle was Heat 2 when he starts in first position because they flip there starting order. Just the look on Caleb's face told me he was wreastling a herd of wild butterflies. Pit Crew Cheif said " Take it easy, do your best let the faster cars by and don't worry about being aggressive just yet. Go around the track I don't expect you to finish first." The race started, bumping Caleb drops back then someone is off the track, restart. Repeat above. The third time they started single fill and i was beginning to wonder if we would run out of fuel if we keep restarting. Single fill worked and the race was on. Yes Caleb dropped back but then there was a space so he slid infornt of 2 karts. He raced a bit and ended up last again but that is OK. He was slowly getting his grove back. Feature race he started in last place which suited him just fine. Now the sponsor bibes come out. Every place above second last that you finish i will pay you $5. I have $70 in my hand let me see what you can do! He raced well considering everything. The leader did lap him but we finished 3rd last! WooHoo! Caleb pocketed $5 from 2 of his sponsors and got a bit smile on his face! Next week we will have to see how things work out but not bad in my books. My driver is happy so I am a happy pit crew cheif. hopefully next year we will be more competative and get money from the track for our place in the race not just sponsor incentive bucks.

Wed Aug 5th Racing

Welcome fans to another episode of "As My Axil Turns!" or "As the Track Turns". Maybe we should vote which one is better. Anyways good nite for racing. We used Grandpa's truck. He had to do some repairs and now it seems to be working OK. We got to the track about 6:15 and had already missed the driver's meeting. The boys from Tillsonburg were visiting again and so they upped the meeting and we were behind schedule. Which if anyone out there knows me is VERY UNUSUAL! On the good side the starting order was different with visitors and we were bumped to the end part of the list with only 2 groups racing after us. We get the kart looked over and racing began OK. The track was wet and slippery so we started the nite with the SS11 on the right rear and just played with our air pressure to try to get more grip. No matter what the changes were though it did not seem to help Caleb race much better. We seemed to be slower and sliding more than everyone else out there. Frustrating cause I made changes to the axel height adjuster 2x, we figured out why the engine was shaking the other week and fixed that, moved the back gear sprocket to line up better with the engine for smoother chain movement. Blahhh! Every race same story. 1st heat he started 5 out of 7 and finished last. 2nd heat he started 3 out of 7 and finished 6th. Then for the feature he started last in tail and finished 11 out of 13 karts! The crazy thing was he raced better in the last feature race where he was side by side with his freind #20 and #87. All 3 were jockeying around each other verging on passing the other at any point. Exciting for me to watch but everyone elase was watching the leaders because the rest of the group were 3/4 of a track ahead and almost lapped "our group" of 3. Here is the funny part. When Caleb came off the track and we go to lift him back into the truck we noticed he has a flat left front tire! here i spent all nite playing with pressure and i should have left them flat because he raced better! Go figure! Maybe it happened as he came off the track who knows at what point it occured because he slide off the track on 2 different occasions. So in light of this.... If Life is leaving you flat just think again because it actually might be better!
Till next week race fans! :-)

Tuesday July 21st Racing a wash out!

Hey Race Fans. Due to the weather Racing was cancelled tonite. Oh well! Probably for the better because the kids and i just got back from a family camping trip and smell of sweet campfire smoke, covered in mosquito bits ( anyone up for a game of connect the dots! Hee Hee) and feel a little tired to be honest. On the good side, our motor has been rebuilt and we pick it up tomorrow nite! Yeah!! Now we can return all of our loaner parts and mount our new engine. Caleb & I are excited to see if it will purr like a new kitten or roar like a lion. Oh wait, we are racing with a flathead not an animal engine. Silly me! Hopefully it has some power anyways so we can move up some in our standings. Until next week remember racing is cancelled if there is a risk of wetting yourself!

We got Tanked Racing!

Welcome to the trial and tribulations of Team Chaos Racing! Another race night is behind us YEAH! More problems but that is why we are team chaos because that seems to be par for couse for us. Last week we discovered that the mount that holds the fuel tank onto the engine was cracked and so as a quick fix we wired it onto the engine to get us thru the nite. Well aparantly with working and kids and life in general I did not get it welded before racing this week. OPPS! Caleb ran his first warm-up and said the kart was sliding and not idling properly. I adjusted the air in the tires and went to adjust the idle when I noticed that the carberator was loose again so had to tighten that up. After our 1st heat I was talking to Dan Wilder who is trying to get our engine rebuilt when I told him about our fuel mount problem. He was less than impressed that I had forgotten to get the mount welded last week and stressed that i was risking recking Chris's carb on the engine we had been lent. I then proceeded to "find" another gas tank that we could borrow for the nite. Thank god i am cute or we would have a problem. The wonderful Bob Davidson let us borrow one for our last race !! Now I just need to remove it to give back to him for next week but I watched closely and it seems pretty straight forward.
Anyways racing! Caleb was a little cautious again tonite. He does not seem to have the killer attitude. He started at the back of the pack and finished there all nite again. We seem to just pay our money and go around in an oval. At least he is having fun but boy does he get uptight about things. Bossy is an understatement i think was the common consences. Yes my spelling sucks! It is 12:10 am here so I am not looking for a dictionary OK. Ok so for Caleb's feature race we adjusted the air pressure again, lowered the back left axel half a turn. He started 4th last and gave up 2 spots to finish 2nd last with his friend #20 behind us due to a spin out that threw him in tail or #20 would have been ahead of us. Hopefully next week we will get our rebuild engine. Until then we have "the turd" at least so we can go around the track with something right. So in parting,just remember to be nice to your neighbours and freinds because you never know when you will need to get tanked and need their help!

SUNDAY JULY 5TH SPECIAL RACE

ATTENTION ALL RACE FANS. THERE WILL BE NO RACE ON TUESDAY DUE TO THE SPECIAL RACE WE HAD ON SUNDAY JULY 5TH. I am not slacking again this week if you look for an update on Wed and there is not one. OK down to our exciting racing on Sunday. We were all excited last week to see how our new clutch was going to work out and that did not happen due to our oil transportation system malfunction. Today we still have "The Turd" loner engine on our kart. After an exciting birthday pool party, we rushed up to the track for 3pm with my sister-in-law in tow to get our half ass kart looked at to see if it was still OK to race. We checked air pressure, methanol levels, OIL LEVELS!!! then scaled it up and Chris made a rear axel adjustment. Things looked OK. Caleb did the warm up lap and was sliding a little so we switched over from SS11 to SS22. So far so good right. No not for Team Chaos, Hence the name. We are in the hot pits to start our first heat when Caleb's kart won't ideal right and stalls twice. Tim Tallman said Oh your gas tank is loose, he can't race this one pull him out of the line-up. We put him on the kart stand and notice the carb has loosened from the engine and tighten the screws at the restrictor plate. Done right. Wrong. Apparently this loner motor has a crack in the mount where the fuel tank attaches to the engine and is leaking methanol. Great. We coat hanger and wire the thing back together and carry our fire extinguisher with us, just kidding Mom. Methanol leaks are not a big deal I guess. Heat 2 he starts in the back of the pack and was still sliding around so finished last. We decide to change the air pressure again and Chris Long recommended we adjust the rear axel some more. For his feature race we are all prepped and ready to go! He actually had a good race. He started near the back but after 25 laps he moved up, had a bad point where the kid in front slowed down and Caleb ended up on top of him but got back off. He finished 10 out of 14 karts right behind his friend #20. No money again but we still have a kart to race next week and hopefully our engine will be back new and improved! So our tip of this week is make sure you do not have a screw loose and lubrication is the key to keeping everyone happy!

Team Chaos Welcomes Tillsonburg Outlaws to Merritville

Hello Race Fans! Sorry I am a little late in updating you on all of the crazy news but first I have to tell you about these cool karts i have pictured. Sunday July 5th was a special Burris race and the group from Tillsonburg who races these karts made a special appearance at our track. Noramally I am told they race inside in an arena type build with banks around the sides then the boards. If they get to far up the banks they can roll over, hence the roll cages. Their rules are a little different from us since their track is smaller so they race harder with more accidents. They pass each other more as well compared to the straight out racing on our track. The people i talked to were super nice and seemed to be having a good time visiting our track. Some problems were that at nite we got a bit cool and some of the engines in the last race kept stalling out. With there track inside, it probably stays pretty warm. That and whenever we have a car stall we yellow flag to slow the race down. I lost count how many yellow flags were waved and then the cars would slow down and eventually a few would stall out. If anyone has more information they would like to share please comment on this blog so all my fans will get the full scoop on this different style of cool kart!

JUNE 30TH EXPLOSIVE RACE

For those of you who looked on Wed July 1st I am sure that you noticed i did not update this blog after our race. First but not probably the reason, it was a day off with a BBQ to host for my freinds and family with lots of things to get done around the house. Second and the obvious reason I was deeply depressed. The reason all you caring people may ask, well apparently I am an idiot ( but not the only person in the world to do this ) and forgot to put enough oil in poor Caleb's engine for Tuesday and i dun blod er up real gud! BLAM KABLEWE! I having chick issues competing with the boys felt SOOO stupid that I missed a vital part of your kart maintenance. My excuse was Mon I worked, rushed home to clean his kart, make supper and get my daughter to soccer all on schedule. In the rush OPPS. As it turns out, it is amazing how many guys have done this same thing long before little ole me. In fact, Sunday #4 beside Beckett Racing race 2 laps and blew up their $1400 animal motor. Do I feel better, maybe a little but not really. Oh well I will be paranoid careful in the future. So for now Dan Wilder is going to get some parts and but this thing back together for us. We need a piston, crank shaft, connecting rod some rings and gasket for the rebuild. Good Times. I just wish my money tree was in bloom or at least a bit more green! Hee Hee. Thanks goes out to Chris Long from RCM RAcing for letting us borrow a spare engine called "The Turd" and Tim Tallman for helping mount it. Also thanks to Jeff Riley for letting me borrow his spare engine if I needed that one for next week.

A Smoking Nite of Racing!

Hello Race Fans this is the update for Tuesday June 23th racing. Well let me tell you it was a hot nite racing. The sun was beating down and we were hiding in the shade of the pick-up truck when we could. I have no idea how hot it was but I went through a bottle of water and a bottle of gaderade. Anyways we had our practise heat and everything looked like it was in good shape as far as tire pressure and tire compounds etc. For our first heat Caleb started second last. I have to wonder when every week we pull a random number to determine starting order that Caleb ALWAYS draws the same spot in the second group of kids. Interesting... perhaps some kind of a conspiracy. Anyways, he came off and said the kart was sliding a little so we changed the right rear tire from a SS22 compound to a SS11 since the track was quite wet. The water truck soaked it and there was chunks of mud on his tires. His second heat was kind of exciting with him rallying ahead of and behind again with Braedon Bilinsky. It was a great race and Caleb finished ahead. The Junior 1 heat was very exciting with all the bumping and spin outs. There was a huge accident with Caleb's freinds brother #8 Stephen. Poor #18 got bumped really hard and spun around only to be hit head on and flipped upside down. It was sickening to watch. Luckily the kart finished to rest on some tires and #8's kart so he walked away OK. Poor Stephan was not as lucky and now has sore ribs and back from the ordeal plus his kart body was majorly damaged. He races with a hard plastic body that we call tupperware. It usually dents and you bang it back out. Tonite the body actually cracked and broke. With all the yellow and red flags by 9:30 Caleb still had not competed in his final race and now instead of sweating and burning my body i was covered in goosebumps and wished i had brought a long sleeve shirt and some pants.
Finally he gets to go out for his race and before the first lap there was an accident and Caleb has to swerve off the track to avoid it. Restart and off we go again just to have another crash up and Caleb is off the track a second time. They go to restart again and now Caleb's engine is pouring off blue grey smoke and he can't get any acceleration so he calls it a nite and comes off the track to have Chris Long the tech guy from RCM Racing look at it. He checks it over and restarts it but the engine seems fine. Caleb goes back onto the track to do some practise laps and it is still fine. Now we are scratching our heads as to what the problem could be. We have oil in the engine so was it some debris that needed to burn off. One of the Dads at the track came to see what was going on since he seen Caleb smoke off the track and suggests maybe our clutch is gone. By this time of nite it is 10:30 and I am tired with 2 fresh cuts on my fingers from naughty parts that got me unexpectantly. We packed up the kart without even draining the oil and just came home to have a shower and get ready for bed. Well that is all for tonite race fans. Remember to quit smoking it is bad for you and always wear protection to minimze getting knocked around and up!

Tues June 16th Racing From a Pick-up

Hello Race Fans!
We made it through another nite of racing without any damage or problems. Posting some pictures for you Mary of how it looks to be racing out of a pick up truck. Do you think we can stuff any more stuff into the back! We have to thank Grandpa Wayne for letting us use his truck every week. Without it we would be struggling to get to the track each week. If you log on Grandpa thanks! We had a not to bad of a nite. We had a bit of sliding around again on the corners so we made a few changes. We changed the tires from SS22 to SS11 and moved the left rear wheel to change the cross around. We finally got the kart running just right for the last feature race. He ran a great race passing and batttling for his spot. Eventually he lost the battle to #20 and fell behind him. He did not finish last YEAH but was 2nd last. Good racing though! Just a short update this week. Tonite is Crab Fest and I need to clean the house and get everything organized. Until next week use a magnetized bowl so you don't lose your nuts!

June 9th Night of Racing

Hello again Race Fans! Welcome to our weekly update of Tuesday nite racing at Merritville Speedway for all who are visiting for the first time. For my faithful fans, you know who you are or maybe not Mary, thanks for following along weekly with us!
The nite was great for racing tonite! The weather was cool, blue skies, partly cloudy with minimal wind and YEAH no rain. That all came on Mon and got it out of its system. Since we did so much to the kart last week after our major collision we were pretty set for racing with minimal work SWWEET! All I had to do was top up air pressure, methanol and wash and prep tires. For all of you who saw the damage last week would you believe it was not even $25 to fix. Whole crap i was happy. Chris Long must have work 30 to 45 minutes on our kart and we worked 20 minutes just getting the dents out of the front. Glad we did not have to pay for labour!
Now down to the racing, Caleb ran the warm-up heat and was sliding a bit in the one corner he always has problems with. When he came off I changed the air pressure around a little on the left rear. His first qualifier he started last and finished last. OK tweak a little more and wash the tires good. On the second qualifier because he started tail the first race he was pole or first for this race. He did quite well and finished 3rd this race only losing 2 places from the start. The first time we had to actually get scaled this year. Only the top 3 in the qualifiers and the top 5 in the feature cross the scales to make sure everyone is about the same weight. We came in exactly at 280 lb which is the minimum that we are allowed to weight. Phew. I was so excited that he held the other kids off cuz let me tell you the one kid was bumping from behind trying to push Caleb out of his way. He finally dropped down and passed him low and Caleb thought ya off you go and leave me alone as he let him pass. For the feature race Caleb was positioned 10 out of 14. The best we have ever place so far this year. Normally he is in the back 2 positions with his friend #20. Caleb raced really well and passed a few and lost a few places but in the end finished 10th with 4 karts behind him. Again the best finish we have had all season. He raced very solid and consistant. The whole nite went really smooth with few yellow flags except if someone slide off a corner but no accidents or major problems. We were in the truck ready to go home at 9:25pm. Pretty early considering some of our nites. I was meaning to take some pictures to put on this blog to make it more exciting but i forgot my flippin camera AGAIN! Hopefully next week to add some colour and excitement to these updates. Until next week keep your air filter clean and stop sniffing the tire prep!

A Smashing Nite for Racing!

Good day all you racing fans! Hope noone logged on early Wed morning for our update. I have had a busy day and unfortuately am not entering our exciting nite until now. Where to start with our nite of racing.... Well to start we were rained out of our feature race last week so we had a bit of a different race format for the night. We started with the usual warm-up heat but then went straight into our feature race for points and money which also counted as our first qualifing heat of the nite. Here is where the excitement started! After our warm up heat we decided to try to tighten the kart up abit and moved the left rear tire. With the adjustment I was unsure if it was going to make the kart better or worse so it was a if this does not work option then we will put it back the way it was then adjust the air pressure kind of deal. WELL in the feature race for whatever reason Caleb spun out on a corner and ended up facing backwards and was waiting for the yellow flag so he could move and get turned around. Maybe the flag man was our for a smoke or something because the beginning of the pack came flying head on towards him and he had a front row seat watching these karts going probable 30 kmor more towards him and bracing for the inevitable. YES A HEAD ON COLLISION! I got to watch it and replaying in my mind over and over when I tried to sleep last nite. I should have had my camera to document all the damage to his kart and the poor other guy who was following behind 2 karts that split around Caleb and he had no time to react or avoid the accident. The front end was caved in, the tye rod was bent, the front right tire was slanted in and there is now a dent in our rim. After the St. John Ambulance people looked him over and he got out of the kart Terry from Beckett Racing # 20's dad tugged the kart off the track because it was not drivable. We put the kart on the kart stand for repairs and I went to check on how Caleb was doing. My boys response when I poked my head in the ambulance, well is my kart fixed! What a kid. I came back to the kart to find 5 dad's using a 2 x 4 to try to push the dent out to no avail. I made the executive decision that the front end nose piece needed to come off. With Nascar speed, we whipped out the impact wrench, 7/16th wrench and started passing the bolts, washers and nuts to be put off to the side. Once the nose was off Terry and his friend Greg came over and helped jump on dents to pop it back out. By the skin of our teeth and a few bolts short we got him back on the track for his next race because we were being paged to the grid. He ended up finishing second last but I was worried he was going to lose his one wheel because we did not have all the nuts on. Today I put all the correct parts back on for next week and made sure all the screws were tighted up. After his second heat we went down to the tech guy to get our tye rod replaced, things straightened up and toe adjusted and kart rescaled with a new 61 tooth gear. His feature race was awesome. He was keeping up and was ahead by 3 karts until the end when he spun a bit and lost some ground. Still he finished 2nd last behind his friend #20. Not a bad nite of racing since he walked away without being hurt and our tupperware body bounced back to race another day. Until next week race fans! And a special thanks goes out to my #1 fan, u know who u r!!

Tuesday May 26th Race

Well let me tell you tonite was the worstest YES THERE IS A WORD Nite of our race season. Thank God nobody was probably there to see it. Last week we had the kart running great other than the fact we need to change our rear gear and get some more experience. Tonite you would think we were new or something! Caleb could not hold the kart on the track. He was sliding ass end out around every corner and hell on the straight away too. We changed the right rear tire from a SS22 to a SS11 and made it worse. Then we changed the air pressure in the tires, had the tech guy Chris Long move the rear left wheel closer in and down more to increase our bit on the inside of the kart. Nope not much difference so I switched the right rear tire back to the SS22 and changed the tire pressure AGAIN! We cleaned the tires good and put some tire prep on them to increase the grip. We were all set to try this new combination and then the rain comes. We managed to get our warm-up heat and 2 qualifier heats in but not our feature point race. Probably for the best since we were running so bad. Now next week were will race a feature race then 2 qualifiers and then another feature race. Hopefully the track will be nicer to us and all the changes will work for us since we will have no other chances to tweak before our first feature race. So tonite was an early nite with us home about 8:45 instead of the usual 10:15. The problem is now next week will be super late with all the make-up races from tonite since Junior restricted, 1 and 2 plus Senior not running their feature races. Hopefully i will have next Wednesday off work so I can recover from slugging dirt and plants all day in the garden centre and a 165 lb kart all nite. Good times. Caleb was not to upset that he did not get to run his last race. If he was running really well i am sure that it would have been a different story thought. I am still trying to figure out why his kart ran so well last week and this week it is crap. Could a dry verses wet track make that much difference and why was it only us? Oh well it is done now so shake it off and move on right! Well that is it until next week i guess. OK who wants to see pictures again or is it boring see a kart going around. Please comment and let me know my faithfull race fans!

Racing May 19th

Well race fans, if there are any out there, we had an amazing nite tonite. Unfortunately no one seemed to be around to witness it unless we have some fans across the feild in the spectator section. Our pits were empty tonite. Anut Rae and Grandpa were unable to come and so far that is all that we have been drawing for a crowd. I guess if you don't win big, people just stay home. This year is a learning year for us. I am trying to learn about all the ins and outs of maintaining the kart and making adjustments. There are so many thing that can be changed to affect performance that it is a little overwhelming to be honest. There is toe adjustments, camber, stagger, gearing, air pressure, cross weight and then there is just how the driver performs to. Lots to consider but hey we are having fun even if we are not winning races or money this year.
OK tonite we started off with some clutch problems so off we went to the tech guy Chris for some quick input to fix our noisy problem. Last year I over lubed, apparently now i am under lubricating! Hole crap, hopefully I get it right next week. If not I atleast know how to fix the problem should it happen again. Our first heat we started last and finished last. Oh well. The second heat we were in the number one pole position since they flip the starting order. We feel back and finished second last only to Caleb's friend #20. For the feature race we cleaned the tires. prepped them, topped up our air pressure and methanol. We started the race second last but let me tell you, Caleb ran the best race so far of the season. He was passing other karts and moving up in the pack with 5 karts behind him at one point. Then the trouble started. There was an accident and yellow flags came out. The karts were relined and restarted, then another accident and Caleb ended up off the track and dropped back to 3rd last. Then more problems and he was 2nd last. THEN his friend #20 ran up the back of him and Caleb's kart got a little messed up and he did not finish the race. S..t happens right. He was doing awesome thought, keeping up and passing. I was biting my knuckles and talking to him from the fence even though he could not here my coaching. After it was all said and done, we changed his spark plug, rotated the air filter and FINALLY got it to restart and he ran it around the track some more to make sure that what ever was wrong was corrected. His kart was reving super hign but had no torque to it? He figures all 4 tires were on the ground and he ran out of fuel but i beg to differ. I think he was on uneven ground and yes there was fuel. The air filter was full of dirt so maybe the engine just could not breath? Who knows but we can only get better next week right! Until next week if anyone is out there. I am beat from lifting 165lb kart all nite.

How to Build a Shed

First you get your shed delivered!

Then you lay out ALL THE PIECES!!

Then you painstakingly level the ground. It is a very time consuming process but very necessary or the pieces do not line up properly and you have to rip the whole thing back down after 2 hours of work. Not that i am speaking from experience or anything! got to love the trial run right !

Next you need to recruit some labour to help with the work. Thanks Caleb and Conner! NOW THE WORK BEGINS!! The floor got laid and walls were put up, next came the roof gables, doors and finally the roof. What started out on a sunny day at 10 am in the morning ended up being an all s=day thing not getting finished until after 6 pm with the help of my husband and uncle. i was to short to do the rooof so had to get them to do that. Plus I had to make supper, life is so exciting right.

Tuesday May 12th Race Results

Well race fans another great race nite for those of you who are faithfully following us! We started off the nite getting a thorough looking over of our kart by Chris Long the Tech guy at the track and skipped the warm up laps. We discovered, much to my surprise that more damage was done in last weeks bumping than expected. Our measurement for toe was completely out and apparantly we bent one of our spindles and tie rods. We adjusted, banged and changed a few things around to increase our cross weight and minimize our slipping around. The result was the kart ran tighter but did not affect our overall results. But Hey we were not last and we crossed the finish line unlike some kids. Poor number 11 got creamed in a crash right behind Caleb and the St. John Ambulance attendants had to look at him. The feature race was another crazy race tonight. With 16 kart there is lots of pushing, rubbing and of course spin outs and crashes. Caleb alone had 3 "incidences" with other karts. Mainly his "friend" #20 when they were challanging each other around corners and jockeying for the lead over each other. Caleb did finish ahead of him in the feature YEAH! It was a good nite, weather was warm to start and cooled off when the sun went down. i was glad that i brought my winter coat.
Exciting news!!! Wed we get our "NEW SHED" { pictures to come later } to store Caleb's kart at our house now. This will make it easier to do stuff to the kart and work on it. I have to extend a HUGE thanks to Rae and Vicki for their generous donation to the make a child smile campaign Hee Hee. With their sponsorship money we were able the buy this great shed. Now I just have to build it and we will be all set. Our next project is to get the team jackets and then have the graphics applied. Soon I hope, but i need to get it sorted out and the guy is in Chippawa.

May 5th - First Race of the Season

Well we finally got to hit the track and race. Here is Caleb and his friend #20 possing in there cool racing suits and booting around the track. It has been a crappy start to the season with all this rain. Practise after practise was post poned. The night started off pretty crazy. We were supposed to use my father-in-laws pick-up truck but he lent it to someone else, Tim's cousin Dan, and it was not available when we needed it. AHHHHH! Next I called my old boss Frank at Concordia to see if I could borrow the work truck that we had last year but he had it on a job sote so it was in use. Next I called my sisiter-in-law the amazing Rae and she got us the work truck from Modern Mosaic. She is the best!!! By the time all this craziness was said and done i was feeling the stress of when would it all come together and when would we get to the track. We ended up getting to the track at 6:15 and the drivers meeting started at 6:30. We barely got the kart off the truck before Caleb had to go. I checked and filled oil, methanol and air in the tires.

This year Caleb has jumped from the Novice 2 divsion into the Junior 2 division skipping Junior 1. This was an advantage only in the fact that now kart and driver can weigh 280 lb instead of 265 lb. We scale in at 283lb right now so Caleb has to watch his carbs and sweets Hee Hee. Every other way we are at a disadvantage. These other kids have been racing up to 6 years over Caleb and have that much better karts and pit crews. The other problem is right now there is 16 karts in his division. It makes for a crowded track and more delays and yellow flags as seemed to happen last night. They split the group into 2 groups of 8 for the first 2 heats but everyone raced together for the feature. Caleb started 14th out of 16 and fared not bad considering everything. There were a number of crashes and problems but Caleb finished the race, 5 karts did not PLUS he was not last YEAH!!!! No money but we had fun and played around with stagger, tire compounds and spacing to get some info on the affects on performance. Next week we hope to get this bad boy on the scales and change our spindle high and up our cross weight. We are running abit to loose on the track right now and sliding out on the corner. It is going to be a great season with lots of learning but we are keeping a positive attitude to get around the track and finish each week aiming to not finish last. Good times YA BABY!!

Rain Rain go away!

Well so far the racing season has been crap! We were supposed to have a practise on Sunday but it was raining so it was cancelled and post poned until Tuesday April 28th. Well Monday was beautiful with the sun shining and blue skies. The perfect day. Tuesday started out over cast and then by 9 am it was pouring rain. Jim from Merritville called and let me know that the racing for that nite was off again! Ahhh. Caleb is so anxious to start the season and the weather is not cooperating. Wed nite the weather is perfect, racing is probably on but we are going to be out celebrating my dad's birthday and having a family dinner. I will have to call to see if there is going to be any racing on Thursday or Sunday. Who knows but hopefully on next Tuesday the weather gods will be in our favour and the weather will be dry and racing will be on. Keep posted next Wednesday for our exciting update!!

First Practise of The Season

Sunday April 19th was our first practise of the season. Each person was allowed out in the track by themself to get a feel for the new track conditions and grading. The banks have been minimized and the track widened this year to minimize bunching in the turns. Caleb's kart has twice the power of last year with a new restrictor plate and jumping 2 classes. For the first time out we did not to bad and now have some ideas of what needs to be adjusted. It feels good to be back on the track and hope that we have a good season. If nothing we will have fun!

Our Competition!

Braedon in the yellow car is an amazing driver with lots of driving experience in the States and in a different division than us last year. This year we will be having a challenging time racing against him with all his experience. Another great racing team that we will be up against is Beckett Racing with 2 drivers Steven # 20 and Gregory #8. Both are great boys and Caleb has become fast friends with them both last year.

At Pen Centre March 29th to April 5th

Caleb and his friends will have their go karts on display at the Pen Centre from March 30th to April 5th along with "the Big Boys" that race at Merritville on Saturday nites. We would like to thank all of our sponsors so far this year. Thank-you to Modern Mosaic for their sponsorship which helped us get 4 new tires this year as well as getting our engine rebuilt. Thank-you to Dave at Hartzel Auto for his sponsorship that I am sure will be used at Canadain Tire on tools or a shelter. A special thanks to my amazing sister-in-law Rae for her continued support last year and this year again and for being a faithful fan coming out to each race on Tuesday Nites. We are looking forward to getting out on the track for some practise in April and race season starts May.

2008 Season Results

For his first season Caleb finished 4th overall for points in the Novice 2 Division. At the Awards Banquet he received Rookie of the Year Award and Most Improved Driver Award.

In 2009 he is moving up to the Junior 2 division and is expecting a challenging season racing against many very experienced and talented other racers.

2009 Season Starting SOON!

Caleb is getting excited about the upcoming season. He is trying on his racing gear and making sure that it all still fits and is good. His new racing suit looks awesome thanks to a donation from his wonderful Grandma Vicki.