Race #8 - Saturday Night!

This was the first race of the season run on Saturday night instead of Sunday afternoon.  These races start the heats in the early evening and the features start around sunset, under the lights.  It was also the first  race that I couldn't attend because of work.  I was scheduled for night shift so I was able to get the trailer to the track and help for a few practices before I headed to work and left the racing to Lian and her Mom.  Fortunately, there were plenty of helpful parents there aware of our situation and gave Mom help when she needed it.

Lian was ready to step-up and contribute more to the work in the pits.  So after I made a toe adjustment, she re-installed the wheels and tightened the lugs.  An important thing about the wheels, they can sometimes get a little crooked on the hubs and it may seem like they lug nuts are tight but when the wheel settles onto the hub properly, the lugs become loose.  I believe that is what happened in the second practice because she kicked the left rear wheel off and it bounced about 20 feet in the air before landing in the infield.

Dad loaded the kart and recovered the wheel from the EMS worker nearby.  Walking back to the pits with a sheepish young driver who remembered Dad asking "are you sure you got the lugs tight?"  Aside from her pride, the only damage was to the studs and the wheel.  They were junk.  Fortunately, I was able to get the damaged studs out of the hub without too much problem.  The wheel was a complete mess as you can see by the elongated holes:

After Dad was out of the picture, Lian finished 3rd and 4th in the heats.  This put her in 4th for the Feature race and she was excited to show off her lights.  In addition to some of the blue LEDs we had last year, I installed some green LED strips under the clear plastic sticker protectors on the sides and they really get your attention.  Here is a picture her Mom took on the starting grid:

Mom got the GoPro going for the Feature and so you get to watch what happened to her at the drop of the green flag here at this youtube link.  Lian chose the music to go with and wanted it loud to drown out her exclamations.  She needs to anticipate starts better but Dad is also looking at throttle response.  It was another frustrating feature for her but overall, she enjoyed the day and really appreciated the temperature drop after sundown.