Just a quick news flash to let you know that there will be about 40 gallons of alky available for sale at the track. Not sure on the per gallon cost, but I'm sure it will be at the market rate.
4-19-07
It's two weeks and counting until vintage karts invade Davis, California! Just some last minute notes and updates. We didn't get enough folks who said they needed to buy fuel at the track to justify buying a drum of fuel, so everyone will need to bring their own fuel and oil, or make arrangements to buy it here locally or get help from one of our local karters to bring it to the track for them.
Also, feel free to bring along any parts, karts, motors, books, magazines or other vintage kart-related items to sell at the pitside swap meet on Saturday. No extra fee for the space- just bring along a table or blanket to display your wares in your pit space, or if you're only coming out to sell and hang out, we'll hook you up with a spot in the pits to sell from.
With that outta the way, I would encourage folks to participate in the show on Saturday night! Bring a roll of paper towels, some mild cleaner, a little polish and WD40, and enter your kart for all to admire. We have a panel of three judges lined up who will be judging for 5 classes:
Best Appearing Single
Best Appearing Dual
Best Appearing Sidewinder
Best Factory Restoration
Best Unrestored
Plus there will be a People's Choice award - chosen by the meet attendees via secret ballot. Winners of each class will get a nice engraved trophy for their efforts.
"How do I vie for this wonderful opportunity to net a trophy that will make me admired by co-workers, family and friends alike?" I hear you say. Well, it's as easy as finding me or Jerry throughout the day on Saturday. Just ask for the show packet that has a display card with a few lines of info for you to fill out and put on your kart when it's displayed and another brief form with the same basic information for our judges to have. Then you just put your kart on display and drink in the oohs and ahhs of admiration with the other show participants! Not bad...it's certainly easier than filing your taxes!
Since the show aspect of the hobby is still finding its footing, we decided to again keep the classes pretty broad. Everyone is encouraged to enter and participate even if you don't think your kart is a show kart because it has some of the scars and wear and tear from being used out on the track. In the future if this portion of the hobby continues to grow, I would suspect that classes and judging will get more specific and stringent and I can see classes evolving that will separate those karts that are "show only" from those that are also used on the track. We'll see what the future brings, but right now it's just important to jump in and be a part of it.
As usual, feel free to call me in the evenings at 916/ 451-7027 or e-mail me at voxnut@hotmail.com if there are any questions or you need help with arrangements to attend.
3-27-07
Word came down that we can't get the noise allowance, so we are going to have to do what we can to keep the karts as quiet as possible. For those with open megaphones, contact Vince Hughes or Terry Ives- they have a run of repopped Azusa 6 hole add on mufflers that were originally from the period and you can add one to most of the megs that have a rectangular opening to bring the noise level down.
Other than that, it's box mufflers, or Horstman mufflers, or GEM quiet ones or AAAs or really anything but open pipes. Vince has box mufflers for the Benders, GEM is selling the box mufflers for the Macs and word has it that the Horstman muffler is in the process of being reproduced, although I don't know if it will be in time for the VKR.
For those who have pipes with stingers, either a silencer clamped on the end, or a drilled stinger with a sleeve welded over it, or cut and set back inside the chamber area of the pipe, or a non stinger pipe is needed. I love the sound of open exhausts as much as anyone, but we need to be good citizens and make sure we don't do anything that will generate complaints about Blue Max to the city of Davis. They have really been a great home for vintage karts and it would be a shame to see the track closed off to us because of noise issues. Thanks for your understanding.
1-11-06
Things are solidified for the 7th annual Vintage Kart Reunion! This will be the third event at the Blue Max Kart Track in Davis, CA (about 10 miles west of Sacramento) which first opened in 1968. If you haven't been out there, it's a fun track and the layout is very sympathetic to the handling characteristics of the vintage karts!
Much of the meet will run the same groups, format and schedule as we did last year.Please read the notes below so you can plan your karting weekend and be aware of the layout of the meet and the general rules. These are in place to ensure that everyone has a good and safe time at the meet. Here are the new things for the 7th edition of the Vintage Kart Reunion:
Groups:
Historic/Fun Class- We will be running this group again this year and hope that we can entice more folks to participate and grow this group. It has the potential to be the most fun group out there. This group is for 1956-62 karts with the West Bend 580 and 700, Clinton A400, A490 and E65, Pre-'62 McCulloch motors, plus the Mc 49 and small bore chainsaw motors, Power Products and basically any other early lower powered 2-stroke kart motor. The purpose for this group is to give those who have the more historic karts a chance to run them in a relaxed environment without the worry of much faster traffic. They will get their own group practice and three 4-lap heats on Sunday. Drag out your early iron and have fun!
Novice/Sportsman- With the creation of the historic class, this should more evenly match the traffic in the novice/sportsman group. The purpose of this group is to give both junior drivers (under 16- drivers over 14 with experience may be moved up at the discretion of the officials) and new drivers a safe venue to get used to driving in traffic and in organized heats. Unless you are under 16 or have minimal prior experience, please sign up for the other groups. The exception would be the historic karts with historic dual engines that more closely match the speeds in the sportsman group- it is their option to run in historic or sportsman.
Track officials will be watching the novice/sportsman group closely in the first heat, and if it is felt that a senior sportsman driver demonstrates skill and speed higher than the rest of the class, they will be bumped up to their respective kart class. An X will be placed on the back of their helmet and they will start the heat in the back of the group.
Rear Engine Single - A mainstay of all meets, and pretty self explanatory. All rear engine karts with single motors that don't fit into the historic class. The majority of the group are generally the karts and powerplants from the 1963-70 period. However a 1960-62 period historic kart with a Mc 91/92/93, 101 or West Bend 610/820 would run in this group as well.
Dual Engine Karts - Another one that is self explanatory. Karts with more than one motor. Due to the high speed of this group, historic duals with historic powerplants should opt into either historic or sportsman. Also, this is not the kind of kart to run in if you have no prior karting experience, or if it's been awhile. If this is your first time running at a vintage kart meet in the dual group, track officials and established members of the group will observe you during practice as a check out procedure.
Sidewinder - These are the karts that go up against the upper limit of our vintage cutoff of 1975. All karts and powerplants with the motor mounted to the side of the driver. Macs, Benders, Komets, B-bombs or any other motor that was available from the late 60's through 1975. No Yamahas.
Tires- In the past we've articulated this, but not enforced it. We've seen enough incidents and heard of even more involving vintage karts running modern sticky tires. This year we will enforce it- no sticky tires on your kart. If you have questions regarding what is appropriate, please contact me, Terry Ives or Jerry Ahrens. The basic deal is run the at least a 60 durometer hardness and the equivilent size that your kart would've run when it was actively racing. It is strongly recommended if you are running a rear engine single engine kart that you leave the wide super slicks for the duals. This one is for the good of the hobby and the good of your head.
Period karts- Our time frame for the Vintage Kart Reunion is karts from 1956 to 1975. No exceptions.
This is not a value judgement on what is cool or not cool, or what has merit to like and enjoy. It's just the scope of what we are doing and we have determined the cutoff to be 1975 kart and technology-wise.
As a side note that fits in with this, we will not be mixing groups. If you have a single engine sidewinder, run with the other sidewinders not with the dual group. It makes for a better show and allows each field to be stronger.
Here's the schedule:
Friday, May 4th- Open pracitce with the Blue Max Kart Club. We will be sharing the track with the modern folks, however it will be organized so there will be regular vintage only sessions throughout the day. We will get plenty of track time. There are no Blue Max club races in the month of May, so I expect the traffic from the modern karts to be light. The track curfew is 6pm. $20 to practice.
Saturday, May 5th- Group practice from 9am-5pm. During the day we will also have the swap meet, so bring your old parts, karts engines and memorabilia to sell. I will also be advertizing the swap meet to other nor cal kart clubs and encouraging them to participate if they have any vintage stuff to sell. Track sessions will shut down at 5pm and we will have the hamburger/hot dog BBQ and Kart show in the upper pits. It stays light until 8:30 or 9, so it's a chance for everyone to just hang out, shoot the breeze and look at karts. There will be judges as well as ballots for the people's choice award.
Sunday May 6th- Vintage karts will be the only feature all day, so we will have group practice sessions in the morning and 3 exhibition heats per group after that. The event should conclude around 2:30 or 3:00. The cost for Saturday and Sunday is $70 and that includes the BBQ.
Other than that, it's the usual drill- this is for playing with our vintage karts. No scoring, no awards for racing. Friendly dicing is encouraged on the track- just keep the driving within safe limits and keep your kart as vintage as possible. It will be doing the hobby a huge favor and help to ensure that we'll continue to have tracks available to us in the future.