New Kart, New Engine, Same Team
Pre-season:
After the 2023 season, Senna expressed that he missed racing with his friends who moved up to the 100cc class. He also wanted to go faster. The only way to do that was to get a 2-stroke engine and KA100 was the way to go. I contacted the number one karting team in the nation, and lucky for us they are located in Wilsonville: Rolison Performance Group (RPG). Mike Rolison helped us with getting a kart, and a KA100 engine. As you will read later on, this kart is a rocket ship!
There were a couple of modifications I needed to do to complete the customization of Senna’s kart to fit him more appropriately. The junior pedal setup was the largest undertaking because I had to use my custom brake rod setup that I developed from the previous year’s chassis. The other modification that yet needed to be done, was adding lead weights to meet the minimum weight requirements for the series.
Race Day:
Practice 1:
Before the first practice, we arrived and set up our pits. Soon after, we put the kart on corner scales, provided by BlackStar Motorsports and added weights to the seats to balance the kart. I also learned that the header required for the OSKCS has a different diameter. Luckily for us, the radius is larger than the national standard and the one that comes with the engine.
Senna headed out onto the track to get more seat time and all the meanwhile, improving his time on a cold track that was getting rubbered in by the previous sessions. Again, our precedence and expectations were still zero for the weekend.
Practice 2:
I made one change to help Senna gain some top-end speed. I changed the rear gear by removing two teeth. The idea was to only make small changes so Senna would be able to handle the changes. Again the focus was to just get seat time and get closer to the guys up front. The weather was beautiful approaching the high of 70 degrees for the day. Therefore, Senna’s lap times were improving and the kart and track were coming together for him.
Practice 3:
For the third practice, we decided to put on our race tires. We knew that we would have a session on new tires but what was just as important was for Senna to experience the change in grip levels. I also pulled up the IAME KA100 Jetting app and changed the carb to the settings that were recommended.
Senna left the pits at a crawling speed and that would continue for the entirety of the lap before it finally died at the pit entrance. In my mind, I knew exactly what the issue was but needed to get to the kart to make sure. After the session, I was permitted to head out to Senna and assist him with the kart. I moved the carb settings back to factory settings and the engine fired right up and behaved normally. I later found out that a special tool was needed to make the changes that I made and to not touch it again without consulting and confirming the change in the future. Lesson learned.
Qualifying:
It was finally go-time and to start to push the confidence of the kart and the power of the engine. Something clicked with Senna to the point where he was not only keeping up with Enzo, one of the front runners, but was also setting faster times. Throughout the session, Senna stuck with Enzo for the entire qualifying session. This was way more than we expected. As a reminder, the first time Senna drove this kart was the day before. We were truly please with this result. The other amazing result from this qualifying session is that 1st and 2nd place had the exact same time to the thousandth of a second! This was crazy to see.
Heat 1:
The 100cc have rolling starts, unlike the other classes and this was the first rolling start of the season. Senna started in the third position, which is the dirty side of the track and he would end up getting pushed in on the start, causing him to lift and losing a position going into turn one. However, he was able to regain the position a handful of corners later and work on catching the front two, who had already started to gap. Luckily for Senna, Cameron and Enzo started to fight, which caused them to slow down and this allowed Senna to catch up and be part of the conversation for the win. Things would settle down though and racing would hold till the end with Senna only being a couple of kart lengths behind Enzo, finishing in 3rd place. Surprisingly enough, Senna had the second fastest time of the session which boosted our confidence.
Heat 2:
Heat two would play out the same way that the first heat went. Senna lost a position at the start but then would pass a handful of corners later. However by the time Senna made the pass back to third place, the front two had already gapped them. Senna had the second fastest time again and was making ground on Enzo in second place, but it was not good enough.
Main/Final:
For the main event, we instructed Senna that he needed to keep his elbows out and protect his third position better. He did this for the final rolling start, but would still end up losing the position because of the loss of momentum. This loss of speed would mean that a larger gap was created and it would take longer for him to catch Phoenix in third place and pass. It took a couple of laps before Senna could regain the position but by then the front two had a wider gap that we’d seen all day. While still able to close in on the two front drivers, it was not enough, and he would be over four seconds off the lead and two seconds off second place.
The below picture shows the spacing by the end of the race. We were hoping that it would have been closer but it goes to show that we still have more to learn. Cameron Hill was in first, Enzo Noel was in second (at the apex of the corner) and Senna Russnogle in third (exiting the previous corner at the right of the picture)
Final Thoughts:
The OSKCS season has started off so much better than we expected. We couldn’t have been more pleased with Senna’s result knowing that he only had two days of driving the kart, compared to the top two, who have been racing the class for over a year. We’re not taking anything away from the other drivers, as they are great drivers, but we’re just happy to see that Senna is part of the conversation. We have a lot to learn about the chassis, the engine, and the driving development. The good part is that we are looking for tenths and hundredths of seconds and not a full second here or there. We can only hope that we can continue this trend as we practice and get ready for next weekend’s race at Pat’s Acres.
