27th December 2007
2007 USA Trip to Virginia International Raceway
This report covers our 15 day trip spent in the USA in diary format.
Day 1 - Monday 10th December 2007
Steven Castles and myself arrive in Los Angeles early on Monday morning and have a spare day to whatever. We decided to hire a car, drive down to Knotts Berry Farm to keep amused on the roller coaster rides since we had both done all the Hollywood stuff before. This was so we would stay awake and then go to sleep in the USA time zone to get over the jet lag as quick as we could. After about 4 hours of no queues on some really good rides, I was ready to throw up due to the tiredness. We drove to our hotel at about 6pm and checked in, had our first BIG United States dinner, then off to bed for before a very early morning flight to Memphis. This picture shows the snow in the LA mountains.
Day 2 - Tuesday 11th December 2007
Steve Castles and myself depart LA at 7:00am for Memphis. We arrive at 12:00pm, get a hire car and drive to Tupelo Mississippi to visit the Elvis Presley Birth place. On the way, I just couldn't resist one of those famous USA KING SIZED icecreams....man it's the size of my head! When we arrived in Tupelo we found the original Elvis house that sits exactly as it did in 1935, all timbers still original, only the roof has been restored. This house was repurchased by Elvis around 1960 and then donated to the Tupelo City to keep it preserved. At dusk we left Mississippi and drove back to Memphis Tennessee where I got my first look at the Elvis 'Graceland' mansion at night. We checked into our hotel across the road for our tour the next day.
Day 3 - Wednesday 12th December 2007
After welcomed sleep in and a big breakfast, we made our way to Gracelands and exhibits tours. This is something I always wanted to do and it did not let my expectations down. At 6:30pm we caught up with Brian Stockman at Memphis Airport and flew together into Greensboro, North Carolina. Steve Sponberg then picked us up from Greensboro where we drove to Virginia International Raceway arriving at midnight. Our accommodation is in the track grounds itself.
Day 4 - Thursday 13th December 2007
After another good sleep in, it was only a walk downstairs from our room to our pit bay where I welcomed my crate with the 2 karts. During the unpack and setup, a very interested person was asking all sorts of questions and wanting to play in my twin. It was none other than Max Papis. After a quick assemble of the seats, we fired them up and then I felt trouble with the 125 engine. The fix required a full strip down off the engine which kept Brian Stockman and Steve Sponberg busy for most of the day. Their help here was invaluable, I couldn't believe my luck, all I could do was walk away from it.
Day 5 - Friday 14th December 2007
The karts fixed and ready to go, this was Practice and Qualifying day. The day was beautiful and mild. The 6.7klm circuit proved to be very technical and running 2 classes meant I was in and out of the 125 and 250 kart which was proving to be very tiring. I put the 125cc on Pole Position. With the 250, the rear wing broke in the out lap of Qualifying which was only 15mins. I managed to come into the pits, cable tie it best I could and exit the circuit in time for 1 flying qualifying lap. I still managed to qualify 3rd in what was a very wrong kart setup, some traffic and the wing still was only just patched up. With all this against me and a respectable time, it gave me a little inner confidence for much improvement. Brian Stockman and Steve Sponberg went into town to get some Devcon to enable to fix the wing proper. Due to the extremely low temps at VIR at night, we cured it in our bathroom with the heat lamps going all night. It worked and the wing was good to go the following morning.
Day 6 - Saturday 15th December 2007
This is Practice and Race 1 day for both the 125 and 250 classes. The Race 1 counts only for position in the Race 2 final on Sunday. It started to rain in the early afternoon, just as the F-125 were gridding for their 45min race. Most of the karts were on slicks as was I. I decided to head into the pits after 3 laps to call it a day for the 125 to keep it in good shape for the Sunday race. Much to my amazement, the other F-125 drivers either spun off on slicks or also came into the pits before I did and I still won the race! In the 250, again I wasn't racing for sheep stations as this was only for gird position on Sunday. I finished 3rd behind Trevor Roberts(Ireland) and Gavin Bennett(Great Briton) in the wet. What I did learn was my current setting was not good for the wet, so we were ready to change settings if Sunday was going to be a wet track.
Day 7 - Sunday 16th December 2007
When we woke the rain had stopped, but no sun till about 1:00pm. The track was still wet enough for wets and it was freezing cold....I mean freezing at 0 degrees. This time the 250 race was first. By the time we had to grid the track had dried. From the start of the race I was in 3rd just behind Gavin and Trevor. On lap 2, Trevor blew up just in front of me and I needed to avoid him. This then made Gavin pull a little more on me but his FPE power was still far superior over my Honda. In trying too hard to catch Gavin, I was making small mistakes which in turn increased his gap greater. I then also had a couple great 'off track' excursions in my chase which really pulled a greater gap again and made me go from 2nd to 4th. On the last lap I was back in 3rd and managed to pull in a sizable distance on JR Osborne in his 'factory' BRC powered P1. I really made some high speeds in the very daring sections of the track to pull in JR into a challenging position. I passed JR cleanly into the next big braking corner and continued on to finish 2nd in this 30 min FINAL race of the 250cc class. With very little track time aboard my brand new Stockman/Honda machine, I was happy with that net result.
In the F-125 class I lead unchallenged from start to finish in the 45min race. The kart ran perfect and it was so easy to drive. The tyres wore perfect and the engine power was superb. My many thanks to Brian Stockman and Steve Sponberg who pieced that engine together on the Thursday.
Day 8 - Monday 17th December 2007
We woke early after a few drinks on Sunday night to leave for Greensboro Airport. Steve Sponberg then drove back to Washington where he is to continue his journey into a skiing trip in Canada. Steve Castles, Brian Stockman and myself flew from Greensboro to LA where Brian continued his journey back to Sydney. Steve Castles and myself got a hire car for a week and started to make our way to the Grand Canyon. We got as far as Barstow California where we checked into a hotel for the night.
Day 9 - Tuesday 18th December 2007
We woke early and into the closest McDonalds to checkout their Sausage Burrito's once again, then continued driving to Grand Canyon. I wasn't long after we crossed the Arizona state line where I was pulled over by a Sheriff. Boy was he having a bad day...he was yelling and screaming at me because I was driving 'too slow' and did not 'yield' for the faster traffic in the fast lane. I was overtaking bloody trucks going up a steep hill doing 75mph in a 75mph zone, this cop was up my ass. Anyway he came good when I showed him my Aussie license, so then it was 85mph all the way in a 75mph zone.....fantastic! We arrived in Grand Canyon at about 3:30pm, checked into our lodge, took some quick photos, did a quick test in the snow trails for amount grip in the ice, then proceeded to the Grand Canyon General Store to purchase all our supplies required for our 2 day hiking trip.
Day 10 - Wednesday 19th December 2007
Steve Castles and I woke very early yet again, a monster sized coffee and cake for breakfast....this is no time for a diet. We have to generate as much energy into our body with sugars and salty food plus plenty of fluids for this 2 day hike. It was -6 degrees C when we started our trek, blowing wind and snowing. What the hell are we doing here! We made our way down the South Kaibab Trail to the Phantom Ranch located down the bottom by the Colorado River where we put our feet up enjoyed a few ales and a nice steak dinner. Every bone in our legs and butt was killing.....shit we need to go back up again tomorrow!
Day 11 - Thursday 20th December 2007
We woke well before sunrise for a hot shower and a big breakfast yet again. In speaking to some people last night, most spend an extra day down by the Colorado River to try and overcome their body pains, however we need to get out today. We have a very steep climb for 16 klms ahead of us and the weather forecast is for some afternoon snow. We headed off as early as we could to try and beat most of this weather and we hadn't covered 1 klm yet when we found ourselves already whinging. Our bones were sore, backs and legs were killing but it's funny when you have no other options you just soldier on. The Canyon is so vast that no words or photos can truly describe our venture. We finally made it out alive with a great sense of accomplishment. It was well worth all the pains in trade for the remote, quiet and beauty that is the awesome Grand Canyon.
Once we got out, we purchased our "I survived the Grand Canyon" tee shirt, jumped into our car and started to head for Las Vegas. We got to Kingman Arizona where we had a rewarding meal and large dessert. Again, this was no time to diet!
Day 12 - Friday 21st December 2007
We departed Kingman Arizona and headed for Hoover Dam, then into Nevada where we approached Las Vegas. We arrived in Vegas at about midday.
Day 13 - Saturday 22nd December 2007
Did all the usual stuff you normally do when in Vegas. As the saying goes, "What happens in Vegas, Stay's in Vegas"
Day 14 - Sunday 23rd December 2007
We left Vegas at around 2:00pm and drive back to Los Angeles. We arrived at around 7:00pm where we returned the hire car with 1200 miles or 1900klms and headed for LA International Airport. Our midnight flight meant we were back home for Christmas Day just after lunchtime.
So that was our trip to the 2007 United States Kart Grand Prix. We plan to compete in at least 2 meetings next year in the USA.
