It has been a long hard winter here in Ontario, but it looks like the snow cover is finally beginning to recede somewhat and most racers are thinking about that first race weekend. One of the best ways to get the juices flowing is to visit with some old friends and make new ones at a local swap meet. Tomorrow marks the first annual Canadian Karting Expo at the Pickering Markets in Toronto’s east end. Whether you are an old pro looking to hook up with friends, or are racing for the first time in 08, this event should be just the thing to get your blood pumping on a cold but sunny Easter weekend.

For all the details, visit Mosport International Karting

Over the next few days, we are on vacation here in The Garage. We’ll be out and about, hiking and paddling around different parts of Ontario and visiting Mosport for a bit of kart racing. To keep our readers somewhat entertained, Jaime is going to help out a bit by posting some memorobilia for me. We have some cool stuff coming your way including Can Am, Grand Prix, sports car racing and a really cool book of Achievement from Castrol.

Having missed a whole season of kart racing last year, The Garage racing team was looking forward to an action packed weekend with the Mosport Kart Club. That said, the goal was education, fun and break in a new engine, so our expectations of success were low.

Saturday morning began with an unexplained lack of power, that we suspect was dirt in the carb. After much mucking about, we were able to get the engine to rev over 3500 rpm and Shelby was on her way. Rather than the usual pre-final, final format the club had decided to run a 15 lap final. Shelby loves long sessions, and I figured that it would be a good break in session, so this was welcome news. An untested gear change should bring more revs & get her closer to the pace. A few laps in, the change had made an improvement, but still not enough. About halfway through the race, the old tires started to get slippery the girl was at full opposite lock more often than not. On the 2nd last lap, the leaders caught her quickly at the entrance to the infield hairpin, just as Shelby spun. The leader hadn’t left enough room and hit her hard in the right front. A display of poor sportsmanship by the other driver and his parents taught Shelby a thing or two about fair play.

Sunday dawned sunny and humid, with promise of wicked sunburn. Now running on the south track at the Mosport Driver Development Track, the engine had come alive and so did the driver. This is Shelby’s fave track and it shows. New tires, another gear change and a more comfortable driver made a huge difference. On the 11th lap of the 12 lap final, we were running 6th and Shelby had just set up a pass for 5th when she suddenly slowed. A thrown chain. Not quite enough tension and a bump in the track had been Shelby’s demise.

Overall, the driver and the wrench learned a lot this weekend and that was the goal. Saturday was a big disappointment, but that was mainly due to the behaviour of another team. I’ll deal with more of that issue in another post.

Related Racing season is here