So to make up to Christa for her miserable day at Formula D (we had tried to sneak her into the hot pits and got caught so she had to spend most of the day by herself sitting in the lounge of Team Falken's Transporter) I took her Karting at Adams again.  In the morning I had her sit in her new Top Kart Cadet kart and noticed that she must have grown so now she could touch the brakes so I took it with us.

Following her in her Emmick, I noticed that her lines really improved since last time we went out and my explaining things like exit speed were finally sinking in on her.  She was lapping the other little kids about 5 laps or 6 times per session!  They had changed to course configuration since our last outing and to my surprise, she figured out the line in the new to her sections of the track within one session on her own.  I was also surprised that since she was now focusing on exit speed I actually had to try a little to keep up with her in the tight parts of the track.  After a couple of sessions her old rock hard slicks were starting to give up the ghost and she had a few nasty spins.  The things were actually starting to crack.

So I told her to try the cadet.  She was scared and didn't want to as usual but I made her do it.  I told her if she was scared to simply push the gas less hard!  I warned her about new slicks needing to be scrubbed and green brake pads needing bedding so I told her to take it easy for about three laps.  Coming onto the front straight on her third lap, I'll be dammed, she matted it and took off.  Her HPV engine has a lot of torque and she only weighs about 60 lbs and I didn't ballast her kart.  She pulled about 8 kart lengths on me on the exit.  To my horror, she rocketed away and I had to rev to 15,500 rpm and hit about 85 mph to get behind her, she was going at around 70 mph. She was driving perfectly and I was really scared for her safety because she was driving so fast.  She was lapping kids every 3 laps!

So I went out with her once with the senior men.  When fast guys with shifter karts passed her, she would attempt to tuck in behind them and catch them in the turns.  This resulted in a few breath holding (being her parent) high speed spins but it didn't phase her one bit.  I think she doesn't have the experience yet to know that these guys are going at the limit and she can't simply drive harder to pass really good drivers like she can with other kids.

I had been doing fake pass attempts with her in the Emmick the last few times out to give her some experience with close traffic so I can move to teaching her race craft and passing and now found that I could not do this so easily.  If I drove off line to take a gentile poke at her, she would rocket away and I had to work to catch her. A couple of times I got stuck behind a slow kid (I am really careful when passing little ones) and by the time I could get around I would not be able to see her and I would have to go full tilt for two laps to catch her and I even spun doing this.

In a few parts of the track she is just as fast as me and it is a beautiful sight to see your little kid hanging it out at speed in a drift and feeding in just the right amount of opposite lock so she could keep her foot in it while unwinding and getting more exit speed than you!

I noticed that soon a group of parents were at the wall cheering her on and they came up to us after the session was over to tell her how fast she was.  I asked her if the new Cadet with the 100cc real motor was as scary as she thought it would be and she said, only a little.  One of my friends was driving his 125cc TAG Kart and she actually caught him.

One bad thing is that she is all battered and bruised up even with a rib protector.  Her hips are all black and blue even with a snug fit in the seat.  The pain caused her to slow down some towards the end of her sesisons. I have to figure something out, the pain was so bad her eyes were watering at the end of the sessions but she kept going out!

There was a boy faster than her, in a pretty exotic 125cc TAG cadet kart.  I didn't know that kids could drive stuff like that.  The dad said that the kids have to run a small restrictor.  That kid was awesome, he was duking it out with the senior men!

One of the kids Christa drives with is only 5. She slaughters him but I think there is a big difference in coordination between a 5 and a 9 year old. I think girls mature faster than boys as well. She was walking at 8 months old and has always been good at sports and video games.

So you can probably start your kids in a year.  If I knew she was going to be interested, I would have started her sooner.  I am always careful not to impose on her too much though.  I let her pick her own interests, just limit her video games and tv and encourage outdoor exercise and reading.

It happend sooner than later, Christa beat me today at Cal Speedway.  I was struggling to keep up with her, she has fresh 1 heat cycle slicks and I had dry rock hard who knows how old they are slicks but no more rice lies.  I managed to pass her, then she got me back and put about 10 kart lengths on me, then passing some slower people, she gapped me and I was done.

Now I have to get new tires, pay attention to tire pressure and work on chassis tuning as well as my driving and get in shape, my arms and upper body are killing me.  She drove about 10 sessions and is all hyper and running around the house now.

She was in her kids Kart at first and dicing with a national level kid with a new CRG who had three people helping him, they were jetting and doing chassis tuning and recording segment times and all sorts of serious stuff.  She was right there with him.  Daddy's motor was hanging right there with this kids motor. Then she was fooling around drifting and I told her that thats the slow way and she said, yeah but I was trying to drift because its fun.

Then she switched to her HPV 100cc Top Kart and she got into a serious dice with a kid with a CRG 125cc Rotax Tag Cadet.  This is the fastest Cadet class and a very serious machine.  I was surprised that Christa fought it out with him for the entire session swapping the lead several times in the first true dice in her driving life.  This Kart probably has 5 hp on hers and costs twice as much as hers.

Next session she put the hurt on me.  Then she ran solo because the other kids were tired.  Her fitness is so much better than other kids who probably watch too much tv and vidio games.  She can drive every session all day.  I think she is ready for some serious instruction now.

I think going to LBGP and seeing Danica Patrick, plus hanging out in the Falken and Factory BMW ALMS pits motivated her.

I thought i spotted a KOJOMO and a mini KOJOMO this weekend. But I remembered there is no such thing, so i kept walking and figured i was hallucinating.

Glad to hear she was armoured up!  I had my spill on the motorcycle about 6 years ago, and fortunately I had my gear on.  Would have been MUCH MUCH worse if i was not wearing the appropriate gear!

The reason i dont race is because i cant afford all the safety equipment i want. I have the cars, but they are just coffins without safety measures. Money well spent.

Bill for Christa's kart repair. PKT chrome molly centerless ground thinwall axle $140, DWT wheel $40, NKT sprocket cassette $39, PKT Sprocket $50, Chain $39. If I sound like I am complaining, not really, this is a lot cheaper than fixing a race car after a major wreck and the new trick axle should help her tight turn turn in understeer problem I have been trying to tune out. $308 bucks and hopefully its going to come back faster than ever. More compliant rear axle and less reciprocating weight.

The guy that hit her called me Monday morning and gave me his credit card number but I am not going to charge on it because I consider it a racing incident and I am actually replacing the broken parts with top of the line trick stuff.  On the other hand the trick stuff is cheaper than the OEM Italian parts!

Christa liking Karting was an accident, I would have never figured, she has always seemd like a stick and ball sports person. I don't think she's phased much, she was asking me this morning when we can go out next. She has been hurt worse falling off the balance beam and the bars in gymnastics.

I had bought her a Vahalla 360 device which is like a Hans device for karters that is supposed to be way better than the neck roll that is typicaly used but she is too small for even the childs version and it lifts the helmet up an limits her head motion so much she can't see.

I don't think she has my genes, its from her mom who was very athletic. She was walking at 8 months old and is good at every sport she does from driving to swimming to gymnastics to ice skating. She is not graceful though, she looks more like a football or hocky player when she does things rather than graceful. Its kinda funny to watch her doing girl sports because she moves like a guy.

She .looks funny in her kart, she is so small she looks like she is drivng an LMP car or something.  The guy who hit her said he saw the bigger kart and the speed and it didn't register that she was a kid until they hit.