Rotax Notes – April 2007
Race is ON.
Here is the latest from the weather headquarters. Sprinkles possible Saturday and Sunday morning. Some sources say possible sprinkles late Saturday, wet Sunday morning, sunshine Sunday afternoon. They are saying little rain, lighter that last weekend. Last weekend, it rained 4 hours then cleared. It was little rain at the track, but much heavier south, north and east of the track. This is typical of the weather at Infineon, if the forecast is for light rain or sprinkles, then the track gets less than the areas around the track.
Well given what I am hearing, the chance of rain is much less than the 40% that is on the websites, and less wet than people think. So, the race is ON.
Bring rain tires just in case, any Bridgestone rain tires is OK. Marin Karting and California Kartworld have rain tires, maybe KLS Racing.
Here are some notes before the race this weekend.
Rotax Membership is required for the series this year. If you have not signed up for a membership, there will be membership forms at registration this Saturday. You can turn this membership in with your entry form and pay all at one time. Membership fee is $75.
There has been a new update on the allocations for the Rotax Nationals. The number of entries that the AMD-Marin Karting Series will be given for each class will be directly related to the number of Rotax memberships that have signed up in Northern California that have signed up by April 30, 2007. That is the end of this month. So if you have not sent in your membership but plan to run some races this year, please send in your membership fees before the end of April so the AMD-Marin Karting Series gets the largest membership numbers we can to get more allocations for the Nationals. I just joined Rotax and added one more participant to the masters class. Every membership helps.
Bead locks will not be required for the regional series this year. We will be applying the same 'no bead locks required' rule as they do in Southern California. Bead locks will be required at the Grand Nationals.
At the first race, Ron Bennett went around telling everyone about a new rule about the tape on radiators. This rule is new to many people and I personally do not like to surprise people with these types of new rules. Thus, for this race weekend, I will allow the removal of tape. But starting the May 6 race at Dixon, the Rotax rule on tape will be enforce during practice, qualify and races. The Rotax rule on tape is as follows: If you use tape on the radiator, it must be wrapped around the entire radiator. Removal of the tape while running on the track is not allowed. So what you put around your radiator at the beginning of a session or race will be what you will run for the whole session or race. The SoCal Gatorz Series is also follows this new tape rule. This rule is a CIK rule and is enforced in Europe as well as in many nations that do a lot of karting. The Stars series also follows this rule.
Starting at the Infineon race in June, Pretech will start inspecting for items similar to what is checked at the Nationals. Engine Passports will be checked at Pretech as well as engine seals recorded then turned over to George Whitson in tech. We will also be checking that karts have all the required stickers on a kart. I will be handing out material covering these new Pretech items at the Dixon race on May 6 so all of you can start preparing your karts prior to each event so you do not have problems in Pretech.
Thanks, Ric Shaw
RMax Challenge Series Race Director
AMD-Marin Karting RMax Challenge Series
