The team rolled out Friday afternoon, a pair of Nissans bobbing up and down in the rearview of the tow vehicles along the 4 ½ hour tow from Atlanta to Kershaw SC.  On this outing, it was Norman Phelps, the car’s owner, myself, and my shifter kart racing teammate, Jim Gettys.  Not only would this be Jim’s first race in a car, but also his first time ever in a competition car.   Thanks to World Car’s willingness to grant provisional licenses to experienced kart racers, guys like Jim and I get a chance to race cars without all of the politic licensing BS of other sanctioning bodies.

Kershaw SC is probably the smallest town I’ve been to for a car race.  To give some perspective to you west-coasters, Holtville in So. Cal seems like LA by comparison.  The town’s business route included one 1960’s motel that doubled as the teenage evening hangout and car stereo proving grounds, a gas station, one bar/restaurant, and a Bojangles fast food joint. There was no doubt in my mind that we were in the town that HEE HAW was based on.  But we were tired from the tow and the quiet buzz of the 1960s tube TV lulled us to sleep to rest for a full day of on track action. 

We rolled to the track around 8 am.  Jim and I registered the #83 car while Norman frantically searched for a battery charger to get his #80 started after the car failed to crank unloading off the trailer.  Jim would be running the 30 min sprint event Sat, and I would be running the 1 hour enduro Sunday.  We took a few laps at speed in the Suburban to survey the track before practice sessions began.  After three laps “at speed” in the Suburban, (without even tipping the tool box over), we felt comfortable with the track layout and headed back to the paddock.

Jim got suited up while I set tire pressures and torqued wheels.  Jim’s first session mainly consisted of getting used to the car and tuning up his heel and toe technique.  With no sequential gearbox, and a foot operated clutch, this was definitely NOT as go kart.  After making about 6 or 7 missed shifts, I mean laps, Jim came in looking kinda pale.  “How was it?”    

“Its pretty damn slippery”.

I figured Jim was just a wuss so I suited up and took the car out to check things out.  Much to my surprise. Jim was absolutely  right, it was terrible out there.  Certainly this was NOT the same car that I had felt so confident in at Road Atlanta earlier this year.  The car let go with little or no warning, and I found myself sliding around in almost every turn.  After a few laps with no change in the car’s handling, I figured the tires must have been up to temp, so I came in to see what we could do about the car’s behavior. 

Inspecting the tires once out of the car, it was obvious that the Hoosiers were toast.  We had randomly selected the “best” tires from the stockpile in the garage earlier that week.  The tread was decent, but they were blued badly, and were hard as rocks.  We figured they’d be okay for practice.  However, even when hot, the tires were so hard that I couldn’t leave an impression in the tread with my calibrated fingernail/durometer.  “Here’s the problem right here.”

We slapped on our next best set of takeoffs.  (Hey, guys that can’t afford to buy new tires can’t bitch about what other people have offered them, besides, we karters are used to getting FOUR tires for $160, not ONE tire.)  These were a set of Khumos that had one 90 min enduro on them.  A few laps later, Jim was waving and giving the thumbs up going past the pit wall. 

By this time Norman had his charging problem solved and was out on the track in the sister car.  Norman and Jim played bumper tag for a few laps, a sign of things to come for the rest of the weekend.

It was time for the sprint race.  The field was rather small but Norman, Jim and the guy in the Scirocco looked like they would all be pretty close.  By now Jim was relaxed in the car, so much in fact, that he spun the car on the out lap in the first turn!  (See photo)  Jim’s ego was the only thing that got hit in the incident.

World Cars utilizes a standing start, perfect for shifter kart guys who have done a ton of them.  Sure enough, Jim got a fantastic start and moved up a few positions going into turn one.  By lap 10, Norman had moved ahead a few seconds in front of Jim who was being held up by the Scirocco and a Mustang. With each passing lap, and Norman powering away in the 2.2 litre car, it was  obvious that Jim wanted by the Scirocco.  Jim’s car obviously worked much better in the turns, but the all stock 2.0 litre motor didn’t have enough punch to capitalize on the car’s better exit speed.

Jim was all over Scirocco boy, and hounding him to make a mistake.  It was never revealed just how and where Jim got by, but once by, Jim left the Scirocco behind and set his sights on Norman who was running a somewhat relaxed pace without anyone to dice with. 

Jim caught Norman at about the half way mark, and Norman picked up the pace.  Both cars were now running a much quicker pace than in the earlier stages of the race and were very evenly matched, despite the engine displacement differences and being grouped in different classifications. After swapping the lead back and forth several times, and putting on quite a show for huge crowd of spectators (three crew guys from the stock car class, one woman, and 2 dogs)  Norman just edged Jim at the checker.  They finished 3^rd and 4^th overall, and won both of their respective classes.   After the race, even the corner workers stopped by to meet the pair of crazy Nissan pilots and remarked that they put on the best show of the day.

The day ended with a few (hundred) cold beers for Jim and an impromptu trip with some of his newly acquainted female friends (cows) from the bar later that evening.  All of the details have not been released yet, but uhh… Jim said he had a good time and remained coherent enough to stay out of the “pasture”. Seven am the next morning, Jim surprisingly was not ready to head to the track with us.   But Norman and I both were ready for that one hour enduro.

We ran a couple of 10 min practice sessions that morning.  Car seemed pretty good to me, much better with the newer tires.

An annoucement came over the PA.  They announced that they wanted to run the enduro that morning instead of in the afternoon.  That left me with a bit of a thrash to get the tires swapped side to side and negated my opportunity to bleed the brakes after the morning practice sessions.  No matter, I swilled down a bottle of water and suited up. 

Again, the turnout was small for the enduro.  The closest competition would pretty much be between the two Nissans.  Doing a rolling start this time, we headed deep into turn one, Norman leading with me trying my best intimidation maneuver next to his quarter panel. 

The first 5 laps or so were run very much like a kart race.  People driving 10/10ths and working the cars to their limit.  After a few more laps that seemed a lot more like qualifiying laps rather than enduro laps, Norman and I settled down a bit to get into more of a enduro pace….NOT!!! 

I figured he’d settle down a bit, but no way!   He was starting to walk away, and I just couldn’t have that.  I caught up in a lap or two and we began what I would call a 1 hour, all out assault, sprint kart type race.  It was bump draft here, outbrake there, cause the other guy to screw up here, and go by.  Incredibly fun, but I knew that this pace would take its toll on the cars if we continued.

Norman and I swapped the lead 8 or more times throughout the race.

At about the 45 min mark, I noticed the left front starting to go away.  I picked up a bad push in all right handers, which pretty much sucks, ‘cause the whole track is right turns.  I told myself to take it easy for a few laps, let Norman go if need be and let the tire cool a bit before making another charge.  After nursing the car for a few laps, I picked the pace back up and it seemed better, and was closing on Norman again. 

I got by on the next lap when Norman slid badly toward the edge of the track in the long right hand carousel.  In the very next turn, a fast right hander, with Norman right on my bumper, I felt a sudden shake in the wheel and before I knew it was wheeling through the grass with all four wheels at 80 mph!  With lots of runoff room and a smooth transition between grass and track, I opted to keep my foot in the throttle and gently ease back toward the track.  

As I re-entered the track the bad vibration from the left front was obvious.  “I’ve killed that left front” I thought.  The car vibrated badly and pushed so bad that I had to turn in WAY early just to get the car to negotiate the track at a moderate pace.  Norman was not far ahead, but I knew that the tire was done, and nursed the car for a few more laps.  About the time I convinced myself that I was being stupid for staying out, the white flag flew.  “Whew!”

 Norman waited up at the last turn a bit, so we could drag race to the flag.  The photo finish indicated that I had won, but both of us were getting out of the throttle just before the finish like a “break out” drag race, each of us thinking the other deserved to win more. Definitely the closest racing I had ever experienced in a car.

After the race, I examined the left front.  Exactly one half (outer) of the tread had delaminated from the carcass, right at the center tread seam.  The tire was down to the cords all the way round on the outer half.  I knew I was abusing the left front, but I had not idea that it was that bad.  The only reason I can think of that might have contributed to the tire problem was that I could only estimate how much pressure to drop out of the tires before the race.  I had set pressures early that morning when it was 50F.  But at 11 am, it was nearing 65, and the tires had not completely cooled from the practice sessions before the start of the enduro.  So I estimated just before the enduro that I should drop 2 psi from all tires.  Maybe too much, maybe too little. 

Regardless, we had a great time, dicing back and forth all race long.  We packed up the cars, retrieved Jim from the hotel and headed back to Atlanta, both cars intact, all of us happily tired after a good weekend of racing.  Jim had a blast in the car that weekend, and both of us noted how much our kart racing experience seemed to help us in the car.  Norman invited us to come run with the Sun Coast Kwila team again next year.  I think we’ll take him up on that offer.