This Yamaha kart may be old, but it's solid, and in working order. Not quite a diamond in the rough, but should be a lot of fun. As far as repairs go, Daniel is putting his scooter knowledge to work, but most of it is learn-as-you-go. For mechanical support, Mr. Ogawa in Oita city is a very friendly mechanic who races karts regularly on the weekends. According to him, this kart is probably somewhere between 15 and 20 years old. Beka, Jake and Morgan provide financial and psychological support, as well as take care of those tedious jobs Daniel can't be bothered to do.

• Drivers
• Kart Specs
• Kart Expenses
• Karting Schedule

The latest news on the kart, including repair work, beautification details and racing info.

Finished sanding an painting the front faring, as well as attached the mount for a lap timer. Now we should be able to keep track of just how slow we are! T_T

I decided to make some modifications to the airbox after watching in horror as Beka plowed into the wet grass, spraying water, mud and rocks up into the air and INTO the box itself. I used some old corolla intake funnels so now it should be rain/water proof, or at least from the top/front.

Me and Jake took the kart out for its second drive at Ajimu Sonic Park. Beka showed up later. It was almost totally dry this time, and we got to use the dry tires for the first time. After a few laps they were nice and shiny again.

As you can tell from the videos, we had some tough competition that day. Videos are encoded high-quality.

• Video (720×480 10,000Kbps Xvid)
  • 2008.09.28-Beka.avi (30MB)
  • 2008.09.28-Daniel.avi (77MB)
  • 2008.09.28-Jake.avi (107MB)

The seat cushioning is finished. After putting on the racing suit, there isn't really room for any padding on the bottom of the seat, and I have plenty of padding down there au naturale anyways, so I cut back the cushion just to the areas it's really necessary. The seat fits like a glove now.

The biggest issue to deal with before the next run on the track is safety-related. I'm going to attempt to make a wrap-around seat cushion that will provide a bit of padding on the bottom of the seat, and some firm, body-fitting supports to keep the torso steady. Without any kind of cushioning the driver really gets thrown around a lot. Hopefully, this will take some of the strain off of the steering wheel (any the driver's fingers!) during hard turns. Today I managed to finish the seat-area's vinyl leather surfacing with a tough denim fabric. I don't expect the leather to last very long, but it should be fairly water-resistant.

I have newfound respect for people who sew for a living.

The day got off to a bad start with pouring rain, and forecasts of MORE rain. However, this was the perfect time to try out the kart on the course by ourselves (probably safer for us AND other drivers this way!). Me and Beka took the van back up to Ajimu, got it started, and took off onto the track.

To sum up the experience in one word… “FAST!” Not only did the kart outperform my own expectations for it, it BLEW THEM AWAY! I think the kart engine puts out close to its stock power, revs beautifully, and works very well with the standard Yamaha parts that are on the kart. The rust on the brake rotor burned off in no time, an hour or so into the driving we had the carburetor's fuel settings tweaked so the engine doesn't smoke anymore, and everything seems to be working like it should be!

That said, we immediately came up with a list of things that need fixing/adjusting to better accommodate us huge foreign drivers, including adjusting the positioning of pedals, trimming some cramped faring material around the steering wheel, and definitely DEFINITELY need to pad the seat to fit tightly. With as low to the ground as these racing karts are, they probably exert more g-forces on the driver than any other vehicle I can think of. We were driving on a rainy, wet day, going quite a bit slower than on a dry day, and the forces you feel in the turns are borderline PAINFUL. Without a tight-fitting seat, you're left to support your upper bodyweight with your fingers by gripping the steering wheel. After just 10 laps my fingers are quivering and locked into two claw-shapes until I massage them out!

So mechanically we've still got work ahead of us, but the bottom-line is the Kart looks like it's going to work and work WELL.

• Video (720×480 512Kbps Xvid, 17MB)
  • 2008.09.15-Karting.avi

We got the kart (Daniel and Jake) into a van with all the equipment and made it to Ajimu Sonic Park in time to find out that there was a huge pre-race practice that day, making it impossible to try out our kart. Was pretty eye-opening though. Some people dump a LOT of money into karting! Link to video below.

• Video (720×480 512Kbps Xvid, 8MB)
  • 2008.09.13-Circuit.avi

The new bumper is now fitted and firmly attached to the kart, making it slightly more track-legal. I melted all the cut edges so they're all nice and smooth.

Brushed and buffed all metal parts, then put down a base coat of black. Black definitely makes color-coordination easy! Removed all old stickers, dissolved the gunk, and wiped away all the old oil. Pre-sanded side bumpers with 400 grit. Nice and white now. Can't wait to see them black! No tuning today, but we've made a LOT of progress this weekend.

Completed O/H of carburetor, new spark plug, proper clutch oil, new fuel line, adjusted seat height. ENGINE STARTS! Immediately begins blowing clouds of smoke out. After adjusting down fuel richness it's looking better. Still needs to be fine-tuned. Sounds GREAT! Also managed to clean up the brake rotor, muffler, and straighten out a dented side-rail. Good job guys.

I found a shop in Oita that does kart work, and spoke with the owner on the phone for a bit. Not only does he have new plugs and proper clutch oil, but he told me that a kart like mine will gum up for sure if you leave it sitting for a year or so. The old oil/gas mixture in the carburetor is plugging the jets, so while it leaks out the front when you crank it, none of the good stuff goes into the chamber, so no combustion!

I visited Mr. Ogawa (who is an avid karter himself) and ended up with a new recoil starter, spark plug, carburetor seal set, and his personal guarantee that if the kart doesn't start up after that, to bring it to his shop and HE'LL start it for me. :)

Cleaned spark plug, filled clutch with 10W30 oil. Snapped the damn pull-cord handle trying to crank the thing. (will buy a replacement from somewhere) Also started repair on the dented side rail.

Arrived. Cleaned all exposed parts, re-tensioned drive chain, cleaned out the gas tank, piston head and clutch assembly. (almost brand new) Under all the oil, grease and grime, the kart was really in amazing condition. With the exception of a dented side bumper, it shouldn't need any major parts replaced. After re-assembling and priming it, me and Beka couldn't get the engine to start up. Later, I checked on the spark plug and saw that it was only firing once every 4 turns or so, so that was most likely the problem. I'll put in a new plug tomorrow and see if I get get it running.

Purchase.