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| Driver Diary - Gary Carlton - CIK-FIA KZ1 World Cup |
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 | Gary Carlton
(Photo: KSP - kartcrg.com) |
This past weekend was the running of the CIK-FIA Karting World Cup for the KZ1 and KF3 divisions at the Circuito Internazionale Napoli in Sarno, Italy. Making his return to the CRG Racing Team was American Gary Carlton. The two-time North American champion contested his first European event of the year at the World Cup event. The Californian finished 13th in the CIK-FIA KZ1 European Championship and 29th at the 2008 edition of the World Cup. Gary was kind enough to keep notes of his two-week adventure back to Italy and his insights to his results from this year’s KZ1 World Cup.
Sunday, August 23
My trip started very early in the morning. In fact, at 3:30 am I left my front door of my house in Marysville, California in route to San Francisco International Airport. After two hours of fighting through traffic I made it to the ticket counter of Air France and in a little over an hour I was sitting dead center of a Boeing 777 bound toward Paris, France. I had had a very busy schedule up until the morning I left so I was actually looking forward to the twelve-hour fight where there were no phone calls, e-mails, or anybody being able to get a hold of me. I was already lights out by the time the plane was off the ground.
Monday, August 24
I had finally landed in Paris and with the time change it was the next morning. I had six hours to kill but I knew a good chunk of it would be taken up by navigating my way to my next gate. If any of you have been to Paris CDG airport you already know how bad this airport is laid out. After a bite to eat and a quick look around I boarded my final flight going toward Verona, Italy at 3:00 pm. It was a nice short ride and when I got through customs, I was pleased to see both of my bags had made it! I have had the worst luck with airlines and baggage so this was like a win in itself. Now 5:00pm, I met with Omar - the team CRG manager - and two other mechanics waiting for me. With my vocabulary switching to Italian, we said our hellos and stuffed my bags in the van, set for a seven-hour drive to Sarno, Italy. The drive was nice to get talk to everyone and see how they had been. I had not been to Europe in over a year so I my Italian was a bit rusty but by the end of the drive it was flowing once again. Before I knew it, the time was 1am and we were at the front door step of our hotel. The door was just cracked open to my room. Another driver was in the room sleeping away so I quietly got into bed and tried to sleep. It was not until 4:30am until I could fall asleep because of my body fighting the nine-hour time change.
Tuesday, August 25
The 6:30am wake up call was brutal. Only two hours sleep and I had to drive today! After my shower, my roommate had waked up and he started speaking English. After we talked, I realized I was bunked up with Oliver Rowland, the new Super KF LH Kart pilot for CRG. It was funny because we did not have to exchange names because Oliver and I are the only two drivers on the CRG team where English is our first language. After we had recognized both of our accents, it was quick to figure out who each other was. After a short breakfast at the hotel it was off to the track to start the first day of our two-day test.
Once at the track I found my mechanic Mattia Madami and we went to work on my kart putting on the engine and adjusting all parts to make it fit perfectly for me. By 9am, I hit the track for my first session. I have raced at Sarno twice in my career so it was nice to come back because it is one of my favorite tracks. The testing is much different than what we do here in America in the sense that it’s hard work. Drivers will do at least 150 laps a day and sometimes will have no time to take their helmet off for 45 minutes because of the mechanics doing quick changes and sending you right back out. Another big difference is your testing new parts all the time. With this being the World Cup, there is everything on the line and all the factories pull out all the stops, bringing the best they have just for this one race. After only two hours sleep and a full day of testing, I was dead and snuck out of dinner early for bed at 10pm.
 | Carlton worked with his regular mechanic Diego and CRG's American rep Mattia
(Photo: KSP - kartcrg.com) |
Wednesday, August 26
After breakfast, I was nice and refreshed, ready to hit the track again for the second and last day of testing. Mattia and I wanted to get a lot done knowing this was our last day so we hit it hard in the morning and carried out a good amount of tests before lunch. When driving for a factory team, a lot of the testing is not just trying to make the kart faster but to carry out a bunch of tests and different set ups to see what and how the kart reacts to the changes.
In Europe the tracks seem to change every session due to the different compounds and tire brands that race on any given weekend. In America, we have only on brand for each selected series so only one type of rubber will get laid down during the race weekend. Here in Europe you could have up to three different brands of tire racing the same weekend so it makes it very difficult to find the right set up for the chassis. It also makes it harder for the drivers because most rubbers do not mesh well with others so you get the feeling the track is always changing underneath you. After 200 hundred laps and our entire test carried out I was happy how everything went. I thought we made gains all day and found a good base line to start from. Once we finished loading the trailer at 9:30pm, we all piled in the van and headed back to Desenzano where the CRG factory is located. With Omar driving an average of 180 kph, we arrived at the front of the factory at 3:30am and I went up stairs to the apartment inside the factory to crash.
Thursday August 27
I slept in until noon on this day. I was wreaked after all the traveling and the testing. I walked across the street and got some food and drinks to hold me through this next week in the CRG apartment. When I got back I realized something very strange, the factory was silent. Everyone was still on holiday so I was the only one in the whole factory. Later that night Mattia and his friend driving a vintage Porsche came to picked me up for dinner near the town of Lonato. During our dinner, it rained like cats and dogs. After the rain settled down, we decided to head home and call it a night but the car would not start. We tried over and over again but she just would not go. Then, trying to turn it over once more, it threw out a massive backfire and a flame shot out the exhaust almost burning Mattia’s leg. With all of us laughing, here comes two older guys that just looked liked they got out of bed yelling profanities at us. Come to find out our backfire had woke them and they were not too thrilled about it. So we tried to give the car another go at starting and it decided to let everyone else in the neighborhood know how it felt, shooting another two massive backfires. At this time, I cannot stop laughing at the situation after I realized we had woke up the whole block because of our troubled car. Now with a battery dead, we had to result into trying to push start our car. With three failed attempts it was looking bad for our crew. With a car that won’t start in the middle of the night and the whole town looking out their windows at us we decided we’ll give it one more go. With another huge backfire the car was alive! With Mattia now driving, he revved the engine to the moon and we were gone! I will always look back at this as one of my funnier car moments.
Friday, August 28 - Sunday, August 30
Being that the factory was still closed for the holiday I spent my time touring around Desenzano and catching up with friends that I had not seen in over a year. I also got in some good fitness training to try to prepare myself better for the race. It was a nice relaxing three days that was perfect to get my mind set for the up coming race.
 | The CRG compound is state of the art
(Photo: KSP - kartcrg.com) |
Monday, September 1
A new month began and a whole new scene at the CRG factory. The building was back to life with everyone back to work. I had an early breakfast with fellow teammate Arnald “Koko” Kozlinski and over to the CRG racing department we went. Over the day, I helped the mechanics prepare all the chassis for the race and helped load both trailers. CRG has two trucks that they bring to all the most important races and this being the World Cup, nothing is left. After a full day of cleaning and packing both trucks were ready to head back down to Sarno.
Tuesday, September 2
With the trucks leaving very early in the morning and the rest of the team not leaving until midday, I was able to sleep in and e-mail back home to family and friends. When midday arrived, we all piled into the race team van for another seven hour trip to Sarno.
Wednesday September 3
With an early wake up and a great morning breakfast, we headed to the track to build both tents. The tent that CRG has is very nice and impressive. With all plastic flooring, sliding front doors, hospitality area, two televisions with live timing, and a data station it really shows the level that CRG comes to all these races. But it is a lot of work! It was hot during the day so when we finished up both tents and finished up the karts, I was beat. Omar went to the airport to pick up Diego Valverde, who had just flown into Naples form California to help me out for the race. When they got back, we all had dinner at the track that has a very impressive restaurant with top-notch food. While I was eating all I could think was it’s finally here. The World Cup starts tomorrow.
Thursday, September 4
First order of business for the day was the drivers briefing. Unlike America, it is done in a room with officials speaking with also a big television showing key parts on the track along with other things the drivers need to be aware of. Another difference is every class has its own briefing so it goes fast and smooth. Right after was the checking in of your two chassis and engines. They have a specific time for each driver to come into the sporting checks so it goes very quickly with hardly any lines. They put the bar codes on your two karts and two engines while submitting each driver with two sets of practice tires. From the first practice you are controlled on what materials you use. You also have to run a transponder at all times because all the sessions are timed. After each session, you can go to the CIK trailer and get a list of times and see how you are doing. Everything is extremely professional and on time. After lunch, we got three fifteen-minute practice sessions. The day went well with not much problems. We were in the top ten almost all day and were looking forward to the weekend. With another killer meal at the track it was off to the hotel.
 | Carlton had probably his best performances on track at the World Cup in Sarno, before mechanical issues took him out of contention
(Photo: Chris Walker - kartpix.net) |
Friday, September 5
With only three more practice sessions left before our two qualifying runs the day became a bit more serious. I felt good going into the day knowing what chassis I was going to use and had a good idea what my best engine was. The morning session went very smooth. We did half the session with our base line set-up and then came in halfway through the session to make a front-end adjustment. At the end of the session I was sitting in the fifth position, quite happy with the over-all balance of the kart. The engine was rich on the top on this particular track, which was just fine. Sarno has a very long straight so it is very dangerous to have the engine at the limit. If you’re to rich on the carburetion you will be just plain slow down the whole straight, but if you’re to lean you better have your hand close to the clutch. The second session we tried a different solution with front-end geometry that did not work out for my driving style so we ended up going back to where we had started. I was hopeful for our last practice to show well before qualifying. I felt we had a good kart and was eager to put the new tires on to see how fast it would go. But the engine had other ideas. The last session I only could put in two laps because of the engine being way too lean. I pulled in and had the engine tuner look inside only to find a huge amount of detonation all around the piston. With nothing we could do we had to call it for the last session and have to go into qualifying blind.
For the World Cup, we got two 8-minute qualifying sessions. There is no hot grid so once you hit the track if you have a problem your session is over. It was very hot in Sarno and in the middle of the day the track was very slow so not many drivers were planning to go out for their first session. With only thirty minutes separating our last practice and first qualifying run, we had to work fast to get my engine back in running order. In fear of the engine sticking, the engine tuner ran the engine very rich. After the two sessions, we could only put down a time good enough for 30th position out 68 drivers. I was very disappointed with the outcome knowing we had a top-10 kart.
Saturday, September 6
Today would prove to be the hardest day of the whole weekend. Heat races over in Europe are more of a small war than an actual race. With no last chance race everyone was pushing hard to get up front to make the final. With the field broken up into five groups, there would be four heats races to make the starting grid for the Prefinal on Sunday. I was in group E and I would start every heat race from the 12th position.
The first heat started off with a bang. I was hit in the rear so hard going into the second corner after the long straight that I saw blue sky for a moment. After getting my kart back under control and took a mental note on who hit me (we will revisit this issue later), I had lost around four positions. My kart was on rails and we finally tuned the carburetor perfect. I carved my way through the pack and got up to eighth and set the fastest lap of the heat. I was quite happy I told my mechanic Mattia that we have a good shot at doing well in this race. My second heat I got an incredible start and made my way up to the fourth position. I have never seen my mechanic so happy after a race. The third heat I had a good first lap, picking up a few spots in the heavy braking zones. Halfway through the race I had one driver cut me off and put me in the dirt. I quickly realized this was the same driver that had blasted me in the rear in the first race. So, having enough of this guy’s tactics, I sent him flying. I’m positive we have another person that dislikes America and I don’t like driving this way, but some times you have to do what you have to do. I ended up finishing the heat in a solid seventh place. I was very happy how the day went. My kart was fast and if I kept up my pace I would have a top 15 starting position for the pre-final.
Sunday, September 7
With one short warm-up in the morning and my final heat race only thirty minutes after we had a very busy morning. The warm-up went well, posting the third best time in my group. For the last heat race, all I was looking to do was finish. I knew if I could finish in the top fifteen I was for sure in the final. With a good start I was up to ninth but in an attempt to pass another driver we made contact and my steering shaft was severally bent, so I ended up falling back in the order to 11th place. It wasn’t what I was hoping for but we scored enough points to put us solidly in the final.
After a long lunch break we had the driver’s parade. When racing in America I hate doing this but over in Europe it is a bit different. I have a certain pride standing next to my flag and representing my country. And heck, I wasn’t the only one this time! I also had fellow countryman Gustavo Menezes with me. It was really cool having another driver with me because every time I have raced over in Europe I’m the sole American. We both talked about how our weekends had been going and I was very happy to hear that he had qualified for his final. After the parade I was very happy to hear I would be starting 15th for the Prefinal. At this point in my mind is where the fun begins. From now on it would be flat out with holding nothing back.
 | CRG celebrated the third straight World Cup victory for Jonathan Thonon
(Photo: KSP - kartcrg.com) |
On the start of the Prefinal I slipped the clutch a little too long and ended up losing two spots by lap one. My kart was fast, really fast. On the second lap I had made the most daring pass of my career and made it stick. Going into one of the hard braking zones there were three drivers ahead of me battling hard with a small hole on the inside opened up. Without any hesitation I threw my kart down the inside and made it stick. So revved up after my move, the very next corner from two kart lengths back a dove down the inside of reigning World Champion Marco Ardigo and found myself in tenth place right behind my two teammates Jonathon Thonon and Davide Fore. With the three of us in a train, I thought we could move up through the pack quickly but it was not meant to be. On lap seven while crossing the start-finish line I saw the black and orange flag with my number 21 on the board. I could not believe it. I came in the pits and saw that my plastic rear bumper had been pushed up and over my rear tire. In Europe, that is the same as if you lost your front nose cone.
We kept a positive attitude and I looked at Mattia and told him I will make top-10 in the final. Starting 27th for the final, I got a great start and started carving through very quickly. My kart was perfect again and it seemed I could do no wrong. I could pass anywhere I wanted. Before I knew it I looked over on the side at Mattia and he was holding up ten fingers. I thought to myself there is no way I’m already tenth. But one look up the track confirmed this and I started pushing even harder. The next time by I was in ninth and looked up at the lap counter to see I still had ten laps to go while catching the group ahead of me very quickly. Then, out of nowhere, coming out of a tight corner the engine came to screeching halt. I pulled in the clutch and that was the end of my race. I had started 27th and made it to ninth in only eight laps and was catching the group ahead. Dang! I was happy in a sense that I had drove the best I ever had in my career against the best drivers in the World and heck, I was one of the faster ones. After doing the team photo for Thonon’s win (Congats Jonathon, you’re the man!) I hopped into Mr. Tinini’s (CRG Owner) car with Koko and Omar. Off to Desenzano we went. We arrived at CRG at 1am and to the apartment I went, exhausted from the whole week.
Monday, September 8
I slept all the way until 11:30am until Eddy Tinini had come up stairs and woke me, telling me to get ready to go to lunch at his house. I hurried up and showered quickly so I could be on my way to the Big Bosses house. I was stoked because Mrs. Tinini can cook one heck of a meal and it always cool to say you went to the owners of CRG house for lunch, right? Later that day when all the mechanics arrived back from the track, we went out to downtown Desenzano to celebrate the teams 24th World Championship! I did not stay out long because of my next day early morning flight but it was nice to see how happy everyone was while spending a little relaxed time with everyone before I had to leave.
Tuesday, September 9
With a 7:30 am flight out of Verona, my last day in Italy was quite short. When I boarded my plane I looked out the window and many thoughts were running around in my head. But the one that came back the most was the thought of next year and when I get the chance to come back and try again. |
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