Blokart Bearings, salt water and sand

Greetings Mike,

Standard seals shouldn’t have this problem, as you describe it, unless the wear-and-tear process is “assisted” a bit. During the scrutiny exercise at the 2006 NZ Opens, I saw many seals so “worn”, that I could see the bearings rolling about. (Ooops, have I inadvertently dropped a speed enhancement tip). Now what is the point of the rule of having outer seals if they have been subjected to “Orbit-Re-entry wear and tear”?

Personally I believe that wheels and sails (and battens) should be issued at the races to have all competitors compete in skill rather than “shaving-skills”. However, I believe we’re 2, 3 or 4 years away from that point in International blokart Racing.

In the interim, Bearings and Bearing Seals remain a touchy point.

You can clean and re-lube the bearings – I think that’s OK

Shaving Bearing Seals is NOT OK in my view. Having Cut Seals is equivalent to having NO Seals – in terms of friction. (And that makes a HUGE difference)

Should Bearing Seals be a “PINK” Race Seal Issue? Or should there be a daily Colour coded Race Seal Issue, over multiple day race events???  Making a rule is one thing…. Making it police-able to keep all attendants on even keel is another “belly-of-jelly” (fish).

Have your say at the BAI – International Skype conferences.

In a similar vein, from the recent global meet are the battens.

I believe agreement was reached on one blatantly clear statement in the rules. Modification DOES NOT EQUAL Replacement. I am happy that the BAI-International conference call maintained this “1-Design” ruling. After all, we’re out to promote and compete in a “1-Design” Sports. To clarify this and some other parts of the blokart it would probably be practical to set a “last release date and recent release date” on blokart standard items.

It will prevent both “Fred Flintstone” turning up with granite tyres and/or “Richard Branson”/”Bill Gates” (for Americans) with “the latest” titanium bearings…..

… just some thoughts…

We regularly race on the beach here with fairly fine sand and I tested some complete foils for a while but it’s not standard gear. After all collecting a kilo of sand inside a rim isn’t going to make anybody fast but since we all collect the same amount (roughly) we all remain on an even keel if we just stick to the standard uncut/unassisted-wear gear throughout a race.

Cleaning your gear out after the race or after the race-day is the only option I guess.

I and most probably everybody with beach-racing experience agree that the BEACH is THE place. Location, clean wind(when it’s on-land) and forgiving(No MSPs etc). However, unless you have a huge flat beach, as they have in Belgium, Northern Netherlands/Germany and Denmark and probably some other places I don’t know about, organising races with a 4-6 hour window around low tide makes a very risky business for a Championship committee. Take to a grass, off-road, concrete or desert location and the whole window-thing goes away since you’re not dependant on tides.

In advancing reliable events, within reason, I guess beach racing events will become a novelty.

Best regards,

Jimi

Hi Mike,

I personally prefer a black cape and ftat-brimmed hat!  All that furry stuff gets caught in the bearings, and that’s not safe.

Regarding the rules, we certainly got the battens wrong – and I expect we’ll get a few more things wrong, but it isn’t until an event that the rules can be put to the test.  Making a mistake is all part of the process of learning – what we should not allow is for the same mistake to be made twice.  The Parliamentarians have made a career out of rule making and they still haven’t got it right.  So do we really want to send all our time making, breaking and bending rules, and hearing protests? I think not.  That will drive people away from the sport.

Our challenge, through great debate like this, is too determine what people really want.  As you know Mike, we all sat in a room and we could not get agreement on what the rule meant or what we wanted it to say – so we made a compromise.  Now we have our chance to get that one right.

For my 10 cents worth, standard battens have always been my personal choice.  Yes, there are faster sailors than me that use shaved battens.  Yes, shaved battens can be better in light winds, but it is like a car with a peaky torque curve, they only work in certain situations.  But I just love it when people tinker and make their karts slower, while kidding themselves that they have made an improvement.  In light winds on Thursday I sailed two karts, with and without standard battens, with my rival in the other kart.  Standard Battens rule in my opinion!

But without tinkering and innovation we may not have had CRBs, mast cranes, batten tensioners, modified downhauls, deuces, Pods……But for events we can’t have a free-for-all either.

So how we create that balance is the real challenge!  If we only sailed in stronger winds, the effect of the battens would be negligible – but we’d sail less often.  Bearings, weight, battens and technique make a huge difference in light winds.

So to everyone reading this, make your views known to you country representative so we can develop an international consensus, and use this as a forum to discuss your ideas.

Mike, many of us know how you feel, and you are not alone – thanks for the input!

Cheers

Grant2

Hi Grant,

I have some time on my hands so I thought I would contribute – apologies for personal references to your karting ability

On the issue of even playing fields – please don’t regulate out all the mystery!

I am not afraid to admit that I would love to have a secret technical advantage to make up for my inefficiencies as a sailor which would guarantee I would always beat you! Hence lately my being a blokart dealers dream customer – always first to purchase new design wheels and tyres, extra carbons etc.

Swapping karts with Russell on Sunday clearly demonstrated to me that this sport is as much about the tools as it is about the technique. Both require skill and exist in Blokarting Racing as a symbiotic relationship.

The challenge which I am enjoying immensely  is trying to maximise both.

This is not what your nemesis, Jenny, would say – she has very little input into her kart tuning except to tell me in no uncertain terms when it feels wrong. But – guess what – I got great pleasure when she and her really old black kart with modified battens and careful choice of carbons was able to beat you in your shiny new stainless rocket with standard battens. Was that her skill as a sailor or mine as the mechanic or you being a gentleman?

The really great and special thing about blokarting is we never really know – so we keep coming back trying to find out.

What does standardisation really mean?

If there is a strong voice for standardisation in championship racing then lets not have any doubt as what this can only mean – it means all racers in brand new karts and sails out of the box which have been carefully measured for accurate alignment. Then, like they do with the horses, riders are weighted to reach the top weight within their classes. This is entirely feasible if B/K International and BIA want this. Build 20 to 30  karts and lease out the karts for each race to the racers on a draw system. Say $10.00 a race – much cheaper than airfreight! The raced karts will be quite saleable after the series – or even could be reserved as a fleet for other events. Appoint a fleet manager and small team to check tyre pressure, batten tension and do sail changes if required and lock up the karts at night.  

Standardisation can not possibly, even remotely, mean new karts racing against old, stainless against powdercoat, white and black sails against commercially available coloured ones, different versions of axels, front wheels, bearings and tyres.

So to stir the pot (as you know I am want to do occasionally) I close with this comment

How does a bit of batten shaping or bearing tinkering even get into the conversation when you can not honestly consider the karts as truly “one design”?

Rgds

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

I’m glad you raised these points, particularly the “Olympic” concept of one design.  You are not alone.  And I’m sure blokart international would be interested in embracing this!  Meanwhile we need something that everyone can abide by.  Can we actually tell what is or isn’t a blokart™ batten? Will we start blueprinting them?

I too enjoy a bit of mystery about what makes a kart go fast too – and I might just get out my secret weapon (blokart #110) to give Jenny a run for her money (we’ll, mine actually – all $2 of it for the challenge!). But perhaps you had better get Jenny to check the latest twilight scratch results and see how she rates her chances.  Perhaps there is a pattern in my wins and loses?

But what really counts is consistency – look at the winners – is that their secret!  There is mystery to burn.  And as to where the skill and cultured gentlemen are (were) – we’ll – only time will tell!  Feeling good about the kart wins races – look at Jenny, Alex and I suspect Haydn!

I don’t have an answer with your poser: “How does a bit of batten shaping or bearing tinkering even get into the conversation when you can not honestly consider the karts as truly “one design”?”

Shades of grey?

Grant2

Hi Mike,

The 2006 blokart front wheel has been developed to carry a hubcap over the wheel nut that’s what you saw on some front wheels at the nz open.

Dave,

From my understanding all blokart battens are made to the same specification but they are hand sanded so there is slight variations in each batten. The specification has changed on one occasion in the past and this is very obvious as the newer battens are black and the older ones are grey and over  3 yrs old.  I am sure you will see more consistent battens in the future.  Just my 2 cents.

Cheers

Richard

However, if you’re getting sand, salt and grit into your mast-crane-bearing……..you’re just doing too many wipe-outs.

Now there’s yet another can-of-bearing-worms –

As per prevailing Oz Best Mate advice – Super Glue in the Mast Crane Bearing, as in all bearings, is the Oz way to go – Oz Mates help their mates, right;

In Asia we’re running with a rare oil won from the Cod-Reef-Critter – CRC-565 “Marine-Grade” ;

Or are you cutting your Mast Crane Bearing Seals too, Mike??

Have a “Best Sealed” 2007,

Jimi

For my bearings (I use standard stainless steel for the beach), I pop the seals when I am cleaning the kart with the water blaster, and do the bearings too, air blast them (I use compressed air from a dive tank) and then re-lube them with Innox.  Also, putting them in a can of machine oil is favoured by some.

CRC 565 is good, but I have a better one too – will post what is called when I get home next week.

Grant