D/FW Ferrari Club of America
2002 Karting Challenge
Round 2: November 12, 2002
 Round 2 of the DFW/FCA Karting Challenge continued the tradition of good people and good fun and broken cars. There were 16 participants this time, 9 of whom were first time participants. Welcome aboard, guys!
 The first heat was held on the longer of the tracks. The start was a hot start out of the pits, with people going as soon as they cleared the pits. The separation created on the track with this type start allowed people to get in good clean laps. Brad and Bart battled for the lead with a 37.00 second and 37.88 second time respectively. Rob took third, and the rest of the group was close behind. The second heat took place on the smaller track. While it's hard to believe that 15 cars can fit on the small track, it actually worked out well. Once again, a hot start from the pits allowed room for racing. This course was much more competitive, with 1st through 10th being separated by only 1 second. Tim blasted out a 21.25 second lap to lead the heat, with Greg, Chris P., Ron, Ken and Wes separated by only .38 seconds from 2nd to 6th. This is a very tight track, but there was surprisingly little contact. The Main Event was run on the long course, with a Gran Prix standing start. In the past, this kind of start made the chicane interesting, and this time would be no exception. The event manager made us move the karts nose to tail to get all 16 cars on the grid. When the light flashed green, the drivers immediately spread out at least 3 wide. Even though the racing lines were far from ideal, everyone made it into the first turn without much problems. That second turn, though.... In the classic words of Ward Burton: "He whoa'd up, and I whoa'd up, but someone behind me didn't whoa up." Traffic converged into the second turn and Chris P's car was literally launched into the air, up on 2 wheels and shedding battery covers across the racing line. The battery covers eventually ended up well down the track, but Chris recovered to finish 6th in the final. Bart ended up knocking 1.5 seconds off of his Heat 1 time to win with a 36.12. Ken took second with 36.45, and Greg took third with 36.81. Bart, Ken and Greg took home the fabulous prizes, and Ken left with the points lead. After the race we headed out to the garage for some discussion of the cars. Greg brought his Testarossa, Bill brought his twin-turbo(!) Testarossa, and Rob, Jim and Tillman arrived in their 328s. There were some other very nice import autos out there too. Jim led the way to Humperdinks later, with the now-mandatory burnout on the way out of the garage, for more conversation and beverages. The next event is December 10, 2002 at 7:00 PM. Come and join us, everyone is welcome. Discuss this event at Ferrarichat.com
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