4/03/2011 - Track Clean Up and Test and Tune

About 40 racers showed early to get the track in shape for the 2011 season. Immediately following racers were staged by class and everyone took the opportunity to work the bugs out their winter projects. The 2011 rule books are out and OFIK was added to the Oreville agenda as a separate class. This should help alleviate any confusion that may have resulted from running in the VS class in the 2010 season. We would also like to welcome aboard Dave Ruarke. Dave brought a real nice 97 Margay Syncro to the track and hopes to run with us regularly. In other news, and as expected, Hermansader appears as though he will be fast again. Bilbow's retored 83 Bug Scorpion ran pretty well for the first time, Bailey's 80's era Coyote pulled hard but fouling problems kept him off the track much of the day. Windham and Klunk were on hand without karts but expect to have them there for the first points race on 4/10. See you all then.

12/22/2010 - Ken Bailey Winter Projects

Well it's that time of year when a lot of us are turning wrenches. As most of you know I have been on a quest to get into an American manufacturered kart. This was simply to keep repair costs down should I happen to bend the CRG Kali I have been running. At 90 bucks for a spindle a little bump could keep me out for a bit. I also had a spare engine on my list of items needed for 2011 so added to the shelf were 2 787 motors, an 84 Margay SR-16 and an 88 Coyote Bullet. Of course as fate would have it, just after I hauled the the new hardware home opportunity struck and a back up chassis for the CRG landed in my lap. She's rusty as can be but I'll use what I can to keep the Kali going. The SR-16 was previously set up to run junior. As you will see in the photos the owner did a super job of setting up the kart for a small driver. That will all come off in the next week or two. The Margay is getting correct series 62 wheels. The Coyote will have its orginal factory wheels put back on it. I will keep updated pics of the new projects and a log here.

10/10/2010

The 2010 season is officially over and OFIK.org has the unofficial final tally on hand. The day concluded with Bob Hermansader taking the feature amidst a day of surprises. Perhaps the biggest of the day was Ken Bailey's feature win.  But not to be outdone, he quickly followed up with a first lap spin on the hairpin while out in front in the feature.  Hermansader on the other hand made all the right adjustments throughout the day.  Bob capitalized on the spin and never looked back.  Veteran karter and second time OFIK racer Alan Schier challenged Bob for the top spot but came up just short.  Matt Klunk rounded out the top three spots with a strong race.

While not official, OFIK.org has calculated the projected point totals for the season.  Kent Windham owned the season from beginning to finish.  Thomas DuPont finished second, and from here it gets fuzzy.  In a strange twist of events, Bob Bilbow lost his neck guard in the feature while running third.  Although he was black flagged he was permitted to return to the track and finish the race.  Based on our understanding of the rules he would be awarded the 8th position and 108 points on the day.  Matt Klunk would be awarded 163 points for his third place finish, just a bit shy of third place season total.   The officials at Oreville will make the final determination.

Pictures from the day can be seen here

10/3/2010

Another day is in the books and yet again top honors went to Kent Windham in his 84 Invader. We had a total of 9 racers in the Vintage Sidewinder class of which 8 were OFIK drivers. The final tally for the feature was as follows: 1) Kent Windham - 84 Invader, 2) Steve Geiss - 83 Margay SR-16, 3) Matt Klunk - 90's era Haas, 4) Ken Bailey - 94 CRG Kali, 5) Bob Hermansader - 77 Yamaha RC100, 6) Gary Anthony - 90's Era All Kart, 7) Bob Bilbow, 94 Margay Tsunami 100, 8) Thomas DuPont - 2003 Emmick, 9) Dave Oehlke - 84 Invader

OFIK Drivers placed as follows: 1) Kent Windham, 2) Matt Klunk, 3) Ken Bailey, 4) Bob Hermansader, 5) Gary Anthony, 6) Bob Bilbow, 7) Thomas DuPont, 8) Dave Oehlke.

9/27/2010

Even though Keith and Joyce Vrabec have not sat behind the wheel of a kart (and for good reason) we consider them one of ours. Keith, an avid Pontiac collector and recognized for his Grand Prix knowledge has recently restored an original 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix NASCAR. This car has created quite a buzz in the collector car circuit and has been selected as a top 50 candidate for the Auto Locator 2011 calendar. The final 12 will be determined by vote. Please help out a follow OFIK member by voting here. Keith's car is the 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix Nascar.

9/19/2010

Photos have been added from today's race. The first few pictures are Helmet Cam shots from the heat race. We have Helmet Cam video from the feature that will be posted just as soon as we figure out how to use the video editing software! Photos are here

A few of you may have noticed some people measuring the track before the days racing began. We took these measurements and overlaid a diagram on a Google Earth image to provide us with some info regarding the track. Not sure if this will be useful to anyone, but if you ever wondered . . .we'll here it is!

A quick note . . . since printed rules were distributed at the track that contain the link to the website I suspect we will be getting more hits. Bare with us while we gather content to round things out here. If anyone has any suggestions or needs to communicate with me I can be reached via email
9/13/2010


On Sunday afternoon after a rain out at Oreville two OFIK members, Bob Bilbow and Ken Bailey decided to take the opportunity to spend some time testing and tuning. A call was made to to management at PNC field, and permission was granted to use the parking lot. The parking lot is comprised of several lots connected together with an access road at the rear of the lot. Much like the sweeper at Oreville, the access road is long and fast, with a left bend through its length. While the total length was much longer than the back stretch at Oreville, using Mychron data, it gave them a chance to really tune into max acheivable RPM and engine temp. At the start of the day, top RPM at the end of the stretch was at 12,800. By the end of the session Bob was able to turn 14,005 and Ken was hitting 13,880. Head temps maxed at 395. For those interested in this sort of thing, gearing was set at 9/70 and tire diameter was 35.25. That calculates to 60.5 MPH to conclude the day, up from 54.9 at the start. Just about a 6 mph improvement was achieved. How that translates to the track is anyones guess. But this is the sort of thing you can't learn while racing! We also have some Hi-Def Helmet Camera video and will get it posted soon.