For the majority of the last ten years the second weekend in October has always been a special weekend. It's when the 24 Hours of Moab mountain bike race takes place. It's the one race I've usually been able to do regardless of the state of my knee injury. This year that was not to be, but I found a valid replacement.
The SPK Overnight 500 is a 14 hour go kart race held at Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia. That's right I said go kart! They aren't just any go karts; they are French built Sodi RX7 high-speed karts that feature a 9 horsepower Honda GX390cc motor. Equipped with a composite dry clutch, hydraulic brakes, and racing slicks they top out a close to 65mph and can pull 2.5 lateral G's. The track is Summit Point's Washington Circuit, a former auto cross track with tight S turns, high speed sweepers, chicanes, and a long back straight that ends in a tight, but fast left hander.
Sodi RX7 Kart
RX7's Cued Up for the Start
Summit Point Washington Circut
The race is the longest of Summit Point Kart's endurance series. It's 500 miles (1000 laps on the 1/2 mile track) or 14 hours, which ever comes first. The race starts at 8:00 pm, so the majority of it is at night. SPK provides the Karts, you just show up ready to race. The rules are Le Mans style; meaning if you pit for other than a mechanical issue a driver change is required. When my brother Andrew asked me to be on his four person team I laughed at the absurdity of the whole thing. When we showed up at the course and saw how professional the competition was that laugher turned into fear. We were seriously outclassed. The other teams had sponsors, matching race suits, team trailers and racing coaches. In hindsight, that made it even funnier!
Pro Team Trailer
Walking the Track
Our team was called the Black Stigs after the first Stig character on BBC's show Top Gear. We couldn't find black suits so we had to make due with black helmets and green flight suits. We all had proper high speed karting experience, but nothing close to the "professional" teams. The intensity of driving a racing kart is something that must be experienced to understand. It looks so stupid from the sideline, but when you are in the driver’s seat you feel like an F1 champion. Zero suspension, 2 inches of ground clearance, racing slicks, and a sports car-like power to weight ratio make it incredibly intense. The beating of constant braking, accelerating, lateral G's, and feeling every bump on the track takes a huge toll on the body. The neck is usually the first thing to go due to the weight of the helmet. I prepared by wearing a thick neck pad and lateral G restraints (which I didn't end up needing). Padded, but grippy gloves and thin-soled shoes for good pedal modulation were the next on the list. Even something as sedentary as putt putt golf would hurt after fourteen hours; hurling around a track all night was going to be a special brand of pain!
The Black Stig
My Race Equipment
After we completed all of the necessary paperwork (including awareness that being ejected from the kart is a good thing because your energy is dissipated less rapidly), we had to weigh in. To make it as fair as possible weight is added to the karts to match driver weight to the heaviest person there. The race meeting was next followed by the Lemans (running) start. Tim drove first followed by me, Patrick, and Andrew. Tim's wife Kate provided us with food, coffee, and support. Tim had a great start in front of the pack. A crash in the high speed turn following the back straight brought out a yellow flag, but it only lasted one lap.
Our Team
Andrew and Me
With Tim
Patrick, Tim, and Andrew
Tim and Kate
Weights to the Even Out Karts
Race Start
First Laps
The Pits
Tim had to end his first driving stint early due to a glove issue. Luckily, was I suited up and standing by on the ready. It was baptism by fire as it was my first time in a kart in 3 months and I had never driven the track. At first almost everyone was faster than me. Learning the track was tedious. Early on I spun in the high speed turn following the back straight and got black flagged. That meant I had to pull into the hot pit for time penalty. As a team we were only allowed six black flags throughout the race and mine was our second. When I went back out I got the basic line down quickly, but fine tuning it took a long time. Braking points, where to lift and just coast (this was huge), turn-in points, apexes, and what sections of the track had the best grip all came slowly. By the end of my first stint I was running consistent 51 second laps, but the leaders were running :47's. After an hour and fifteen minutes in the saddle I was surprisingly not sore. That was until I tried to extract myself from the kart and walk. The best I could do was hobble. The inside of my shins hurt the most from constantly modulating the pedals.
My First Stint
Patrick went next followed by Andrew. By my next stint we were up to 14th place. I was able to whittle my lap times down to consistent :50's with a few :49's and hold our position. The amount of work it took to gain one second was astronomical. As nice as the Sodi RX7 is, it's not a precision instrument. In a race that is fought in half seconds precision matters most. It was like conducting an orchestra with a telephone pole. I was amazed at how much faster the good people were. The karts theoretically all have the same advantage, but the levels of precision that the fastest teams were able to drive with meant they were lapping us hour.
Enduring the Night
When Tim went out again he threw down an hour and twenty minutes of solid 48 second laps, combined with Patrick and Andrew's driving that moved us up to 10th place. Our position was starting to matter now. At 6:00 am, on my third driving stint, it was up to me to maintain it. I did so by further whittling another second off my lap times to consistent :49's with a few :48's. My fastest lap of the race was a 0:48.7. Then disaster struck! In the S turns after the front straight the kart lunged hard to the right. I fought to keep it under control and miss the wall. Through the next turn it was clear that my kart was mortally wounded. I limped it back into the pits. The right rear tire had rolled off the rim (they are solid tires, so no flats). We lost four places during the kart swap to 14 th place. A driver change was not possible because we would have lost even more. At that point I had been out on the course for one hour and fifteen minutes. It was going to be a long stint.
Dawn had arrived and with it an eerie morning fog. Driving at night was like having tunnel vision. Daylight offered a whole different experience. Oddly people's times slowed down slightly. Then a nasty accident brought out a full course red meaning everyone came to a stop. The driver was okay. He got ejected from his kart after spinning and hitting a tire wall hard. After the track was cleared we were cued up for a re-start. I had been out for two hours, but had moved us back up to 12th.
Dawn
Stopped Due to a Red Flag
Red Eyes
The Accident Being Cleared
Patrick went out next and brought us back to 11th place. At 9:00 am the leaders had completed 907 laps running solid :47's. They would probably hit 1000 laps around 9:45 am. Patrick didn't have enough gas to finish so we would have to do a driver / kart swap, but the team in 12th place was only one second behind us. Fortunately, they had to pit too. When it was all done our lead had dwindled to half a second. Andrew went out to finish the race. He was running :50's, but the team just behind us was running :47's. There were less than 30 laps to go. It was going to be agonizingly close. Andrew was in kart # 1, they were in kart # 9 and closing fast. With 15 laps to go Andrew was only three turns ahead of him. Working to our favor was a group of traffic between them that allowed Andrew to maintain his half second gap. Then #9's lap times fell off to :49 - :50's. We weren't sure if his concentration lapsed or if it was the kart. With seven laps to go it looked like we had 11th place locked. All Andrew had to do was keep driving :50's and not spin or get caught up in traffic. He crossed the line at the checkered flag two karts ahead of #9.
Andrew Going Back Out
Go Pro Movie of Andrew's Last Stint
Andrew Crossing the Finish Line
We had finished 11th place out of 23 teams, the first 7 of which were pro teams. As absurd as the concept of a 14 hour go kart race is, we ended up taking it seriously and battling hard to finish 11th. The intensity was greater than any mountain bike race, hang gliding comp, or adventure race I've ever done. Battles were fought in half seconds and won by 10th's. First and second were only 6 seconds apart and 33 laps ahead of us.
