Qualifying- What am I missing?

1fasttiller

Member
I apologize if its been discussed before, seen a few posts while searching but most info was pretty short or generic.. so on that note here goes!

We went to the World 100 in Jasper this weekend and entered my son in his first Stock Light race as well as both Jr Stock and Pro Jr Stock. Long story short, we qualified horribly (as we do most of the time at any big event) but ended up with one of the fastest karts in the field come feature time, sadly the back pack starting spots at a race of this caliber make it almost impossible to drive to the front in 15-20 laps.

Although I am very proud of his P9 finish in light and Jr Stock after starting P15/P17 I want to know what is the trick to qualify good at a race of this magnitude? What are we missing? We do all the normal things like higher air, a bit more gear etc but its never enough. The Pole sitter ran 2-3 tenths slower in the race than what he qualified at. I also watched very closely and noticed many top guys would make their fastest lap on lap 1 of qualifying and then slow down significantly... we usually have our best lap on lap 3 ( the last one lol)
 
I apologize if its been discussed before, seen a few posts while searching but most info was pretty short or generic.. so on that note here goes!

We went to the World 100 in Jasper this weekend and entered my son in his first Stock Light race as well as both Jr Stock and Pro Jr Stock. Long story short, we qualified horribly (as we do most of the time at any big event) but ended up with one of the fastest karts in the field come feature time, sadly the back pack starting spots at a race of this caliber make it almost impossible to drive to the front in 15-20 laps.

Although I am very proud of his P9 finish in light and Jr Stock after starting P15/P17 I want to know what is the trick to qualify good at a race of this magnitude? What are we missing? We do all the normal things like higher air, a bit more gear etc but its never enough. The Pole sitter ran 2-3 tenths slower in the race than what he qualified at. I also watched very closely and noticed many top guys would make their fastest lap on lap 1 of qualifying and then slow down significantly... we usually have our best lap on lap 3 ( the last one lol)
Burris 33s ?
Track conditions still more moist while qualifying and track is still getting faster ?
 
Started the day with a set of 3 week roll scuffs. Was fastest kart in practice so we thought we were good. Tires were wiped a few times externally and punched around 43-45. Kid said the kart felt phenomenal in all rounds of practice.

Noticed tires were way too soft after qualifying 3 classes so we switched to a new set of sticker tires for the mains, same age of roll and same exact amounts internally but no aggressive external wipes so these punched 50/52.

I know the first set of tires was a bit too soft so its no doubt that hurt us, As wet as the track was, I just thought we'd never get bite with the harder tire. Sadly, the track transitioned very quickly!
 
If youre asking about Sat., track wasnt that moist during qualifying, but typical Jasper you had to make bite for qualifying.
If Friday yes it was very wet since that hurricane came thru the day before, and very aggressive preps were being used lots more than Saturdays show.
Lots of times you will get fastest lap on first lap when qualifying in these type conditions. Also the mini gear system helps get that first lap speed as well.
 
If youre asking about Sat., track wasnt that moist during qualifying, but typical Jasper you had to make bite for qualifying.
If Friday yes it was very wet since that hurricane came thru the day before, and very aggressive preps were being used lots more than Saturdays show.
Lots of times you will get fastest lap on first lap when qualifying in these type conditions. Also the mini gear system helps get that first lap speed as well.
Thanks Earl, yes Friday we were on the harsh stuff and still on it early Saturday, unfortunately we should have changed to another set of tires for qualifying but didn't. That track transitioned very quickly.

We are on the mini gear system, had no problem hitting target RPM just never have the speed in qualifying...
 
If youre asking about Sat., track wasnt that moist during qualifying, but typical Jasper you had to make bite for qualifying.
If Friday yes it was very wet since that hurricane came thru the day before, and very aggressive preps were being used lots more than Saturdays show.
Lots of times you will get fastest lap on first lap when qualifying in these type conditions. Also the mini gear system helps get that first lap speed as well.
Thought of something again, sorry.

Moist/on the wet side after the hurricane and suggestions I think are a lot of prep needed to free up kart.

Here's the dumb thought and doesn't prep contain oils among other stuff and ... oil and water don't mix so might the oil part of the prep be freeing the kart up when track is moist, high grip and you don't want to be locked down for qualifying ????

... and if that's the case they you would also not want to use anything which breaks down water surface tension. ????

proly wrong again
 
Thought of something again, sorry.

Moist/on the wet side after the hurricane and suggestions I think are a lot of prep needed to free up kart.

Here's the dumb thought and doesn't prep contain oils among other stuff and ... oil and water don't mix so might the oil part of the prep be freeing the kart up when track is moist, high grip and you don't want to be locked down for qualifying ????

... and if that's the case they you would also not want to use anything which breaks down water surface tension. ????

proly wrong again
Prep is not used to free up a kart, its used to make bite or soften.
 
Thought of something again, sorry.

Moist/on the wet side after the hurricane and suggestions I think are a lot of prep needed to free up kart.

Here's the dumb thought and doesn't prep contain oils among other stuff and ... oil and water don't mix so might the oil part of the prep be freeing the kart up when track is moist, high grip and you don't want to be locked down for qualifying ????

... and if that's the case they you would also not want to use anything which breaks down water surface tension. ????

proly wrong again
Track is moist it wont be high grip, and you never want to be locked down. The track wasnt anywhere near high grip this last weekend, thats why lots of aggressive preps were being used.
 
Some times it is the luck of the draw. I qualify terriable to. But run up front during the race. I try to qualify good but it just never happens. So I always just get ready for long runs and how the track will be during the race. I always told my Father that qualifying will make you humble real quick.
 
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