"Jake managed to get up as high as 8th before the engine seized"
READ JAKE'S KF2 LIVE REPORTS FROM JAPAN HERE INCLUDES PHOTO'S & VIDEO'S

Click the day
DAY 1         DAY 2         DAY 3        DAY 4 QUALIFYING       DAY 5 FINAL 

AUDIO - Jake Spencer's interview on SEN On The Grid Program prior to him leaving for Japan
http://www.karting.net.au/audio-cik-stars-of-karting-champion-on-radio-sen


VIDEO:  Watch the KF2 FINAL RACE HERE (T-Kart Magazine, YouTube video)

DAY 5 - FINAL KF2

(above) with team manager Olivier and my mechanic Alessandro
 
JAKES KF2 FINAL DAY REPORT - SUNDAY 20TH MAY, 2012

It was a disappointing end to what was a great weekend in Suzuka.

In the final heat race on the Sunday morning, I made a great start from 16^th on the grid to get into the top 10 after a few corners. As the team was trying a few set up changes on my kart, I was hoping to have a clean race however mid way through the first lap there was a large crash ahead of me which led to the track being completely blocked. Unfortunately I could not avoid the collision and the kart suffered too much damage to continue the race.

As a result of a DNS, DNF and 15^th in the three heat races, I started the pre final in 28^th position. The pre final was a crazy race as it started to rain during the first few laps. I had a strong race and managed to finish 16^th, which was then relegated up to 14^th as a result of after race infringements.     

The 24 lap final was my strongest race of the weekend. Starting out of 14^th, I managed to get up to as high as 8^th during the early part of the race. The racing was out of control, with the drivers from Japan in particular attempting passing moves from nearly four or five kart lengths behind the kart in front. They do not care if they make kart contact or lose contact with the leaders, all that they seem to care about is getting in front of the next kart!

As the race went on I started to lose bottom end power out of the slower corners. I thought that I had overturned the low jet and it had too much fuel, so I leaned it off a little, however it turns out that it was the opposite and the engine was actually starving for fuel off the slow corners. This led to the engine seizing on lap 14, ending my race.

I was a little bit disappointed not to get a result after putting myself in a strong position however that is motorsport. I was amazed at the level of talent of the drivers from Europe and Japan. Almost all the drivers in the field aspire to be professional racers. Many of the European drivers rarely go to school as they race almost everyone weekend in different countries all over the world.

They have all been coached and trained by teams such as CRG, Tony Kart, Kosmic and Birel from a young age and this is why they are so fast. Most of the Japanese drivers are supported by local car and tire manufacturers such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Bridgestone and Yokohama.

I found this to be one of the main differences between karting in Australia and Japan, as very rarely will you see local Australian companies such as Holden or Ford Australia heavily funding younger drivers to help them make a career out of motorsport.

The whole weekend was an amazing experience and I would love to have the opportunity to race overseas again in the future. I learnt so much through racing for the Kosmic Racing Department including how they approach the set up of the kart as well as data analysis.

I cannot say enough good things about the team. They are an extremely professional organisation and I would highly recommend them to anyone who wishes to race overseas.

I was also lucky enough to meet Roberto Robazzi who is the owner of OTK Karts (Tony Kart, Kosmic, FA Kart and Exprit). Mr Robazzi would often come over and give his opinion on how to improve the kart which was a great help.

-          The Australian Karting Association who put up the prize money for me to race overseas after winning the 2011 CIK Championship

-          Remo and Sabrina Luciani for helping me organise the drive with the Kosmic Racing Department, as well as their ongoing support

-          Lee Hanatschek and Craig Denton who helped me organise all the required documents to race overseas including entry forms, international licences etc

-          The Kosmic Racing Department for their help over the weekend

-          Mum and Dad for flying to Japan and supporting me

Jake

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Lap chart of the Final shows Jake had a great start and made it up to position 8 before the engine seized.






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DAY 4   - Qualifying

QUALIFYING - SATURDAY 19th May, 2012

(Pictured below) Over here the Flag Marshalls sweep the track after every race. This means that there is no rubber pick up/marbels on the track. They all wear helmets and overalls as protection while on the track.

I had an awesome day in Suzuka today. Despite not reaching my goals of qualifying in the top 10, I feel like I have improved my driving a lot since yesterday and have now closed the gap between myself and the leaders.

Tony Kart and Kosmic hospitality areas see picture below where we have our breakfast and Lunch.

 
(left) Spencer in discussions with his Mechanic and flag marshals sweeping the track (right)

 
(left) Spencer going through the data with the Team and the Kosmic Team Tent above (right)


 

All members from the team Tony and Kosmic Kart eat breakfast and lunch here and Teams watching the lap times during timed qualifying (right)


QUALIFYING
In qualifying this morning I did my best time (48.999) of the weekend which put me in 16th position for the heat races out of the 30 drivers. I was really pleased with the improvements we made to the kart over night, however it still had a little bit of mid corner slide which was hurting my exit speed on the slow corners. 

It is amazing how close the times are between all of the drivers. The gap between the Birel Factory Driver Kevin Rossel (who qualified on pole position) and myself was only .382 of a second. Adding to this, if I had been .05 of a second faster it would have put my inside the top ten for qualifying. In comparison to my factory Kosmic teammates who race for the team in Europe regularly, I was .2 of a second behind them. 
 
After qualifying the team engineer compared my data to my teammates. The data systems that the team use are amazing and have helped me improve my driving throughout the weekend dramatically.  The data showed that I was losing .2 of a second to my teammates in turn 2 of the Suzuka circuit. My teammates were both accelerating / picking up the throttle a few metres earlier than me, which meant they had much more exit speed.  
 
HEAT 1
The first heat race was a disaster. Unfortunately I had a few issues with the carbie which caused me to break down during the roll around laps. Sometimes motorsport can be cruel!
 
HEAT 2
The second heat race was very eventful! Starting out of 16th position, it was absolute chaos. The Japanese and European drivers are much more aggressive in comparison to those in Australia. Twice during the first few laps I was forced to avoid other karts flying through the air as a result of contact with others! 4 laps into the race everyone started to settle down and get into a rhythm which gave me an opportunity to start making up a few positions and get a feel of how the kart was handling. I managed to pass a few karts before the end of the race and finished in 15th position. My lap times were encouraging, this time only .1 of a second slower than my factory Kosmic teammate Paolo Ippolito who won the race. 
  
Tomorrow I have my last heat race, followed by the pre final and a 25 lap final. As a result of my DNS in the first heat it means that I will have to start the pre final further down the order than what I would like. However, I feel like the changes we are making to the kart for tomorrow should help me find a little more time which will hopefully help me make my way through the field. 
 
I cannot say enough good things about the Kosmic Racing Department team and what they have done for me throughout the weekend. They run an awesome operation that is extremely professional. Looking after the six drivers in the team are six mechanics, a data engineer and the team manager who makes sure everything is running smoothly. Adding to this, the team hire two chefs at the track who work all day cooking fresh food for the Kosmic and Tony Kart teams (see pictures above).

It has been an amazing experience so far and I am really excited to take what I have learnt from the weekend and try it on my kart in Australia. 
 
I am hoping that tomorrow goes well,
 
Jake 




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DAY 3 - Practice

Tough day in Japan today. Struggling to get the kart set up around my height. Other drivers in the team would be pushing 5 foot haha :) ended up position 14 overall for today. 




My kart felt quite good in the first session this morning everyone ran new tires.

I had a few carby issues which was costing me time down the straights so we changed the carby for the second session which fixed the problem. 
 
In the second and third sessions I was around 7th and 8th fastest for my group, however the kart developed a lot of oversteer on the exit of the corner. This led to the kart losing revs on exit and costing me time. The team thinks that because I am so tall I am working the kart a lot more than the other drivers in the team. 
 
In the final session we tested our 'B' chassis. It had a lot less grip in the rear in comparison to the A chassis, and this feedback was similar to what the other drivers thought of the B chassis.

The team says that if the track starts to rubber up then this chassis will be perfect for those conditions. 
 
I need to find some more time if I am going to stay with the leader's pace tomorrow. I feel that a lot of that time can be made up in my driving, as well as little improvements to the chassis set up and engine.

New tires saved for carby session tomorrow morning then we have qualifying (or kronos as they call it over here lol).

So, in the morning we have a 15 minute warm up at around 9:30am. My teammates and I have each saved a new set of our allocated tires for the warm up so we can get a feel of track conditions before qualifying. 
 
Im confident of putting down a quick time in qualifying!

JAKE

 
 

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DAY 2 - Free practice

Today was a really productive day for myself and the Kosmic Racing Department. When we arrived at the track, Oliver (Kosmic Team Manager) assigned all six team drivers with two brand new Vortex engines to use for the weekend. Alessandro (My Mechanic) and I fitted an engine each to both of my karts in preparation for the day. 

  

Free Practice Session 1
In free practice session one, all drivers spent most of the session running in one of their new engines. As I was running in the engine, the team decided to run old tyres on the kart.



Drivers could choose to run any tyres as it was uncontrolled practice. The running in procedure for the KF2 engines as recommended by the engine builder was;
5 minutes of running of the engine on the kart stand at minimal revs, 10-12 minutes of running on the track, slowly building up revs each lap and the Last 3 minutes of session – Full RPM 

The session was constructive as I had the chance to sit behind some of the local Japanese drivers and learn where the racing lines were on the track.

Drivers Briefing
The drivers briefing was held in a conference style room at the track. It was much more formal in comparison to the drivers briefing we have in Australia. Drivers were spoken to in individual classes and the chief steward used a Powerpoint presentation to show what he expected of the drivers throughout the weekend. The briefing was spoken in English and Japan so that all drivers could understand.

They constantly emphasised the point that drivers will be penalised for kart contact during the weekend. Each kart is fitted with a GoPro Camera on the front of their karts which can be used in the steward’s room if needed. Adding to this, the track is fitted with cameras so that all incidents can be viewed.

  

Scrutineering
At scrutineering they closely check all karts, helmets and race suits to make sure they comply with the international CIK/FIA rules. They also allocate drivers with two of their six sets of controlled tyres for the weekend (4 sets of Dry Tyres and 2 sets of Wet Tyres). Two sets of the Dry Tyres must be used in controlled practice (Last session of today + four x 15 minute sessions tomorrow), while the rest of the tyres are used in qualifying and the races.

Free Practice Session 2
This session was identical to free practice session 1, except this time I ran in my second engine on the second chassis. It was a good chance to make sure the new chassis and engine felt ok in case we needed to use them in any of the races.

Free Practice Session 3
This was my first real opportunity to drive the kart flat out and get a feel of the kart set up. As it was still classified as ‘free practice’, drivers were able to run new tyres without using any of their allocated tyres for the weekend. Almost every driver elected to run new tyres in this session.

  

I ended up being around .40 of a second off my fastest team mate in the session who races for the team fulltime (Nick Nielsan). The kart suffered from a bit of mid-corner understeer which we will try and fix tomorrow. After the session the team engineer downloaded all the data from each kart and sat the drivers down and compared each other’s best laps to see where we could all improve.

 
Awesome... 

The Kosmic team use a data system called ‘PI’ and it is very complex. Each system is priced at approximately 3000 Pounds and is able to compare each driver’s laps against one another. It showed that I was losing around .25 of a second on the straights, which they put down to my carby settings being too rich. My corner entry and exit speeds however were very similar to the lead driver which is promising.

 Non-Qualifying Practice
The whole team decided to miss the last practice session of Thursday in order to save tyres for tomorrow. Each driver is allocated two sets of tyres for Non-Qualifying practice which includes the last session of today and four sessions tomorrow. We will run one set of new tyres in the first session tomorrow, and save the last set for the final session tomorrow night.

JAKE 
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DAY 1  back to top

FIA – CIK World Championships/Asia Pacific Titles – Suzuka, Japan Day 1

 
(above) Day 1 at the circuit... unpacking and building from scratch