My comments, in no particular order:
(i) The Coimbatore track is very different from what we are used to. All of it [except for about 60 metres, connecting two sections] is actually a car race circuit, so for karts it is very wide and very, very fast. To slow down the karts temporary kerbs were placed in certain corners. Unfortunately the temporary kerbs were not fixed to the track surface, so if a competitor hits the kerbs the line would change for the following competitors. Exciting and dangerous!
(ii) The first corner was a real killer. From Ryan's data, he approached it at about 108 kph, took the left hander at 90 kph, then had to take a right hander which led immediately into a left hand hairpin. In 20 metres or so he had to brake to 55 kph while turning for the hairpin. There was only one line in this sequence of corners so inevitably there were lots of spins and incidents here. The top Indian boys were visibly faster here...crazy!
(iii) The organisers ran it in a clubby, friendly manner. For example, if some karters were not ready for a particular race the start would be delayed for a few minutes. This upset some of the Malaysians as the schedule kept changing but, taken in the right spirit, it was a minor issue.
(iii) Logistics were difficult but only because we had to change aircraft in Chennai. Of course we did it the easy way - rented a 4 to 5 year old chassis in India and brought only 1 engine, some spares, wets, wheels and tools. Customs at Chennai were a breeze, which was a pleasant surprise.
(iv) Copies of the results were not printed for competitors. The originals were posted on the notice board, so we hope Mikko collected them and will scan and post them here.
(v) Ryan did as well as could be expected, given the circumstances. He qualified 6th. Blew the start of Heat 1, falling to 10th before catching back up to 6th. Heat 2 started well and finished 2nd. Pre-final started 3rd, hit the movable kerb at the last corner on the first lap, got thrown onto the grass on the outside, almost hitting the tyre wall. Dropped to 9th and finally finished 6th. Final got up to 5th, hit the kart in front which threw his front alignment off and dropped back to 6th.
(vi) Ryan learned a lot, especially about observing and listening! Fei Hoong told him that Turn 1 was flat out. So he kept taking it flat out and kept spinning and getting his kart all out of shape. It was only on Sunday morning when he realised what Fei Hoong meant was to lift off before the corner, turn in and then floor the throttle...
Will we return? Taking all things into consideration, the answer is yes. But next time we will bring our own chassis.
