Uddevalla Summer Race

​A Long Road

It was a high summer racing exhibition as our driver’s home club, Uddevalla Karting Club, put on a racing extravaganza over the weekend, and we were there to take part!

The 2021 Uddevalla Summer Race attracted drivers from all over the country in a slew of different karting classes. It was not unexpected, as the Glimmingen Motorstadion, just outside of Uddevalla, is one of the more beloved karting tracks in Sweden, and also boasts being the host of a round of the Motocross World Championships each year.

Our up and coming driver was looking forward to this one, being at his home track where he has shown blistering pace during testing. The team had decided to swap out engines leading up to the weekend, to try and maximize this familiarity, but this ended up proving to be a fatefully unlucky decision.

​During Saturday testing, the engineers discovered an engine mapping problem, which was causing havoc with the air/fuel mixture on both low and high RPM’s. They thought they could get it under control overnight going into the race day, but this turned out not to be the case.

Several issues conspired to hamper Deven’s progress. During the 2 free practice sessions in the morning, the team could only manage low 59s times where the top of the field was ticking at just under the 58s mark.

​I felt like I was just crawling around helpless out there.

​Deven summed it up after the two sessions. “The engine had no power on the low end, and then wouldn’t rev up at all on the high end. I felt like I was just crawling around helpless out there.”

Mechanics and engineers swarmed around the racing machine and trying to find the issue, adjusting mapping and fuel mixture settings back and forth, but just exacerbated the problem.

During Qualifying, the engine stalled pulling out of the pre-grid pit lane. A quick adjustment by the pit-side mechanics got Deven out running on the track, and the engine seemed to be getting into the higher rev range, as Deven went mid 58s and an 8th best time on his 1st flying lap. Then disaster struck as on the second flying lap, coming down the start/finish straight, the engine just died and Deven was forced to pull over to the side. So only one flying lap, and still in the end qualifying 10th, a strong result in the face of adversity by the fledgling racer.

​So Deven would line up 10th on the grid for the two Sprint Races, which would decide the starting grid for the Semifinal. Engine woes continued in the first race, as the engine survived the formation lap and the start, where Deven made a good start, but then after 2 corners the engine again died, leaving the frustrated pilot stranded and forced to watch the rest of the race from the 2nd steward posting in the infield, and classified dead last.

---

​After that, the team made the drastic decision to replace motors mid-race day to give Deven a chance to show his true pace. It was a frantic scene as the engine swap needed to be made and tested in less than an hour, between the two Sprint Races. The mechanics and engineers did a magnificent job and finished the change with 10 minutes to spare.

Results came immediately. Deven made a decent start in the second Sprint Race, now able to trust in his machine again, and fought his way up through the field, making some fine overtaking moves and crossing the finish line in 9th spot in the end.

The combined results of the two Sprint Races meant that he would be starting 12th on  the grid for the Semifinal. Not a total disaster but it would mean he would have to make up some places in order to be able to fight for some hardware today. However, in a bid to get more performance, more mapping changes were made. The engine was running better, but still not revving up the way it should.

This proved counterproductive, though, and ended up ruining any real chance of taking home any hardware from the race day. The adjustments made to the engine map caused the high end to not rev up at all, although the low end power remained. This meant no top speed on the straights for Deven, and he fell back in the pack as the Semifinal went on. It was painful and frustrating for the team to look on as Deven fought tooth and nail, but got absolutely nowhere. He ended up crossing the line in 2nd to last place, and then got bumped down to last post-race because of a 3s front fairing infraction.

---

in ​So back to the drawing board again going into the Final. The team were understandably not in high spirits going into the Feature Race, as head mechanic and engineers just couldn’t get to grips with either of the engines’ behavior. Never before had they had this much trouble finding the engine’s sweet spot. The atmosphere was tense in the pit tent, apprehensive to see if the final adjustments would be enough to get the engine to sing as it had done before.

As Deven took his place in the pre-grid lining up dead last, his race engineer gave him a hug and wished his luck, asking him to just make sure he got a good start and did his best out there.

And he did. You could almost sense the determination oozing out from behind the helmet visor as Deven vigorously warmed up his tires during the formation lap. The little boy racer figuratively flew off the line at the rolling start and made up 3 places through the first 4 corner section of the track. Then the motor showed it was running decently as he bore down on his next target going down the back straight. One by one, karts fell by the wayside as our young man carved his way through the field lap after lap.

Unfortunately there were only 16 laps in the Feature Final, and in the end Deven crossed the line an impressive 8th spot, having passed half the field on his way to the finish line.

It was the team’s first top ten finish of the year, and Deven was buoyant after his drive up through the field in the Final. “That was awesome, it was so fun to be able to pass all those guys and make my way through towards the front. Finally we had a good motor that allowed me to race - finishing in the top half and getting my first top 10 finish feels great.”

​Team Principal, Dan, was reflective. “It was probably the most frustrating race weekend I’ve had as head of this team. Mostly because this is our home test track. 
We’ve run hundreds and hundreds of laps here, know it inside and out, and had real potential to get into the hardware paying positions today, and our driver deserved better from us as a team. With a properly tuned motor, we should have been fighting for top 5 today. That Deven was able to drive such a fine Final and make the top 8 was impressive, though, and we have to build on that. He basically single handedly saved the day for the team, turning a really frustrating race weekend into a positive, never-say-die outlook going forward. The determination and resolve he showed us today really is a credit to his character. He was really supportive and never cast blame. He was angry and frustrated, but asked if he could help in any way to make it better and made productive contributions throughout the day in the tent as well as on track. Extremely good showing in tough conditions. Now we have a nice long summer break, and will take the time to get back to the factory and figure these engines out for the 2nd half of the season!”

From all of us at Grabko GP, have a great summer and we will see you soon!