The mysteriously unbeatable Briggs motor that won 2 Senior 4-Cycle Champinships (2008-2009) for Brian "Flash" Grant.

[kart33]

Racing Story (warning: may contain nuts and kernels of truth) The Mysteriously Unbeatable Briggs Motor That Won 2 Senior 4-Cycle Championships :

In the early 2000's the CKRC Senior 4-Cycle class was run by Stewart Hayward. Stew was originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, he was into oval dirt racing. Stew's dream was to race a dirt modified car on ovals like Scott Bloomquist, Tony Stewart, and that whole outlaw gang. Stew was the class rep for Senior 4-cycle, he wrote the class rules, and built the fastest motors in the class. I beleive they were the flat head Briggs, that preceeded the Briggs Animal (and LO 206), back in the 1990's we were part of the US, International Kart Federation sanctioning body, Alberta was part of Region 10 IKF. Eventually ASN Canada forced the IKF to withdraw from sanctioning in Canada, so we changed to Honda GX160 and GX200 motors.
At that time we were racing at Varsity Speed Park, next to Race City Speedway, now the City of Calgary recycling facility. Anyway in 2008 i started with a stock Briggs motor, and Stew and his buddies blew by me, and everyone that didn't have a Hayward motor, by 2-3 seconds a lap. I relented and gave Stew a new Briggs motor in the box and $500 build fee. He was a good race motor builder, including the Briggs kart motors, although the connecting rods were a weak point. Those building fees got him into the dirt car. Halfway through that kart season, i got the new motor. I won that race and most of the races for the rest of the year. I was faster than Stew, with his motor! He wasn't as proud as you would have thought. He couldn't figure it out, nor could i, i knew it wasn't my driving skills that were leaving him in my dust. He accused me of taking the motor to Gabor Kajdy to get something done to it. Gabor is a Hungarian, Calgary Transit bus driver, who worked on his own motors. I never let anyone touch that Briggs after i got it from Stew.
In the off season, i should have had the motor rebuilt, but i had low expectations of a Stew rebuild being as successful for the next season. I chose to change the oil and run the motor for 2009 as is. Stew created a nice wood trophy for that year, with a silver bowl on the top. It had multiple stepped wood layers, and every race he made an engraved plaque with the top 3 finishers names on it. I'm sure he had a shelf in his workshop reserved for it.
I did no testing, i did no practice, on race days i did 1 practice lap to make sure it worked and waited for the heat races. Yes, i was on the podium for every race in the first half of 2008. Eventually, as with all fast Hayward motors, it finally threw the con rod through the block in mid 2008 and i coasted off into the grass, leaving an oil slick in my wake. I put the stock motor back on the kart for the rest of the season, and my mid pack resuts were enough to secure a second championship. The beauty of the whole scheme was that Stew couldn't protest me! He was the motor builder, he would be protesting himself. I still don't know why that motor was so fast, he didn't know, i just pulled the cord and hung on tight.
I saw a photo in a racing magazine once, of a sign on a racing trailer, that read “This project is so secret, even we don't know what we are doing!” Love that sign, great quote. The Outlaw Years, it was nice to be on the right side for once. The remains of the motor are in my garage, the 2 Championship Trophies are on my shelf.
At the year end kart banquet Gabor was there, his son was racing. In my Championship acceptance I thanked Gabor, “saying you know what you did” even though he did nothing. He laughed and Stew stewed.
Anyway Stew got the money to race his dirt modified car in the US, and I became a legend in my own mind. Five CKRC Championships, 3 of them under IKF and ASN Canada rules, 2 under Stew's rules.

If you have a racing story, everyone has: your first race, charging from the back of the pack to the podium, overcoming obsticles, whatever, post it!

[kart33]

The Mysteriously Unbeatable Briggs Motor That Won 2 Senior 4-Cycle Championships:

In the early 2000's the CKRC Senior 4-Cycle class was run by Stewart Hayward. Stew was originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, he was into oval dirt racing. Stew's dream was to race a dirt modified car on ovals like Scott Bloomquist, Tony Stewart, and that whole outlaw gang. Stew was the class rep for Senior 4-cycle, he wrote the class rules, and built the fastest motors in the class. I beleive they were the flat head Briggs, that preceeded the Briggs Animal (and LO 206), back in the 1990's we were part of the US, International Kart Federation sanctioning body, Alberta was part of Region 10 IKF. Eventually ASN Canada forced the IKF to withdraw from sanctioning in Canada, so we changed to Honda GX160 and GX200 motors.
At that time we were racing at Varsity Speed Park, next to Race City Speedway, now the City of Calgary recycling facility. Anyway in 2008 i started with a stock Briggs motor, and Stew and his buddies blew by me, and everyone that didn't have a Hayward motor, by 2-3 seconds a lap. I relented and gave Stew a new Briggs motor in the box and $500 build fee. He was a good race motor builder, including the Briggs kart motors, although the connecting rods were a weak point. Those building fees got him into the dirt car. Halfway through that kart season, i got the new motor. I won that race and most of the races for the rest of the year. I was faster than Stew, with his motor! He wasn't as proud as you would have thought. He couldn't figure it out, nor could i, i knew it wasn't my driving skills that were leaving him in my dust. He accused me of taking the motor to Gabor Kajdy to get something done to it. Gabor is a Hungarian, Calgary Transit bus driver, who worked on his own motors. I never let anyone touch that Briggs after i got it from Stew.
In the off season, i should have had the motor rebuilt, but i had low expectations of a Stew rebuild being as successful for the next season. I chose to change the oil and run the motor for 2009 as is. Stew created a nice wood trophy for that year, with a silver bowl on the top. It had multiple stepped wood layers, and every race he made an engraved plaque with the top 3 finishers names on it. I'm sure he had a shelf in his workshop reserved for it.
I did no testing, i did no practice, on race days i did 1 practice lap to make sure it worked and waited for the heat races. Again, i was on the podium for every race in the first half of 2009. Eventually, as with all fast Hayward motors, it finally threw the con rod through the block in mid 2009 and i coasted off into the grass, leaving an oil slick in my wake. I put the stock motor back on the kart for the rest of the season, and my mid pack resuts were enough to secure a second championship. The beauty of the whole scheme was that Stew couldn't protest me! He was the motor builder, he would be protesting himself. I still don't know why that motor was so fast, he didn't know, i just pulled the cord and hung on tight.
I saw a photo in a racing magazine once, of a sign on a racing trailer, that read “This project is so secret, even we don't know what we are doing!” Love that sign, great quote. The Outlaw Years, it was nice to be on the right side for once. The remains of the motor are in my garage, the 2 Championship Trophies are on my shelf.
At the year end kart banquet Gabor was there, his son was also racing. In my Championship acceptance I thanked Gabor, “saying you know what you did” even though he did nothing. He laughed and Stew stewed.
Anyway Stew got the money to race his dirt modified car in the US, and I became a legend in my own mind. Five CKRC Championships, 3 of them under IKF and ASN Canada rules, 2 under Stew's rules.

If you have a racing story, everyone has: your first race, charging from the back of the pack to the podium, overcoming obsticles, whatever, post it!

[Mark]

Great story !

Mine is shorter and goes back to the Varisty days as well.

There was ONE tree near the track and a hawk decided to build a nest in it. Once when racing Rotax, I had some kind of motor issue (was common for Rotax in those days !) and went off near that tree. The hawk didn't appreciate the uninvited company and came at me. This happened to at least one other racer and I recall a drivers meeting where we were told to keep our helmet on if we stopped anywhere near that tree and get away as quickly as possible !

[kart33]

Oh yeah, i remember that hawk! He or she knew whose territory it was. Sure enough, after 13 years the C&DKRC left town!

[kart33]

Speaking of old kart tracks. I take the c-train from Southland to downtown and on the west side before the 39th street station a new chainlink fence is going up, for, i presume, a storage yard, that used to be a rental track i knew as Kart World (John Kwong knows it by another name, and could give a better history of it) It included a building with a restaurant. John did the kart club race there? The first track i raced was Kart Gardens near the airport, it was demolished for, i think, airport trail. Then we built Varsity Speed Park next to Race City Oval and Road Course tracks. We felt secure there as Ben Dockter had a long term lease from the city. That ended when the city wanted it back for the recycling plant. They made Ben a deal that he couldn't refuse. His lease called for him to tear down the grandstand, buildings, ashphalt track, oval track and return the land to its natural state. The city agreed to waive all of that if he vacated early. So far, so good in the outer limits of Strathmore, although Canadian Tire, etc. are perhaps to comfortably close.