2006 Opener in the books

I have to start off by saying, it has been quite some time since I have seen so much rain at a race. The Pits were a mess and tempers were beginning to run short. The organizers did an excellent job and actually stayed on schedule through out the entire weekend. Few notables to mention, my hats off to fellow Canadian Eric Gerrits for his podium finish. Eric led for half the main until something began to go, he was overtaken for first and then second, but held on for a most impressive third in his inaugural Stars race. Another one to watch was Britain's Alexander Simms, the man could definitely drive - especially in the rain. He won the prefinal and the final in a walk. As far as my driver, Victor Cabrera, he was quite impressive and showed a tremendous amount of speed, but bad luck had his number in turn one. Both in the prefinal and last chance race, he was knocked off the track and had to battle back from deep in the pack; in the end, a disappointing result was all we could muster. Again, well done to the Stars event organizers, you did a tremendous job!

Industry News

Aim Sports unveiled their latest unit in Data Acquisition - the MyChron4. After doing some research I can't help but be a little excited about this product. A few of the changes are purely cosmetic, such as the yellow backlight and the chaffered corners. But the major enhancements are what really appeal to me; a larger memory capacity, on screen data analysis, and especially the USB download key. Gone are the days of lugging around my notebook or having it balance on one of my side pods. The USB key is compact and acts as a storage unit. When myself or someone whom I am working for comes off the track, all I have to do is plug the connector end into the unit and all the data gets stored on the key. Then plug it into the USB port on my laptop and presto, all the information is downloaded onto my machine for viewing. It's basically a 'jump drive', the concept may be old news in IT terms, but new in the racing world. The MyChron4 won't be available until late spring, but when it is, Ranta Racing will definitely have one on a machine.

Deal finalized

I am happy to announce that late last night I finalized a deal with the J3Competition.com race team based out of Erie, PA. The deal consists of me tuning for Puerto Rican, Victor Cabrera in the very competitive JICA class at all the Stars of karting races sponsored by IRL and Snap on Tools. From North Carolina to California, all eight races in the Eastern and Western series are on the docket with the first leg only three weeks away in Norman, Oklahoma. The deal came together fairly quickly, however, having known two of the partners in the J3Competition.com team for over 20 years made the decision an easy one. I will give daily updates on race weekends, so watch for them beginning March 17 - 19th.