OFFSEASON TESTING!

After the excitement and drama of the conclusion to the Championship, the team immediately began planning for the next. In addition to guest entries in the Gothenburg Summer Cup, the preparations for the 2016/17 season have included training camp and testing sessions in San Diego, California.

The move to get so far away from team headquarters wasn't so strange, though, as it is the home of team Driver Dan Grabko, who took the opportunity to reconnect with family and friends in between the rigorous off season program.

​K1 Speed Circuit, San Diego was the site of the team's first of its limited on track testing, and all were eager to take full advantage of the opportunity. Grabko Grand Prix went into the session alongside Cobborama Karting, a local outfit the team has an established longstanding partnership with. The two team drivers are also friends privately so it was a jovial atmosphere as the team's prepped for their first of 4 runs.

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​The circuit itself is short and technical, the lap record being a mere 21.104 seconds. With only one true straight, between turns 3 and 4, it is a mazy course requiring high levels of concentration at all times, as any minor mistake results in a ruined lap. For Grabko Grand Prix, with very little experience at the circuit, the idea was to get experience in racing karts with significantly different driving characteristics than its driver is used to, in order to develop his adaptability. With this in mind, the team went into the day looking to come within 1 second of the lap record by the end of the day.

The first session was all about getting a feeling for the karts. Right away, Dan reported in extremely twitchy braking behavior and a delayed throttle response that degraded drivability and driver confidence in getting consistency out of the kart. It was the perfect platform to fine tune driver adaptability. Eric Cobb was having similar commentary on the shared radio channel, and both drivers were struggling for pace.

This was compounded by the nature of the administration of the circuit, allowing for open amateur driving during the session. On a circuit this small, the addition of inexperienced drivers on track made it difficult to get into a groove and get a proper feel for the track and the karts.

Despite this, both drivers showed their class, the Grabko Grand Prix driver besting his Cobborama counterpart by a couple of tenths, posting times of 22.455 and 22.498 respectively. Not quite where they wanted to be but also not bad considering it was the first time out for the drivers.

After a short debrief in which the team discussed adjustments on the racing line, braking points, and corner exits, the drivers were out again. In spite of heavy traffic and several incidents of other drivers ignoring blue flags, the anticipated improvement materialized, with the drivers swapping out person best times on several occasions before Grabko eked out the session with a 21.155 with Cobb right on his heels with a 21.188.

Next on the scheduled program was a couple of qualifying simulations to round off the day, and so, after a longer break discussing specifically the exit of turns 2 and 8, and again determining the best way to get optimal throttle application in dealing with the delayed response, the drivers lined up again.

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Next on the scheduled program was a couple of qualifying simulations to round off the day, and so, after a longer break discussing specifically the exit of turns 2 and 8, and again determining the best way to get optimal throttle application in dealing with the delayed response, the drivers lined up again.

Unfortunately, the session was even more crowed than the previous two, and to say that finding space for complete hot laps would be an understatement. The team counted three opportunities for this during the session. Eric was leading the session all the way to the end, despite being unable to improve on his 22.188, posting a best time of 22.220. On the very last lap, Dan was able to just edge his friend and colleague, recording a 22.197 as he crossed the checkered flag.

So going into the last qualifying simulation, Dan was leading 3-0 over the Cobborama Karting driver, but still hadn't achieved the goal of the day, which was to post better than a 22.104 lap and come within a second of the track record. He was starting to zero in on the feel of the karts, however, and was hopeful going into the last session of the day.

Yet again, Dan left it late on as the frustration grew in the final session. In a bit of bad luck, a couple of amateur drivers took it in their head that they would attempt to hold up and even race the clearly faster and more experienced driving duo attempting to complete testing programs and proceeded to impede both drivers. In a particularly irritating incident, Grabko was intentionally driven into and spun while lapping slower vehicles and the radio exploded in frustration, and unpleasant hand gestures ensued. Getting his head back down, Dan went into the final lap of the session only having posted a 23.134, not having had a single clean lap. However, the racing gods seemed to finally smile upon him as he found himself looking at a clean run to the checkered flag.

And he delivered. Crossing the line, there was an audible, "Yes!" from the Grabko Grand Prix driver as he looked up at the live timing and scoring screen to see that he had extracted a 22.067 from the kart. Cobb, who had also had a very disruptive final session, was left frustrated and disappointed, unable to improve on his best time of the day, posting a 22.245.

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​So overall a really productive test, with the team achieving the goals set out for them, the teams expectedly setting the best times of the day, and the drivers developing as hoped.

Next up, a guest entry in the K1 Speed San Diego Cup to end the team's off season testing program, and then a second go as a guest entry in the Gothenburg Summer Cup as part of its preseason preparation.

Thanks to all our fans for your continued support! We look forward to continuing to develop, improve, and above all entertain you all in our quest to grow and win!