Pre-race interview with Mike Klensin
This weekend Mike Klensin and the ColeCar Motorsports team will be heading out to Congress, Arizona for Dirt Riot Southwest Round 1. It’s a four hour drive from Tucson to Thompson’s Ranch. Most of the team will arrive Friday; qualifying begins Sunday, March 8 at 9 a.m.
‘Timmy’ at King of the Hammers 2015; photo by Patty Pinnel
Pre-Race Prep
“After every race we have to tear the car down and look for broken or worn parts – and more so after KOH, due to how long the race was. We also knew that we had an overheating issue and fuel pressure issue that we needed to fix. We’re doing shock tuning on Wednesday and we think we got the overheating issue figured out.”
“We’re race prepping the car right now, have our RCV CV joints rebuilt and we’re putting those back in the car. Checking bolts and fluid levels and replacing worn parts from KOH so that we’re ready for the Congress race.
Compared to Dirt Riot, KOH is totally separate animal, a lot longer. For these shorter races the car doesn’t have to carry as much junk and gets prepped differently. We’re making some other adjustments, tire pressure and adjusting the suspension. Pretty standard pre-race stuff.”
(Read our blog from KOH2015; it was Klensin’s first race in the new Ultra4 IFS car.)
The Spectator Experience
Mike expects it Congress will be a lot of fun. “It’s a lapped race, you do as many laps as you can in a certain amount of time. It is fun for spectators and there’s a few areas to watch. There are bathrooms and probably a food vendor. And then there’s dry camping if somebody wanted to go camp there. The weather should be good. We’re getting rain today and tomorrow I think, but the weekend is supposed to be sunny and probably 75.”
If this is your first time at a Dirt Riot race, W.E.Rock tells you what to expect.
Find maps, ticket prices and other details at W.E.Rock Live.
About Amanda Products’ Role
This year Amanda Products is TITLE sponsor of ColeCar Motorsports LLC, including the new Ultra4 race car and two UTVs.
Amanda Products is home of SpeedHook™ – as seen on Timmy in the photo below. The ingenious off-road recovery device is priced from $79; it’s compatible with Jeeps, F150s, buggies and any vehicle with a 2” receiver hitch.
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