American karting driver takes 4^th in Japan National Championship

Sugo Japan – 14 year old kart driver, Colin Braun, competed in the 26^th annual Toyota/Yamaha All Japan National Karting Championship October 13^th, 2002, finishing 4^th in the 34 kart field.  Yamaha Motor Corp Japan, along with Yamaha USA selected Colin to race against the best kart racers in all of Japan.  This event is the pinnacle of karting in Japan.  More than 200 racers have competed during the year to earn a spot in this championship field.

 With Yamaha providing the travel and organizing the kart equipment, Colin and his family (Jeff, Diane, and brother, Travis) spent 2 days in Tokyo sightseeing.  After a trip on the famous 150 MPH Bullet Train, the team arrived in the central city of Sendai.  Practice began on Wednesday at the Sports Land Sugo International Kart track.  Yamaha provided the team with a new Winforce chassis made by Birel, and 2 fresh Yamaha KT100 engines.  The team brought special parts for the Birel chassis that were provided by MRP, the Birel chassis importer in the US.  In addition Colin had the support of the Yamaha test team and factory mechanic.

Working with the chassis and engine, Colin was quickly in the top 10 on the practice sheets.  Much of this was due to the advance work Woltjer Engines had done on the dyno to give the team some information about the stock engines required.  Colin had a lot of new things to learn:   the kart was direct drive, the engine spec was different, a different exhaust pipe and intake system, and the tire was completely unknown.  In addition there is no upper age limit in the class, so Colin was competing against past senior Japanese and international champions, with most of the drivers in the 18 to 25 year old range.

Tony Coello suggested few final chassis changes via email, which helped Colin surprise the competitors as well as the Yamaha mechanics by qualifying in 4^th place on Saturday.  That night Yamaha had a big party for all the competitors with a band, dancing, fireworks, hot air balloon rides, and a F3 car demonstration.  Colin had the opportunity to thank Yamaha for inviting him to Japan while being interviewed by a Japanese radio personality on stage.

During the Sunday qualifying race Colin was in a pack of the top 5 karts, but could not make any improvement on his starting position.  The start of the final saw Colin slip to 5^th, but he quickly made the pass to regain 4^th.  After that it was a struggle to make any head way on the lead 3, and he had to settle for 4^th.  Mr. Higashihara, Manager of kart sales – Yamaha, told Colin that he was impressed with his drive and said he predicts he will be the favorite to win next year.

There is a complete report with many pictures and details of the trip at the team’s web site.  Feel free to use text of pictures from the site as required.  www.tracc5.com.