CotA Race Recap: Heat, Heartbreak & Hard Lessons in Texas
What was supposed to be a smooth trip to the Circuit of the Americas turned into one of the most challenging race weekends we've ever had—before we even made it to the track.
The Trouble Started Early
Not even two hours into the drive, disaster struck: a blowout on the RV shredded the water and wastewater tanks, setting us back several hours and hitting the budget hard before the weekend even began.
That would've been enough for one trip, but things just kept piling up.
When we stopped for the night and fired up the generator, we realized the radiator had also been damaged—every drop of coolant leaked out as soon as we started it. On top of that, the bedroom floor had taken some damage, too. Wednesday morning found us doing field repairs in a Lowe’s parking lot. Unfortunately, the generator wasn’t something we could fix on the road.
It Gets Hotter From Here
To survive the Texas heat, we picked up the loudest portable generator known to mankind—but it wasn’t powerful enough to run the whole RV. Outside, it was 95°F. Inside? A swampy 90°F. Not ideal for race prep or sleep.
While setting up the pit and prepping the bike for Friday’s practice, we also scrambled to solve our power problem. I now know more than I ever wanted to about 50-amp plugs, adapters, and generator hookups. Eventually, we rented a massive 20kW tow-behind unit and finally got full power running—by Saturday morning.
Just in time. But probably not in budget.
Friday: Practice and a Data Blackout
Carson went out for Practice 1 and chipped away at his time, going from a 2:34 to a 2:32. But with the leaders dropping into the 2:28s, we knew we had work to do.
Then came another curveball: the data system crashed. The AiM datalogger decided this was its weekend to misbehave. We had no usable telemetry. No lap breakdowns. Nothing to guide our decisions.
Heading into Qualifying 1, we made gearing changes to give Carson better drive out of the corners, and early signs were promising. He picked up right where he left off in Practice and dropped a full two seconds, clocking in at a 2:30. But just as he was settling into a rhythm, the quick shifter failed—again—cutting the session short and robbing him of crucial laps to keep building pace. That lost track time stung, especially with the front-runners continuing to drop into the 2:28s. To make matters worse, our AiM datalogger still wasn’t playing nice, and it took hours just to extract basic lap info. On the upside, I’m becoming a reluctant pro at RaceStudio3—though I'd rather just have a working system.
Q2: Steps Forward, One Second at a Time
We kept the gearing but made suspension tweaks—softer front and rear—to help Carson carry more speed through corners. It paid off. He dropped another second in Qualifying 2, staying in P9 but inching closer to the front runners in raw pace.
Carson’s view from the grid
Race 1: A Fight to the Flag
Carson got bottled up behind Solly off the start, and by the time he got around, the lead pack had checked out. From there, it was a fierce three-way battle between Carson, Solly, and Nathan Bettencourt.
The last lap was chaos. Position changes, tight lines, and no one knowing who finished where until well after the checkered flag. It was one of the best races of the day—even if the overall pace was a second slower than qualifying. Maybe the heat got to everyone.
Warmup & Race 2: The Real Turning Point
Sunday morning warmup gave us one last chance to try changes, but everything we considered would have made an already chattery front end worse. We backed off and ran it as-is. The result? Same pace as Race 1. No gain, no loss.
But then came a breakthrough.
Talking with Felix from Kramer, we uncovered a ton of info that we honestly wish we’d known earlier in the season:
The rev limiter varies by gear.
The actual rev limit is 11,500, not 11,750 like we thought.
And you should never run more than 5mm of preload.
With that new knowledge, we overhauled the bike before Race 2—springs, preload, tire pressures—the works. Carson rolled to the grid with a brand-new setup under him. It was a science experiment, and we were about to find out if we got the formula right.
Race 2: Best Yet
The race split into four groups. Carson led the third group early on and managed to put a gap on Solly and Nathan, but Nathan clawed back into the mix and the two traded positions lap after lap.
Carson came out on top—P7, his best finish of the weekend, and another full second faster than his previous best. The changes worked. We’ve finally found a base setup that Carson can fight with.
Takeaways: Brutal, but Worth It
From RV meltdowns to data failures, this weekend threw everything at us. But in the midst of the heat, noise, and chaos, we made big strides.
We’re coming out of CotA not just with better results, but with deeper knowledge, improved setup, and momentum we can carry into NJMP in two weeks.
Bring it on.
Follow along for more race recaps, tech insights, and behind-the-scenes stories as Carson continues his climb through the field.