Youth Charity Race Team
Oct 5, 2009, 05:47 PM
#1
Youth Charity Race Team
Posting this for a friend....i'm in no way involved but it sounds really cool. 
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http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...race-team.html
Starting in September of 2009, the non-profit group KaleidoLINKS will launch a number of programs to help foster social and educational opportunites for underprivlidged Washington D.C. youth.
One of the programs will be known as "KL Communication" and will focus on teaching the youth about modern communications including media and social networking. By learning about this, KaleidoLINKS youth will then be able to take the lead in creating an outlet for honest conversation for their peers both locally and nationally.
Another program is "KL Community" - youth will learn about working together with community leaders to bridge the gap between generations in challenging social issues.
The program I am involved with is "KL Power" and is a racing team for the youth.
Year one of the progam will run September to September, and include the building of a racecar, and then campaigning it for a NASA Time Trial National Championship.
Project leaders will drive the car, and the youth will not only be responsible for the building of the car (under supervision from the project leaders) but during the season will also be engaging in other aspects of running the race team such as:
Event planning and scheduling: making hotel reservations, registration deadlines and other race team organization duties.
Budgeting: Youth will learn the importance of setting budgets and sticking to them.
Event coverage: Website development, press releases and other media formats. (pictures, twitter, facebook)
Management: Working under deadlines, parts and tool inventory issues, people skills.
The idea is that the youth are provided with not only the traditional vocational skills associated with the automotive industry, but the lesser-known - or published - "white collar" duties and opportunities as well.
In addition to the team-associated duties, the youth will also have classroom time that included lessons on media, journalism, automotive/racing history, sciences including areodynamics, physics and geometry.
Essentially, we want the youth to be able to find their "niche" whatever it may be and in a fun, goal-oriented environment that motivates learning and self-development.
Youth will be 14-18 years old, and must live in a household where the combined income is less than $18,000/year. This is not a program for troubled kids, but a program to give kids who would otherwise never have a chance to be in a program like this the chance to experience it.
Right now feedback has been very positive, and depending on how the project goes, this could turn into a three-year program:
Year 1: Build and campaign the XTR in NASA Time Trials
Year 2: Refresh and campaign a Formula SCCA car for an SCCA National Season
Year 3: The 18/19-year-old program "seniors" will be the crew for a Koni Sportscar Challenge car.
This is in the planning stages, though an alternative could be a multi-city program where each city builds/campaigns the XTR, concluding in a year-end event where the teams compete against other NASA entrants and themselves.
Links again:
The Web: www.kaleidolinks.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pa...6260735?ref=ts
Next up: The car
------------------------------------------------------------------
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...race-team.html
Starting in September of 2009, the non-profit group KaleidoLINKS will launch a number of programs to help foster social and educational opportunites for underprivlidged Washington D.C. youth.
One of the programs will be known as "KL Communication" and will focus on teaching the youth about modern communications including media and social networking. By learning about this, KaleidoLINKS youth will then be able to take the lead in creating an outlet for honest conversation for their peers both locally and nationally.
Another program is "KL Community" - youth will learn about working together with community leaders to bridge the gap between generations in challenging social issues.
The program I am involved with is "KL Power" and is a racing team for the youth.
Year one of the progam will run September to September, and include the building of a racecar, and then campaigning it for a NASA Time Trial National Championship.
Project leaders will drive the car, and the youth will not only be responsible for the building of the car (under supervision from the project leaders) but during the season will also be engaging in other aspects of running the race team such as:
Event planning and scheduling: making hotel reservations, registration deadlines and other race team organization duties.
Budgeting: Youth will learn the importance of setting budgets and sticking to them.
Event coverage: Website development, press releases and other media formats. (pictures, twitter, facebook)
Management: Working under deadlines, parts and tool inventory issues, people skills.
The idea is that the youth are provided with not only the traditional vocational skills associated with the automotive industry, but the lesser-known - or published - "white collar" duties and opportunities as well.
In addition to the team-associated duties, the youth will also have classroom time that included lessons on media, journalism, automotive/racing history, sciences including areodynamics, physics and geometry.
Essentially, we want the youth to be able to find their "niche" whatever it may be and in a fun, goal-oriented environment that motivates learning and self-development.
Youth will be 14-18 years old, and must live in a household where the combined income is less than $18,000/year. This is not a program for troubled kids, but a program to give kids who would otherwise never have a chance to be in a program like this the chance to experience it.
Right now feedback has been very positive, and depending on how the project goes, this could turn into a three-year program:
Year 1: Build and campaign the XTR in NASA Time Trials
Year 2: Refresh and campaign a Formula SCCA car for an SCCA National Season
Year 3: The 18/19-year-old program "seniors" will be the crew for a Koni Sportscar Challenge car.
This is in the planning stages, though an alternative could be a multi-city program where each city builds/campaigns the XTR, concluding in a year-end event where the teams compete against other NASA entrants and themselves.
Links again:
The Web: www.kaleidolinks.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pa...6260735?ref=ts
Next up: The car
Oct 5, 2009, 05:47 PM
#2
The Car:
The Westfield XTR.
Westfield, a company that is probably best-known for a Lotus Super 7 clone, also has a sports racer track/street kit called the XTR.
The XTR uses the Suzuki Hayabusa 1300cc engine and transmission, and weighs in at less than 1100 lbs including driver giving it a pounds:horsepower ratio of 4.6:1 - to compare, a Dodge Viper has a ratio of 7:1.
The car will be driven in NASA Time Trial events, hopefully the Grassroots Motorsports Magazine Ultimate Track Car Challenge (depending on entry acceptance) the Kit Car Run N' Gun, and the Tire Rack One Lap of America. Andrew Stallworth and Jon Krolewicz - project leaders - will share driving duties.
There will be some differences between the pictures in the media car shown here and the KaleidoLINKS car.
The KL Power car will not have seats installed,, instead each driver will have a custom-two-part foam seat poured for their driving duties. (I have sat in the car, the seats are WAY higher than needed) It will also be a left-hand drive car.
The KL Power car will also hopefully be on Koni Shocks - the factory car would be delivered with another brand, but there is no support in North America for them, and so we should be going with a more user-friendly and customer-supported Koni.
The car will run on E85 to fit with the current trend of green fuels.
European tire sizes will change to more available US sizes, and the car will run on true racing slicks for track competition.
There will be areo improvements for greater downforce, the choice of those and implementation of them coinciding with classroom lessons for the youth in the program.
The car will make its public on-track debut at a February ride-and-drive charity event at Virginia International Raceway. The event will include rides in the XTR for the youth in the program, and rides in other cars for potential donors and friends of KaleidoLINKS. There will be Grand Am, ALMS and other pro drivers on hand to give rides.
The Westfield XTR.
Westfield, a company that is probably best-known for a Lotus Super 7 clone, also has a sports racer track/street kit called the XTR.
The XTR uses the Suzuki Hayabusa 1300cc engine and transmission, and weighs in at less than 1100 lbs including driver giving it a pounds:horsepower ratio of 4.6:1 - to compare, a Dodge Viper has a ratio of 7:1.
The car will be driven in NASA Time Trial events, hopefully the Grassroots Motorsports Magazine Ultimate Track Car Challenge (depending on entry acceptance) the Kit Car Run N' Gun, and the Tire Rack One Lap of America. Andrew Stallworth and Jon Krolewicz - project leaders - will share driving duties.
There will be some differences between the pictures in the media car shown here and the KaleidoLINKS car.
The KL Power car will not have seats installed,, instead each driver will have a custom-two-part foam seat poured for their driving duties. (I have sat in the car, the seats are WAY higher than needed) It will also be a left-hand drive car.
The KL Power car will also hopefully be on Koni Shocks - the factory car would be delivered with another brand, but there is no support in North America for them, and so we should be going with a more user-friendly and customer-supported Koni.
The car will run on E85 to fit with the current trend of green fuels.
European tire sizes will change to more available US sizes, and the car will run on true racing slicks for track competition.
There will be areo improvements for greater downforce, the choice of those and implementation of them coinciding with classroom lessons for the youth in the program.
The car will make its public on-track debut at a February ride-and-drive charity event at Virginia International Raceway. The event will include rides in the XTR for the youth in the program, and rides in other cars for potential donors and friends of KaleidoLINKS. There will be Grand Am, ALMS and other pro drivers on hand to give rides.
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