Line boring one piece vtwin kohler block

[FTlatheworks]

Not going into the politics of electrification, just happy it's moving forward, wish you guys could go on a ride with me....

I got into engine building when I met another kart shop owner (constructor) named Mike Clements (RIP) at our local track PKRA. We were dominating the TaG class with an Easykart and he came out with a chassis of his own design and a 4-cycle Biland engine that gave us a run for the money. My shop was called TMS Racing and his was Heartbeat Racing, named for the fact he'd survived several heart attacks and needed to get back doing what he knew best as a former IKF Grand National Champion.

At the time we were beating former Indy 500 champ Buddy Rice who ran another local kart shop, so when Mike came out of nowhere and his driver won a race or two I took notice. Well, Mike and I got to talking and it turned out he wanted to sell his business so he could start another one under his own name which had been taken from him in a business deal gone bad. Shortly after deciding we could work together I broke my leg (actually a Giant Cell Tumor) and needed to curtail some of my trackside service business. So, I started apprenticing with Mike at his home shop in Chandler, AZ which was just a few miles from my home.

Mike taught me many things about karting, engine building, and life that I'll be forever grateful for and eventually we came to an agreement for me to purchase Heartbeat Racing Products including both chassis he designed, engine building clients and some inventory. This was around 2007 and I finally made a profit that year after starting TMS in 2004. Mike stayed on to make a smooth transition and we attended the Kartfest tradeshow in Hickory, NC for a couple of years together.

We all know what happened in 2008....

In 2009 I moved the business to Northern Michigan and diversified into outdoor power equipment with Heartbeat Power Products, LLC. I continued to run the karting business until 2010 but the bottom had really dropped out of the entire industry with so many people having to cut back, or get out of racing all together. I liquidated most of my inventory in 2015, but still have the dyno and a few other things entrusted with a close friend there.

Actually, my engine building experience goes back all the way to working at Cal Kart when I was 14. But I went into A/V, then IT, then my own businesses and eventually back to IT. Kinda have gone full circle though since I maintain equipment at an electric motorcycle company now.

Definitely a long winded explanation but it wasn't a straightforward path.

John

that’s awesome. I wish I had gotten my stuff together and found the hobbies I love earlier in life. Real karting seems very fun.

 

[FTlatheworks]

For me custom engines is a hobby I have been in, hot rod/racing cars. My enjoyment comes from building engines which produce huge power naturally aspirated with as few exotic parts as possible.

I am a senior process piping/mechanical designer and I have been doing that for 40 years. I have worked on projects related to oil tooling, turbine packages, Oil & Gas (both up and down stream on and offshore), Chemical plants, Industrial compressed and Cryogenic gas systems, Aerospace (ground support for launch vehicle development) and many miscellaneous projects. I have lived both in the office and out in the field.

What is your background?

I am but a young press operator. I didn’t get my head out of my butt until I was in my mid twenties. Thought partying and going out was cooler than setting up a career for myself unfortunately. I tried to go back to school for engineering, then IT, but work and life got in the way and I didn’t have the confidence in my intelligence and math skills to quit my job to finish my engineering degree and they stopped offering night programs locally. I stayed a press operator at my families company.

I can go back and start my bachelors in IT, but I didn’t enjoy it like I did engineering, even though I’m god awful at math. The computer classes really were tough for me to finish the work due to interest, not aptitude.