News

19.04.2012

Dutch 4 stroke Sprint Championship success for Swiss Hutless

After missing pole position by just 0.02 seconds Lars Brugman and the Montfoort Motorsports team managed to claim second place in the second race of the Dutch 4 stroke Sprint Championship at Circuit Park Berghem in Holland.

The Swiss Hutless/Swissauto 250 combination proved very fast in qualifying for the VT250 Light class but tyre degradation issues during the race prevented even greater success. A second place in heat 1 and a third place in heat 2 secured second place for the day.

This result further strengthened Lars Brugman’s second place in the championship, and the team is hopefull for the next races in Spa Francorchamps in May and Hahn in June.

19.04.2012

Brent Harper Maintains Gatorz Championship Lead CMC

CMC/SWISS HUTLESS driver Brent Harper was able to maintain the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas Championship lead after a tough weekend in Phoenix, AZ.
After not being able to get to the track before Friday, Harper found himself sitting 6th fastest after Saturday’s qualifying session, 0.251s off the pace. A rough start in the pre-final had Harper falling back to 8th, but he was able to work back to his original starting position of 6th. While still struggling to match the pace of the leaders, Harper was only able to manage 5th in the main. However, infractions at the scales and the tech barn granted him the final podium spot and the crucial championship points that come with it. Said Harper, “The assumptions we made after Tucson for our kart set-up in Phoenix were a bit off the mark. We’ll take a look at everything tonight and come back in the morning with an answer.”
Harper and mechanic Don Holmboe spent the evening analyzing the performance of the kart throughout the day and decided to make some wholesale changes to the baseline set-up of the Swiss I chassis for Sunday. After posting best time in the morning warm-up, their decisions were validated. Further validation came by putting the Swiss I on pole position for Sunday’s pre-final, just edging out championship contender Paul Bonilla by .074s and snatching away a crucial 5 bonus points.
Unfortunately, a mechanical mishap in the pre-final prevented Harper from being able to take the green flag from his pole position. Posting no-laps in the pre-final, Brent would be forced to start the Final from the last spot on the grid.
Harper got a decent start and instantly moved up two positions. By lap 4 he was in the top ten. The Swiss I was starting to come in and Brent was able to keep working his way up the order. On lap 14, just over half distance, Brent posted the fastest lap of the race and snatched 5 more bonus points. With the kart running strong laps, Harper just needed a little luck to reach the front. No such luck would come however as the top five all ran clean from the green flag and were not in a position to challenge each other as they all spread out as the race progressed. Brent’s charge from the back ended at 6th position.
CMC/SWISSHUTLESS has a 22 year history with Swiss Hutless chassis’ and has seen scores of championships won on this venerable brand, including the 2011 RMAX Grand National Championship, the 2010 Florida Winter Tour, both races of Gatorz Round 1 in Tucson and many IKF and WKA national road racing wins.
Look for the continued success of CMC/SWISSHUTLESS and Brent Harper at the final round of the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas in Fontana. To be a part of the success, contact Don Holmboe of CMC/SWISSHUTLESS.

17.02.2012

eKartingNews.com Driver of the Month - Brent Harper - January 2012

In a continued effort to highlight the many outstanding performances by drivers around the country, eKartingNews.com is proud to introduce the ‘Driver of the Month’ program. Each month, the staff at EKN will determine the one driver who stood out above the rest and give the viewers a chance to know exactly what they accomplished and who they are.

After winning a national championship, one of the hardest things to do is defend that very same crown the following year. History has shown that repeating as a champion in any sport is a difficult task, and motorsports is no different…unless you are Jimmy Johnson. For Brent Harper, 2012 will be a year of defense as he is out to prove that his Rotax Grand Nationals championship was no gift, rather rightly deserved. Thus far, he’s proven to be just as quick with a double win weekend to open up the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas program, earning him the honor of eKartingNews.com January 2012 Driver of the Month.

The weekend began for the CMC/Swiss Hutless/Engine Services driver pitting along with veteran Don Holmboe, the same combination that won him the national crown last July. Making his Gatorz COTA debut after previous starts at the Florida Winter Tour program, Harper fit right in and was near the top of the practice time charts. Qualifying for Saturday’s opening round saw Harper place second behind series frontrunner Paul Bonilla, only to see his time removed for an improper carburetor part. Sent to the back of the 13-kart field for the 17-lap Prefinal, Harper advanced his way forward into the second position by lap 12, unable to cut into the gap Bonilla had established through the checkered flag. Now on the front row, Harper was within reach early until navigating the opening corner. With not much grip on the outside, Harper fell back to fourth. Once settled in, Harper reassumed the second spot and set his sights on Bonilla. Taking the lead over on lap 13, the two ran near identical laps with Harper able to manage an eight-tenth gap for the victory.

06.02.2012

CMC/SWISSHUTLESS Strong at Opening Round of Gatorz

This past weekend the combo of driver Brent Harper and tuner Don Holmboe of CMC/SWISSHUTLESS showed the way again at the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas race in Tucson, Az.
On Saturday Harper qualified 2nd only to be set back to last due to a carburetor infraction on his Rotax.  In the pre-final Harper started last and patiently moved his way up through the field to a 2nd place finish only 2.3 seconds behind the leader.  Harper then capitalized on his 2nd place starting spot in the final and secured the win putting the Swiss Hutless on the top of the podium.
Things went a little smoother for Harper on Sunday by again qualifying 2nd, this time without any penalties.  On the start of the pre-final Harper was shuffled back to 3rd but quickly moved up to 1st by lap 5 and drove to a margin of almost 2 seconds to lock down the top starting spot for the final.  Sunday’s final was a repeat of the pre-final with Harper getting pressured hard for the first few laps but then settling into a rhythm which allowed him to pull away by a margin of 2.9 seconds by the end of the 25 lap feature.  Brent said, “Even though we had some struggles with our engine this weekend the chassis was great and never presented a problem regardless of the amount of rubber being laid down”. 
The key to Brent’s victory was not just his ability to lay down fast laps but the ability for him to do so consistently, lap after lap.  In Sunday’s final he ran 19 out of 25 laps within a few tenths of his fastest lap. Brent credits his Swiss I chassis with the ability to achieve such consistency. 
Look for the continued success of CMC/SWISSHUTLESS and Brent Harper at the subsequent rounds of the Gatorz Challenge of the Americas in Phoenix and Fontana. 

31.10.2011

Swiss Hutless wins U.S. Rotax nationals

This last July Team CMC  competed at the U.S. Nationals in the Masters division at Tuooela, Utah.  Drivers Scott Holmboe and Brent Harper continued to climb towards the top of the charts during practice. When the final ended Holmboe had DNF with a flat tire. Brent Harper turned his 5th place starting position into a Grand National Championship on his 2011 Swiss I.

Brent Harper Grand National Champion

Brent Harper leads field in Masters

13.09.2011

Racing Australia

The team raced again on the weekend with great results, the race meeting was wet & dry during the 3 heat races and with the final under lights it was very slippery with the night due on the track, but the karts were brilliant again in these conditions with the results being.

Tony Reilly 1st & Robert Bingley 3rd in over 40's class
Simon Bingley 3rd in senior heavy
Jackson evans 1st in senior light

24.08.2011

Regional Championship finals in Argentina

25.04.2011

Redline Oil Karting Championships at Infineon Raceway

Kartport Racing Team obtained a victory in the Iame Leopard Spec Class, team driver
Don Rocci manage to overcome an early qualifying incident that saw him back his Swiss
Hutless Kart into the fence after making contact with a slower kart during his flyer lap.
Kartport’s crew managed to replace all the broken bits and pieces and get Don back just
in time to start the heat 1 from the middle of the pack.
A brilliant start got him a few spots and then a few more by lap 3, an over aggressive
move almost put him and the leader on the grass, both managed to recover and fight to
the end of the race with the swiss hutless driver getting the victory in the end.
The second heat and the main were flag to flag victories for team kartport.

It was great for all of us to be back in familiar territory, the Swiss Hutless Chassis worked
flawlessly, the leopard engine proved again to be a very simple and fun package, and
the Bridgestone ykc tires are very consistent and showed ideal minimum wear for a spec
class.

We look forward to the next event on May 1

Rafael Navarro
Technical Director
Team Karport

14.04.2011

SWISS HUTLESS AND CMC ONCE AGAIN FINISH STRONG AT FLORIDA WINTER SERIES

Brent Harper came into the last Round of the FWT hoping to clinch his first ever Masters  FWT Championship.  CMC on Swiss Hutless chassis have had front running success for the last three years at the FWT. After some very bad luck and one mistake by mechanics giving a DQ in qualifying, for Saturday racing, Brent still ended the season with 3rd in the Championship.“ I am truly disappointed” said Brent. “ We had the speed necessary to clinch the Championship but just couldn’t get a break” Harper added “ The chassis (2011 Swiss 1) was superb even when the track gripped up” Brent and his teammate Scott Holmboe (winner of FWT 2010 in Masters) are planning on racing the USA Rotax Nationals for 2011

Brent Harper accepting 3rd place FWT award

Brent Harper in Swiss 1 after posting fastest practice time

07.04.2011

Alain Valente Wins International Trofeo Andrea Margutti with Swiss Hutless

March 19th and 20th 2011 The Trofeo Andrea Margutti  was held in Pavia Italy.  For the Swiss Hutless Racing Team the two native Swiss drivers Alain Marc Freimann and Alain Valente were in the category KF2.

Alain was already showing his quickness in the test sessions and was always one of the fastest pilots. Despite much movement in the time trial, the young Bernese posted the seventh-fastest time.
This was his first race ever in KF2 competition and he got off to a good start and took over P1 after lap 4. At the end he took the checkered flag in P3. The second heat race proved to be very positive and after many hard fought battles, he crossed the finish line in fourth. Thus, qualifying him directly for the final.

Alain started on Sunday in Position 4 in the Pre-Final. After the start he moved immediately into 2nd place with big excitement for the 14-year-old. In the last corner he lost a place to drop to 3rd and crossed the finish line in third.

The final was perfect! Alain was inn the lead after the fourth corner and began to build up a big lead. At the end of the race the new Swiss Hutless pilot in first ever race in this category won his first international race! Won by a Swiss Hutless chassis and BMB engine!

Marc, who played his first race with Swiss Hutless had difficulties in the beginning getting used to the Vega tires. In addition, he missed much of the testing because of problems and he could manage only two test sessions on Friday. From session to session Marc was always improving. In the time trial he managed the 39th position but felt he could move up through the field. After very tough heat races he also qualified for the Pre-Final in position 28.

In the pre-final he had a great start and Marc rocketed himself up to 13th place. Sadly on lap 3 an opponent unfairly drove into him and his kart was damaged to a point that he had to give up the race.

Thus, Marc had the final placing of 30th position. Again, a good start, and the Goldauer fought quickly moving into twelfth place. Unfortunately, the chassis setting’s were not optimal, and as a result, he lost five places and crossed the finish line after 20 laps in 17th of. A huge improvement by Marc, especially considering that in testing he was more than a second off of the leaders.

Bravo Marc!