After a short break since the start of August we were at Mallory Park in Leicestershire this weekend for the final round of the British Superkart Championships, where if I gained 2 good results could win the 250 Challenge class.

Untimed Practice:

After having the engines looked at after Castle Combe the idea was to try and get to grips with the circuit however things didn’t go according to plan, after leaving the pits and taking the first lap at a fairly gentle pace to check everything was ok, I crossed the start line to build up a bit more momentum and easy my way into the session, this is where my world went spinning again. Just as I was about to turn into the flat out Gerrard’s bend the engine seized and spun me around taking a trip through the gravel trap and stopping by the air fence. As I stood on the bank watching the rest of the session I started to wonder what I have to do to get past this corner as this is where I got knocked out in the warm-up meeting back in March!

Qualifying:

After a bit of frantic work cleaning up the cylinder from the seize and replacing the piston for a spare I was ready for qualifying, this time I took the first few laps really steady incase I was too hard on the motor in the previous session. All seemed ok after 3 laps so I started to increase the pace – as I came down the back straight the engine seized again – at 116mph, only this time I knew straight away it was a big one as I struggled to keep hold of the kart doing a 720 degree spin and managing to get down the escape road. This meant that the best of my 3 slow laps counted as my qualifying time – I was 30^th out of 31 on the grid for the 1^st race. On inspection after the session it seems that some of the plating from the barrel had come off and seized the piston up.

Race 1:

After fitting another barrel and piston we were ready to take the start of the 1^st race. Due to the lack of practice time the handling wasn’t very good, the kart never felt connected to the road through the Bridgestone tyres and felt like it was always trying to pull left. The race was pretty uneventful until the last lap where coming out of the final corner the downhill devil’s elbow I heard a big pop and the engine cut out so I managed to cost across the line in 18^th place – 6^th place in the 250 Challenge, meaning I could no longer win the championship. After the race we removed the head and we had a piston failure the piston land had broken up smashing lumps into the head and wrecking the spark plug hence the engine cutting out. This caused another wrecked piston and barrel.

Race 2:

Because of all of the problems during the day and with the handling still bad on the new Bridgestone tyres I decided not to go out for the last race of the championship and use it as one of my drop scores.

We had a very disappointing day yet again at Mallory – I must have done something wrong, I have no luck whatsoever there!

It was a bit of a disappointing end of the championship as well – to go into the meeting with a chance of winning a championship to coming away having finished 3^rd is a shame because of all of the hard work that has gone into the season. Because the championship operates a dropped scores policy where you only count your best 9 races from 14 I finished 3^rd in the 250 Challenge and 14^th overall in the MSA championship. However if total points scored were counted I would have won the 250 Challenge and finished 12^th in the MSA championship.

We will regroup over the winter and come back stronger for next season, this time armed with some track knowledge and will see how we do!

This past weekend saw us take in the 3^rd meeting in the space of a month. We were at Castle Combe in Wiltshire forming one of the races in their Summer Racing Carnival, as with last weekend the karts were again being filmed for a transmission on Motors TV later in the summer. The 125 Open class championship races were on the Saturday with the MSA championship races being on the Sunday I took the opportunity to enter on the Saturday to gain some knowledge of another track I have never been on before. Both days were to feature a 10minute free practice session, 10minute qualifying session and 2 10 lap races for the karts.

Saturday Races:

Saturday was all about checking the kart setup, gearing and carburation and more importantly getting me used to the track as it has a fair amount of undulations that feel like constant bumps and a lot of off camber corners. Free Practice I ended up 7^th of the 14 or so 250’s that had also elected to use the day as well. Qualifying meant I ended up 8^th fastest but had improved my lap time by over 2 seconds from the previous session. Both of the races when well without any real incident and I recorded finishes of 7^th and 6^th and found even more speed, gaining another 2 seconds lap time from the qualifying session.  However on the cooling down lap of the final race I felt the engine nip up and cut out, so this meant a strip down over night and fit another piston for the Sunday.

Sunday – Championship Races:

Free Practice:

The plan for the free practice in the morning was to go out and just do a couple of laps to check the engine was ok as I was happy with the rest of the setup, so I went out and did a couple of steady laps and a couple of quick ones to check all was ok, this meant being classified 14^th of 22 but the times did not count towards anything

Qualifying:

For qualifying a different set of tyres were fitted, they were not brand new but had on done a few laps so better than using the ones that had been fitted all of the previous day. I only managed 5 laps and was getting faster all of the time, beating my best time from the day before by over 0.5second, then the same thing happened as at Snetterton earlier in the year – the engine sprocket came off leaving me on the sidelines for the last 5minutes of the session. We found the reason why this particular sprocket comes off – it was manufactured slightly thinner than all of the rest and moves slightly on the shaft even when fully tightened up. This meant I ended the session in 11^th place and dad had a fair bit of work to do filing the gearbox shaft on the engine trying to get another sprocket to fit for the 1^st race

Race 1:

I made an excellent start and managed to jump a number of people and on the run to the first corner was lying 6^th, however being a bit new to long circuit racing I was aggressive enough on the 1^st lap and cost a place or 2 by the end of the lap, the rest of the race was uneventful – eventually finishing in 8^th place taking more time off my best of the weekend and also winning the challenge class. After the race we took barrel off the motor as it looked like we had some detonation, however on inspection there was part of the cylinder missing at the top – this meant another piston and the barrel from a spare engine fitting before the 2^nd race

Race 2:
 

I started the 2^nd race in 8^th place due to finishing position of the 1^st race, this time I made a good jump from the lights but then made a mistake of choosing the wrong side to overtake someone – this left me on the outside of the track with a number of people coming up my inside on the 1^st corner. After this I got my head down and made up a number of places through overtaking moves and came home 10^th overall and 2^nd in the challenge class – however the engine did not feel as strong as the other barrel and some of the speed was missing.

I definitely had yet another good weekend, picking up more solid championship points in the national class where i am now placed 11th. But after a win and a 2nd places in the challenge class, i won the class on the day, and more importantly than the trophy, i picked up a very good number of points (55 from a possible 60) in the challenge championship and am now only 3 points behind the class leader with 2 races left at Mallory Park in early September.

Hopefully I can get another good result there and take home the Challenge championship in my 1^st long circuit season – although starting a race will be an improvement on the result I had at Mallory earlier in the year!

I will keep all informed of when the Donington and Castle Combe races are on TV.

This past weekend saw us take in the 2nd meeting of 3 over a busy summer period. This time we were at Donington Park as a support event to the televised Superleague Formula races on the full GP circuit. The karts were also filmed and will hopefully be on tv sometime during the autumn.

Free Practice:

Again, as is the theme for the whole of this year it was another track i had to learn and fairly quickly. I had another piston to run in, so spent the first few laps taking it fairly steady on the engine and trying to learn the track, what made it even more difficult was that the track was wet. The session went without any dramas, the kart felt like it was handling well. I was very suprised to see the timesheets at the end of the 20 minute session to learn i was 4th fastest of the 250 Nationals and 9th overall including the Divsion 1 Twin cylinder karts. I didnt feel to be pushing hard, in fact i thought i was going too slow, shows how much the driver knows some times!
 

Qualifying:

Free Practice was held fairly early at 09:50 and we had to wait around all day to qualify at around 5pm. In the meantime the kart was cleaned and prepared and we even managed to watch a bit of the superleague qualifying. During the course of the long break before qualifying it had rained
heavily, some of the other races were not run, but i guess we were all deemed brave enough to go out on track! Because of the amount of water a new set of wets were fitted and out i went, qualifying turned into a bit of a diaster with the handling being very bad, the rear end was trying to enter most of the corners before the front end and in some cases with only a minimal amount of steering, because of the handling i had no confidence and managed to lose over 6 seconds on the time i had done in the morning. I ended up 20th of the 250Nationals and because we were starting directly behind the twin cylinder guys, would mean a row 17 start in 34th place!
 

Race 1:

Both of our races were to take place on the sunday, one in the morning and one early evening. Fortunately the weather was perfect.

I made a good start and managed to pick a fair few people off going into the first corner, but lost a place or 2 going down the craner curves after behind held up behind one of the slower twins. The race itself was pretty uneventful, i managed to overtake a few more people and was lying 11th with a lap to go, knowing that someone was directly behind me i covered the line into the final 2 corners, the melbourne hairpin and goddards, but as had been happening all race i understeered wide in the final corner and lost a place over the line finishing 12th.
 

Race 2:
 

Because we had no dry running until race 1, the gearing choice was a bit of a guess, i checked the data and we were geared too high, so for the 2nd race a gearing change was made along with some tyre pressure adjustments to help with the handling.
 

I had another good start and made a couple of places but it all got crowded on the run down hollywood and the craner curves, i had again a slow starting twin directly in front of me and a kart alongside so had no option but to lift off and brake, which cost me several places. I spent most of the race on my own, trying to drive around a problem of the engine cutting out coming out of goddards. But ended up taking 11th place in the National class

I definately had a good weekend, picking up more solid championship points in the national class where i am now placed 12th. But after 2x 2nd places in the challenge class, i won the class on the day, and more importantly than the trophy, i picked up a very good number of points in the challenge championship and am now laying 2nd, only 5 points behind the class leader with 4 races and 120 points still up for grabs!
 

Now the team (well mainly dad) have a bit of a busy week, stripping, checking and cleaning the kart ready for this coming weekend where we are at Castle Combe for 2 more days racing. We are using the 125 Championship rounds on the saturday for circuit knowledge and testing before the championship races on the sunday.

This last weekend saw us make the short trip up to Cadwell Park to tackle 2 more rounds of the 2 Superkart championships I have entered this year plus to take part in the biggest Superkart event in the country – the MSA British Superkart Grand Prix.

It was going to be a long weekend as I had also paid for the extra test day that was available on the Friday to get dialed into the circuit and to hopefully try out the latest 2009 compound Bridgestone tyres. So of we set early on Thursday afternoon to get the awning setup and sorted.

Friday Testing:

The plan for Friday was to do just 3 of the 6 sessions that were on offer to run in a new piston and then try to do some back to back testing with the Dunlop tyres we have been using and the new Bridgestone’s to decide which to use for the championship races on the Saturday. However things didn’t go quite too plan, after a large rain shower overnight Thursday night, I elected to miss the first session of the day. During the next session I went out on wets to run the engine in, although it was not running correctly so I can in after a handful of laps. The carburation was changed and I went back out in the next session to finish off running the engine in but the problem was still there, after checking again we found a broken coil wire was the cause of the problems. Later on during the afternoon I managed a proper run on the Dunlop slicks and found I didn’t have the same feeling as last year on the older Bridgestone’s – I couldn’t test the new ones in the final session of the day to the rain making yet another appearance.

Saturday – Championship Races:

Saturday was a busy day – we had 1 x 10 minute untimed practice, 2 x 15 minute and 2 x 7 lap races to contend with. As if that wasn’t enough after stripping down the engine on Friday night we found I had nipped a piston ring and caused a small seize, meaning during the untimed practice I was going to have to run in another piston. I also made a bit of a brave choice overnight to change the setup to suit the Bridgestone tyres even though I had not tested them.

During qualifying the weather looked like it could rain at any point so instead of taking a few laps steady and then building up pace I had to go for it from the outset incase the weather did turn. After the 1^st 15minute session I had qualified 13^th. Before our 2^nd session the rain came and put enough water onto the circuit to make sure that times were no quicker than the 1^st session. I did a couple of laps just to check out the track conditions incase it was still the same during the races. So after the qualifying times were combined I ended up 13^th out of 43.

Race 1:

Because of the number of competitors racing this weekend we had to be split into groups and each driver would race in 2 of the 3 races for the class. I started my first race in 9^th and after a pretty uneventful race in the now dry conditions ended up in 8^th place taking a usual number of points and being 1^st in the challenge class.

Race 2:

My 2^nd race was to be the last race of the day, and again it was held in dry conditions. I once again started 9^th, I lost a couple of places early on and got them back, finally finishing in 9^th, although this time I was 2^nd in the challenge class after being overtaken with a lap to go.

Because of the results of the day it meant I would qualify automatically for the British grand prix pre-final and would start in 11^th place. Also I took a useful number of points in the MSA and Challenge class championships, taking 55 out of a possible 60 in the challenge.

Sunday – British Superkart Grand Prix

Pre-final:

This would probably have to go down as the best long circuit race I have done, before the start of the 14 lap race of the 2.2 mile circuit there had been a rain shower that meant everyone would go out on slicks, just before we went out the sun came back out and dried the circuit a little. I took the first couple of laps at a steadier pace than the ones in front of me to make sure I had some tyres left towards the end of the race. After around 5 laps I was lying in 11^th and then the plan started to come together I was catching people rapidly as their tyres had gone off and I could catch people overtake quickly and pull away. I was overtaking other drivers on the outside, inside, fast corners, slow corners just basically where I picked. I got up to 6^th and thought that would be the end of the charge but kept pushing anyway, and was rewarded by catching the guy in 5^th at over 2seconds per lap and managed to get by coming through the gooseneck on the very last lap.

Grand Prix:

Because I finished 5^th in the pre-final this was to be my starting position for the all important Grand Prix Race. Again before we went out we had another short rain shower but this one was not as bad as before the pre-final. We tried to make a decision on tyres and eventually settled for wet tyres as parts of the track that we could see were still wet, this was the decision of over 95% of the field with only 5 or 6 going out on slick tyres. During the warm up lap I knew we had made a mistake as the majority of the circuit was very dry only the woodlands part under the trees was still wet. As ever I still pushed as hard as I could but after around 5 laps the tyres were destroyed and the kart was moving around on the melting rubber even on the straights, the guys who had slicks on just streaked away from the rest and I ended up finishing the 14laps in 9^th, missing out on a trophy by little over a second. At least 9^th is a one place improvement of the result of next year!

We definitely had a good weekend, although I can’t help thinking if I had taken the braver choice on tyres for the Grand Prix I could have probably had a top 5 finish. At least it is another bit of knowledge I have learnt for the future. We have picked out solid points in both championships, and I now look forward to the next 2 rounds of the championship at Donington Park in 2 weeks where we are a support class for the Superleague formula.

Weekend of Disappointment

This weekend saw us travel down to Snetterton in Norfolk to take in the next 2 rounds of the 2 championships I have entered this year, after a busy 2 days at Anglesey last time out this weekend was to be slightly more relaxed with Qualifying on Saturday afternoon and 2 races on Sunday.

Qualifying:

Qualifying went well after spending a few laps learning the circuit and getting temperature into the tyres I set about trying for some good times, at the end of the session after completing 12 laps my best was a 1:15.836 which was good enough for 11^th place on the grid for the first race on Sunday morning, the kart was handling well and we had got the gearing about spot on.

Race 1:

The first race on Sunday morning was due to take place at 10:25, the sun had come out and the weather was really hot. Unfortunately the race was a bit of a non event for me, as we came out of the assembly area and the start of the main straight and down the straight behind the pace car, I went to change to 4^th gear before the 1^st gear and the engine really started singing, thinking I had hit neutral I tried for an other gear but there was nothing there, I pulled over to the side of the track entering the 2^nd corner and spotted that the chain and engine sprocket were laying on the floortray, the bolt holding the sprocket on had come out – there was no way of fixing that on the side of the track so I had to watch the race from the marshals post and hitch a lift back on the recovery truck – first time ive ever had to do that.

Race 2:

Because of the non start in the previous race I lined up 29^th on the grid for race 2 and would have a lot of work to score some more points in this race. The race was going really well, after a bit of a poor start I started to make some progress down the long revitt straight, I overtook 3 karts on the first lap but then coming to the esses there was a spinner in front of me so had to take avoiding action and lost a bit of momentum, over the next few laps the kart felt good and I was having fun overtaking a few drivers, after completing lap 8 I was up to 18^th and closing on the group of 4 in front, I kept thinking I should have enough speed and laps to at least get a couple of them, this is were it all went wrong! Coming around the flat out first corner at Riches the bolt holding the bottom of the right front upright decided to make a brake for freedom meaning the wheel was now at a very strange angle to the track, luckily I managed to get around the corner, and just about stopped for the next corner and coasted halfway down the back straight to join a bit of a group of people who had retired, that was the race over for me. Another trip back to the paddock beckoned, after not having to use the recovery truck before, twice in 1 day was a bit sickening.

Overall we are really disappointed with the result from Snetterton as 2 races with no points will really hurt the championship, particularly in the 250 Challenge where I was lying 3^rd before the meeting.

The next round is at my favourite circuit Cadwell Park for the British Superkart Grand Prix in 3 weeks. Hopefully we can have a really good result like last year, and this will be the only track this year that I have prior knowledge of.

This weekend saw us travel from one side of the country to the other to take in 2 more rounds of the 2 championships I have entered this year, Anglesey in North Wales was the destination and it was going to be a busy weekend as the 250 Challenge races had been moved to the Saturday as there were too many entries to have all of the karts on the track at once on the Sunday.

After using the Bridgestone tyres at Thruxton in the first 2 races of the championship, we moved back over to using the Dunlop’s for this weekend and also had some different exhausts to try over the weekend.

Saturday – 250 Challenge Races:

The order of the day was a 20 minute qualifying session and 3 x 10 lap races, the 2 points scoring races for the challenge being the last 2, so we had a free race to use as a bit of a warmup to the circuit. We were on track with the 125 Open class and 210 National class for the day

Qualifying:

Qualifying went well after spending a few laps learning the circuit and getting temperature into the tyres I set about trying for some good times, at the end of the session after completing 11 laps my best was a 1:12.45 which was good enough for 13^th place in the times although a number of the people in front were only reserves for the day so I actually start the first race in 9^th place.

Race 1:

After qualifying there was a bit of a heavy downpour that left the circuit wet but before the first race the track was starting to dry again, tyre choice was going to be an interesting one. I took the safer option of using wet tyres just to make sure I kept it on the black stuff as this wasn’t a points race. After getting a good start and making up a place or 2, I spent most of the first lap trying to keep out of trouble with karts that were on slicks dong their best to understeer into the side of me in the corners at the top of the hill at the end of the back straight. After this I managed to keep it all together and held position although one or 2 karts that took the slicks option came past towards the end of the race as the track dried even more, as I had a big gap in front and behind I spent the last few laps with the pace eased slightly and looked for some of the few puddles remaining to cool the tyres down and not destroy them, the final finishing position was 7^th.

Race 2:

After finishing 7^th in the previous race this was to be my starting position for a now dry race 2 and the first points race of the day, again I got another good start but got beat up a little in the 2^nd corner losing a few places, through the remaining laps I battled away gaining a few places back and finished in 8^th

Race 3:

For the last race of the day I started 6^th. We tried a different exhaust configuration which provided good low down power but lost a little bit of top end speed, again I got another good start and again lost a couple of places in the 2^nd corner, throughout the race I managed to overtake a few people and came home 4^th, one more lap and it would have been 3^rd place.

Overall I was pleased with the first day on the track and came away with a trophy for 4^th Overall on the day in the Challenge class and am now lying 3^rd in the Challenge championship after 4 races of 14.

Sunday – MSA 250 National Championships

Qualifying:

Overnight we had looked at the data to see where we could potentially find some more speed, as I needed to find a little more to break away from the mid pack in the MSA championship races, so the decision was made to change the engine to different one and a different configuration of exhaust, as I felt I was struggling for speed at the hill top section around Rocket and Peel at the end of the back straight. It had rained again overnight which left the track damp, but I had to go out on brand new slicks which needed bedding in for the races later in the day, I took the first few laps steady as there was not a lot of grip from the tyres, after this I started working on gaining a good laptime, although the kart and engine felt good and strong, it was clear that we had made the wrong choice by changing it, as we had planned before I went out, if I didn’t feel it was better I would pull in early to give us a better chance of getting it changed back before the 1^st race as there wasn’t much time between qualifying and the race, so after 15 minutes of the session I pulled in after doing a time of 1:11.75, qualifying 13^th.

Race 1:

After a lightening change of engine (around 20mins) we were all set for the 1^st race, we made a small change to the handling as well as the rear wanted to break away in the higher speed corners. Again I got another good start but continuing on from yesterdays theme lost some places in the 2^nd corner, I spent the race battling back to finish where I started in 13^th although the changes to the kart made it feel better and the engine was definitely better than qualifying.

Race 2:

After a couple of more chassis changes between races I was set for the last points race of the weekend, again another good start was followed and I lost a place or 2 in the 2^nd corner it was this time because of taking avoiding action at 2 others getting together. I then had a really good race, gaining time on people down the long back straight, there is definitely nothing wrong with the engine performance, I just need to sort out fully the handling in some of the faster corners. I finished the race in 9^th place taking nearly a second out of my best laptime previously from the weekend.

Race 3:

With the championship races over the last race of the day was for the UK Cup, we had made a change to the gearing as we were revving out for about half of the back straight in the previous race and made another small chassis adjustment, this time a rear wing change to try and work the rear tyres more. This time I started 9^th, another good start followed and I maintained position in the 2^nd corner that runs onto the back straight, I had a bit of a lonely race, my pace being ahead of the mid pack but not quick enough for the top 8. So I completed the race in 9^th and took another 2 tenths of a second off my best time.

We definitely had a good weekend, to complete 2 x 20minute qualifying sessions and 6 races without having a single problem is really good, just goes to show preparation is everything. Given that this is only my 7^th Long circuit meeting, I am getting quicker and more confident all of the time and starting to understand the differences from Short circuit racing, once we are fully up to speed with how to set the kart up we should hopefully move forward a little more, and if I can find a way to push a little harder in the opening laps it would help more as this is where I am losing most of my time, guess it comes with experience and confidence, which I am gaining all of the time. Roll on Snetterton on June 28^th!

After many months of testing and preparing, we finally started the 2009 MSA British Superkart championship on Easter Monday at Thruxton in Hampshire – the fastest circuit in the UK.

The karts were the first qualifying session out on the track at 08:55 so it was an early start and we had to be on it straight away to secure a good grid position for the 1^st race later in the day. Like virtually all of the circuits this season I am having to learn the tracks as we go so it would be a tall order

Leaving the pitlane at the start of the session I took the first lap at a fairly gentle pace just to get myself re-acquainted with everything after the accident at Mallory Park a few weeks earlier. Once I started to open the engine up and dial myself into the track I could tell we were off the pace by a fair margin, coming up through Church corner and up the long Woodham Hill to the final chicance I was getting no-where near maximum rev’s – we had been too optimistic on the gearing with the wind blowing straight at us. In the end I used 4^th gear coming up the hill just to gain a bit of speed. I was also struggling with the rear of the kart being very nervous at speed. At the end of the session I ended up a very disappointed 26^th on the grid for the 1^st race.

During the long break we changed the gearing to hopefully gain us more speed around the flat out 2^nd half of the circuit along with so other changes to the aerodynamics and engine to hopefully propel us up the field a bit.

Race 1:

As the field bunched up at the start the guy in front of me practically stopped on the way to rolling start, I had no option but to hit the brakes, at which point the lights went green and about 6 or 7 karts went flying by. As I entered the complex for the 1^st time I outbraked about 3 karts – we were back on the move. The gearing and aero changes were much better this time and I was able to overtake a few karts over the course of the race up Woodham Hill, the speed was back! With about 3 laps to go the handling seemed to go off and I lost 1 place on the last lap finishing 17^th. On coming back into parc ferme at the race end, we had a flat left front, - that would explain the handling!

Race 2:

For race 2 we changed the gearing again to give a little more speed. Again coming up to the lights the guy in front hit the brakes and I had no option again – more places lost and work to do throughout the race, over the course of the race I made up more places and felt happy with the handling and engine and came home in 13^th place.

Overall it was a pleasing result for my first meeting at British Superkart championship level, I came home 5^th Overall in the 250 challenge class and am currently 10^th Overall in the MSA Championship points. Next stop Anglesey on May 9^th/10^th – Looks like a drive from one side of the country to the other!

After many months of waiting, we headed to Mallory last weekend to try and get some valuable experience of the circuit prior to the final round of the British championship to be held there in September. The weather also seemed to be decent for a change.

We had set the Kart up to try out the Dunlop slicks rather than the Bridgestone's we used on Long Circuit last year to see if there was to be any increased performance from running with them, and i was hoping for a good result from the day to take confidence into the 1st round of the championship at Thruxton in 3 weeks.

However, the day didnt really produce what i had hoped for! going out in qualifying i took the first lap or so fairly steady to bed in some new discs and pads and to make sure i had some temperature in the tyres, along with working out the circuit. Once i felt more confident i started to open the engine up and was starting to see the lap times fall, the kart was handling well and the engine pulling well, so things were looking good, and i had just posted the 4th fastest lap time of the session. Its at the this moment that makes you realise motor racing can be dangerous.

Just starting my 6th lap i overtook a 125ICC kart on the start finish straight, the next thing i know im spinning backwards into the armco on the inside of Gerrards bend. I think i may have been clipped by him trying to get back into my slipstream as he was heading towards me when i overtook him. The session and the day as it turned out were over for me. After the session was red flagged the medics checked me out still in the kart on the circuit then i got a check over in the medical centre and had to wait there for an hour or so, as i had taken a fairly big hit to the head.

After leaving the medical centre i still felt a little worse for wear but wasn't going to be racing for the rest of the day anyway under medical orders.

I still feel slightly rough a couple of days after, have a bad arm where i bent the steering wheel hanging onto it, as well as a bit of a thick head and sore neck!

Not really the start to the season we were looking for as we have the rear wing assembly, rear bumper, Floortray, steering wheel and column and a few other bits to replace, as well as my helmet being scrapped (impact has taken it down to the shell, but it did its job!!) so we have a bit of a repair bill before Thruxton, hopefully we will have a bit better time there!

We have just come back from another test session, this time at Fulbeck to check out one of the engines after taking delivery of some race fuel during the last week to test that our carburation is right. Although the main reason (again) for the test was to get some more mileage on me using the left foot braking again.

The test seemed to go really well, i am now starting to feel more confident using the left foot to brake - i dont go with the right foot to hit the brakes anymore, so that has to be progress! I have more feel with the brakes, so we have decided to stick with that setup for the upcoming test at Oulton Park, how i get on with it on a long circuit is still a question mark.

The engines seemed to be running well, and the carburation is somewhere in the ballpark so things are looking good for the Oulton test.

The engines have now been taken off the karts and this week will be going back to PFP Services for a bit of a check up and while we are there the chassis will be put on the flatbed and setup, then we truely are good to go for the start of the season proper and there can be no excuses!!

Will provide an update after the Oulton test in a couple of weeks

M.

Finally i got to sit in the seat of the kart since the end of October, and hear the engine run! I wondered what was missing from life, after 3 months of sorting out moving house and decorating and the usual stuff that comes with life.

I took the short circuit kart out at a rather cold Kimbolton yesterday for a bit of a test/shakedown/driver reminder!

After driving down with the temperature probe in the van showing anywhere between minus 1 and minus 2 i knew we weren't going to be in for a day where it felt like the bahama's but we do these things in the name of sport!

We mainly took the kart down so i could try getting on with left foot braking and a hand clutch - we have tried this before and never really got on with it, mainly due to not giving it enough of a chance.

As i took to the dummy grid for the first practice session, there was still ice on the grid! But i had to give it a go, although we were out on slicks as the track was dry, just cold.

After 3 rather short 6-7 minute sessions i had a lot more feeling than i previously had trying left foot braking, and the laptimes were around 2 seconds of my pace around there with a conventional 3 pedal setup, but how much of that was down to the weather and lack of track temp i dont know. All i know is that the temperature probe in the van showed an outside temp of -3 and with the strong winds down the straight it felt like -10!

The engine was not running amazing well, but we suspect this is down to some old pump fuel we had used as it was in the garage. So not wanting to do any damage to the engine and the fact i couldn't feel my hands when on track, we packed up early and headed home for a bit of warmth.

The next test is at Fulbeck in 2 weeks, we have decided to carry on trying the left foot brake as i think there is more time in it and me when i get a little more feel, as the kart definately feels more stable under braking and comes out of the corners a lot better.

Will update the blog again after the fulbeck test, when we will get ready for Oulton Park.

Well at long last 2009 is here!

After what seems an eternity since my last race meeting in the final round of the Super 4 in October we can now finally start getting on with the preparations for our assault on the 2009 British Superkart championship.

Over the christmas break the website has had a total redesign, as the old one was a bit dated and had not been updated for a while.

In a couple of weeks the testing starts ready for the season, Kimbolton on 10th January is the first destination to get a feel for the kart again after not being in the seat for over 2 months. Then all being well i will do a club meeting at Fulbeck towards the end of January to put a few race miles on the equipment and probably more importantly me! We will then be heading to Oulton Park in February for some Long Circuit testing, hopefully by then the race motor will be back from its winter overhaul and we can have a play with that as well!