Not a boring lesson

On Wednesday 17th October I had a training/tuition session with Richard from Spellfame. I had this tuition session so I could hone my karting skills and to try and get me to be a bit more aggressive and over all better at karting.
We arrived at around 8:45 in the morning so we could set up the kart and get signed on before the track opened. Just as we arrived and got the trailer unhooked Richard arrived with his dog, it seemed to have a lot of energy. When we had got the kart basically set up we went for a track walk. Richard knew what he was talking about and all the lines he said to try I did try and realised that all the grip I was finding was exactly where he said, it was no where else. Once we had done the track walk Dad and I went and signed in.
Just before we were due to go out the man who was the director of the circuit said that it would be open track or something which meant that there were no sessions and you could go out on track when ever, except at lunch when there was a 30 minute break for the marshalls to get some lunch and have a short break. I would be doing roughly 10 laps a session as Richard would be out on track giving me some feedback as I was driving, kind of.
In the 1st session I was doing quite well, I took the wet line and found grip that some people weren't. They were trying to take the dry line. I had a lot of spins initially however when I calmed down I was a lot better.
In my second session I was a lot quicker, 8 seconds and I did a lot less spinning. I had been on wets for the first one and we decided to stay on wets for this second one however in the third one it was time for slicks.
Third session. I was out on slicks and all the corners bar the fastest one I think, were dry. As soon as my tyres hit the wet track I could feel all the grip disappearing, I would be turning then, suddenly, I would be going in a straight line. Richard was out on track and told me to move over a bit and take more of a dry line, I did that the next lap and just that took 5 seconds off my time. I yet again finished with my best lap 8 seconds quicker than the previous session.
The fourth session did not go so well. I was putting in some fast lap times and I was overtaking most of the other guys out on track, it felt great. However, on lap 4 or 5 Richard was indicating that I needed to hit one of the kerbs rather than try and avoid it, the kerb wouldn't slow me down, if anything it would give me a smoother, faster line out of the corner. I did this for a couple of laps and it was going well, however on lap 7 I overcooked it and flew over the kerb. I landed in a huge muddy puddle, the kart was covered in mud. I, however, managed to stay pretty clean which amazed not only Richard but my dad as well. I kept going for a couple of laps and then came in.
Session five. This session was very good, I had good consistency and didn't stray higher than a 54 seconds. Richards comment for that session was that although I did have good consistency I needed to carry more corner speed, I took this to mean brake harder and later and to get the power on earlier.
Session six was my last session, I found my self squirreling the tyres and I was, I feel, carrying more corner speed. On lap 11  I managed to, well, I turned in to possibly the fastest corner at Whilton Mill slightly to gingerly and I found my self going wide, natural instincts took over which normally would have been a good thing however this time it wasn't. I tried to brake which happened to be the worst thing to do. I started to spin and like I did at my ARKS test I flew into the tyre wall, it was the same corner and pretty much the same thing happened as it did then, just a bit faster. Once my kart had settled I immediately tried to get back on the track so I could keep driving. I could hear this weird thumping as I was going along the straight, I thought it must be a bent axle so I just kept driving straight, onto the grass. That ended my tuition day, I now feel like a better driver and I think I can do a lot better when the e-plate comes.

Thanks Richard for giving me all this guidance, If I win my next race I owe it to you, well some of it.

Pedal to the Metal

On Saturday 29th September I had an experience day, that was a prize from me winning the rookie champs at Whilton Mill Juniors last winter, booked at Rockingham Motor Speedway with the Racing School. My experience was 4 high speed laps around the main inner circuit not the speedway. I got driven around by an amazing driver called Malcolm, he was really friendly.
We arrived at about two o'clock to see some people out on the skid pan, it looked fun but we weren't there to just stare at others driving. We went into the visitors center ans signed in, we were told to go to the end of the room where we were then directed to go through the under track tunnel, it is a tunnel that goes under the track to the pits. We got to the pits where we then had to sign on again! I was going to be getting driven around in a red Lotus Elise. When I saw that people were going around in Lamborghini Gallardo's and Ferraris I was thinking that maybe it wouldn't feel that fast after all. I was wrong.
I didn't feel scared or apprehensive, which I was quite amazed at. Malcolm didn't need any warm up laps, it was full throttle all the way. He was an amazing driver, I felt completely safe as he was driving around even though I was being thrown this way and that in my seat, well moved I guess, but the seat belt kept me safe. On our way round we were passing all the Ferrari's, the Gallardo's, all of them. The reason for this was because they were being driven by people for driving experiences.

I had a great day. Thank you Whilton Mill Juniors, The Racing School and finally thank you Malcolm for making my time fun.