Winter Cup | Buckmore Park 2014 | Easykart UK

I'm not sure why this is happening but the last couple of races I really have seemed to be slacking when it comes to writing and getting this posts out. Sorry for all of you who read it, if there are any of you...

Anyway, on the weekend of the 8th - 9th November (ages ago I know) the final race of the Easykart calendar, not season, was held. This is a one off, non-championship, race known as the Winter Cup. It is generally looked forward to by most as pretty much anyone can win it. The winner gets to race with the "prestigious" Easykart e on their kart instead of a number. Unfortunately I didn't win this, so don't expect to find that at the end.

As you can see - missing the apex

We left on the Friday so that we could get a good night sleep before the weekend and, having eaten before we left, I was asleep almost as soon as we got to the room. I was exhausted. No idea why, but I was.The  aim for the weekend was, obviously, to try and win. If that wasn't possible a podium would be nice but barring that, no incidents.... (yet another) unfortunately, none of them were achieved.

Saturday, Practice day. Hoping for a dry track, at Buckmore, in late autumn was like wishing for a unicorn. Often done but not going to happen. The first 2 sessions were quite obviously going to be wets. I was setting some decent times and getting used to the track again, but it wasn't that useful. I seemed to be about on the pace.  Third practice there was a definite dry line around almost all of the track, with exception to the top 3 hairpins which were starting to dry but were still damp. I felt like I was flying around the track, missing most of my apexes but it felt great. I was really getting used to the track again and finding my lines. By the end of the 4th session I felt confident with my dry lines. The 5th session was my quickest session I think with the whole track pretty much bone dry, on the racing line at least.

Rocking that No. 8 Seeded number

Sunday, Race day. Having had a good sleep and got to the track on time, we were out for the warm up first. The track was soaked and slicks would be absolutely useless. Qualifying was fairly uneventful with me going back into my old ways of struggling for the speed.... I qualified 6th, 0.8 seconds off the guy infront. The heat was an ok race for me, I'd dropped at least 3 places off the start but had gained them all back plus one by the end of the 2nd hairpin. I was up to 4th and held my position for the rest of the race.
The Pre-final was the race where all the incidents happened. The track was close to being dry and most of the grid went out on slicks, however the top hairpin was SO damp that there was absolutely no grip. Only 7 drivers finished with 5 DNF's. I dropped down to 8th by the end of the first lap and but was up to 7th by lap 10. Unfortunately on the 11th lap I made a lunge down into the bottom/pit exit corner which didn't work, I nudged the guy in front and slowed right down, he managed to survive the impact but I didn't. Before I knew what was happening I had 2 karts hitting me from the side with one going over the top. I am so glad I was wearing my neck brace as otherwise I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have made it out for the final. My head and neck remained uninjured but the rear of the kart took a small chunk out of my finger. The rear axle was bent along with the steering column, track rod and nassau panel. Also a new steering wheel is needed as that got slightly shredded. We had about 25 minutes to effectively do a 2 hour repair. But we managed. The axle took a few hammer hits and the tracking was left unsorted (or tightened!).

Last official outing with the Koden - demoted to camera helmet now

The final. With a slightly bent rear axle and tracking that was definitely not straight I lined up on my grid spot of 8. By the end of the first corner I had made up 4 places and was in 5th, keeping up with Jenson Murchison infront of me. I finished the race in 5th place but felt happy with my driving as I had a decent gap behind me.

On later inspection the tracking had ended up toeing in a lot, almost at the edge of the sniper laser alignment thing's guide.

I should be moving up to seniors next year however, being a pygmy, I am 2-3kg below the minimum driver weight. With Easykart's recent move away from the MSA this should not be a problem as an exception clause or something should be put in to allow drivers in my position to be able to race without a stupid, and unsafe, amount of lead on their kart. Thank you Easykart UK, ACR and Club 100 for accommodating this.