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| I like the new Le Man style grid - works well! |
On the weekend of the 5th and 6th of September, the 6th and 7th rounds of the Easykart UK championship. This was an unexpected double header, my second at Whilton Mill, but it played into my hands quite well. Whilton is my local track and I've logged plenty of hours there over my time in Easykart, so I was expecting a good result. Since it was a double header the official practice day was scheduled for Friday 4th.
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| Discussing tactics I'm sure.... |
We arrived on Friday fairly early on and got set up. The day was dry which was good - allowing us to get sorted for Saturday and Sunday which were forecast to be dry. The first session I was running in my engine, so the footage we got is absolutely exhilarating... Anyway the rest of the day felt good. I was certainly quick - not pole position quick but up there. There was a new junior testing who'd not done Easykart before, so for the last lap or so of each session where, to be honest, my tyres were starting to disagree with their treatment, I followed him and gave him a few pointers. We managed to shave 6 seconds off his time over the day. Friday finished and we felt we had a decent setup - only tyres to sort now.
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| Sticking to the back of Jonathan a lap before I get past |
Saturday, Race day #1. We arrived bright and early thinking the track may be a bit damp as there had been some unexpected rain overnight. But no. Dry track so all looked good. Juniors and Cadets were given a 15 minute warm up instead of the usual 5 minutes as quite a few of them were unable to test on the Friday due to it being the first day back at school after summer, however only 2 or 3 drivers used the full 15 minutes.
Qualifying went ok - I was struggling for pace as the tyres just weren't giving me enough. We had tried to inflate the tyres enough to allow me to set some quick times early on, slow down to let them cool, and do another fast stint. However that didn't work. The tyres took a long time to heat up and I only managed to get 4th place - setting that time on my last lap. The good side was that I was only 0.005s off 3rd place.
Heat. I got a bad start and dropped back to 5th by the end of lap 2. I managed to hold this position to the end of the race which, for me, was pretty uneventful. I was glad to be on the inside as well as my starts tend to be good, and hoped to be able to make up a place or 2 off the start.
Pre-final. Unfortunately my hope of making up places didn't happen. I held 5th until Jonathan made a slight mistake and ran wide, slowing down to regain control. This allowed me to take 4th place, obviously, which I held until the chequered flag. I actually finished 3rd as Jenson's chain and guard decided they'd had enough and removed themselves from his kart. Starting on the inside again for the final, in a prime position to gain a place into the first corner.
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| Close racing |
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| Just about hanging onto the back of Sam |
Final. Starting on the inside I was hopeful for a good start as throughout the day they had been pretty much perfect. My luck held and by the first corner I had made my way into second place. I held 2nd for about half the race, not feeling pressured but knowing any mistake and I'd lose 2nd. By about haf way Jenson had managed to drive his way from the back and onto my tail. I only knew this as going into the boot he flew up my inside. I tried to compensate for this and ran a bit wide with a view to putting myself on the inside and take 2nd back almost immediately. Unfortunately Jenson ran wide as well so all I did was lose time. I was, in the failure of my 'counter move', overtaken again and dropped into 4th place. I held this till the end of the race. No podium but good championship points and a chance to do it all again the next day.
Sunday, Race day #2. We arrived bright and early again to a dry track. Warm up was only 5 minutes this time and my strategy was exactly the same as every other warm up, about 5 laps 5 seconds off my pace from the previous day.
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| Showing off the 'expensive' new sticker kit |
Qualifying. Now the problem with a double header is that everyone has time to work out what they were doing wrong in the previous day. I felt qualifying was pretty good however I didn't think we had quite got the tyre pressures right, but hoped for a decent position. I got 6th, not far off time wise, but still a fair way down the grid.
Heat. Now unfortunately because I was on the wrong side of the grid, and a couple of rows back, my start wasn't brilliant. I lost no places but didn't gain any. I managed to get into 5th on lap 4 and started closing on the leading quartet who, by this point, had started to squabble. I didn't have enough of a lap time advantage to get into the fray but I wasn't far off. And finishing 5th meant I was on the good side of the grid for the start of the pre-final.
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| Modelling career perhaps? |
Pre-final. I have to say this was one of my best starts to date. I made up 2 places by the first corner, so I was into 3rd, and managed to hold them for the rest of the race. Toward the end of the race I started to close on Sam and Jenson, but as usual it wasn't enough to pressure them.
Final. Starting 3rd I was, as usual, hopeful for a good result. I made an ok start and was sitting in 3rd. However a small mistake in the infield allowed Jonathan to get past and dropped me into 4th. I felt I had the speed to get 3rd back, but it would involve going 100%-105% for the entire race. Although a trophy would have been nice the championship, I felt, was more important. The rest of the race was rather processional and I crossed the line within touching distance of 3rd, but not actually in 3rd. A good day for my championship hopes but not for my trophy cabinet. Roll on Buckmore for the final round!
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| I'm sure there's meant to be a bolt here.... |
