Chain Reaction | Easykart UK 2015 Rd 5 Glan-y-Gors

See that kerb in the front? I don't like it

18th/19th July was the weekend of round 5 of the Easykart UK championship, this time at G-y-G. Last year was the first time I'd finished the main final at G-y-G so I was hopeful this year, especially after my performance at Llandow.
We arrived at the track Friday evening to drop the trailer. Then off to our B&B, the same as last year and the same room, to leave our stuff. The pub was full when we went for dinner so I settled for scampi and chips from the chippy opposite.
Saturday, Testing. We arrived and got setup in time, as usual, and got an extra screw for the carb in case we should have a repeat of Clay. The practice sessions were OK, I definitely wasn't the quickest out there but I was there or there abouts. I had some fun tailing people and working out where I was quicker and giving them the odd nudge down the straight. Some people, no names, seemed to feel a dive into the pits would solve the problem. Anyway, testing over, the Easykart Cricket/Rounders match thing occurred. The team I was on won, mainly because the other team couldn't hit the ball....

Starting the Heat in 10th place

Sunday, Race day. Warm up felt half decent, didn't try too hard on the tyres as usual but still did a 44.something lap - bit fast I thought but didn't feel I was going over the top.
Qualifying came and the kart felt under powered. I was struggling for top end and acceleration was about as good as on Saturday, so not a trade of acceleration for top end, just a lack of top end. Anyway I completed 2 laps in traffic, then had some clear air and decided I just had to go for it and try and make the most of what I had. Unfortunately on that third lap I threw my chain going slightly too far over the rumble strip on the pit straight. That signaled the end of my qualifying session. Somehow I managed to get 10th place out of 19 with only that 1 clean lap.

Throwing it into the first corner

Heat. This was a good race for me, didn't get into the top 3 or get into the same times as them, but I managed to make up places. I was in 5th place before the half way mark - that's under 4 minutes! The rest of the race was rather uneventful, only making up 1 place to finish in 4th.
Pre-final. We had a couple of false starts but eventually got going. I managed to get the jump on Toby in 3rd, and held 3rd for a couple of laps. Unfortunately a mistake from me allowed Toby past and dropped me to 4th. In my attempt to get back to 3rd I had a repeat of Qualifying and threw a chain on the same rumble strip. However I didn't go fully over the kerb so we assume the chain was a bit loose, rather than hit by the kerb. Anyway this meant I had to start the final from the very back of the grid, all the way in 19th place - such a long way from the podium!

See, 4th place. I can do well at GyG sometimes

Final. As usual a couple of false starts were necessary to make sure everyone knew where the accelerator was, then we were under way. I had made up 3 places by the end of the first lap and then proceeded to gain at least 1 position for the next few laps. I was up to about 9th position by half way, looking good for a decent finish, when I was tagged from behind and spun around. I got dropped down to 16th. Anyway I managed to gain places as before but could only manage 10th place as the field was so spread out. Looking at the "Sum Diff" on the timings it looked like, had I not been spun, I would have been on course to challenge for the podium positions as a kerfuffle at the front meant both Sam and Toby had to retire.
Ginetta, an Easykart UK sponsor, were at G-y-G as well. They were giving passenger rides around the track for 4 Cadets, 4 Juniors, 2 Lights and 2 Masters. Unfortunately I wasn't picked so no lovely pictures of that. Good to see sponsors taking an interest in the series enough to go to deepest darkest Wales to give competitors an experience of the next step on the motorsport ladder.

White Pods obviously improve aerodynamics!

Not our best weekend at Glan-y-Gors but definitely not our worst. Roll on Whilton Mill, Double Header!

Glan-y-Gors 2014 | Easykart UK Round 5

On 19th/20th July it was the 5th round of the Easykart UK Championship. It was held at Glan-y-Gors park in north Wales. Glan-y-Gors is one of my favourite tracks as it is very fast and has some good flowing corners.

We left for the track at about 5:45am on Saturday. We arrived after a 3 hour journey in the pouring rain and had to get set up. Luckily the awning was easy to get at so we stayed relatively dry. The track was soaking wet so re-learning the track was slightly more difficult than normal, but it was a laugh as you were able to slide around most of the corners without spinning off the track. I made it out for 2 of the 3 morning sessions as the first session was just too wet.

So much rain!

By the afternoon the rain had stopped and we were able to go out on slicks and I got out in 2 of the 3 afternoon sessions, only because we thought after the 5th session (my 4th session)  the test day had finished, which normally it would have done, so we were getting the kart ready for scrutineering. As we were walking up to sign on we noticed everyone else was on the grid...
This time we were staying in a B&B called OakField House in Betws-Y-Coed. Considering our previous experiences of B&B's haven't always been the best this place was AMAZING. If you are ever karting at G-y-G or are simply staying in Snowdonia I would completely recommend staying there. The owners are great and the rooms are really nice.

We woke up on the Sunday to bright sunshine and clear skies - things were looking up. We got to the track and had the kart set up pretty quickly. The warm up was simply a time to get the new slick tyres scrubbed in, times weren't amazing. I set a time only slightly quicker than I had on the saturday.
Qualifying was slightly better as I was sitting in 7th place for most of the session, then on my final lap I pushed myself up to 6th by a tenth, not far off 5th place.

The final

The heat was good as I managed to get a time quicker than I did in qualifying and gained a place finishing in 5th place.
Lunch came and went with the weather still looking OK, a slight rain shower made us query going to wets but the track is very abrasive - so we stuck with the slicks for the pre-final.
The pre-final was on of my best and worst races. I dropped two places at the start down to 7th with Seb Algieri getting past me which was unusual as he is normally battling with others at the back - hope to see him mixing with the mid pack a bit more this season! Unfortunately I took a stupid lunge going into the 2nd to last corner and took him out, silly move and I am grateful that Seb and "team" felt it was a racing incident and told the Official that that was their view when he came to inquire. I finished the pre-final in 5th place and was the 3rd fastest person on track.

Driving with badly worn tyres was difficult

Just before the final the weather took a turn for the worst. It started chucking it down with rain. We only just had enough time to change the tyres over so no rain suit for me - I got drenched. The worst thing about the rain was that it was cold so keeping concentration was difficult, also the fact that when you were behind someone you couldn't see a thing. We had Buckmore tyres on and although they allowed me to be quick at the start, they completely died at the end. Lesson learnt.

Looking forward to Llandow next and should get some video footage up soon.