Setup

On Sunday I joined Ros at Crail raceway for 3 x one hour endurance races. Ros bought himself a second hand Anderson kart at the end of last year, and this is our third trip to Crail to race it. Like the rest of the country, we had a very wet day on Sunday, which gave us a few problems. In the practice sessions we were over a secon off the pace of the leaders, and we couldn't figure out why. So race 1 was fairly uneventful with us quick enough for 4th place but way behind the top 3. The second race is a reverse grid of the finishing positions from race 1, so we stated on the second last row, but I got a great start and was up to 4th by the end of the first lap when I got tapped into a spin by Scott in the Apollo Racing kart (the team I raced at the UK 24hr with!) - it was just a slight tap, and not deliberate, but I spent the next 30 mins fighting my way back up to 5th. Ros then took over and finished the race in 5th. We then had a good look at the front end of the kart and found that we'd gone the wrong way with the castor setting (try google!). We quickly changed it and Ros started the final race - He was up to third and, at last, keeping pace with the leaders with the kart having way more front grip. However, |Ros then had 3 spins in as many laps and came in to the pits - The castor adjustment bolt on the left front had worked loose and negated our change - We got it fixed pretty quickly, only losing 1 lap, and I went out for the last 30 odd minutes - The kart was much better than it had been earlier, and I managed to get back up to 4th by the end. We now know exactly how to set the kart up for wet or dry at crail, so hopefully we'll be on the podium next time - Eric and Ros (Apollo) finished 1st, so we know if we get the kart right, we can win. I've now got a weekend off before I head to Snetterton for the first round of thre Formula Palmer Audi Autumn Trophy.

Ringing

On Wednesday I had my second visit of the year to Bedford Autodrome for "The Motorsport Sensation". There were 8 of us in our group :Me, Hugh, Chris, Keith, Jimmy, Phil, Sally and Paul. This was Keith's first visit, and as he's 6' 5", I was a bit worried that he'd find some of the cars a tight fit, but that was not the case. The British Superbike champion, Gregorio Lavilla and a number of his team mates were also there, which made for some good competition.

Bedford is a custom built site with, for this type of event, 4 separate tracks as well as the kart circuit and the 2 off road areas. We started in the karts on a wet circuit - It wasn't raining but had been overnight - There was no grip at all, and our times were way off the dry pace, but it was still fun. Then it was into the Clio Cup car on the west circuit. I bet your thinking "Clio - that's a bit slow/tame" - These are pukka race cars with a sequential gear box and loads of grip, even on a wet track. In fact, Keith reckoned it was the most fun to drive! Again, our times were pretty slow, but the track did dry a bit.

Next it was the FPA car - This isn't the full race car, but a tuned down version with only 200bhp - But it still weighs around 550kg, so it's very quick. As a guide, in the full race car I can manage mid 66 second laps, with the corporate car getting me round in just over 74 seconds in the dry. The best I saw on Wednesday was an 82.430 second lap - Young Chris managed to be just behind on an 82.500 which was a great lap!


Then it was on to my least favourite part of the day, but still great fun :-) At the off road area you have 3 laps in an Evo 8 Makkinen, that's been adapted to be rear wheel drive only. They also put "teflon tyres" on it and for good measure, soak the track - The circuit is an auto test type arena with cones and roundabouts - As I said not my cup of tea, but I tried hard and got the second quickest time of the day, which was a major surprise! Last time I was in this car I had it sideways everywhere, which looks good, but wasn't quick for me - This time I kept it neat and tidy, and was 4 seconds quicker.

Always my worst event is the off road course in the Nissan Path finder - It's tricky, but just doesn't float my boat. As usual, I was crap.

We then mmoved to the north circuit where the track was getting pretty dry with only a couple of damp patches left - There we had the Nissan 350Z and the JP1 sports prototype - I managed to set the quickest times of the day in both of these, but by my last lap in the Jaguar, the heavens had opened and we had rain of "biblical proportions". The staff decided that an early lunch was in order as the tracks had so much standing water that driving would be out of the question. I had been surprised that we hadn't gone for lunch after the off road stuff, but I guess the staff knew the weather was going to turn nasty, so they were reacting accordingly.

It was fairly obvious that we were going to have a shower interrupted afternoon, but we weren't prepared for what we got - We started the afternoon on the east circuit in the Caterham - The track started wet (it was still raining a bit) and got way worse as we got more torrential rain interspersed with hail - Then we had lightning (the real forked stuff) which meant disconnecting the intercom - I've never driven on/in so much water, but it was fantastic fun and a real chalenge just to stay on the tight and twisty circuit. It was amazing to see the huge grins on everyone's faces as they got back into the shelter of the hospitality suite.

By the time everyone in our group ( 8 of us and 10 others) had all been out in the Caterhams, the rain had stopped - So it was off to the final event of the day on the south circuit in the Jaguar JP1. For me, this circuit is the most demanding, with some really fast and tricky corners. It's worth going to the event just for this part of it. I was out in the first group and could feel the grip improving on every lap - so I was surprised that I finished up with the second fastest lap of the day! Hugh had been really nervous in the morning, but it was great to see him grow in confidence and really start to push - It was a similar story with Sally - She's had a tough year and it was great to see her grinning like a big kid :-) Then it was my turn at the end of day prize giving with me winning the driver of the day award.


So, despite the worst rain I've ever seen, including at home in Scotland, we had a totally superb day and we're already planning our first trip early in 2006.

Close

On Sunday, it was back to Raceland for the penultimate round of the endurance championship. Qualifying was on a damp track, with fourth being my starting point. For the next 90 minutes it was flat out racing with an eventual finish of 2nd, some 12 seconds down on Michael and 23 ahead of Lewis. They've moved to a harder, more durable tyre and it seems to have pretty much equalised the performance of the karts, with the fastest lap, by me, only 2/100ths quicker than Michael who in turn was 4/100ths quicker than Lewis/Brett (they run 45 mins each whereas Michael and I run the full 90mins on our own). It turns out that the Neanderthals had tried to book in for the event, using a differnt booking name, but the staff at Raceland weren't fooled,so they were refused entry - There were no incidents during the race and the slower drivers were great at letting the leaders through. A fun day.

On Wednesday, I'm off to Bedford Autodrom for a day of automotive hooning in some seriously quick cars........

Sport?

For me, today was the final round of the Raceland GP series. I was looking forward to a fun day, but when I spotted 'the stock car racers' turning up, I knew there'd be trouble. I was lucky enough to avoid them all in my first 3 heats and bagged finishes of 4th (from 13th), 1st (from pole) and 6th (from 6th). We then watched with total disbelief as their ring leader, who I have been 'punted off' by 4 times this year, deliberately try to take out Owen (championship leader)for 3 corners - he eventually succeeded by not braking at all for a 110 degree left hander and punting Owen into the tyres. He got black flagged for this (excluded) but this didn't help Owen, whose chances of winning the championship are now very slim. To add to Owen's misery, I, along with David Morgan who is the other contender, got taken out by another one of the neanderthals in the final heat - he even had a second go at me a lap later just after I'd passed him - I eventually finished 8th (from 12th). It's sad to think that these morons will have a say in the final standings - I'm almost glad that I don't have to race against them again - Unless they turn up at next weeks endurance race :-((