Despite my better judgement, I once again headed through to Edinburgh for the last of the non-championship Super GP meetings at Raceland. The track was almost completely dry and the practice session went well. I started heat one 3 places from the back and had a found myself up to 3rd place after a couple of laps. Michael then dropped out from second place with an engine failure, so I was now chasing young Dom. Allthough it felt very quick, my kart was doing some strange things through the left handers - I thought it was a worn wheel bearing, but one lap later I found out it wasn't - I got past Dom on the right hander at the pit entry/exit, but as a drove trough the corner the kart jumped left - The right front track rod had detached from the steering column, so when I tried to turn right for the next corner, I went straight on and out of the race. I had a distinct feeling of deja vu :-) I was out in heat 2 (from 6th) so I had no time to worry. I made a good start and was well clear at the front after 2 laps - The kart was great through the rights, but struggled a bit in the lefts - Michael was a man on a mission and I had to drive pretty defensively on the last lap, eventually winning by less than half a kart length. In heat 4, I started eighth with Dave, Stuart ahead of me. I quickly made it up to third and then couldn't believe it as Dave and Stuart took each other out! From there on it was a simple drive to the flag for a second win. I got a start from the back in heat 6, to compensate for the mechanical failure in heat 1. My kart hadn't been out in the previous heat so the first 2 laps were a bit hairy, but I managed to get through the field to finish 2nd. So I started my last heat knowing that a top 6 finish should be enough with a grid slot of 6th. I noticed on the way to the grid that the left hand side engine didn't increase it's revs 'till the throttle was about half way through it's travel. So on the grid I played around with the cables, finding that if I pulled the cables from under the seat, I could make the engine rev earlier. So I spent the whole race steering with one hand and pulling cables with the other - I ended up 3rd to win the day overall with 61 points. Dom was second and Dave M was third. Dom and I had exactly the same fastest lap of the event with a 58.4! So, compared to last month, a much better result, but I didn't drive any differently - New karts please! Poor Craig had 1 decent kart and 3 absolute dogs and wasn't best pleased at the end.
David R, the guy I bought my S3 from is getting quicker every time he comes to Raceland - One to watch! I think this season is going to be the toughest yet, with around 8 people who could win the championship.
On Friday when I left work I found that some low life scum had scratched my front bumper and just driven off. So on Monday morining I'll be trying to get the security tapes reviewed, in the hope that I can see who did it.
