UK Endurance ProKart Championship 18th-20th Aug 2006

The UK 24 hour kart race at Whilton Mill was a fantastic race. During testing on Friday, we managed to get our kart setup pretty well for the changeable conditions and we were happy that we'd do well in qualifying. Last year we managed 13th, so we were a bit shocked to only qualify 20th this year when we thought we had the kart setup much better and Robert, who normally races Rotax, posted our quickest lap and is quicker than the rest of us!

This year I had decided not to do too much pre-race (last year I did most of the Friday setup work and the qualifying) so I only did one session on Friday, on a wet track. As the forecast predicted a fair amount of rain over the weekend, this was OK, and as it turned out, I wouldn't drive a dry lap all weekend. Noel started the race in bright sunshine, and at this point it looked like the weather men had gotten it wrong. The kart didn't seem to cope with the increased temperature and by the end of Noel's session (100 min) we were in 26th place :-( Ros managed to gain a place during his session and then the conditions started to change. About 30 minutes into Robert's session the rain started and we took the gamble of immediately fitting wet tyres - A pit stop to change tyres takes about 90 seconds, or 2 laps, and he was only out for another couple of laps when the rain stopped and the sun came back out, rapidly drying the track. We had been one of 2 teams to change tyres, and we lost out. So back in he came for slicks and another 2 laps lost. Then 15 minutes later the rain returned and having nothing to lose, we changed again and the same happened:-( So when the rain came back for a third time around 15 minutes later, we had no hesitation in pitting for wet tyres again - then the heavens opened and everyone followed. Robert completed his session on a drying track and we were thinking about going back to slicks, but the rain came back and I took over. I had only done one session in the kart on Friday, but although it was wet then and now, the kart felt very different. In 140 minutes I had 6 spins (more than I've had all season) and found the kart to be very understeery followed quickly by massive oversteer. When I got out of the kart I was very grumpy, cold and wet - it turned out that the tyre pressures were 8 psi down on where they should have been and we couldn't figure out why this had happened, but at least I knew that I hadn't forgotten how to drive :-)

Scott took over on new wets, at the correct pressures, and ran a steady session with no spins! Eric then took over and as usual, was pretty quick. Noel's second session started on a wet track, but by the end of his session, the track was pretty dry and Ros went out on slicks. The race was stopped around 1AM due to an accident that waranted the use of the ambulance - I need to find out more details on this. Ros took the restart and finished his session without incident, then Robert took over - Poor guy, it started to rain again during his session and he was in and out of the pits to change tyres. My memory is a bit hazy of the all these events as staying up for a 24 hour race, when you've only managed around 8 hours sleep over the previous 2 nights, is not easy. Anyway, I was out next, on new wet tyres, and right away, the kart felt fantastic. In my 2 hour session, I was passed twice - I reckon I lapped everbody else, some twice or three times - the kart was on rails and it was a fun drive, with no spins! - Noel took over and contiued our move up the leader board. We were now 10th. Over the closing 6 hours we diced with 9th place a few times before finally getting a lap ahead of the chasing team with only 20 minutes to go, letting Noel take the flag in 9th place.

Last year we finished 10th overall and first in club class. This year, more than half of the pro teams had dropped into club class, and the best 'club' team finished 3rd overall. How you can call a team that has factory support, and is spending a reputed 12k a year on engines, a club team is beyond me. Anyway, we were a place ahead of last year's position so that's got to be a plus. I then drove home to Glasgow (around 4:45 journey time) and I have no recolection of the middle 2 hours - In hindsight, a crazy decision and one I'll remmember not to repeat next year.

This post marks a year of blogging at the Racers Edge:-)