Back to Earth - With a Bump :-(

After one of my best weekends of karting in Monaco, I had the worst for a long time at Crail :-(

Despite mother natures best attempts, Crail was reasonably dry on sunday. I was driving for the Outsiders team (No 79) and given that the chassis was the same type that Ros and I use, I expected to be able to run competitvely. However, the kart felt very different to ours particularly the brakes, and the ammount of rear grip. On our kart, the brake pedal travel is fairly short, whereas this kart had the longest pedal I've ever used - I nearly went off circuit a number of times during practice, and the kart had way too much rear grip, causing it to understeer on entry and bog down on exit. I can cope with most things, but understeer defeats me :-(

I started qualifying on wets, but it was plain that slicks were the way to go so I came in after 4 laps. Slicks were fitted, and my teammate, Gegi, did the rest of the session, putting us 8th on the grid.

I had a good start and battled with Alan Kirkcaldy and Craig Alsop for most of the first 20 minutes. Alan then got a break through the backmarkers and Craig got taken out by one of them, so I handed over in 5th place. My teammate was running a similar pace to me and we ended up 6th.

For race 2 we tried adding some front grip, as we couldn't adjust the rear, but it was a similar story with the handover in 6th place, translating to a 7th placed finish. Again, similar lap times.

The Bump!

For race 3 we fitted some older tyres to try and reduce the rear grip, but we had a slight rain shower, and I managed to spin on the parade lap and then lose 6 or so places in the first lap as the kart had no grip on the greasy surface. I was getting really frustrated so as I started to get some heat into the tyres I overdid it and clipped the barrier at the entry to the first corner, causing me to spin and bend the rear axle - what a plonker!

We quickly switched to a spare kart which was quite nice to drive, but as we were 5 laps down, and I didn't want to interfere with anyones race, I kept an eye over my shoulder and let anyone through who was racing for position.

So, what did I learn? 1) All karts are different, and may require a differing style to make them work. 2) Don't overdrive if the kart doesn't work the way you want. 3) I still have lots to learn.

I'm now hoping that I can get a test in a Formula Blue (2 stroke) and that Ros and I can have a test day in our prokart. Next month can only be better :-)