Just like Busses......

Thursday night saw the F-Sport karting team (Neil & Fraser Purdie, Dave Morgan and me) competing in the inaugural Colin McRae Vision endurance kart race at Scotkart's Cambuslang circuit.

We turned up not really knowing what to expect, but a quick look through the entry list told us it would be a very competitive event - we had multiple proper karters and even an ex BTCC driver (who was also a top 10 UK Rotax racer) - At least 60% of the drivers had their own racing kit which again pointed to a good race.

Grid positions, rightly so, were to be decided by the amount of sponsorship monies raised by each team which meant we started the race in 7th place (of 14).

In the 30 minute practice session we were 3rd quickest so we reckoned that a podium was possible.

Neil started the event and was obviously on a mission, quickly working his way up to 3rd place - the front 2 were running a fast pace which Neil was matching, but we were surprised when the second placed kart and then the leader pitted after 20 minutes or so.

Our race plan was simple. 4 drivers/2 hour race/30 minutes each. But Cambuslang is a very physical wee circuit and it seems some folk were finding it tough.

So I took over the second stint in first place with a lead of just under a lap. Again with the different pit strategies the race just seemed to come to us and despite being stuck behind the team in second place for 20-30 laps, I handed over to Fraser with a lead of 2 laps 25 seconds (2L-25s).

Fraser was very nervous before getting into the kart (so I'm told) but you couldn't tell as he was very consistent and just kept out of trouble throughout his stint maintaining a lead of 2L-15s.

So we told Dave just to drive to win and that's exactly what he did bringing the kart home with lead of 2L-01s.

Overall just over £6000 was raised and we managed to maintain our unbeaten record at Scotkart endurance races, but I'm pretty sure that with some smart pit strategies it would have been much more difficult.

Our strength was that there was less that 0.5s between our quickest and slowest drivers - and that's what endurance racing is all about - there were quicker drivers out there - the lap record was broken - but to win by 2 laps in that company really was a big surprise :-)

On Friday after work I flew down to Stansted where I met up with Dave, Declan & and Joe McDonnell who we were racing with in Team McAttack in 4 hour Pro-Kart enduro at Rye House on Saturday

Dave and I were still a bit sore from Thursday nights race, but Saturday's race would be in a kart with a seat that fitted us :-)

Neither of us had even seen the circuit so we left Declan's house at 7:15 on Saturday morning for the short trip to Rye House. The plan was that Dave and I would use the morning's practice sessions to get to know the circuit for the race at 14:00.

The circuit was still partially wet from the over night rain, so we just did stints of around 10 laps each but even when the circuit almost completely dry, the best we could do as a high 44s - which was worrying as Declan best is a 41.7! So, Joe went out and to our relief, he was much the same - so we fitted new tyres and did some setup work and by the time we got to qualifying, we had found a second or so, but we were finding that the circuit, which looked quite simple, had a couple of very technical sections which were proving difficult.

Anyway, Dec and Joe were both concerned as our best qualifying lap of 43.06, was way off the pace and put us 19th on the grid and 6th in class. So we decided to make another change and start the race hoping it would work.

As Dave and I had to catch our flights home on Sat evening, we were to do the first 2 stints of the race with me taking the start - I have done loads of starts at Crail, and pre race, I'm never keen on starting, but once you are in the mix, it's the best chance of making up places - I got a good start and jumped a few folk - after that I just settled into a rhythm and was up to 4th with 5 mins left in my hour when I took too much kerb at a corner and went off :-( No damage and I was back on in 8-10 seconds, but entirely my fault.

Dave then took over and did a very similar session, without the off track excursion and a good consistent pace.

Most of the other teams have 3 drivers and thus have to do 1 less pit stop than us, but 4 hours is a long race and during Joe's 3rd stint, we moved from 6th to 3rd as teams had mechanical issues or dropped off the pace with slower drivers.

So Declan took over and drove a great stint to bring us home in 3rd place, and from the team's perspective, ahead of the two other title rivals.

Dave and I were both pleased thet we found some pace - we weren't as consistent as Dec/Joe as they have done way more laps at Rye, but the fastest laps/driver again show that an endurance team is really only as good as it's slowest driver.

Dec - 42.57, Joe 42.60, DJ 42.71, Dave 42.80 - that just over 2 tenths - Not bad at all……

A great couple of days.

ps 30 mins at Cambuslang is way more physical than an hour at Rye house!