KartChamps Local Final & CCKC Round 6

(I do apologise- The first part of this post was written a few weeks back, and I’ve only just got around to finishing it.. Anyway, enjoy!)

Well that was horrendous..

After qualifying for the local Teamsport KartChamps final I experienced a major ‘off’ night and failed to make the cut for the regional final, which is scheduled to take place in Coventry at the end of the month. A near-two hour delay from our scheduled start time (not the circuit’s fault, traffic incidents in and around the local area pushed everything back) meant that I was already itching to just get things over & done with by the time we finally got to sit in a kart, and though I was able to set a competitive time in my weight class during practice I wasn’t entirely happy with the kart I’d been allocated. 

A heavy crash in my first heat race (caused by a driver squeezing me into a wall and then subsequently being rear-ended) set the tone for the rest of the night. A 2nd and 3rd place in my next two races saw me line up third on the grid for my class’ final, with the top 3 due to go through to the next round. However, having not been entirely happy with my kart all evening I decided to roll the dice before the final and switch karts. My thinking behind this was that although potentially I could have maintained position in the race in the kart I had, there was a quick driver starting behind me in 4th who I knew would be difficult to keep behind. I may have ended up swapping into a monster of a kart and running off with a win.. as it transpires, I didn’t.

Three corners into the final, it became apparent that kart 19 had a) no grip whatsoever, resulting in some amusing drifts, and b) no power, meaning I ended up being passed on the up-ramp like I had my foot on the brake. I quickly dropped to 4th, then 5th, 6th so I decided to call it a day there and then rather than slowly sliding my way towards the chequered flag at the back of the field. Not the way I wanted to the night to go by any means, but that being said the top three would have still been very difficult to beat. The results of the races that I did finish lead me to believe that I could still have qualified had I either stuck with the same kart or ended up with a better one, but it is what it is – Best wishes to those drivers in all of the weight classes proceeding to the regional (and hopefully national) finals!  You all deserve it. A big thanks go to the staff at TS Bristol too for staying late and pushing through without a break so that we could all get home some time before midnight!

***

The final round of the 2019 Castle Combe Adult Karting Championship took place on Saturday 14th September, at the earlier time of 9am, allowing those in attendance to then take in the day’s car racing action on the main circuit, which was a nice perk! 

Unfortunately my run of bad form continued as I struggled to adapt to an ever-evolving track surface, never feeling comfortable in any of the karts I drove and only finishing as high as 3rd in any of my races. It was a disappointing end to a year where I’d hoped to be able to be competitive at Castle Combe, and looking back at my performances at the two charity races earlier in the year I’m still confident that if I were to commit to the championship again next year I could perform at a higher level. Time will tell, I guess..

As the season draws to a close, I’ve still got a couple of events to look forward to (including a Covkartsport round at Milton Keynes) whilst also having recently enjoyed my first experience of driving at ‘The Green Hell’ Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany, and having a thrash around Thruxton in a Jaguar E-Type! Things are still all go at BJC Racing, and with BRKC 2020 looming on the horizon there’s absolutely no time to let up!! 

Until next time

Ben

TCT Karting Challenge

Castle Combe circuit, Saturday 6th July

Following on from my win at the earlier charity race held at Castle Combe, I again found myself travelling to Wiltshire to race in the TCT Karting Challenge, and event that would run to the same format as the previous Teenage Cancer Trust race only this time the field would be made up of a mix of general public entrants as well as full-on racing drivers who (due to the later start time) had earlier in the day been competing on the main circuit at ‘The Big Race Weekend’. It was an opportunity to measure myself against some very experienced race car drivers, and I hoped that my (thankfully more) immediate knowledge of the karts and kart circuit would at least mean I didn’t end up driving around in last place..

Around 34 drivers took to the track across a series of heat races that would then determine grids for 4 finals, with the lowest-scoring drivers being placed in the first final, and then the top two from that race moving to the back of the grid for the next final etc. Each driver would start one of their three heats from either the front, middle or back of the grid, and I found myself (having signed on fairly early) starting from pole in my first race.

Thankfully I was able to convert the pole to a win having seen off an attack from a from the driver that started in 2nd, which meant I got some good points on the board early on. My next heat saw me start from 3rd on the grid which is where I finished having gained and subsequently lost a place other drivers.

I would then line up in 5th for my final heat but was confident of a higher-placed finish based on the previous results of those starting ahead of me. I did my best to communicate to the driver starting behind me in 6th (and last) that if we worked together we could potentially get to the head of the field, but as usual once racing got underway things quickly got chaotic and just as we began what I think was the third lap I got tapped from behind and half-spun at the bottom hairpin, which dropped me to last. The drivers in first and second had by now pulled ahead and were enjoying their own personal battle, however the chap in third was acting as a kind of cork in a bottle- ‘You Shall Not Pass!’ kind of behaviour so within another lap and a half I’d managed to catch the others, and with a combination of luck and skill I managed to get back up to third place by the time the chequered flag dropped-phew!

This left me starting 8th on the grid in the ‘A’ final which I was more comfortable with than I would have been starting at the head of the ‘B’ final (and with it the chance to potentially NOT make the ‘A’ race) and I was confident of perhaps making up a few places amongst the higher-scoring drivers. Much like my second heat however I gained and lost places in equal measure and crossed the line in 8th place on track, although there were a few post-race penalties applied to drivers who (I assume) finished ahead of me due to contact. All-in-all I was more than happy to have made the ‘final’ final again and it was interesting to see how I managed to get on in a field of experienced and not so experienced  drivers, all in the name of a good cause to boot! 

Again, if you would like any more information about the Teenage Cancer Trust, or karting at Castle Combe please check out the below websites:

https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/
https://castlecombekarting.co.uk/

A few days prior to the TCT event, I also registered my first lap times for TeamSport’s annual KartChamps competition. In order to qualify for the next stage, drivers are required to set a minimum of three lap times across at least three separate events, with this stage of the competition spanning across July and August. Having previously missed out on the last few year’s final stages due to either bad luck, being out of the country or simply not being fast enough I plan to give myself every opportunity to progress further in this year’s competition, where I’ll be competing in the Heavyweight (86-100kg) category- Wish me luck, and I’ll keep you updated!

Ciao for now

Summer Season

After squeezing in a fairly last-minute trip to Mallorca in June, my karting activity was limited to not one but two outings at Castle Combe - Firstly on the 15th, a race organised in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, followed by round three of Castle Combe’s Adult Championship a couple of weeks later

The charity race would have a slightly different format to it than the usual championship rounds, in that all drivers would compete in a ‘final’ of sorts rather than winners from several semi-finals qualifying for a final. The idea being that if one of the lower scoring finalists won his or her ‘final’, they would then move on and start at the back of the grid for the next final (which is made up of higher-scoring drivers) etc until we got to an ‘A’ Final for the highest scoring drivers. 

A pre-event downpour made things.. interesting by the time the field of mixed-experienced drivers took to the track for practice, but by the time the first heat races got underway the circuit was almost home dry. In my first race I started from 3rd on the grid and finished second, but was frustrated with myself for taking perhaps a lap too long to gain a place by which time the leader was out of touch. My next two heats were more straightforward, and I scored two wins from 5th and 1st on the grid respectively. Wiltshire’s micro climate then treated us to another deluge, which made for some amusing racing (which I thankfully got to watch from the dry of indoor hospitality area) before I lined up for my 4th and final heat race, where I would be starting from 2nd on the grid on a still-wet track.

What followed was one of the most bizarre heats I’ve ever raced in at Combe, with every driver spinning at least once on the greasy surface (with or without ‘assistance’) Thankfully my pirouette took place at the very first corner, and after initially dropping down to 4th or 5th I was able to pick my way through the field to cross the line in first place, giving me three wins from four races (one driver *did* manage to win all four of his heats, who I was quick to congratulate) which left me to line up 2nd on the grid in the ‘A’ final. 

As the D, C and B finals progressed, the A finalists watched as the track went from moist to bone dry in all but it’s extremities, which left me feeling confident as I’d earlier claimed the fastest lap of the event in dry conditions, and because the young lad who was starting 3rd had been very quick in the wet. I knew there’d be an opportunity to go around the outside at the first corner if I got a good start, and as the lights went green it was drag race down to turn one.

I was slightly behind as we approached the first corner, a right-hand hairpin bend, with the pole sitter maintaining his advantage. As he’d started on the right, he kept a tight line defending the inside whilst I went outside and turned in late. However, I could only get alongside him (still on the outside) rather than ahead as we approached the right/left chicane and he was able to extend his lead as I brushed the wall on the inside. This dropped me to 4th as more contact followed. The young rain-master was now up to 2nd place, while I found myself behind one of the motorcross helmet-wearing drivers a few of us had earlier identified as being a bit on the aggressive side..

At one point I got more than alongside coming out of the chicane but was rudely squeezed into the wall, dropping me back a few kart lengths. Things weren’t looking good for me at this stage, with the race being so short (only 6 laps or so), my only saving grace being that it was still ultra-slippery at the top hairpin and drivers were still getting all out of shape up there, and that the lead pair were battling hard and therefore not pulling much of a gap. Still, it was to my absolute disbelief when on the final lap of the race, having eventually passed Motorcross guy for 3rd, I saw that the leading pair had tangled at the top hairpin leaving them both pointing the wrong way! I approached the turn cautiously, staying to the far left on the approach whilst trying not to get caught out by all the slime that had dropped from the overhead tress after the last downpour. One or possibly two drivers shot up the inside of me, almost completely out of control and subsequently ran wide, leaving me to pick my way past a few karts like I was flying the Millenium Falcon and dodging asteroids! I couldn’t believe the chaos that had unfolded on the final lap and I navigated the last few corners without drama, finishing a few seconds ahead of the next driver whilst the pair that had led the race (Perfect Score and Young Rainmaster) found themselves crossing the line in 4th and 5th. 

I celebrated with more of a shrug than a clenched fist, but I have to admit that standing on top of the podium for the first time at Castle Combe felt good, particularly as I’d also achieved the fastest lap of the event against some quick drivers- Ok, it wasn’t the same level of competition I’d be facing in the Adult Championship here, but a win’s a win, right? Besides, it was all for a good cause and it also means I get to enter the next charity race (being held in July) for free! 

If you’d like to find out more about the work being done at the Teenage Cancer Trust, you can visit their website here;

https://www.teenagecancertrust.org/

Round 3 of the Adult Championship took place on Saturday 29th June and despite feeling like I’d put on a few kilos thanks to my all-inclusive summer break, I was more confident than usual having only raced at the track a couple of weeks previously.

As usual though the event played out pretty much as each round has for me since I started racing at Castle Combe- A few decent results in my heat races (two seconds and a third) marred by one last-place finish due to contact with a driver who received black and white warning flags for two desperate incidents in the same race (!), which left me starting from 3rd on the grid in my semi-final and unable to challenge a run-away leader because it took me too long to get past the driver who started second. This meant I missed out on a spot on the final AGAIN and left me wishing the CCKC would adopt the A, B, C, D Final format (ala the charity race) rather than that which it has rigorously stuck with for years, which puts the highest scoring (fastest) drivers on pole for each semi-final, almost guaranteeing them a spot in the final..

Anyway, I’ll be hoping to make amends at their next Charity race in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust, which takes place on Saturday 6 July.

In terms of what I have coming up over the next few weeks and months I’ll be looking to compete in Teamsport’s annual KartChamps competition, as well as scheduling a belated birthday present for my old man which will see him lapping Thruxton in an F-type Jag- Lovely stuff.

We may even fit in some karting at their outdoor circuit!

See you at the track ;-)

Ben

Spring ‘19

April was a busy month here at BJC Racing and the on-track action has been hotting up to match the arrival of Spring! 

First up for me this month was the 2nd round (I’d missed the first) of the SERKC multi-venue Championship, a series put together by Sam Slater & Martin ‘Diego’ Savage, with this round taking place at Teamsport Bristol. Sadly despite being a well-attended & fun event with some great on-track racing, the event ran late which meant I had to cut out early & miss my ‘final’ which was a shame as although I didn’t manage to win any of my heat races I was in a position where I likely would have qualified at the very front of the ‘B’ final, or at the very back of the ‘A’ final- I guess I’ll never know! Despite Martin’s best efforts to get the event going on-time & keep a tight schedule interference by Teamsport’s head office meant those competing in SERKC had to share track time with an Arrive n’ Drive public group, which set us back a bit & as mentioned meant I sadly had to get going before the event finished. A quick thanks to Sam & Martin for putting the series together and I wish them all the best for the rounds to come- More info on SERKC can be found here;

https://www.facebook.com/southenglandrentalkartchampionship/

On Saturday 13th (Unlucky for some)  I found myself unable to resist the urge to attempt to better my round 1 result at the Castle Combe Adult Championship, so found myself making my way up to the Wiltshire circuit for Round 2. Sadly on the day it just wasn’t to be- Having peaked early on the event with a win & a 2nd from my opening races things quickly went downhill; 4th in my 3rd heat (following two botched pass attempts) when I should have really finished 2nd, then a lonely 3rd in my final heat left me starting from 3rd place in my semi-final. An average-at-best kart (No.13, as I said- Unlucky!) left me sliding about all over the place where before I had grip meant I dropped a position and crossed the line a distant 4th. Highly disappointing. 

Again it felt very much like a case of ‘what ifs’ and ‘could have beens’ but at the end of the day I just wasn’t able to race at a consistently high enough standard to make the final. The racing at Castle Combe is *so* competitive and any poor results or slightly iffy machinery really does make it difficult to achieve a great result. The fact I pulled off a slick-as overtake around the outside of turn one in one of my heats was of minor consolation. Whether I’ll be back for round 3 in May I’ve still not decided..

Once Easter was out of the way I had the pleasure of joining a number of drivers local to me for an afternoon of racing- In Milton Keynes! More specifically, the event was being run at the Daytona outdoor circuit using their fleet of DMax karts, and was kindly organised by Kirsty Schnitzer-Street as part of the fledgling ‘Kirsty’s Karting Events’ series (Again, see Facebook for details!)

After an uneventful journey up to MK I met up with the other drivers & was greeted by cloudy skies but cool temperatures & dry track conditions- More or less ideal conditions for my first visit to Daytona since I entered a Covkartsport round here a couple of years ago. For this event we would be using Daytona’s range of DMAX karts, which I believe are more ‘general public’ - friendly versions of Rotax karts (though I might be wrong!) -These are race-tuned two stroke karts that feature a high revving 22bhp, 125cc engine, and they’re a world apart from the ‘Sodi’ karts (12bhp) that I drove the last time I was here!

Seventeen drivers of varying experience took to the circuit following the mandatory safety briefing, for a 10 minute practice/qualifying session followed by a 30 minute race. Whilst I’d never driven these karts on this particular circuit, I felt I was more or less up to speed within a handful of laps, and qualified in 5th place. As the race got underway (using a rolling start format) I managed to avoid the obligatory carnage at the 2nd corner & gained a position to run in 4th place for a few laps. One thing that was really noticeable about these karts compared to my regular machines is that the tyre & brake warm-up is much more noticeable, in that if you aren’t moving for period & then suddenly get up to speed you experience more than a fair bit of understeer, as well as grabby brakes. Once warmed up however the DMAX karts were a pleasure to drive, really allowing you to settle into a rhythm (and at the same time actually feeling more comfortable personally than the slower Sodi karts)

Over the next 8 laps or so I was inevitable caught & passed by a few quicker drivers who had found their feet, dropping to 7th before becoming embroiled in a battle with two other karts that would eventually see me up to 5th place, before a kart issue for Matt Starke promotes me to 4th as the chequered flag fell. 

Once all of the drivers had crossed the line we reconvened to the hospitality area to exchange stories of the race, and for a nice trophy presentation. Whilst I wasn’t too disappointed to have missed out on a podium place (genuinely having thought I’d finished around 6th place) I was pleased to have achieved the 3rd fastest lap of the event (1.08.265), behind only Club 100 & 24hr race starlet Ed Barrs, and Ben Thomas- who coincidentally also finished 1st & 2nd. Milton-Keynes native Ben Winter was 3rd with a best time of 1.08.328, so all in all I was fairly satisfied with how the event went! A big thanks goes to Kirsty for getting everything and everyone organised, and to Paul Starke (father of Matt) for taking some excellent photos!

As I said, a fairly busy month!! On a final note, if you’ve not done so already please feel free to give my Facebook page a ‘Like’, just search for ‘BJC Racing’, and if you are on Instagram my profile name there is ‘bejc1’ :D

Catch y’all soon!

Ben

Get kitted out!

I thought I’d post something a little different this week, rather than the usual event updates, so please find below my reviews of two products I’ve been using for the last year or so (pretty important bits of kit too!) - My helmet & gloves;

Bell RS7 Pro

I love this helmet! After years of using motorcycle helmets for karting (which is fine) I decided to upgrade to a ‘proper’ motorsport helmet and after trying various brands at Autosport International I settled on this model for two reasons- Firstly, the fit is great. It transpires my face/head shape is thin/long so getting the right fit was a challenge. Other brands were either too big or created pressure across my forehead and temples- not ideal for 30-40 minutes wear at any one time! Secondly, it looks great in my opinion. Styled after the current-generation of F1 helmets as used by Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, Kimi Raikkonen & Fernando Alonso (amongst others) it’s a more modern-looking helmet than the other popular Bell model, the RS or GP3, which features the duck bill front spoiler.

The Bell RS7 is certainly lighter than my previous motorcycle helmet, came pre-painted in ‘falcon’ red and features the (optional) HANs posts as well as a fully composite shell featuring no less than 14 (count ‘em) air intakes & extraction points.

One of the first ‘upgrades’ I made was to get hold of a dark smoke visor which doesn’t really do anything other than look cool and protect my eyes from the glaring tube lights at Teamsport Bristol (I’m half-joking, it’s useful for when it’s sunny up at Castle Combe too!) as well as some of the air intakes that go on top of the helmet, because I do tend to get quite hot even when karting in the winter, so any extra air I can force in there has got to be helpful, right? The visor goes on & off using a type of screw & key system (very important not to lose the key, or knacker the thread on the screw!) which I’ve found to be just as straightforward as the systems used on motorcycle helmets, only it’s much safer/more secure. However, over-tightening the screw can make it really tough to open & close the visor so you have to find that happy-medium between still being able to do that without the screw being too loose. 

I still have it in mind to perhaps purchase an additional ‘mirrored’ visor for (hopefully) more outdoor use, along with some tear-off (to protect the visor more than anything) but I think I’ll give the rear spoiler a miss as unless I can get it painted to match the already-existing design it might look a little odd as it is supplied in a clear type of plastic. Maybe one day..

Negative points? Well, it still does get hot in there but then I think you’d find the same across most brands & types of helmets- A ‘coolmax’-type balaclava definitely helps. The accessories are also fairly expensive but with that being said they are quality parts and much better than some of the ‘knock offs’ (ie. visors) available from eBay

In summary, I would absolutely recommend the Bell RS7 helmet. As an alternative option to the popular Arai helmets, you can’t really go wrong if you want a quality item that really looks the part.

Alpinestars Tech 1-K Gloves

I purchased these gloves along with a new Alpinestars race suit as a replacement for a well-worn Puma pair, which were hands-down (gettit?) the most comfortable gloves I’ve ever worn for karting. Granted those Puma ones were the same spec as those used by the Ferrari & Mercedes F1 teams, but eventually the rigours of karting wore the grip on the palms down to almost nothing and I found towards the end of their life I was having to grip the wheel harder than usual, which wasn’t an ideal scenario. 

In choosing a new pair of gloves with karting in mind, I knew I wanted to get something with a silicone palm as the grip offered is exceptional- however previous experience with Alpinestars gloves had led me to find that the grip fell apart fairly quickly, as it seemed to be applied in thin lines replicating a finger or palm print. The newer styles however feature much bigger sections of grip on the palm which led me to trying Alpinestars again, and after over a year’s use is still holding up well. 

The gloves also feature pre-curved fingers to apparently reduce fatigue, and I’ve found them to be fairly breathable.

In terms of downsides, I can’t really find anything to complain about. The palm does have a tendency to bunch up a bit, but this may be due to an issue with the size I selected (Medium, as per my previous pairs) rather than a fault with the gloves themselves. Otherwise I have been impressed with the Tech 1-K model and would recommend them to anyone who wants a pair of high-grip, long lasting gloves. Even the distinctive red/grey colour has remained strong and not faded over time, which is good to see!

I hope you guys have enjoyed this impromptu product review, next time I’ll be discussing race suits & footwear :-)

Take it easy

Ben

2019 Season is Go!

Following on from a bit of a karting hangover, post- BRKC, I found myself back behind the wheel for the first time since January 20th at one of TeamSport Bristol’s ‘Speed Unleashed’ sessions. As something of a warm up to the first round of this year’s Castle Combe Adult Championship, it was a good way of re-familiarising myself with the Biz brand karts that both TeamSport & Castle Combe use. After four 15 minute sessions on track I felt like I was more or less back up to speed, confident of a reasonably competitive result at the Wiltshire circuit. My best lap at Speed Unleashed? - 38.226

Round one of CCKC soon came around and the entry list was made up of all the usual suspects plus a few ‘newbies’ who tend to come along to these opening rounds to see what’s what. After a brief practice sessions, the drivers took to the track in a series of heat races, starting from randomised grid positions, with four drivers in each hear. Based on the points scored in those heats, each driver would then have a semi-final race with the winners of each of those (plus the two fastest 2nd place drivers) going through to the final.

For my first heat I started from 5th (ie. last) and had got up to 3rd before I got torpedoed by one of the ‘new’ drivers at the third-to-last corner, meaning I ended up crossing the line in a frustrated 4th place. Heat 2 saw me start from 2nd on the grid and I soon found myself in the lead. Mike Seabourne (who had started at the back) was quickly up to 2nd but was unable to get anywhere near me as it transpired one of his front tyres had a puncture! It’s a wonder he was able to get up to 2nd at all, so fair play to him.

In my third heat I was able to take advantage of being in a group of newer drivers and cruised to another win, this time from pole. My final heat saw me starting from 4th where I was only able to make up one position in the race, which was enough to put me 2nd on the grid for my semi-final. Unfortunately for me Mike was the man on pole, this time with four fully inflated tyres, so I spent the race in a kind of no man’s land, unable to get close to Seabourne, but comfortably ahead of the chasing pack. My only hope of making the final would to be one of the quickest of the 2nd placed semi-finalists, a mission not made easier by ‘my’ semi being only the second of six to be run (meaning in theory the track was going to just get quicker)

As it transpired, my fastest lap was only good enough to be third of the 2nd place semi-finalists, meaning that I missed a spot in the final by one place- which was frustrating to say the least. Despite that, the overall result ranks as my highest ever finish at a CCKC round, and I know full well that better results in my first & final heats would have put my in a different semi final and (potentially) a spot in the final.

The next Castle Combe round is scheduled to take place on 13th April, and whilst I haven’t committed to competing in it just yet I have a feeling that the desire to (finally) make it into that final race may be an itch too difficult not to scratch. Watch this space!

BRKC 2019

Day One - Friday 18th Jan 2019

Official Practice

I arrived at Formula Fast in a relaxed state of mind (with the right degree of nervous anticipation) for my two ‘official’ practice sessions, thankful of my decision to travel to & stay in Milton Keynes the night before, as opposed to the usual rush to get the circuit on time on what always seems to be a congested Friday. The circuit isn’t maximum-level busy, with a majority of the European contingent not due to arrive until later in the day, but already there is a buzz about the place. There’s now a familiarity about venue, having attended ‘members’ events in November & December 2018- Familiar faces and names (on the timing sheets) too, although I’ve never been very good at putting the two together! It’s cold, seemingly not as cold as previous years but I expect the temperature to drop over the weekend as the action on the track hots up 

My sessions in the afternoon are spent exploring the grip levels, trying various lines and attempting to nail a pit stop technique that would lose me the least time when the racing gets underway. Between my time on track, I observe what the other drivers are up to- Do they lift here? Do they turn there? How long are they stationary for in the pits? Etc, etc. No stone unturned & all that..

My best time? A not exactly headline-grabbing 32.451, interestingly set during my first session which mean either whatever technique I was trying in the second wasn’t working, or that there was still a bit of gap between karts- Impossible to tell without driving the same machines back to back. A quick look at the times other drivers were doing in the same karts however showed that I was more or less up to speed, with hopefully more to come over the next couple of days. I’d soon find out!

Day Two- Saturday 19th Jan 2019

Heats 1 & 2

Today the nerves really hit. I woke up way earlier than I needed to, my heart beating hard in my chest at what lay ahead. For me, BRKC Saturday meant two 20- Minute heat races with single lap qualifying to determine the grid. My first heat was scheduled to start at 12.30 and I’d be sharing the track with teammate Darren Pearce, along with Connor Marsh, Gregory Laporte, Robin Kassam and Phil Prior, amongst others. I drew the no. 9 kart for this first race, which had shown well in the heats that had run earlier in the day. Connor stormed to pole position as more or less expected, but I surprised myself by putting in the 4th fastest qualifying lap- One of the tidiest I think I’ve ever driven at this circuit. Darren I think qualified in 6th

The race got underway with the usual rolling start and I lost a bit of ground initially before pegging the gap to the third-place driver at around one second. Connor had already disappeared up the road in what was commonly agreed to be a monster of a kart, and the race settled down into a fairly uneventful first half. I clocked Darren pitting very early in the race, a tactic that’s worked well for him in the past, but I decided to try & go with the driver ahead to see if an under or over cut would be possible. 

As he pitted, I again drove what I felt was one of my better laps in recent memory before heading to the pit lane myself a lap later. Unfortunately a a cautious stop meant that I re-emerged behind the same driver, only slightly closer. At this point there was still about 10mins of the race left to run, and all was going fairly smoothly until Gregory Laporte emerged from the pits just head of me. Giving me space to his left as we went though the first couple of corners, my momentum got me slightly ahead before he took the inside line into the right-hand hairpin. Only then a sign was hung out from Race Control which I missed but was actually indicating that Laporte had completed an invalid pit stop, meaning he had to pit again which he did on the very next lap. This left me with a clear run to the chequered flag to secure a relatively solid 4th, with Darren coming in in 5th after closing the initial gap to myself. I’d soon find out whether this would be as good as it got for me, but I was pleased with this first race none the less..

My second heat started at 5pm which left me time to retire back to my hotel room  for a few hours, but I soon found myself back in a kart (no.19 this time) lining up against Matt Bartsch, Calum Conway, Adam Davis, Patryk Nieroda and five other drivers who’s names I probably should have recognised as potential threats, but as previously stated I’ve never been very good with names..

This race (as well as the third round of heats) would take place on the hairpin-strewn, new-for-2019 ‘alternate’ circuit layout.. A fact I’d almost forgotten about until I tuned in to the live stream to see how my fellow Bristol drivers were doing!

This turned out to be one of those races where you end scratching your head at the end of it, wondering what happened. I qualified a lowly 8th but gained 2 positions on the opening lap as drivers ahead tangled with one another, I then pulled the same over-cut pit manoeuvre I’d tried earlier to overtake Jim Lovell, who’s completed his pit stop a lap earlier. 

There was then a bizarre incident where the yellow lights came on (reduce your speed, prepare to stop) and one of the front-running drivers actually DID stop, losing 3 positions in the process. He was then handed back the positions, and the race was underway again. Jim eventually found his way past me at the first proper corner, and I clung on by the skin of my teeth to finish exactly where I started (having evidently been overtaken by others who had stopped earlier than I had)

Regarding the yellow light incident, I was unable to get a clear answer out of anyone as to why the races was suddenly stopped but without seeing the full reply There’s was just more than a whiff of preferential treatment about the fact that one of drivers looked to have misread the situation, came to a complete stop (in error) only to cause the red flag and subsequently get pushed back into position. Now without seeing the full race replay, my initial thoughts on this is that had it been one of the lowlier drivers it would have been a case of ‘tough luck, you’ve misread the situation’ and that would have been that. The driver in question didn’t appear to have had an issue with his kart as he was able to race on at his usual place, so I can only assume he was let off the hook somewhat by being given his position back- which is frustrating.. 

Anyway, 8th is still 8th whichever way you cut it. And that’s not good enough in this competition. Still, I came away from my second heat pleased to have been on the pace, there or thereabouts, and happy that my pit stops had thus far worked in my favour. One could only wonder what the third and final day of BRKC 2019 might bring..

Day Three - Sunday 20th Jan 2019

Heats 3 & 4

Today was a cold one. I was at the circuit just after 9am, having woken up to a fairly thick frost earlier on which required some effort to remove from my on-loan-for-the-weekend VW T4 van. Mission accomplished, I then made it to the circuit in good time in order to grab a coffee & return some semblance of warmth to my body. 

This race (again, run on the alternate layout) turned out to be one of those races where the final result doesn’t really reflect what I felt was a solid performance. Admittedly I let myself down by only qualifying in 8th (again!) in kart 8, but felt I could possibly make up a couple of places in the race. As it turned out, the top 5 were just on a different planet and I lost a little too much ground in the early stages tucked up behind Tim Andrew. When a couple of the front runners pitted early, putting them back out directly behind Tim & myself, I sacrificed the gap in order to latch onto these faster drivers. I waved them through & then watched as they both caught & got tangled with Tim in the slower part of the circuit. As the track unwound into the back straight one of these drivers was still remonstrating with Tim which pushed him to the dusty outside line, which allowed me to get alongside and claim the next corner, promoting me the 7th. 

A few laps later I made another clean pit stop so as to cover off a potential under-cut attempt from Tim, which left me with a clear run to flag. I found myself taking chunks of time out of the 6th-places driver but ran out of laps to mount a real challenge. Still, I was pleased with how I’d driven and it was nice to hear later that the event commentators had praised me for my race craft. 

My fourth and final heat would take place on the regular circuit layout, a race that would include multiple BRKC winner Ruben Boutens(!). For this race I drew kart no. 21, which turned out to be a beast of a machine. I qualified in 6th (having failed to take advantage of the performance of said kart) but in the early stages managed to latch onto the top 5 who were running nose to tail, whilst building a gap back to the drivers in 7th & 8th. On by one the drivers ahead of me made their pit stops, until I found myself in the lead of the race! 

Sensing an opportunity to make another over-cut during my stop I dived in a lap after taking the lead- This is where my lack of experience in leading races came into play. Rather than realising that the front-running drivers (who had all stopped) would have slowed each other down battling for position, theoretically meaning I could have build up a gap, I instead had a crisis of confidence and decided to pit straight away rather than having faith in my pace..

As it happened, I emerged from my stop in third place ahead of Boutens(!!) but in my excitement I ran wide exiting the snail which allowed the multi-time BRKC champ to get inside me as we moved on to the back straight. Again looking back at this point I should have given up the position and tucked in behind him, but I fought to hold on around the outside which resulted in a bit of contact and me getting squeezed towards the wall just after the hairpin. It transpired that Ruben himself was being squeezed into me so I’ll let him off on this occasion (Lol)..

That incident put me back down to 6th, but I had the bit between my teeth and soon found myself back on the tail of the 5th-placed driver, who himself was chasing down Mario Blanco Gonzale. At one point I made a lunge to get slightly ahead, only to be re-passed as the direction of the track went from right to left, but I wasn’t to be held back & a lap or so later I threw a move Ricciardo-style down into the hairpin at the end of the straight. As the laps wound down I found myself reeling in Mario who was also closing in on the top 3, but it just wasn’t to be. The top 5 drivers crossed the line more or less nose-to-tail with me bringing up the rear, but the compliments I was given in the pits by some of my fellow competitors made up for what was in actuality another average result.

And that’s BRKC in a nutshell-  a 5th placed finish can leave you feeling like you’ve won a race, when you know you’ve given your all against the very best that indoor karting has to offer. You can’t put a price on that!

Until next time

Ben