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:
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
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