(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.
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
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