It’s been a while..

Hello! As the title says really, it’s been a while! How have you all been during these difficult last few months? Covid-free I hope!!

Now that motorsport activities are more or less back up and running again, I thought I’d post a short update re. what I’ve been up to since ‘lockdown’ was eased, which saw me back in a kart for the first time since January - a near seven month break, the longest I’ve had from karting in literally years! 

First up came a rather underwhelming performance at Teamsport Bristol’s August Chase the Ace event, where I finished a lowly 9th overall (but 3rd in class) as I endeavoured to get back up to speed. 

This event came about as I ‘upgraded’ to Teamsport’s ‘Elite’ membership level, which not only means I’m now the proud owner of a new-for-2020 Motorsport UK Indoor Karting (K-I) license, and also means I’m eligible to enter this year’s BIKC (British Indoor Karting Championship) competition, which had also been postponed by a few months due to COVID-19. 

The format of the competition itself is as follows:

Several weight classes, in which I’m entered in the ‘heavyweight’ (80-95kg) category, needing to set a minimum of three lap times from three separate events over a two month period, in order to qualify for a ‘local’ final scheduled to take place in mid-October, with the winners then proceeding to ‘Regional’ and then a ‘National’ final.

I intend to have qualified for the local final before the end of September, and if that goes well the regional final will take place in early November before the National final later that month. Please do check back here for updates!

Next up for me after Chase the Ace was a trip up to Herefordshire Raceway, for a round of the Welsh-based RapiKart Championship. The event would follow a similar format to the Castle Combe championship, with practice, heats & finals for all drivers. I made the ‘A’ final, but got caught up in an incident two thirds of the way through which left me at the back of the pack, where I finished. Some consolation came in the form of a reward for being ‘top rookie’ on the day (the series runs a separate class for drivers competing in RapiKart for the first time) so at least I care  away with a medal for my efforts- I said at the time, it’s been a while since I’ve been considered a rookie!

Finally, as August drew to a close, I raced in Teamsport’s new format ‘GP1’ event, which consisted of an F1-style knockout qualifying session followed by two 20 minute races, with the second race featuring a reverse grid for the top eight drivers from race once. In the ‘heavyweight’ class I found myself competing directly against six other drivers, from a total field of sixteen. I surprised myself by qualifying in the top eight, then in the first race I had an eventful run to 6th position which could/should have been 5th..

Two thirds of the way through I was sitting comfortably in 5th place when I came up to lap the driver in last place. Rather impatiently, I made a move at the first opportunity (instead of waiting until we got to a wider part of the track) and we made contact. Both he and I continued on, until a lap and a half later I was shown the ‘Give Position Back’ board by one of the track-side marshals. Slightly bemused by this, I backed off in order to allow the driver I had just *lapped* to come back past me, only to find that in the time between the ‘incident’ and me being cautioned, the driver in 6th place had also got ahead of the back-marker, and therefore he came flying past me. Not wanting to risk a further penalty, I begrudgingly waited for the last-placed driver to get back ahead, before I re-passed him again and set off after the (now) 5th place holder. Unfortunately I ran out of time to catch him, and therefore finished a slightly disappointing 6th. 

After the race I sought clarification as to why I got the penalty and if it really should have been applied given the positions of those drivers involved, but in the end shrugged it off as just ‘one of those things’. 6th place would see me start 3rd for the final race, so there was still decent points to race for.

In race two, which was punctuated by two red flag periods (thankfully due to mechanical issues and not accidents) I was able to finish inside the top 3, ahead of many of the quicker ‘lightweight’ drivers. This time I was the one who benefited from a driver ahead being given a 10 second penalty, post race. His misdemeanour? Having an almost like-for-like incident with the same back-marker I collided with in race one. Coincidence, or just another ‘one of those things’?..

Regardless, it felt good to finish the event on a high, and once the points had been added up I actually ended up first in class and 5th overall- Result! 

On a side note, I was also pleased to be able finally give my freshly-painted Bell Racing helmet a run out. A big thank you goes to Steve at SFX Designs for that- Cheers Steve !!

I’ll be sure to post again soon with a BIKC update-

Do please feel free to follow me on Instagram if you’re not doing so already, @bjc.racing

Until next time..

Ben