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

Unofficial BRKC Practice #2

Sunday 23rd December

Two days before Christmas Day 2018 I once again found myself at Formula Fast, Milton Keynes in an effort to further improve my chances of a respectable result in the British Rental Kart Championship (2019 edition) when it rolls around I’m about 3 weeks time. This second, 'unlimited' session represented for me the most pre-BRKC practice I’ve ever had at this track prior to the event proper- Which should at least mean I spend less time on the ‘official’ practice Friday acclimatising to the karts/circuit and just trying to ‘get my eye in’..

Thanks to some input from front-runners Sam Slater & Sean Brierley I felt I was able to get dialled in more easily than I had a few weeks before, and although I was unable to break into the 31sec lap times I could take some consolation from the fact that over the course of the evening my times did steadily improve (aided by having the same kart in back to back sessions, allowing for a proper comparison). Equally, the importance of kart parity was once again highlighted in that during my last session I was able to set a faster lap time than another of the nights leading drivers, Tyler Mays, which left me to set off on the drive back to Bristol in a positive state of mind.

As I mentioned, BRKC 3019 kicks off on Friday 18th January 2019. Between now & then, I’ll be endeavouring to shed any extra weight that I’ve put on over the Christmas period (I know I have!) as well as making final preparations around travel, accommodation etc. I’ve already been asked to join Darren Pearce & Jamie Henderson forming a squad to contribute towards the ‘Teams’ championship, which will be new to me as there was no such thing when I last competed at the BRKC in 2017! I’ll also be squeezing in a trip to Autosport International at the NEC with my old man in a couple of weeks time, which should allow me to pick up any last-minute bits of kit I might need, as well as providing me with some final inspiration -

What can I say, I can’t wait!!

https://brkc.co.uk/

Unofficial BRKC Practice #1

Sunday 25th November

Wow. I have got a lot of work to do..

If I’m to come away with any kind of respectable result from the 2019 edition of the BRKC, then my recent trip to Formula Fast made it very clear that I still have a very long way to go in a very short amount of time. 

So let’s get the excuses out of the way shall we? Firstly I haven’t driven at Formula Fast since January 2017, nor would I claim to be all that familiar with the circuit’s Sodi karts, having spent most of the year driving Biz Karts at Castle Combe & TeamSport Bristol. Secondly the group I was in was made up of very quick drivers, all of whom had already had around 40 mins of track time before I even arrived. Finally, I’m still nowhere near my target ideal weight for January (and there weren’t many drivers running at the minimum 90kgs on this particular night). On top of that I had been hoping to try wearing contact lenses on track for the first time, but a delay at the opticians meant I couldn’t get my prescription in time. Bugger.

Anyway, as far as excuses go I think that covers a broad spectrum. Now, on to the negative stuff; I was just way too slow, both in terms of time taken to re-familiarise myself with karts/circuit and in terms of actual lap time. Now, I can come up with all the excuses I want but the cold hard fact of it is I wasn’t quick enough. My biggest disappointment was coming away from each session bottom of my group in terms of best lap times. Whilst I wasn’t the slowest driver in attendance, my failure to break into the 31’s was a bit of a downer (my best lap being a 32.021 in my final session) & I was left scratching my head as where another half a second could be found.. Advice is welcome! 

Positives? Well, over the four 10 minute sessions I managed to knock about 6/10ths off my best lap, having driven one of the karts twice so there is *some* improvement there..

Also, whilst BRKC ‘19 is now only seven weeks away I do plan on making another trip up to Milton Keynes just before Christmas so as to continue my quest for improvement. This will equate to the most ‘practice’ I’ve ever had for the championship & I’m so determined to come away from Formula Fast in January with my head held high. Combined with a diet/workout routine I’ve been working on for the last few weeks (and a bit of vision enhancement) I’m sure that things will start to come together to form a more overly positive picture..

Watch this space..

Q & A

A fun interview I did for a local Motor Club, for their monthly newsletter..

Question - What is your earliest motorsport-related memory?
Answer - Probably playing Nigel Mansell's World Championship game on the Gameboy, or watching (slightly bemused) as my childhood friends acted out the previous weekend's F1 race in the school playground!

Q - Do you have any motorsport heroes?
A - For sure, I'd have to say Michael Schumacher, Sebastien Loeb, Colin McRae, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso

Q - What have been your favourite F1 seasons?
A - Uh, lets see - 2000, 2006, 2010 and 2012.. which as a Ferrari fan haven't all ended in the best result but those years probably had the best racing, with multiple teams winning etc.

Q - If you could attend an F1 race anywhere in world where would you go?
A - Tough one.. maybe Australia, or the USA
Q - And who would you take?
A - My fiance - and my old man!

Q - Have you ever tried 'sim' racing and/or are there any 'racing' games you are currently playing?
A - I've had a go at Project Cars and Assetto Corsa.. I'm currently playing Forza Horizon 4 and F1 2018 (still!) but both will soon have to make way for Red Dead Redemption 2! I've never tried a full-on sim but it's on my to-do list

Q - Do you have any favourite motorsport vehicles?
A - Yea, I mean the 2000 F1 Ferrari was a beautiful and historically significant car.. The Brawn GP car that Jenson Button won his title in, the 2001 Ford Focus WRC with the Martini livery that McRae drove - They're all amongst my favourites

Q - Your current road car?
A - A Subaru Impreza, and a Citroen C4 Cactus
Q - And your dream road car?
A - The Ferrari 458 Speciale!

Q - If you could sample any car currently racing (excluding F1 & WEC) what would it be?
A - Hmm, probably something rally-related.. The Peugeot 208 World Rallycross car, or the Citroen C3 WRC - I think they'd be awesome!

Q - Can you remember the first time you went karting?
A - Absolutely, it was a my brother's friend's birthday party at an indoor circuit in Portishead, near Bristol. I must have been about 13 and I was hooked from that point on!

Q - Your current helmet?
A - Bell RS7 in 'falcon red'
Q - Racesuit/Gloves?
A - Alpinestars

Q - You've done your fair share of 'experience' days - are there any you'd recommend?
A - Oh definitely - Thruxton is a good one, it's such as fast circuit and they have a lot of modern supercars so that's cool. The cream of the crop as far as I'm concerned though is Palmersport, which isn't cheap but it's easily the best 'circuit' day I've done, and Phil Price Rally School in Wales - I couldn't recommend either highly enough!

Q - What are your racing plans for 2019?
A - The British Rental Kart Championship (in January) is gonna be the big one, after that who knows? Possibly some more outings in the Castle Combe Adult (Karting) Championship, and one or two Covkartsport rounds, I should think

* * * * *

Countdown to BRKC 2019

We are only 10 weeks (!) away from BRKC 2019 & while to some that might seem a long way off, for those intending to have any kind of success (or even improve on previous showings) preparations will have already began. 

I’m not just talking logistically (transport, hotels etc) but for me personally I intend on being in the best shape possible for the event, which given Christmas is somewhere in between now & the 18th of January is going to be a challenge in itself! What that means for me I cutting down on what I’m eating, not taking sugar in coffee & tea and getting back into a routine of going to gym a few times a week. On top of that, I fully intend to ‘swot up’ by watching footage from previous year’s events, as well as (hopefully) attending a couple of ‘arrive & drive’ sessions at Formula Fast before 2018 draws to a close.

The main reason for all the above, still some 2 months + away from the event? In all honesty, whilst I’ve enjoyed BRKC at Formula Fast, my result have always been average at best. I’ve never won a heat race. I’ve never made the semi finals (31st overall being my highest position) And whilst that may seem unlikely to change again in 2019, given that the format, the venue & the karts are the same as they have been for the past few years, the one thing I can influence is me. 

So you heard it here first. If I turn up to Milton Keynes in 10 weeks time weighing 90kgs & struggling to hold on to a kart for 20mins, you’ll know I only have myself to blame! Whilst I’m not expecting this preparation to be easy, not an I expecting my results to dramatically improve, as long as I can come away from BRKC 2019 knowing I’ve put the maximum in to it I’ll know I’ve done all I can to have a successful (and hopefully still fun) go at it!

I’ll see you at the track

Ben

Q3 2018

Autumn is now well & truly upon us - The leaves are starting to turn brown, there’s a bit of a chill in the air in the morning, and as the racing ‘season’ starts to draw to a close as does the amount of karting I’ve got lined up. That and of course the need to start saving up for Christmas presents & whatnot! 

My racing activity in September was limited to the final round of the Castle Combe Adult Championship, in which I under-performed even by my own modest standards, never truly getting a ‘feel’ for any of the karts I was allocated - the only highlight being a battle with Sam Slater in one the heat races where I managed to keep him behind until half way through the final lap, until he made a (fair) lunge to steal the position from me. Other than that there wasn’t much to write home about if I’m being honest. My congratulations go to the Top 3 drivers in the championship- Mike Seabourne, Jacob Lewis and Thomas Cardno who have all had fantastic seasons. 13th overall in the standings (out of 60 registered drivers) isn’t what I was hoping for at the start of the year, and despite the quality of the drivers and events put on by Drive Tech Ltd I feel that I’m going to have to give it a fair bit of thought before committing to doing the whole series again in 2019.. but watch this space!

Between now and the end of the year any karting will most likely just consist of a few outings at Teamsport Bristol, and potentially a trip up to Formula Fast in Milton Keynes as my ‘preparations’ for BRKC ‘19 start to get underway. Again, I’ll be sure to post another update as soon as I think I have something interesting to say!

Until next time..

Ben