December Update

Hey guys!

Thought I'd just post a quick update to let you know what I've been up to lately -

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking part in the last round of the ever-popular CovKartSport championship, which was held at the Daytona venue in Milton Keynes. 

A clear, chilly day greeted a bumper entry list of drivers, & whilst I had no particular results to speak of I did enjoy some close on-track battles with the likes of Alex Vangeen & Slawek Piskorz. My results from the event can be found below;

Practice

2nd Overall

Fastest Lap 01.12.071

Race One

Started 2nd

Finished 6th

Fastest Lap 01.11.184

Race Two

Started 10th

Finished 11th

Fastest Lap 01.10.971

Race Three

Started 17th

Finished 10th

Fastest Lap 01.10.781

I thoroughly enjoyed my first visit to Daytona Milton Keynes, and you could say the outdoor karting bug has well & truly bitten-so much so that I've thrown my hat in to be part of a team taking part in at 24 hour race there in 2018!

A few days later I was back at Teamsport Bristol to race at one of their 'Indy' events - a 45 minute members race with the added novelty of a 'safety kart' which featured whenever a yellow flag was required. During the race we had no less than four safety kart periods, and after starting from the second row I found myself taking 2nd overall (behind a staff member) after an entertaining duel with veteran driver Andy George.

Aside from the above my karting activities have been kept to a minimum lately due to other commitments. However, in the short period between Christmas & New Year I will be part of a team tackling the inaugural '12 Hours of Teamsport Bristol', where once again I will be teaming up with Ollie Bayani & Martin Savage as we bid to take victory in what is sure to be a gruelling (& cold) event. Check back in the New Year for updates!

Anyway, that's it from me

Happy Holidays everyone :)

Autumn '17

Well that wasn't exactly what I had in mind! After I felt re-energised at the last round I was confident of qualifying for the Kart Champs final, however Luke Smith came from behind to score a dominant class win at the regional final to book his place at the Birmingham finale. Josh Martin failed to escape the 'B' group on the night, effectively ending his chances early. 

7th overall in practice and a hot lap time only good enough for 11th set the tone for my evening, with Smith taking full advantage of having a decent kart under him. 8th in qualifying put me in the middle of the pack for the reverse grid race where I was only able to make up one place, before finishing 5th in the final race. My congratulations went to Luke and I wished him all the best for the final!

A week or so later I raced in what would be my final round of the Castle Combe Adult Championship (due to other commitments) where another mid-field performance left me 16th in the overall standings after the last round which took place in September. More heat wins & appearances in the final are my aim for next season! 

All in all as we get to the end of year I'll admit it's not been the best year for me in terms of karting & results-however I'm as passionate as ever & my preparations for the inaugural 12 Hours of TeamSport Bristol are now underway. I just need to remember it's going to be very cold in the middle of the night in December..

Until next time!

Kart Champs Rounds Two & Four

Round Two

After re-familiarising myself with the Teamsport Bristol karting track at round one & coming away with a second-in-class finish, I was confident of going one better at round two, which took place on Wednesday 19th July.

The entire fleet of karts had been fitted with new tyres only a few days before the event, and what a difference it made! Whereas previously I had found the circuit to be VERY slippery which meant I struggled to be consistent, now the karts were doing exactly what I wanted. This feeling in-turn breeds confidence & after the initial practice I felt that I was probably more comfortable than Id ever been since the new circuit opened. However, I made a meal of my 'hot lap' (the first points scoring session) with a sideways moment which saw me only 14th quickest out of 18th- not good! Round one Heavyweight winner Josh Martin was 7th quickest, so I had to do something to stop losing further points to him. 

In the main 10 minute qualifying session, I was able to find my rhythm and ended up 6th overall-much better given the calibre of drivers ahead of me. I made a clean start to the first race of the night, stayed out of trouble in turn one & ended up finishing 4th, which I would have been happy with had Josh not made an opportunistic move & got past me while I was battling for position with another driver. 

In race two, starting 6th I made another clean start from the tight grid, staying out of trouble & holding position until I came up behind another of the heavyweight drivers, Luke Smith. As hard as I tried, I couldn't find a way past. This again allowed Josh to close in and again, rather opportunistically get past me whilst I was battling with Luke. Whilst I hoped the two drivers ahead might then tangle allowing me to get past, the gap between the two remained consistent with Josh being unable to really attack. I followed Josh closely lap after lap until the chequered flag fell. Luke's results over the course of the evening saw him finish second in class ahead of me and behind Josh, who took his second win in as many weeks. The event overall was won by Oliver Bayani (no surprises there!) ahead of Ed Barrs & Zac Venn.

So after two out of five rounds, Josh currently heads the Heavyweight table with me in second, ahead of Luke Smith. As only three out of the five rounds count (the fifth round being the compulsory 'final') both myself & Josh opted to miss round three which took place on August 1st. I would need to finish first in class in both the remaining rounds to have any hope of making the final in Birmingham come September. 


Round Four (Wednesday 9th August) 

After Josh Martin's wins at rounds one  & two and Luke Smith's victory at round three (which Josh & I had elected to skip)  I needed a top result to have any chance of qualifying for the Kart Champs final in September. Six driver's in total would make up the heavy-weight class for this round, with seventeen drivers entered in total.

Due to the number of drivers taking part, it was decided beforehand that the two main races would be split into an 'A' & 'B' Group, with the top 9 qualifying for the 'A' races. Getting into this group would be crucial for me, as the highest place 'B' finisher would only score the points that 10th overall would have earned had we raced as one group. The decision to split the drivers was made due to the nature of the starting grid & the history of first lap pile-ups in races since the circuit was re-designed.

The night started well enough for, recording the 7th fastest time in the opening practice session- with drivers like Ed Barrs, Scott Vowles, Mike Hutt & Franklin Carson ahead it was about the best I could have hoped for. Immediately after the practice session we each went out one by one for a points-scoring 'hot lap'. Josh already didn't look entirely comfortable, and only managed to set the 14th best time on his hot lap, with Luke ending up 5th. Although my lap wasn't the best I'd ever put together, being one of the last to run obviously gave me a bit of extra grip & I was able to grab 4th resulting a decent haul of points to kick off the night. 

Qualifying was up next, and although I tried my best to give myself space to concentrate o, setting fast laps I kept finding myself behind people, resulting in me qualifying only 9th overall. I was disappointed given that I had been 7th in practice, however I was pleased to have at least made the 'A' finals. Luke had done an incredible job & finished 2nd in qualifying, while Josh's misfortune continued as he only qualified 13th- which was good news for me & Luke at least!

As the first of the night's two races would be a 'reverse' grid race, it meant I started on pole ahead of Oli Leett. The best I could hope for was to perhaps finish in the top 5 and ahead of Luke, who after qualifying 2nd would start this race second to last. I made a clean start from pole, edged ahead of Oli & surprisingly felt no contact going into the tricky tight section just after the first corner. I was sure I'd be under pressure soon from the likes of Ed & Carson but unbeknown to me Oli had maintained position after the start and was doing a great job of holding them up! After only a few laps I was ahead of him by a few corners and pulling away. Luke had a terrible start and found himself at the back of the pack as the tie ticked away. I was aware that Carson had eventually got past Oli and was taking chunks out of my lead, but there wasn't enough time left & I crossed the line a few seconds ahead, taking my first victory of any kind at the 'new' Bristol circuit-fantastic! 

This result gave me a good points haul & I knew Josh (who had claimed victory in first 'B' race) was going to lose ground. I just had to ensure I didn't finish dead last in the final race in order to stay ahead of Luke. As it turned out, I was able to get past Oli during the opening lap & then Mike Hutt (who had already secured a class victory before the final race) gifted me 7th. Luke managed to finish 5th having started second, which meant in terms of heavy-weight results I came away with a crucial class victory!

As things now stand going into the mandatory regional final, to be held on Wednesday 16th August, Josh still leads the heavyweight class having won the first two rounds, with 440 points. Luke & I have one win apiece so find ourselves in 2nd & 3rd overall (me on 435 points, Luke on 423). Andy George (273 points) is the only other realistic contender (having beaten Josh in their final race at round 4) but it looks like it will a three way fight for victory & that place in the Kart Champs final in Birmingham in what is sure to be a well-attended Bristol final...

Keep a look out for my next update!

Road to Kart Champs 2017

Ok, so- I'm back! I will admit I've been very lacklustre in updating this blog, but that's all about to change! This past week I took part in the first qualifying round for this year's Teamsport Kart Champs competition, with the aim of earning a place in the final to be held in Birmingham later in the year.

What else have I been up to this year, you may or may not be thinking? Well, in January I competed in the annual British Rental Kart Championship in Milton Keynes- where despite my best efforts I again failed to reach the semi finals (my highest heat result being a 2nd place finish) Then, a couple of months later I made the decision to enter this year's Adult Championship at the Castle Combe karting track. Having taken delivery of a bespoke fleet of Biz karts at the start of the year, I felt it would be a good time to have a go at what has always been a highly competitive, well organised & good value for money championship. After 5 rounds I currently sit 16th in the overall standings. The championship runs one meeting a month between March & September, with a break in July. I'll be at the next round in August but will unfortunately have to miss the final round in September due to other commitments. Oliver Bayani is again looking like the favourite for this year's title, and with it a free entry into BRKC 2018. My aim for the next round will be to improve my consistency & look to pick up more than one heat victory- I'll keep you posted!

Anyway, on to Kart Champs. This years competition involves 5 local qualifying rounds through July/August including a 'final' round (where your best 3 results including the final count) with the highest placed driver in each weight class progressing to the grand final held in September. Since January my weight has been hovering around the 90kg mark, which with kit included means I'm eligible for the 'heavy weight' class, and that should at least mean I'm able to be more competitive than if I was in the more populated 'middle weight' class. 

For the first round, held this past week at Teamsport Bristol in Avonmouth, 16 drivers entered with 5 in my weight class. Each round consists of a 10 minute practice, followed by a single 'hot' lap, a 10 minute qualifying session, a short race with a reverse grid based on qualifying results and a final 15 minute race, with each session other than the practice scoring points. 
I spent the practice session re-acquainting myself with the karts and circuit, exploring different lines & braking points & generally trying to find a 'groove'. Once this session was completed each driver took turns setting a single 'hot lap'. Qualifying then followed, and although I was pleased to qualify 5th overall another 'heavyweight' - Josh Martin surprised everyone including himself by going quickest of all. Clearly Josh was really in the zone and also looked to have a good kart beneath him, so he was going to be hard to beat. My time in qualifying mean I'd be starting the first race in 12th place. After making a bit of a hash of the start, I then got caught up in the midfield melee that always happens on the first lap. I finished the race somehwere around 10th, disappointingly, with Josh finishing a fine 5th. In the longer race two, I made a better start from 5th on the grid but as I was on the outside I again lost out through turns 2/3 and dropped back towards the back of the field. Some of the other drivers were getting a bit hot-headed at this point of the night and there was a fair bit of contact in the early stages. I managed to pick my way back through the field and was closing in on one of the other heavyweight drivers, Ben Carnell, who was also having a good night. With a few laps to go it looked unlikely I would be able to overhaul him for 8th position, but then contact with another driver put him in my sights and a lap later I was past. Although Ben was able to stay with me, the chequered flag was soon waved and that was it, race done. 

The event was won overall by Lightweight driver Scott Vowles, with Keiran Shanks & Jon Boulter (also lightweights) rounding out the top 3. The highest placed middleweight driver was Mike Hutt, finishing 5th overall. Josh took a well-deserved heavyweight win with 9th overall, and I finished 10th and second 'in class'. Although I was happy with a relatively good start to the competition, personally I felt I could have done better overall & will be looking to improve in the next round, which takes place on Tuesday 19th July.

Details of the Teamsport Kart Champs competition can be found here;

https://www.team-sport.co.uk/

Stay tuned..

This is my December

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Teamsport Bristol venue has recently undergone a new circuit build & also received a (long-overdue) new fleet of Biz karts.
Since re-opening a few weeks back, I have had the opportunity to compete in a couple of member's races and although my results have been far from stellar (8th & 5th place finishes) I feel that I am now getting the hang of the new layout, & as the grip increases week on week it certainly feels like you can 'attack' the circuit more than you could when the karts/track were brand new. Below is a video posted by Oliver Bayani from one of his early races on the new layout- go check it out & be sure to take notes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUP2f0u6tvw

This month I also confirmed my entry to the 2017 edition of the British Rental Kart Championship
The annual spectacular will take place at the Formula Fast circuit in Milton Keynes this coming January, and for the first time ever all 100 entries were filled by early December. There will be a fair few drivers making the pilgrimage from the Bristol/South West area- if you missed out on an entry, here's a little preview of the event & what you're going to be missing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFX0yio8V8s

If you'd like any more information about the BRKC or Formula Fast, check out these websites!

http://brkc.co.uk/
http://formulafast.co.uk/

Likewise, if you have yet to visit the new Teamsport Bristol track-well, what are you waiting for?!

Until next time

Racing with the 'Old Boy'

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of joining BRKC-regular Slawek Zuzel Piskorz for his Birthday Event at Formula Fast in Milton Keynes. Nine teams made of three drivers of mixed abilities would take part in a 1.5 Hour Endurance-style event, with the aim of having a fun evening & not getting too serious about the racing. Yeah, right!

Slawek had come up with a system of mixing up the drivers randomly within each team depending on speed, experience & driver weight (remember, the emphasis was on fun!) and each team would be named after a Grand Prix driver from the era that Slawek was born. I drew Laffite, and was paired with two youngsters by the names of Dante Dhillon and Louis Dymond. Neither of them had ever been to Formula Fast before, but they certainly brought the 'speed' to our team -which I guess means that I brought the experience (and the extra kg's!) Team Laffite joined the likes of Hunt, Lauda, Scheckter, Fittipaldi, Raggazoni etc in making up the grid. A short practice/qualifying session would be followed by the main race itself, with a minimum number of drivers changes required, meaning that you couldn't just do a solid 30 minutes each. 

Once we had come up with what we thought was a good plan for the race, I was the first of the three of us to take to the circuit, and it wasn't long before I felt up to speed, passing two other drivers in my stint before handing over to Louis. My best time had been good enough for 2nd of the group I was on track with, but that soon dropped to 4th as the other teams deployed their faster drivers. Louis lack of experience on the track was nothing compared to his amount of talent though, and he was soon topping the times with some blistering laps, before handing over to Dante with about six minutes remaining. Dante picked up right where Louis left off, consolidating our 1st place and before we knew it we had pole! Things were looking good for Team Laffite..

Dante remained in the kart to take the start of the race, and went about building up a lead of a few seconds in the opening phase. Each team had to make a minimum number of pit stops, but weren't required to change drivers each time. Essentially, you could come into the pits, exit the kart & step over a barrier, then get back into the kart, which would count as one stop. As a team we had decided to each do 20 minutes to begin with, during which time we would do a 'get out then get back in' stop, followed by the 'driver change' stop. Dante left it late for his first stop, but the change over with Louis went smoothly. Unlike some other teams, we weren't held up in the pits at all. 20 minutes later it was my turn. Louis pitted from the lead, jumped out & I found myself in the kart with a nice empty bit of track around me. Around I went for about 10 minutes before I started to catch the kart ahead, which I when I decided to make my first stop. I pulled into the pit lane, jumped out of the kart and over the barrier, then back in again & rejoined the track. This time I was a couple of seconds behind Slawek, and it was encouraging to see that lap by lap I was taking a bit of time out of him. Just as I had got the gap down to about 1 second, it was my turn to come in and hand back over to Louis for his remaining 10 minutes. 

Dante informed me that I would be back in the kart after Louis, with Dante then taking the final 10 minutes or so. I was happy to let the other two extend their stints slightly given how quick they both were, so it was decided my last stint would only be around 7-8 minutes- we had a comfortable lead by this point so when I was back in the kart I concentrated on just maintaining the gap, not making any mistakes and not getting caught up in any fighting with other drivers. As it was, when I re-joined I again found myself just ahead of Slawek, whose team were in a fight for a podium position. I managed to stay ahead of the Birthday Boy, and brought the kart in for our final stop, handing over to Louis for final 12 minutes or so. We briefly lost the lead to one of the other teams but it was evident they would have to stop again, and when they did we were promoted back into first place. Dante took the chequered flag by around 18 seconds, and incredibly (given that it was his first time at this particular track) he very nearly beat the all-time lap record too - insane!

Slawek had arranged for the top three teams to be awarded with some rather fancy-looking trophies, as well as a cool customised champagne bottle showing the names of all the teams participating. It was a real pleasure to take to the top step of the podium with the two hotshots I had been lucky enough to be paired with, and to come away with a bit of silverware was the proverbial icing on the (birthday) cake! I want to take this opportunity to say thanks to Slawek for putting on such a fun and well organised event, along with the other drivers who took part. A special mention goes to the staff of Formula Fast who as usual made sure the event ran smoothly, and to Slawek's partner Joanna Piskorz who was on photography and cake-distributing duties- it was a really good evening and fantastic fun, so thank you!

The next time I'm likely to be at Formula Fast will be for the 2017 British Rental Kart Championship event- if you've not heard of it please check out the website!
http://brkc.co.uk/
http://formulafast.co.uk/

See you then!

Redesign. Rebuild. Reclaim.

This week marks the end of an era for my local indoor kart circuit, TeamSport Bristol.

After almost 15 years, the track will be closing for a complete re-build, which promises to bring the circuit up to modern-day standards as well as (finally) getting a brand new fleet of karts. Since the TeamSport company bought out what was the old Raceway Bristol venue, the company has gone from strength to strength, seemingly opening new circuits on a monthly basis. With a recently re-furbished Cardiff venue, it was only a matter of time before they turned their attention to Bristol. Sure, there had been the odd lick of paint here & there, and the leaking roof & poor lighting had recently been fixed, but as far as I can remember, the track itself hasn't changed much since the original build. A select few regulars & myself were given a sneak peak of the new two-tier circuit design, & although on paper it's hard to get a realistic idea of what the track will be like it does look like it will remain a fast & interesting track. 

This past week, I participated in my final 'Members' event on the old circuit, taking 2nd place after a 100-lap Indy 500 type event. I was glad to be able to claim a podium finish (just 0.685 secs off the winner) in my last race on this track, but for sure I'm looking forward to the challenge that TeamSport Bristol 2.0 will present. For the next month or so though I'll be kicking my heels while the circuit is closed, although a trip to the Cardiff venue as well as an event at Formula Fast in Milton Keynes should keep me busy!

I want to take the time to welcome you to my new blog by the way- I hope anyone reading continues to enjoy my posts, I always appreciate the feedback & I'll do my best to update more regularly as I feel my passion for karting & motor sport is on the rise, which goes hand in hand with my passion for writing about the subject.

I'll see you on the track!

Ben