Bayford Endurance R7 Sun 20th October 07

With Andrew off to university the day after the last round, I was without my regular partner for this, the last round of the Bayford Summer Prokart Endurance Series.

I decided that as Kevin had turned up and helped out at every round it would be good to give him a run. He agreed and duly turned up at the circuit before 10am as instructed. I didn't!!
I was having a lye-in and enjoying the extra hour that putting the clocks back give us. Only thing is...... I was a week earlier than the rest of the UK as Caron had convinced me it was this week and not the next!!!!!

Anyway, got to the circuit with plenty of time to spare as the kart was pretty much set up and ready. Just needed to go over it and do the usual nuts, bolts, fluids and tyre pressure checks. That done, we were able to relax and watch a bit of the Rotax race that is on before ours.

Kevin went out first in practice and didn't like the handling, saying there was too much oversteer - what's new!! His best lap was 54.8. I went out and did a 53.6 after three laps and decided to change a few things. We put the rears out as far as they would go and also changed the front track and I found another two tenths to record a 53.440 - enough to put us 6th on the grid out of ten.

I was still not happy with the handling and brought the kart in, fuelled it up, then put the front track a bit wider and dropped the tyre pressures by a tad.
There was no time to go back out to try for a quicker lap, but I was happy with the grid position and we concentrated on making sure it was properly prepared.

Here is a slide show of some of the race action......

The start was good, and after 3 laps I moved up into 5th briefly whilst other drivers fought each other. I was able to stay with the battle for 4th and 5th for several laps, but after about 12 laps the handling, which for the start of the race had been good, started to drop in comparison to the other karts and I just dropped slightly off their pace. In fact, our best lap of the race came on lap 10 at 53.116 - the second best lap all year for us.

I maintained 6th all the way to lap 100, watching those behind slowly dropping away. It was particular encouraging to see our pace in comparison to KM (7) who were 2nd in the championship for the first half of the year. As lap 100 came and teams started to make their first pit stops I started to climb the leaderboard, reaching 3rd at one point, before being re-taken by Frascati (87) and Panther (33), who had both stopped and re-fuelled.

I was driving a long stint before handing over to Kevin, and maintained my pace in the low to mid 53's until about 1.5 hours into the race when I was becoming uncomfortable and my pace dropped to the mid to high 53's. On lap 119, 1hr45min into the race I pitted, refuelled and handed over to Kev.

He drove steadily, but dropped a place to Chatburn (51) on lap 151, whilst handing back over to me. Kev's fastest lap was a 54.677 and his average laptime through his 28 min stint was 55.050 compared to my overall average of 53.671, He did not like the way the kart handled, so it's not surprising he was a bit off the pace today.

I was back down into the mid 53's and chasing down Chatburn with a vengeance. On catching their kart I overtook without much resistance going into Boot Hill. I was told afterwards that the team decided not to challenge us as it was clearly evident that we were going over half a second quicker.

The winners, Frascati, completed 203 laps, and we completed 199 to finish 5th - not bad when you consider Frascati broke the lap record, setting a new mark of 51.853 and recording 21 laps in the high 51's, all below the previous record!!!

Here is a link to the championship table:-
http://www.mylaps.com/championship/view.jsp?id=2065

and Bayford's race report:-
http://www.bayfordkarting.co.uk/content.php/556

Kent Police Race Saturday 20th Oct 07 - Bayford Meadows

This is a two hour race, the second of the Kent Police Races this year.

As is the norm, I team up with Dave, a retired Kent officer, and on this occasion, Kevin.

Our team name is F>A>S>T (Fathers And Sons Together - as usually one of our sons is with us), and we have won the event on numerous occasions. It is usually an opportunity for me to have some fun racing AGAINST Richard, and we entertain the crowds with our dicing over the opening 40 minutes.

Some of the teams

Unfortunately, with Richard still being in Kenya, he had not entered a team, so I would have to find my entertainment elsewhere.

I don't know whether it is a deliberate attempt by Bayford to handicap us, by on the last couple of occasions we have definitely not had the best of the machinery. On this day, Kevin went out first and handed the kart to me. He told me the brakes were suspect and I found this out at the first corner when the pedal went to the floor - they weren't just suspect, they were non-existent!!! I changed the kart, did about three laps and one of the chains came off. The mechanic tried to blame me, saying I had run over a kerb - I was mid corner and nowhere near the kerbs when it jumped off!!!

So, on to our third kart and I had not had the opportunity of setting a decent lap time. Dave took over and then promptly returned to the pits - an engine had cut out... It was restarted and tweaked and away he went again. We ended up 2nd on the grid of 9 karts.

Dan - fast and dangerous!!

The start was a little chaotic, and we still did not have machinery to match the other front runners, but I maintained their pace having dropped to third, then moved to second and was taken out the next lap by 'Dan' in third. He just lunged into turn two in a move that was never going to work. Dan is a small guy and consequently quite quick, setting the fastest lap of the race. He doesn't have any race craft though and cannot maintain his pace.

I dropped to 5th, but within a few laps was up to third again and eventully made my way into the lead and started to pull away.

I didn't have it all my own way though. The pit board was coming out showing me that I was being caught, so I couldn't relax for the whole 40 minutes I was on track.

Next out was Kevin, and he drove a consistent race, handing over to Dave in the lead.

Kevin exiting 'The Rise'

It was a little frenetic at the end for the silver and bronze trophies, and an entertaining battle to watch, but through consistency, good race craft and three experienced drivers we brought kart number 5 home in the lead, two laps ahead of second place.

Dave takes the chequered flag . .

All smiles on the podium

Chatting with Dan after the podium

Analysing the time sheets with Dave

DJ Motorsport Enduro R8 Weds 17th October 07 Buckmore Park

With Richard away in Kenya, I needed to find another driver for this round and thought that it was all arranged. I called to confirm two days before the event only to be told that he had forgotten, and was now driving for another team for the rest of the year. At about 3pm on the day of the race I finally managed to get Paul from a well known kart shop to join me.
We got a dog of a kart in practice, it had no power and as I was handing over to Paul we were in provisional 18th on the grid out of 21 karts... we changed it!!
The second kart was to prove to be not much better, but in Paul's hands good enough for 3rd on the grid. We were briefly up to 2nd, but a hard charging Haydn Brown (Nip & Tuck) went through and Paul maintained third until the hand over.
The Ringer brothers had already stretched out quite a lead and, in similar style to most races this year would go on to win by 40 seconds, lapping most of the field and taking maximum points.
The changeover is normally a simple affair:- the first driver jumps out and in this case, Paul takes his seat insert out (he weighs about 9 stone!!), then the second driver jumps in and away you go. Only problem was, I pressed the GO pedal and nothing happened!! The engine had cut out.....
After getting the attention of the mechanics the kart was re-started, but we lost 12 to 15 seconds in the process.
Out on track I found that we had lost a couple of positions and were now down in 5th. Not only this, but under heavy braking the engine was cutting out, and coming out of the hairpins the brake was binding. Engines and brakes are two of the things that the circuit have just modified.....
I plodded on, but found myself under intense pressure over the last six or seven laps as other teams caught me up. I drove defensively and managed to maintain 5th to the flag, just a gnat's whisker ahead of the next three teams - phew!!!
Although not a podium, this was our best points tally of the season - still getting better......

PS. Thanks Paul - glad you enjoyed it.

DJ Motorsports 'Summer' fun race, Sun 30th Sept 07 Buckmore Park

These fun races are a hoot. Laura (DJ Motorsports) puts on two or three of these each year and the format is designed to get new drivers into the karts. Instead of the Thunderkarts that we drive on Wednesdays, for the fun races we use 390 Pros. These are not so highly tuned and the handling is set up for the less experienced driver.

The race is over one hour and is divided into four 15 mins slots. The rule is that each team must change driver every 15 mins. There are two classes:- 'family' and 'expert'. Family teams comprise (usually) one regular driver and one novice; expert teams, two regulars.

Caron and I entered, naturally, the family class, and I qualified us ('Lambstales') 8th on the grid out of a full 35 (!!) teams..... and 3rd in the family class.

The 'expert' drivers take the start and by the end of lap 1 we were in 5th having got a good start, and maintained this until the driver changes started when I moved up to 3rd. Caron rejoined in 4th, but this became 11th by the half hour mark as 'expert' teams passed her. She was driving very well for a novice and passed several back markers with ease! Only one 'moment' blotted her copybook when she spun going into hairpin 1. In her defence, this could well have been from a tap from behind by another driver, and she only lost 6 seconds and two places as a result.

I took over again at the 30 minute mark and managed to work back up to 7th by 45 minutes when a full course yellow came out. Now, I'm thinking 'what a brilliant time to do our last driver change, I'll indicate to Caron that I'm coming in.' For about four laps I'm searching the pit wall for Caron - nothing!! I'm now planning our divorce (ONLY JOKING!!) whilst Caron is deep in conversation with another man!!!

Turns out the 'competition' was an erstwhile team mate complaining of his ills, and Caron eventually appeared at the wall, helmet on and ready to take over whilst the yellow flags were still out - a marriage saved!!

She drove brilliantly for the last 11 minutes to come home 10th overall and 4th in the family class. What is really impressive though, is that we were the top placed team with a lady driver, the next being way back in 24th overall and 13th in the Family Class. How proud am I!!!

If we carry on like that, Laura will put us in the expert class next time.......

Here is a link to Laura's race report - http://www.djmotorsport.co.uk/Reports/se1rr.pdf

Met Police Kart Challenge Sunday 23rd September 07 Sandown Park

A nice warm day and bacon rolls :-) greeted us at Sandown Park Datona Race Circuit after about an hours drive from Kent. The team was Richard (DJ Motorsport partner), Robert (my son) and myself. Dave, from Kent Police had been due to join us but had to cancel at short notice due to family commitments.

We were supposed to be travelling together, but poor old Richard managed to get it all wrong and thought I said meet at 9am at our house. We were supposed to be at the circuit at 9am, so we ended up meeting him there.

There had been a house fire within sight of the circuit and this cause a few difficulties for people actually getting in. There was therefore a late start to the event.

The race was the usual Met format of half an hour practice and qualifying, followed by a three hour race. They do things a little differently at Sandown and call the teams in by kart number order for re-fuelling twice during the race. There was to be no minimum number of stops, so strategy had to be worked around the fuel stops.

We were allocated kart No.4 out of 10 runners, so would be one of the early stops for fuel. No matter how we worked it, we would have to stop three times during the race, as the marshals planned to stop us after about 30 minutes of racing.

Robert went out first in qualifying, and considering this was a new circuit for all of us, he did a great job and had us 4th on the time sheets.

Richard took over and improved our time, but our position dropped to 5th with quicker drivers now in the karts.

I was last out, as at Sandown the last driver to qualify stays in the kart for the first race stint - they don't allow driver changes on the grid. I managed to improve our time, but only maintained our 5th position grid slot. Sandown is quite technical and I used the six minutes or so I had in qualifying to learn the circuit.

At the start of the race it became apparent that our kart was ok in the corners, but slow on the main straight. I made up two places to third on the 1st lap, but dropped to 4th on the 2nd lap by being out-dragged down the straight. We were then promoted to 3rd when the 2nd placed kart spun on lap 5.

I could see the leading kart pulling away slowly over the next 20 or so laps, but was able to just keep him in sight. Meanwhile I was closing on 2nd place and on occasions was able to have a go at him in the tighter infield sections of the track. I was unable to pass though, as I could never get close enough along the straight to have a chance into the best overtaking point.

I was called in on lap 38 for fuel and rejoined in 6th. This was to become 3rd again after other teams fuelled and on lap 49 we moved into 2nd. I then set our team's fastest lap of 50.177s on lap 57, just shy of the fastest race lap of 49.906 by kart 7 (IT Men).

With other teams on different strategies, we took the lead on lap 79, which I held until handing over to Robert on lap 87.

Robert drove extremely well and consistently, resuming in 2nd, but moving up into the lead on lap 98, again due to different strategies. He maintained this lead until lap 125 when he was called in for fuel and the 2nd place team took the lead on his in lap.

Robert had driven for about 35 minutes, but we decided that it would be best to send Richard out and avoid a 4th pit stop.

The stop dropped us to 4th, but by lap 134 we were back in the lead. However, on the same lap, kart No.1 (BMW1) emerged from the pits and appeared to be quicker than Richard. Towards the end of the next lap the driver dived inside in an impossible overtaking move and sent Richard into a spin, demoting us to 2nd. Next time round and BMW1 were given the black flag and had to return to the pits to serve a stop and go penalty.

Richard drove consistently and maintained the lead to the flag, but not without a tense drama unfolding....

IT Men (7) and BMW1 (1) were still on the same lap as us and both teams were about half a second quicker than Richard. We watched from the sidelines as the gaps tumbled. Pit boards were put out telling Richard to 'PUSH' and giving him the ever dwindling gap back to second place. Back markers were proving difficult to pass and losing us valuable seconds, and it seemed where Richard was having trouble, the other teams were breezing past.

Just when it seemed we were going to be pipped for 1st in the dying seconds when the gap had dropped to 4 seconds with only 10 minutes to go, we were handed a lifeline. The IT Men driver, sensing victory, was over-eager trying to get past a back marker and spun. The gap was up to 11 seconds, and Richard had some breathing space.

He duly brought the kart home in the lead to win by 4.5 seconds from IT Men . BMW1 came home in third, just 7 seconds later, with Radical Racers (4) a further 25 seconds behind, but still on the same lap.

Wow, what a tense finish.......

As I said in an earlier blog about the Met race at Buckmore where we had so much bad luck, but were classified 2nd in the end, that 2nd place was vital. With BMW finishing 1st at Buckmore and 3rd at Sandown, whereas we were 2nd at Buckmore and 1st at Sandown, we came away with the series win and the overall trophy - A Gold-Plated F1 BMW Exhaust Manifold !!!

Actually, we didn't come away with it, but we will get our picture taken with it at the dinner in February........

DJ Motorsport Enduro R7 Weds 19th September 07 Buckmore Park

Finally!! A decent kart!
Richard was commandingly leading the way in the first half of qualifying – seeing our name at the top of the time sheets was a joy. I took over for the second half as usual, when all the quicker drivers come out, but with 31 karts on the circuit I tried to find a clear lap but was baulked by a slower driver every time. Still, 8th on the grid (from Richard’s best lap) is a definite improvement for this year and boded well for the race.

I made three(!) places up on the first lap this time, and was into 4th before the ten minute mark, and maintained this to the half way mark. Richard took up the fight with gusto and went after 2nd and 3rd, catching these teams’ slower drivers hand over fist.

Although Richard was much quicker than both drivers ahead (the 1st place team were 30 seconds up the road), once past them it was difficult to maintain the position through the back-markers and he fluctuated from 2nd to 4th. Just when it seemed that we were definitely on for second, or at least a podium, a fast back-marker, trying to un-lap himself, lunged at Richard going into Guarda and sent him into a spin. This driver had apparently upset quite a few teams and words were said afterwards.
With only 8 minutes of the race remaining, Richard was able to make up the 6 second deficit and catch 3rd place, but not in time to pass. 2nd, 3rd, and 4th were covered by less than 4 seconds at the end of the race, and although we did not get the podium we deserved, we were happy to be back among the leading pack where we believe we should be….

169 points scored today, and we move to 6th in the Championship table – let’s hope the trend continues into October.

Bayford Endurance R6 Sun 16th September 07

Between races I installed a new fuel tank, fuel filters, fitted a new axle and bearings, tuned the engines and serviced the brakes. The latter was probably a mistake, as we had major problems in the race with the brake disk binding on the caliper due to the caliper moving on the axle. This has now been sorted for the next race with countersunk grub screws through the bearing inners onto the axle...

Due to the problems with the brake we could only qualify 9th out of 10 karts.
Andrew took the start and moved into 7th. He took 6th on lap 60 when another team hit problems, but dropped back to 7th as another team recovered from a poor start.
He maintained 7th until the handover, but his pace was dropping due to the binding brake.

I took over and soon had problems with the brake and a misfire. Despite all the fuel system changes we had yet again picked up a blockage in the right hand carb - or so we thought!
After adjusting the brake and changing the carb I rejoined the race - dead last. The kart now seemed great as long as I was turning right. The engines were pulling fantastically round these bends, but round left handers one of them was coughing and spluttering and losing me loads of time. Another trip to the pits and about to change the carb yet again when I noticed that the kill switch wiring on the right hand engine had come out and was shorting on the casing. This was sorted easily and I went back out and the last 15 minutes of the race was brilliant. I unlapped us from the kart which had posted the fastest lap (albeit with a faster driver) and was flying.
Its just a shame the kart wasn't like that for the whole race.....

Just for the record, we finished last (10th) 28 laps down on the leader, but having lost at least 24 of those in the pits.

Bayford Endurance R5 19th August 07

This race was to be a disaster for Andrew and I, finishing 11th out of 12 runners, mainly due to down on power engines, and misfires causes by dirt in the fuel.
We qualified well, in wet conditions in 5th place. I took the wet start and moved to third, but as the conditions improved and the track got drier, the down on power engines allowed other teams to catch and pass us, relegating us to 5th. We led briefly on lap 87 as we were one of the last teams to pit for slick tyres when the wets were being chewed to bits by the dry track and lap times were beginning to go up again as the tyres overheated. I came out of the pits in third but immediately had a misfire so came in again and changed a carburetor. This put us to the back of the field where we remained to the end, only improving one slot when another team dropped out completely.

DJ Motorsport Enduro R6 Weds 8th August 07

Not a bad kart in qualifying, but we were unable to find enough clear track and finished up 10th on the grid.
From the start I made up, my now customary, two places over the first lap and maintained this position until the half way mark.
Richard had a consistent drive and got us up to 7th where we stayed to the end of the race.
149 points (from a possible 190) has been our best result so far this year – things can only get better…..!!

National Prokart Championship R4 29th July 07 Bayford Meadows

For a National series this was a bit of a disaster. I felt sorry for the organiser, Martin, who puts in so much time and effort and the money it costs to stage an event like this.
Only 9 teams turned up and then three decided it wasn't worth the bother and, after some travelling considerable distances, packed up and went.
The remaining 6 teams decided to make a race of it and to help cut Martin's losses.
The kart wasn't handling well, but this was probably due to being on worn tyres. It seemed pointless wasting a new set on this race, as it was really going to be just a bit of fun.
During the race we lost about 16 laps with technical problems, but other teams lost more during the 6 hours and we finished 3rd, 1st in Clubman class and just 11 laps behind the winners.
The championship has now been cancelled for this year, but it is hoped that a new and envigorated series will take place next year, together with sponsorship and prizes.

DJ Motorsport Enduro R5 Weds 18th July 07 - Buckmore Park

This was not a good race for us, qualifying 12th on the grid after changing karts, and only being able to maintain this over the first ten minutes. The standard of driving by some teams was abysmal, and every time I made up a position or two by fair and clean passes, I was duly bumped and barged back down again by unfair and aggressive driving. It was possibly the worst race for poor driving that I have ever driven in, and I made my thoughts known to the management afterwards.
Back to the race and I managed to get into the top ten and was glad to be out of the kart and handing over to Richard at the half way mark.
The kart had a new tyre on the right front and this was not yet scrubbed-in, it was causing massive understeer in left hand corners, and this was where we were losing our time.
Richard drove well, but was not able to improve on our position, bringing the kart home in 10th.
Another poor result for us, scoring only 131 points leaves us with little hope of repeating or improving on last year’s 4th place finish in the championship.