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.