Race Report - Round 2 of Winter Series

Our first race with our new team van…. the ex-Motorvation Astra van was getting a bit long in the tooth for everyday garage use so a deal was struck with Will Birrell the proprietor of Motorvation (from whom we pinched our name and various freebie welding jobs…) and it is now the property of Team Motorvation (or it will be when I've handed the cash over). Its not quite a Ferrari F1 motor-home but it does have a CD player and speakers in the roof !!!???

The morning started outside my garage with a major brake overhaul for the Tony Kart (24) after the disasters in Round 1. The brakes were treated to a new set of genuine Ferodo pads and new seals all round to try and remove the previous long travel and non-progressive feel of the brakes…

The first hairpin would be the acid test…..

General practice for us late birds started at 12:30 and the first hairpin passed with out incident. The brakes now much better (they actually felt effective and progressive - something they have never done since our first race over a year ago). Conditions were dry and cold with only a couple of wet patches on the track.

We were running hard practice slicks and lapping in the high 39s with a bit a hesitancy out of some of the slower bends….. a quick plug change from an NGK 8 (left in from last wet race) to a NGK 9 saw Toby getting down to 38.4s and me 38.6s …

Damien our guest driver for the practice session was acquitting himself well, the fastest thing he had driven previously apart from his Cavalier was a GT1 kart so he did well to stay on the black stuff (Luke please note !!).
His first session saw him down to mid 44s, not a bad start, but by the end of the day he was down to high 39s in only a few laps on race slicks which is excellent for a first time out in a Max….. we won't mention the nightmare session when he spun 3 times, each on different corners….. apparently "finding the limit"……

General practice saw Toby getting barged unceremoniously off the track between the two hairpins by a driver with tunnel vision who was obviously trying to avoid the wet patch (sound familiar !!). Black tyre marks on our pods being evidence enough that Toby was in front at the time. Being conscious of the red mist of revenge descending, Toby wisely decided to pit and cool down…. We watched the offending kart continue to lap and decided he was just useless and it hadn't been intentional…not that that was much consolation.

We then put on our race slicks for the last part of general practice, Damien went out to warm them up then Toby went out to see how much more grip there was…. About another 0.5 sec per lap…
Then as he went to pass someone down the main straight someone waved a flag in the pit lane causing the driver being passed by Toby to swerve into him (??!) , no idea why…. our kart leapt in to the air crashing down on the rear sprocket bending it and mashing the chain too…. luckily it stayed upright so Toby was shaken not stirred. The kart however was a trolley job…..

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise….

While Damien and Toby started dismantling the rear of the kart to replace the damaged bits I went to buy the new parts. An 86 tooth sprocket and 112 O'ring chain….. I thought. However, when I asked for the 86 tooth sprocket it was pointed out to me that 88 is the recommended one for a Max with 12 sprocket front (ours has a 12 - the original 13 being replaced sometime ago..). I was a bit doubtful because the kart seemed to going quite well with just a tiny amount of lag out of the slowest two bends but ok really…. But the guy was insistent so I bought the 88…… Toby was equally unconvinced but we decided to go with it anyway.

Once repaired we only had 5 mins of general practice left… so I quickly took it for a few exploratory laps with the new sprocket…. Took the first couple gently on cold slicks then took a flyer…… wow ! The new sprocket had made what seemed a huge difference to the driveability - bit like a tuned car being on cam and off, it was now always on cam and would pull a lot more cleanly from slow corners, the s-bend at the top was where is was most noticeable…. high 37s were seen within a couple of laps..

After the drivers briefing Toby and I took it out for the race free practice and were both convinced that it was much, much more driveable than ever before…. Lap times were consistently in the mid - high 37s - at the end of my stint we were second with a 37.64, (the only kart faster was a 250cc Biland) qualifying was looking good.

I went first to heat the tyres up (something to with my weight apparently !!) and saw a fastest of, I thought 37 dead on the Alfano, but the circuit timer which times you from a different point clocked it at 37.44, and second again….. Toby had instructions to go for pole… but after eating three doughnuts kindly brought along by Vanessa he failed to improve so we ended up third (2nd Max), Metin pipping us at the post ( I had noticed he had a 37.55 at the end of my stint so only had to find another tenth in 6 laps)

After the "incidents" of the last couple of races Toby promised to keep it safe at the rolling start…… which he did admirably, and although by the end of lap 1 we had dropped slightly to 5th but there was nothing between the first 5. But more importantly we were still part of the "train"…. a major improvement….

Slowly the Biland and Metin pulled away from WAR racing, AB and Toby…. But within 5 laps Toby was all over AB and then pulled a demon move on them, and was then chasing after WAR …. He got very close but clipped a kerb with inside front wheel and the kart took off and landed heavily…. Toby was rightly concerned that damage was done an eased off a tad… no damage was evident so he floored it again, and after another 5 laps had reeled in WAR, AB dropping back slightly… eventually pitting with a problem…

Toby definitely had the edge and each time he & WAR went into the top bend, at probably close on 70mph, side by side, I took a deep breath. This happened 3 times in a row and each time discretion got the better of valour (phew !) and Toby let WAR take the line….. then on the fourth time he got past rubbing wheels on the way round but they touched more solidly at turn 2 and Toby semi- spun, however WAR knew he was in the wrong and waited at the next bend to let Toby through again….. they both got going again and continued to race each other having not lost any places - I gave Toby the thumbs up a couple laps later as he was really pushing hard and I was sure he was in 3rd overall…. Mistake !!! Toby saw me signal and thought I meant it was time to pit and change drivers….. oh no ! I didn't even have my helmet on…… not the end of the world as we have to pit twice anyway (I normally do the 2nd stop during my stint - to let me get my breath back !!)…. So a brief exchange of "niceties" (NOT !), and Toby was off again…. He pitted on schedule 6 minutes later, we thought we may need fuel but didn't, so we pushed the kart from the refuelling area and I took over - but no mid session stop to look forward too….. had already made a mental note to sort out our pit to driver signalling once and for all !!

I came out of the pits just as Metin came past….. so at least I had someone to "race" …. The scoreboard showed Biland 1st, Metin 2nd , Team Motorvation 3rd……. Gulp…. 2nd place was in our grasp. During the pit stops we had somehow managed to catch up…. Wasn't sure how, but I wasn't going to argue…. I could see him probably 2 - 3 seconds in front, just pulling out of the hairpins as I started to brake…. The adrenaline started to rush and then my visor started to steam…. oops had to back off and lift my visor a tad…. now I could see again !!

Then the Biland, which was a fair way in front but visible, pitted and I thought Metin was now 1st and we were 2nd….. but the scoreboard still showed us 3rd …. odd ? Metin was within a stone's throw, but not quite close enough - I watched the lap times on the scoreboard and we were both lapping mid 37's but the Biland in 2nd but behind me on the track was lapping in low 36's…… and catching…. quickly…

Sure enough the Biland soon caught me and I knew there was no way I could hold off one of those for long so I just let him go hoping there would be an "incident" as he passed Metin to take 1st…. no such luck…. he was now back in 1st with Metin 2nd….. similar story as we lapped one of the slower karts…

But something was different, I was imperceptibly catching Metin… a quick glance at the scoreboard showed he was now lapping in 38.05ish and I was still mid-37s…. but there just wasn't enough laps left… and four laps later it was over…. he had had a slight misfire and this was slowing him…. In fact it turned out he was a lap ahead anyway….. having completed 59 to our 58 at the flag… hence why we never made it 2nd.

So 3rd overall, but 2nd Max , so a silver trophy to go with our bronze one…. we were happy with that, and Toby was even happier when he realised that he had set 2nd fastest Max time of the day with a 37.12 on lap 12 just edged out by AB who had done a 37.02 the lap after (coinciding with the lap of their position swap…. obviously the adrenaline was working overtime…)

But now the confession…. there were only 6 karts racing, albeit 4 of quickest ones (or 5 if you include us…..)

Luke - please note the kart had no grass or mud on it at all and didn't need jet washing- so you can draw your own conclusions….

Roll on February 16th and some lap times in the 36's.

Paul.

Rye House, 19 Jan 2002