A cold but dry day greeted us at Rye for the
race debut of kart 78.
A few quick jobs such as changing the plug and chain (O-ring for strength), plus adding a strengthening bar to hold the radiator in place (a bargain at £2.14 - hopefully no more radiator damage) and we were all set for practice. Tyres once again were an issue as once at the ciruit we discovered that our "race" slicks were not quite as race worthy as we'd hoped. I blame the team manager..... damn that's me!
Luke went out first but was soon in complaining of lack of grip…. think he had forgotten that it was cold, wet and damp and he was on cold slicks…. as a few laps later with warmer tyres and a drier track we all declared the new chassis at least as good as kart 24 (the other Tony Kart).
Practice was the usual 20 minutes and went without incident (so far so good) then qualifying started – as the weather was looking decidely dodgy we did our 12 laps very quickly… and Toby managed a 37.51 which was nearly a second faster than Luke or I could manage… which put us 13th out of a grid of 18. The competition seems to get tougher each meeting…
A lengthy discussion surrounding tactics ensued as Toby and Luke each have to carry varying amounts of lead to ensure they meet the minimum weight of 165kg - including the kart of course !
Toby started and kept well clear of the usual first lap carnage and nipped past a couple of karts to find himself in 9th by the end of lap 1. Although the first three were pulling away corner by corner, the pack was not that far in front of him and sure enough with a couple of good moves, a spin by someone else and a nice line on the inside past the ensuing melee he was soon in 6th.
After 13 minutes it was time to change drivers – and that’s when our luck broke ! As Toby came in (weighing 165.5 kilos - close call!) he got caught behind someone dithering on the compulsory weighbridge and we must have lost 45 seconds if not more (and its only a 38 second lap).
By the time Luke went out our position had been compromised and we were probably running in the bottom half of the field – Luke was driving well though and kept up a strong pace and didn’t put a foot wrong – so we probably made up a couple of places…
Then it was my turn and the first thing I noticed was that the rear tyres had “gone off” significantly since qualifying, and I struggled to maintain the earlier pace – but the kart was still pulling really well out of the corners and down the straight – even though according to Toby and Luke my braking distances at the end of the back straight were a bit "“girly"…. thanks guys.
I managed to pass a couple of karts (probably lapping 17th and 18th again) but got passed by 3 or 4 but I suspect that our position didn’t change much… and we ended up 11th… not brilliant but the tyres were well past their best and at least we had a trouble free run in a new kart ! Must buy new tyres\next time out !
Next event is Thunderkarts at Thruxton on Feb 9th.
25 Jan 2003 - Round 2 of Winter Series (Toby, Luke and Paul)
