August Bank Holiday saw a rather different line up and location for Team Motorvation's latest venture; a 12 hour endurance in Belgium at Spa Francorchamps. (Toby was away in Cork on Ali's stag do involving drinking, emus, drinking, golf, drinking, electrocution, drinking, falconry, and drinking. Oh, did I mention the drinking?)

The format for the weekend was practice and super pole on Saturday, followed by a 6 hour Pro-kart race and a 6 hour 100cc race on Sunday.

Sounds tiring - the reality was worse !

Things didn't start to well with PG, ST and DNs flight being cancelled ( thanks BMI !) - and then at the Brussel's Avis desk the Ferrari that had been ordered had been replaced by a Skoda Octavia.... oh dear..... but the best was yet to come.... it was a diesel. After Darren and Steve T had stopped laughing we headed off to meet the others near Francorchamps.

The kart circuit itself is about 1.2km long with most lap times in the 51 - 55second window depending on kart and driver. 24 teams were entered including all the Club 100 regulars and the Belgian ProKart champions...

Qualifying showed that we were pretty evenly matched with just over a second splitting our fastest pro-kart times, and 0.4 splitting our 100cc times, but Steve S and Lachlan had the quickest times in the Pro-kart and 100s respectively so it was down to them to take part in the super-pole, i.e. 2 flying laps to set your fastest. Steve S went first in the Prokarts and did exceptionally well putting in a storming lap to put us 11th out of 24. Lachlan had a good first lap in the 100 with a good banker time, despite a "moment" at the hairpin.... unfortunately the next time round he looked even quicker but had an even bigger moment at the same place and spun. However his first lap was good enough for 18th on the grid.

The beer fest planned for Saturday night was replaced by a nice meal in Spa and a good nights sleep.... !!! Are we getting old ?

Sunday saw an early start - the Prokart race was to start at 8:30am. Steve S went out first for 45 minutes, then Steve T for the next 45, but then we came to the rest of the slackers... PG, DN and LC only doing 30 minute stints.... which may have been our downfall as the kart would run for 75 mins without refuelling and most teams seemed to be only changing drivers at fuel stops, we however we stopping every 30mins to change driver, losing about 30secs a time...

Lap times for the quick guys in the team were in the 54 second area, and for the very quickest guys there, high 52s.

By the end of six hours we had dropped back to 18th out of 24, and were feeling like we had done 24hrs !! Lachlan seemed to be surving best... the rest of us had various aches, strains, fatigue and bruising and it could only get worse.... Steve T had a particularly nasty back strain following a spin at the fastest part of the circuit and another off, and was unsure how he would handle the higher g-force of the 100s.

Darren started in the 100s and soon got in the groove, posting times below his qualifying times, but we had decided to fuel early to get out of sync with the others (to save queueing at the fuel rigs) so we called him in after only 12mins (a tank full should last 20mins) - his hand gestures seemed to imply he wanted to stay out for two more laps but tactics are tactics... so in he came. Steve S went out and also started posting some quick times in the 52s but at the end of his stint he was in a lot of pain from a badly bruised rib and felt his day was run. This meant that Steve T would have to battle on as there was no way the 3 of us left could do the remaining 5 hours alone.

And so we continued with the just the four of us for the next 3 hours with Lachlan and Darren clocking 52s consistently with Steve T and I in the 53s. After each stint Darren could be found lying flat on his back trying to relieve his back pain...

After 3 hours Steve S decided to give it a go...... big mistake.... even though he was padded to the max he was still in pain from his ribs and after only two laps he had a big off and decided to call it a day. A quick change and reschedule of the remaining stints and we were off again, but unfortunately Steve T was now in a lot of pain from his back muscle, and was lapping 3 seconds off the pace, but at least he was still going otherwise I doubt we would have been able to finish.

Darren and Lachlan still seemed unfazed by it all and were still lapping consistently quickly in the mid-52s Lachlan managing to run each session for as long as the fuel would hold out.... 22-23 mins. Darren pulled out a stonking 52.12 to take our fastest time of the day while Paul was stuck in the 53.5 rut desperately trying to hang on.... and also wearing every bit of padding he could find - including two rib protectors and t-shirts down the side of his boxers !

At the end we finished a "reasonable", considering the opposition, 19th, .... but the most satisfying bit was that at least we had finished !!

And a special mention must go to Jeanette and Lyn who fed and watered us all weekend, and Rianna (age 7) who managed out pit boards on Saturday - The post race pizzas were simply the best !! never has so much been owed by so many to so few !!

What's the next challenge ? I expect it may be something more sedate..... like Crown Green bowls !!