Clay Pigeon; February 16th 2002
Final position: 9th Overall.
We entered this race as a shakedown for the engine and kart before the Championship proper started in March. Although we had spent a few hours in January in wet weather running in the new engine at Rye House, we had never run the Rotax in the dry, so we were hoping for no rain.
In the event it looked as if we were going to be jinxed again by Clay Pigeon's microclimate as the day started with thick mist, which after a few false starts proceeded to get worse as the morning wore on.
But first we had to get the engine working. After some churning, Thomas managed a few laps and then came in to hand over to Edward, who had never driven a Promax before. Unfortunately he got no further than the first corner before the engine expired. Having trolleyed the kart back to our pit, we managed to get it going again, and Edward disappeared into the mist, only to achieve exactly the same result.
This time we changed the fuel in the tank, drained and cleaned the float chamber and replaced the spark plug with a new one.
Success! except that now the mist was so bad that practice was suspended for the next hour.
Finally the mist cleared, the start of the race was put back by an hour and we got in some more practice.
Thomas qualified reasonably well, and then James went out for a bash, forgetting to put the extra weights back on. The inevitable result was that despite getting a faster time, he was underweight when he came in, so we started from the back of the grid.
Thomas started the race but got collected by clashing karts on the first corner, which set him way back down the field.
But in a really good drive he started to climb back up the field, circulating consistently in the low to mid 39s and on lap 24 getting our fastest lap of the race at 38.997.
By the the time that Pit Management had brought him in due to misinterpreting a hand signal as he adjusted his visor, we were running 5th or 6th and looking very competitive.
Edward took over, driving excellently by any standards and especially given his lack of driving experience with the new engine. His fastest lap was only a fraction over 40s at 40.029. If he could just have avoided testing the tyre wall at the end of the main straight quite so often, his average lap times would have been brilliant..........
With 81 laps gone James started his stint, only to find after half a dozen laps that the left hand rear wheel was dropping off. He had just gone round the long right hander at the bottom of the main straight when it happened so he had to nurse the kart back for almost a complete lap.
With much high speed help from other teams, the old hub was removed (a broken stud was diagnosed), a new hub fitted and after just over 4 minutes James was off again.
Then James was off again.....
......burying the nose of the kart firmly in the tyre wall, having suffered brain fade at the end of the start/finish straight.
After that he settled down getting his fastest lap on lap 132 at 39.714 and continuing for a total of 72 laps.
U n f o r t u n a t e l y , he was about 3kg underweight when he came in for the changeover. This really didn't add up, and the only conclusion we could come to, was that he must have stopped too far forward on the scales and given a false reading. Anyway, the damage was done and 10 laps were deducted.
Thomas now shot off to try to repair the damage, once again going very well against other teams until his neck began to suffer from the strain and he had to come in.
He had been out for 48 laps and James took over for the next 34 laps, driving rather conservatively (do you mean slowly, by any chance?).
Finally Edward drove the last 15 laps to the finish - and to the weighing scales, which duly recorded that he was underweight! Another 10 laps deducted...
We came ninth....
Out of ten....
But we did it on one set of worn tyres, the Rotax went beautifully after its early morning grumpiness and the Wright seemed to handle really well with the more powerful engine. And we enjoyed it enormously. But its obvious that with the faster engine, the strain on both the drivers and the kart is going to be that much greater. Apart from the wheel coming off, two sets of axle bearings were loose by the end of the race.
Many thanks to Rose and Jo Robinson and Johnny Michell for turning up to cheer us on in horribly cold spectating weather. And to Zoë. And to Jo again for taking some photographs - of people for a change, rather than karts - click here.
R e d S t r i p e R a c i n g