Ellough Park; September 23rd; Rounds 9 & 10 MSA British Endurance Kart Championship.
Final positions Round 9: 2nd in Clubmans Class; 13th overall.
Final positions Round 10: 7th in Clubmans Class; 18th overall.
Having been given the wrong information by the circuit in advance we turned up on Saturday at about 11:30hrs hoping to practice but only to find that they definitely were not allowing Pro-karts out on the circuit until 16:00hrs.
It didn't matter that much, as it happened, and we spent the time catching up on Ted Poole's plans for the Championship next year, and fitting the new smaller seat to the kart. Ted's plans for next year appear now to be set on a smaller National Championship running on Southern circuits under the same sort of rules but using a restricted Rotax engine instead of the dual Hondas. Even in its most restricted Junior form this produces more power than the Hondas and proved to be great fun and exciting to drive. We all tested his Pro-max kart during the afternoon and general opinion was that it was about 2 seconds a lap faster.
Weather was good with sunshine and a bit of wind, but not too hot, and at 4 o'clock we finally got on with the testing. We were hampered by the Alfano lap timer not working (flat battery), James' back giving trouble and Thomas's ribs getting a battering from the new seat. But we all achieved mid 40 sec laps before changing the tyres to a better set.
We now got Darrell from the Marden team to test the kart and he did about 10 laps, rapidly achieving times (38.4) as good or better than he got in Marden's own machine. So we can be certain that lack of speed is the driver's fault not the kart's! Fired with enthusiasm Richard went out and got a couple of 38.9 laps before Thomas scrubbed in a new set of tyres and the session was stopped by lack of light.
On Sunday the race format was a change from the normal. Instead of one six hour race we were to do two 3 hour races with half an hour's break in the middle.
The track was damp to wet with overnight rain but James went out on slicks until it started to rain again. We changed to wets and sent out Thomas who came back in after only a couple of laps saying the kart was phenomenal! Richard then went out and qualified us in 11th place well over half way up the grid and ahead of Fujinon Marden - our best qualifying position of the season.
At the start Richard took the cautious approach and dropped a few places but most importantly, stayed out of trouble.
But after that he was really flying and gradually worked his way up the field as the track dried. Once again the kart was at its best in damp to wet conditions and as it became drier so Richard's superiority diminished a little. But we didn't want to bring him in too early to change tyres as then we would have had to stop again for fuel.
Finally, on lap 70 we decided to bring him for slicks and put Thomas out to drive the rest of the race without stopping again. The change over was good and the out lap lasted 3:22.64 We reckoned we should have plenty of fuel to make it and Thomas was happy to drive for an hour and a half.
Thomas immediately went faster on the slicks and continued the progress through the ranks. It became obvious that our strategy was working well because many of the other teams were having to stop more than once to change tyres, drivers or to re-fuel. On the other hand we also realised we had miscalculated, and that Thomas would have to be out there for 2 hours. Fuel was going to be very short and Thomas was going to have a nasty shock when his 13:00hrs finishing time came and went.
With three quarters of the race gone we were up to second with only Moss Racing ahead of us. For a moment we thought we had got first when Moss came in for a pit stop, but they had a good enough margin to come out still in the lead.
Tom got our fastest lap of the race at 40.150 on lap 220 and despite painful ribs drove superbly to take 2nd place in the Clubmans and 13th overall, and to give us by far the best result for us of the season. It was a good result fairly won not only by faster driving than we have previously achieved and but also on a good pit strategy, well carried out.
L U N C H B R E A K with Jo and Rose (and Zoë in attendance) who had arrived just in time to share the success.
Then on to qualifying for the second race on a track that was still stubbornly dry. James went out first followed by Richard but their best efforts left us on the back row.
James started the race con uncharacteristic brio making about 8 places on the first lap but it didn't last and he dropped steadily down the field struggling with back problems and achieving a personal best lap of 40.479
Twice he got punted off, which wasn't really his fault, but it happened on exactly the same corner with two different teams, so it makes you wonder. He lost the equivalent of a complete lap with this messing around in the tyre wall..............
On lap 159 he was glad to come in and Richard took over to dial some serious speed into the equation.
The change over took only 1:40.907 and he began to power past other teams with our best lap of the day at 39.892.
At the finish he was a few inches and a lap behind Mr C as he made a lunge for the finish but we couldn't do better than 7th in the Clubmans.
A really good result for the day and we are beginning to show our potential as a team. Thomas' rebuild of the race engines definitely paid dividends and there was never the feeling that we were being beaten on straight engine power. Secondly we seem to have got the chassis and tyres working well together at last. Finally our driving ability is increasing and Thomas and Richard certainly showed that we can compete with the best in the championship.
Click here for full results of the first race and here for results of the second race.
The final round is at Clay Pigeon in Dorset on October 7th.