|1-PeX le SeX goes |2-Karting By PeX le SeX / iNDi I went karting yesterday, and just had to type an article about it, as it was absolutely brilliant. It was in Selby (in Yorkshire) so about a 80 mile trip to get there from Grimsby. I have to say that it was well worth it. As there is no karting tracks in the immdeiate area, and the nearest in Hull, and that being a crappy outdoor small track, with underpowered karts, it is hardly suprising I went to look further afield. I was asked to go along when one of my mate's brothers team had pulled out. I agreed, and got travel arrangments sorted. There was 4 in the team, with 2 of them having done karting on this track before, and myself and my mate's brother going for the first time. We have done karting before, but only once at Hull, and that wasn't exactly yesterday either. It was at least 2-3 years ago. We got there at 6PM, and as it is an indoor arena then it didn't matter, about the fact that it was getting dark. The track was fairly big, but as the karts averaged 50mph around the track it only takes around 18 seconds per lap. After the safety brief, and a quick walk round the track, taking note of what the instuctor said about where and when to brake, and when it is safe to pass, and not bump anyone off, we all went back to get overalls, gloves and helmets on. |1-Gentlemen, Start Your Engines The first thing to do was to start the kart engines, which the marshalls did, and after letting them get warmed up for a few minutes we had 10 minutes practice. So I started first, and had 2 and a half minutes practice, which isn't very long, but enough for about 7-8 laps, just enough to get the feel for it, but still difficult to master. After all the practice had finished we all lined up on the grid, and we were actually first, as we had got there first, and therefore were team 1. There are 2 types of race, with those being Enduro, and Grand Prix. We were in an Enduro race, and there were to be 2 stops, for fuel, where everyone stops on 1 Hours racing, and then at 2 hours, with the end coming after 3 hours of racing. There were no set times when you could change drivers, but we decided on 10 minutes per driver to start with. That way we could get used to the track, but didn't get too tired, and lose concentration. Believe me, it takes it out of you driving one of those for 10-15 minutes. |1-Now its my go. When I finally got my go we were in fifth, out of the seven, but not too far behind the pack. I didn't do too bad for the first go, and I managed to keep in fifth, but didn't really make much up on the fourth placed fellow, and lost a little time to the leaders, but I didn't get overtaken by any of the teams below ourselves. I managed to do about 25 laps and I saw the board being held out for me to come into the pits, so I came in next lap. I jumped out, and the next guy went in. As he sped off I staggered into the meeting area. My legs were shaking, and so were my hands. "Brill", I said to my team-mates. I sat down, and took off my helmet. I was soaking wet with sweat, but was on a real high. The adrenalin was pumping through my veins at a fair old rate of knots. The other guys were all doing well, and holding onto fifth comfortably, and in fact by the time I got back in we were in third for a lap or two. By the time the pit changes had settled down we were in fourth, and I was fourth. I had fifth, and sisth right behind me, and so had to do quite a few late braking manouvers to maintain my placing. I should point out at this time the penalties for bad driving. They are: Black Cross Flag - Minor Penalty Black Flag - Major Penalty also... Yellow Flag - Caution, slow down, until race re-starts... Red Flag - Stop Race, Danger With the Black Cross Flag there are three ways to deal with it. If you come into the pits it is a 10 second Stop-Go penalty, and it is wiped from the record. If you come into the pits you can change drivers and it is wiped, even if it takes less than 10 seconds has elapsed, and thirdly you can ignore it, but if you have another awarded before coming into the pits then you are Black Flagged instead. The Black Flag is a 1 minute penalty, no matter if you swap drivers or not. |1-Naughty Boy.. Anyway the reason I explained al this was because I was being followed by the fifth and sixth placed really closely, when the fifth placed driver shunted me at one corner, and nearly whacked me into the tyres. I was not pleased, to say the least, and I thought, right, I'm having you son. He got a Black Flag, for dangerous driving, and although I didn't know at the time he steamed into the pit lane, and slid into a marshall, so was awarded a double Flag, and had to stay in the pits for 2 minutes. When he eventually came out I was still out. I saw him, but he was 2 or three corners ahead (although not in laps) of me. He had a different helmet on, and so was easy to spot. At this point I was well miffed, and a red mist came in front of my eyes. Within 3 laps I was right behind him, and nudging him slightly, letting him know I was there. Then I made a dive for the inside of the pit lane corner, and held on for the bang, with one of my late braking, mega-late braking, actually no braking manouvers. I managed to cut inside at the last possible moment, and was on the inside line for the corner after the marshall's box. If you look at the track, above you will see that the straight narrows first at the marshall's box, and then as you enter the corner. I thought to myself that this guy is going into the tyre wall, whether he likes it or not, as he was right beside me. He was so close that I could have touched (or should that be punched) him to my left. So instead of taking the normal line of down the middle of the straight I wandered further and further over towards the marshall's box, perfectly legit, though. The guy was still right up with me, and I think that he was looking at my car, waiting for me to slack off, and give him his gap to go for. Wrong!!!!! I was not going to slow down, and when he finally realised this it was too late. I heard a big screech of tyres, and as I turned for the first corner I saw out of the corner of my eye tyres rolling on the track, and the marshall's waving yellow flags. "YES!!!!" I thought, "Got YOU!". I was buzzing about that, and under caution I managed to close up a little on the third placed guy. Again all to soon it was time to switch, and I climbed out, all glowing with myself. My mates were smiling, and I told them why I had done it, and they were well impressed. I don't think that the other guy was too pleased though, but he didn't say anything to me, or even come looking for me, just one of those racing things.... heheheheheheh. |1-Buzzing One of the guys had to stop racing after a few minutes as his knee had given up. He was struggling from the start. but said that he would give it a go. So as the second hour came to a halt, and everyone came into the pits for re-fuelling. We decided that we would do 20 minutes each for the last hour. We were fourth, and a lap or so in front of fifth, but 3 laps behind third. My final go came round, and we were in a comfortable fourth, and barring mistakes, big penalties, or relibility problems we would finish in that place. So out I went, and after 10 laps or so of clear track, I managed to come behind a back marker. I followed him for three or four laps right up his back axle, and finally out braked him into the first hairpin (Corner 2). This was the first kart I had overtaken, and it was my skill (???) and not because he had made a mistake, and it was a real rush to do this. I was on a high, and I came up on another kart. I was only a few minutes from having my time up, so I thought "Go For It", and I dived u the inside of him, and turned in, just in time. Again I was really pleased by this, it is difficult to explain, but it is like scoring a really important goal, when playing footy, or scoring the winning runs at a cricket match, sort of thing. As the end of the race came, we all came back into the pits, and gathered in the meeting area, to look at the final placings. Out of seven teams that endered we finished a respectable fourth. Now out of the top four, the two top teams actually compete in the European Championships, and they finished 12 laps ahead of everyone else. So not counting them, as they were semi-pro's we finished second from the other five teams. We finished 19 laps down on the winners, and that works out at 1 lap every 10 minutes, so not bad at all, considering. |1-Phew, what a rush We are going again next month, with a similar team, but changing the guy who has a problem with his knee, so we should do well next time. Watch this space for more on this.... End