Back in the Kart

[speedy king]

Originally Posted by btracer

How did it go today James?

Bloody awsomme!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The reults weren't too good, mainly as we had knackered slicks, the holes had almost dissapeared whihc would cost about 1.5 seconds at least a lap, but i was able to just hang in there (bloomin exhausting when the tyres are doing 15% and i'm doing the other 75% that they SHOULD be doing)

But yeh, Seniors WOW!!!!! They KNOW how to race! Wasn't too impressed with the starts. Out of 3 heats and a final every race there was a multiple kart pile up.

First heat, first ever Senior Max race i was 6th out of 23, the start totally ****** up though! 2nd place didn't get away too well, Ashley infront of me went to his outside while pole position was rammed at turn one and sent across the track backwards, T-Boning Ashley, who in turn took me off, i took another 2 off, who took another,......you get the picture. 7 karts in the tyres.....

Out come the red flags. Complete race re-start. Apart from one driver who had broken his track rod the 1st time in to turn one. 2nd start was as bad as first, driver behind me being rammed, spun round and taking 4 others off. I got in to 5th place which i held until lap 3. I was keeping up with the top 4 and had great speed on the straight until i went through turn one, too much right foot, not enough grip! Tried to hold on to it but she went round on me, bout 60mph+ in the middle of a pack, thankfully only 1 kart hit me, scuffed my nose cone. I stalled but got going in 3rd from last where i stayed until the flag. 14th place, would have been lower if not half the field had DNF's!!

2nd Heat, on Pole!!! Got a fantastic start if i do say so myself Done a little trick with pinching the fuel pipe to avoid over oiling, driver behind though hit my rear wheel half way round the corner and put me in to a big tankslapper, lost about 4 places before a kart mounted my rear wheel AGAIN round turn 3, sent me wide. Rest of that race was good fun, admittedly i was struggling massively for rear end grip but for Round 1 next month we'll have brand new rubber. 8th place

Heat 3, right towards the back, not suprising yet another pile up, which i just caught the end of. Race leader was flagged off about half way. And on the infield section just infront of me two karts went off, one mounted the others back and went over the top sending them both off in a spin. Good race, me and the driver directly behind who i had a race long fight with pulled out a nice gap from the guys behind. This battle went on until the very last lap which i was very annoyed about as with 2 laps left the screen said 1 lap left, so i went over the line thinking i had held him off a lap later, only to then see the 'Last Lap' board being held out, thought "WTF!?" and on the exit of turn one he got a better run out and ran alongside down the straight, i was as far over as possible, half my left tyres were on the track, the other half on the grass, both rubbing wheels, tyre marks down both karts pods, but he had the inside line so i had to giev the place as there was no way we were gojng to make it round the corner, we had both almost lost control two or three times just on the straight. So was understandably annoyed at the end!

Final i was 8th on the grid, gave a hard fight for 7th on lap one, a little too hard and bashed his rear wheel sending me in to a big slide, and taring off his number plate, kept in 8th though somehow. Then on about lap 4 someone, dont know who! must have had his power valve set for low revs, shot past me ont he run to the chicane, i didn't have a bad getaway or anything, think he had set it like that to try and make up places from the back, forced me really wide at the chicane, almost down the pit entry, physically no where to go at all and a train of 4 karts got through Lost all my momentum, trouble is all the kart were nose to tail and if your forced off line at that corner you don't stand a chance of getting back on line. Had a good scrap witht he tail end of those 4, a few nudges here and there, all good fun Then on the last lap i was giften a place when a driver span out of turn 5, almost took both the driver infront and me out but just got through.

So ye, ive woffled on but i'm still full of adrenaline!!! Great racing! Shame adbout the driving standards but was still fun, hopefully with new rubber that might actually have some grip next race i should be up there towards the front

[speedy king]

Originally Posted by Alex Hodgkinson

Yeah a club meeting!



This 3-day weekend I've been at fulbeck and at the long circuit of darley moor !!!


Fulbeck was ok, had 3 2nds in the heats, then in the final, just as I took the lead the exhaust spring broke, so I had to pull up, crappy thing!


Darley moor today... !!!! LMAO!! Words just can't describe the feeling. If you ever get a chance to drive in a g/box kart on a long circuit GO FOR IT!! I had ten minutes to learn the circuit, which was no problem, got it sorted pretty much within the first 3 laps. Setup was spot on to begin with, except for gearing we had to change because it was revving out...


...at 120 mph

I just couldn't believe the speed, it's totally incredible. There were a couple of chicanes which all the bikes (125cc to superbikes) had to slow down for. Totally flat out for us - 100mph

Average speed for my best lap was 85mph, and taking into account the hairpin.. pfft!!

Race average was 83 mph each time.


Oh yeah, and I won the final too!!!

Woah, and i thought i had an exciting day!!! Nice one

[BillyT]

Sounds great, wel done mate.

[Alex Hodgkinson]

Done a little trick with pinching the fuel pipe to avoid over oiling

Ahhh yes, great trick, I remember Mark Litchfield teaching me that one years ago


Sounds like you had a really enjoyable & exciting day, shame the results didn't come w/it as well, but that's racing for you. I'm still full of adrenaline as well lol, great ent it!

[Alex Hodgkinson]

Just had a play with my datalogger and it seems that my top speed was actually 118mph and not 120.

Pathetic eh

[speedy king]

118mph, bit slow

[BillyT]

Went t Bayford today, testing. Really like the circuit very technical and I love the little bus-stop bit.

I'll have some pictures up on http://billy-taylor.fotopic.net

[BillyT]

2nd Race at Bayford today. Went Ok.
First race I started 16th got up to 9th, quite pleased with that. 2nd race started 7th got up to 5th by the fsecond corner and then I was taken out but managed to claw my way up to 15th. 3rd race started 5th got up to 3rd by the second corner and you guessed it was taken out again at the 3rd corner.

That put me 6th for the C-Final which was a pleasant suprise. Had some VERY quick regular a-finalist in the Final so I slipped down to 8th, very pleased non the less, shame I was taken out twice as that would of put me up into the B-Final easily.

[speedy king]

Ah, dont worry, what ive just read isn't un-usual, early days. Found when i was new and i got up anywhere in with the quick guys they seemed to be magnetically attracted to me! Happened to most of us at some time!

[BillyT]

Speedy King what ahappened to your number of posts? its gone down.

Thanks, anyway

[speedy king]

No idea.....i'll ask around. I'm not the first this has happened to

[speedy king]

Originally Posted by btracer

Speedy King what ahappened to your number of posts? its gone down.

Thanks, anyway

Here it is : http://tentenths.com/forum/showthrea...30#post1274530

It's to do with Parc Ferme

[BillyT]

How'd it go yesterday speedy?

[Alex Hodgkinson]

Anyone else been racing recently? I was out last weekend and I'm out again next weeked

[BillyT]

Havent got a race until July. Howd you do Alex

[speedy king]

I was racing yesturday.

Took the trophy for biggest smash of the day

I was placed near the back of the grid for the rolling start and we went up to the line quite fast, faster than normal, probably about 30mph and as the lights went green i made a good start, a few seconds later though some smart arse further up decided to brake test over the start line (by which point we were probably doing around 50) everyone on the inside row all had to brake hard and i ran in to the rear wheel of the kart infront, shooting me off the track and hitting the start lights side on, flipping the kart round head on in to the wall and doing another 360 and finishing rocking up on two wheels. Amazingly no others hit me. The kart was a wreck. Bearings in right front stub axle shattered, along with hub, chain, sprocket, sprocket carrier, side pod, nose cone. I was OK, bit shaken up, took the wind out of me, quite bad brusing on my ribs and knees, thankful i had a rib-tek on, i thought one of my ribs may have been cracked but its just heavy brusing, without the rib-tek it may have been a different story. Can't believe though i didn't even make it to the first corner. And whatever happened to the racing drivers rule of NEVER BRAKE OFF THE START!!!

[BillyT]

thats a lucky escape u had there

[Alex Hodgkinson]

Bloody hell, that sounds like a nasty incident. Which race did that happen in? I suggest that you get some track time as soon as you can speedy after that kind of thing happens.


oh, that's a shame btracer


I got another win leading the club champs now

[speedy king]

Rotax Max. From what i head from the people around me and spectators it looked a hell of a laot worse than it felt, id din't feel any pain until after the crash, it all happened so quick, i felt myself being thrown around and it all went a bit blurred after the second impact.

Glad you had a win Alex, its a nice feeling leading a championship isnt it! I'm last in ours

[Alex Hodgkinson]

When I rolled a few years ago I just remember thinking "oops.. im going off" once I got airbourne. Then I remember seeing the bright blue sky above me, and the front of my kart pass by my feet, all whist I was flying through the air

Yeah it is a good feeling, but I'm trying to let it not affect me. Last time I won a championship was 2002 and since then I've lead for the 1st half then had back luck (seizes, trupping over backmarkers, punchers, steering column snapping... you name it) and ended up finishing 2nd. Hopefully this is the year.. and I'm going for the double of Fulbeck & Woodthorpe champs.

[Alex Hodgkinson]

ooh also the guy I beat last sunday had 2 seconds in the last NKF round.. so it looks rosy

[hmmmm]

I broke my leg while karting and was back racing 2 months to the day at the same circuit. It took me a year to be fast again but now when i do race there which isn't very often the courner where i broke my leg i am the fastest there by a long way as i try even harder.

[Alex Hodgkinson]

Originally Posted by hmmmm

I broke my leg while karting and was back racing 2 months to the day at the same circuit. It took me a year to be fast again but now when i do race there which isn't very often the courner where i broke my leg i am the fastest there by a long way as i try even harder.

Where's that hmmm? Who are you btw, I'm sure I must know who you are. You racing at strubby?

[hmmmm]

i broke at strubby

[speedy king]

Well should be back racing this weekend, first time since i crashed in May, almost half a year, far too long!!

Went testing at the weekend and the kart was the best it's ever been and fingers crossed the problems are sorted. The incident could have been due to any one of these reasons that were found....
*Faulty Exhaust Manafold
*Air Leak in fuel pump
*Hairline split in the rubber cap connecting carb and engine
*damaged throttle connection with carb

All been sorted now though