(Click here for part one)
Saturday 27 - Sunday 28 August
4.55pm. As I pass the pits I'm hardly looking at the track now. I'm searching the sea of colour trackside for a sign. Any sign telling me to pit. Finally I catch a glimpse of a familiar helmet, a beckoning hand. At last: Lee is suited up and raring to go. With renewed vigour, I do one more lap and peel off into the pitlane. Traffic in the fuel bay ahead clears as I arrive; I stop the engines, clamber out as the marshal begins to fill the tank.
Fatigue hits me like a sledgehammer and I stagger, grabbing hold of the steering wheel as the marshal finishes and ushers me forward. I have to push the kart fifty metres: around a 180 degree corner and along the pitlane to a tape set at shoulder height, beyond which the team waits. But it won't move. Fighting back panic as the seconds bleed away, I lean in, push with all of my fading strength, and coax it into a dribble of motion. Finally I make it to the tape, where my numbed hands slip off the wheel. Somebody shouts behind me, and there's a flurry of motion behind the now freewheeling kart. I stand upright. I have nothing left.
I have little memory of the hour that follows. When I come to, I'm sitting under the gazebo, back in my street clothes. Marianne feeds me tea. Alex feeds me information. From the outside, my stint wasn't nearly as disastrous as it felt. My laptimes weren't as quick as they should have been, but they were consistent. Amazingly, I made up a couple of places. We're solidly inside the top ten in our class, having started 13th. I'm frustrated with the way things have gone, but I haven't hurt the team effort as much as I thought. Having wanted nothing more than to go home in a sulk after getting out of the kart, I've pulled myself together and am able to contemplate my second stint in five hours' time.
On track, Lee is flying, lapping quicker than Alex and I despite being heavier; like all exceptional drivers, he makes it look easy. We're looking forward to seeing what Ben can do: he's the lightest of all and comes with a glittering CV.
As the end of Lee's stint nears, we're assembled in the pits again. So far all four drivers have taken part in each pitstop; we'll need a better solution overnight so that each of us can get some sleep. Lee comes in a little earlier than we were expecting. But aside from the left engine, again reluctant to fire, it's a clean stop. Helmet off, Lee reveals that the kart was virtually out of fuel: his combination of weight and speed means that he can't run the full two hours.
At six hours in, the team is settling into a routine. Marianne has been in charge of the stopwatches almost since the start, and has been taking her turn on the radio - keeping the driver on track informed of laptimes, position, and incidents on track. The rest of us alternate between time on the pitwall, filling our faces and resting our weary bones. Jo has kept us company in between taking care of little Eva, and now brings her down to the circuit to watch Daddy strut his stuff. As Ben blasts past to set our fastest lap of the race so far, Eva beams around at all of us, and giggles.
After a hearty dinner of chili con carne and chips, I film a video diary and retire to our tent to put my head down for an hour. My body is a little battered but basically sound, my ribs mercifully undamaged. At 10.30pm I emerge refreshed and ready to go, spirits undampened by the light rain. I'm a different person to the broken man of six hours ago: such is the way of endurance racing.
This pitstop includes a visit to the garage for scheduled maintenance, and involves the whole team. Having done sterling work on track in the wet, as always, Alex leaps out of the kart and helps Lee start it; I hop in for the short drive down the hill, where Ben and Jo are waiting. Ben helps me adjust my radio cables as the maintenance crew swing into action with spanners and oil; three minutes later the kart is refreshed. Ben and Alex start me up and off I go. I don't notice at the time, but Marianne is there too. She's off to one side, filming my departure.
From the outset, this stint is a world away from the first. With all of my gear adjusted and working as it should, and my ribs adequately shielded, I can at last focus on the driving and enjoy this incredible circuit. The rain has died off, but the circuit is damp to begin with; three laps into my stint I'm laughing out loud as I thread the kart through the Esses at sixty miles an hour with spray speckling my visor.
Marianne is on the radio urging me on; once the circuit has dried I'm lapping a second quicker than in my first stint, while most karts seem to be lapping slower. Having been overtaken left right and centre earlier, now I'm scything through the field. My day is made when I overtake kart no.1 - Team Banzai, Bradley's team. Brad isn't at the wheel, but it's a real coup given that their kart is a couple of seconds per lap faster than ours.
Despite strong padding my right knee is starting to take a beating from the steering column supports, as usual - but I don't want the stint to end. In fact I miss my first radio call to pit and come in a lap later. Again, sadly, my pitstop is a mess. I forget to detach my radio cable from the wheel and hop out. The result is similar to THAT scene from 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'.
The marshal helps me out while still filling the tank and no time is lost - but my visor has somehow locked shut and steams up instantly, blinding me. I push the kart straight into a bollard, cursing as somebody helps me back it up. Navigating by guesswork, I roll it down the pitlane. The team receive it gratefully; once I get my visor up I'm hugely impressed to see Jo bent over the rear spraying lubricant onto the chain as Lee jumps in. For the second time, I can't get the left engine started and am beginning to get a complex about it - but later discover that it's recalcitrant for everyone. As Lee roars down the pitlane, the clock strikes 1am.
Half distance.
As the graveyard shift wears on and the drivers take turns to snatch a few hours' rest, the girls come into their own. With Eva tucked up in bed, Jo has been keeping Marianne company on the pitwall; in a race like this it's vital to watch the driver on track at all times. I stay with them until the end of Lee's stint, adding my own video diary to the two Marianne has filmed in the meantime.
By ten to three, Ben is awake and raring to go; we bring Lee in and send him on his way. There's a surreal sheen to everything now, as our body clocks fight the flood of adrenalin and caffeine, and the undiminished roar of the karts shuts out all other sound.
Again, Lee has put in an excellent stint, but it's taken its toll. Even allowing for the harsh lighting, he looks pale, but waves it off and joins us on the pitwall. We're now fifth in class; aside from a brief visit to the garage to fix a snapped throttle cable early on, the kart has run faultlessly. None of us has put a wheel wrong and we've all used our BRKC-honed overtaking skills to good effect in the traffic. Despite my troubles in the first stint, we're doing very well for a novice team. The podium is probably a dream too far, but it won't stop us trying.
I stay with Marianne until 3.40am, watching Ben set a string of ultra-fast laps, before heading off to bed. She watches over Ben alone until she's relieved by Alex and Lee, and finally crawls into bed at 5am. She's an absolute star, and I'm very proud of her.
I snap awake, snug in my sleeping bag, to find Marianne curled up next to me. It takes me a moment to realise what has awoken me: the circuit is silent. A chill strikes me. There's only one reason for all the karts to have stopped. A serious accident. I'm tempted to go and see. But I need sleep if I'm to avoid an accident of my own. Hoping it's not Ben, I drift off again. Later I'm to discover that the race was stopped for 40 minutes while the paramedics treated an injured driver.
6am. I crawl out of the tent into a chilly dawn, the sky like polished chrome. I feel as if I've done twelve rounds with a cement truck but my body reports that, although it doesn't appreciate all the abuse, it will stand up to one more stint in the kart.
I find Lee on the pitwall and grab a granola bar as we watch Alex tearing round. After a total of five hours in the kart, he'll be running on wits and adrenalin now, but there's no outward sign of it: he looks committed but controlled, as always. Lee tells me that we're a little behind schedule with the timing of our stops, because of his and Alex's added fuel consumption. My stint will have to be over two hours, perhaps as much as 2 hours 15 minutes. I nod, silence the complaints from various parts of my body, and hope I'll be able to hold on.
By the time Alex pits, I'm as ready as I'll ever be. Hoping to avoid the problems I had with my suit early on, I've wired the radio cable differently, running it through the groin zip of my suit instead of at the top. It's a tidy stop, and I'm soon rocketing down the pitlane. It's turning into a beautiful morning, perfect conditions for racing, and I'm feeling as good as I could reasonably expect.
Within two laps I'm aware of an ominous breeze around my armpits: sure enough, my suit has unzipped itself again. It's taken longer than last time, but is obviously not caused by the radio cable as I had thought. Sustained high speed and perished Velcro look to be the cause: time for a new set of overalls, methinks. I spend a few laps zipping it up and finally get the Velcro to stick. It stays in place for the rest of the stint.
The first forty minutes are a little fraught, what with the suit and a sudden desperate need to pee. But it stabilises; I'm driving quite well, and find myself passing swathes of tired drivers and ailing karts with relative ease. With the sun rising over the bottom end of the circuit, it's easier to mark time than in previous stints, and my spirits lift when I spot Marianne watching from the pitwall at around 8am.
Into my final hour, it's teeth-gritting time, as the repeated impacts on my right knee begin to break through the adrenalin. But after more than 200 laps I'm loving this circuit more than ever. With its huge scale and breathtaking high speed corners, it's a tremendous challenge. Somehow it seems right that the Belgian Grand Prix coincides with this race. Daytona Milton Keynes will always be home for me, but Teesside is my Spa.
I'm sure 9am is fast approaching, and the fuel is sloshing around in the bottom of the tank between my legs. Marianne is clearly visible on the pitwall, in her turquoise coat, and I'm waiting for her to raise our bright blue pitboard to call me in. The kart roars as healthily as ever, but I'm super-tuned for the slightest hint of a splutter. We're cutting it fine this time, as we have to. The fuel is running out, and so is my stamina.
At last! As I round the final corner, the bright blue circle is waving. I peel straight into the pitlane with a tiny pang of regret. But there's still work to do: I detach the radio cable, stop the engines, leap out, ready myself, heave the kart with all my might, push it around the hairpin, under the tape, and hand it over. Lee is in and gone. Third time lucky: I've managed a decent pitstop.
Alex is all smiles, full of praise - keeping my spirits high, as he has done since the beginning. We're fourth in class, the highest we have been all race. But I'm done, in more ways than one. The adrenalin drains like water from a bath, and my body starts to crash. Fuelled by a gallon of tea and a bacon buttie, I film our last in-race video diary, in which I utter the fateful words 'Anything can still happen...'
Lee's final pitstop goes like clockwork, and we're still fourth as we send Ben on his way for the final stint to the flag, a little over two hours away. Lee has clearly taken a beating, and looks grey and ill. We're concerned, but he waves it off, as usual, and runs to the toilet. A few minutes later he's back, much relieved, and clutching a burger and chips. What he'd thought he was a stomach bug turned out to be extreme hunger.
12.10pm. Marianne and I are in the briefing room watching the timing screens, when the green blob next to Team BRKC changes to a black square. I frown, ask the man next to me what it means.
'In the pits, I think.'
Through the window, I spot Alex running up the hill from the pits with a face like thunder.
Shit.
We run down to the garage. Ben is out of the kart, which is up on stands as the mechanics go to work. He reports that the chain on the right engine snapped, and has clearly done a superb job to get back to the pits under his own power. But soon it's clear that the problem is more serious: the driveshaft has sheared and a new engine is required. It takes ten very long minutes - phenomenally fast for such a big job - before rubber connects with tarmac again, and the engines are fired up. Ben rockets out onto the track and we trudge up to the briefing room to examine the damage to our race.
It's bleak: we've dropped from fourth in class to tenth. With just forty minutes to go, there's little hope of improvement. Alex is virtually in tears, but in our exhaustion, Lee and I are more philosophical. This sort of thing happens. There was nothing more we could have done. And crucially, we haven't lost a podium place because of it.
As 1pm approaches, everyone assembles by the track to cheer their men across the line. We clap and cheer as Ben takes the chequered flag - ninth, as it turned out - and I don't know about the others, but I go a little blurry as I hug my wife. We've all given everything we had, plus a little more, and we've brought the kart home safely. We've made the top ten, finished higher than we qualified, and all of us are in one piece.
We all stay for the presentation and catch up with friends in other teams. No fewer than four of the teams present contain some BRKC drivers, and two have made the podium: Bradley's team Banzai have won the club hire class, and Jack Stanley's team have finished second in our class. In seven weeks time, Jack will captain my team for the Daytona 24 Hours. I hope it's a good omen.
For now, it's time for Team BRKC to disband, and it's a sad moment. If they gave out medals for team spirit we'd have a motherlode, and everyone has worked incredibly hard on and off track to make the experience as memorable as it could be. Alex brought us together in the first place, and his boundless enthusiasm kept us together in the leadup to the race and throughout; Lee brought decades of experience, a van full of useful kit, and gave us our visual identity with his specially-produced stickers and team hoodies.
Ben very kindly stepped in at short notice when two other drivers had to drop out; along with his superb wheel skills he brought the radio gear which took our race to another level; his seemingly endless reserves of energy kept us going to the end. And of course, he brought Jo, who proved not only great company but very handy with a can of chain lube; and Eva, surely capable of melting the hardest of hearts.
And me? I tried my best not to do anything stupid on track, and put down some words and video as a record. And, of course, I brought Marianne, who took to her pitwall duties like a veteran.
It's been the toughest race of my life and as the dust settles, I'm sure that all our thoughts are turning to how we can do better. There are already plans for the BRKC to return to Teesside in 2012 - probably with more than one team.
I look forward to taking on the world's best over 24 hours again. 2011 was a learning year. Next time, we'll be prepared.
(Click here for part one)
Monday, 5 September 2011
Thursday, 1 September 2011
British 24 Hours. Teesside, 26-28 August 2011 - part one
(Click here for part two)
Friday 26 August
Seated on the bench beside me is a two-year old called Eva. She's beaming up at me and waving. Despite myself, I beam and wave back. My enthusiasm for other people's children is generally held well in check, but this little girl is adorable.
I had many predictions for how the biggest race weekend of my life might begin, but this wasn't one of them.
Team BRKC Corporate Chauffeurs has assembled at the Beefeater beside our hotel in Middlesbrough for a pre-race dinner. Four of us will be driving: myself, Alex Vangeen (our captain), Lee Jones and Benjamin Greene. All of us are British Rental Kart Championship regulars except Ben, who has kindly stepped in at short notice.
Joining us are my wife Marianne, Ben's girlfriend Jo, and the aforementioned Eva. The latter two are an unexpected and welcome addition; as we're to discover, all three will play an important part in the trial to come.
For as we enjoy a fine meal, get to know each other and take turns entertaining Eva, none of us are under any illusions about the scale of the task that faces us. The British 24 Hours will feature 76 teams from all over the world, in three different classes. Ben and I have yet to drive the circuit, but Alex and Lee have practiced today; we've all seen enough to know that the competition, the track and the weather will make huge demands of us in the next day and a half.
We part at 10pm and attempt to get an early night. But despite an excellent Premier Inn bed, sleep comes fitfully for me. I rarely sleep properly the night before a big race; across Teesside I imagine 400 other drivers having the same problem...
Saturday 27 August
Race day dawns clear but quickly clouds over. By the time we reach the circuit at 8am, rain is already threatening. With five hours until the start, mayhem reigns: the car parks are full, and the tarmac areas behind the pits and paddock buildings are crammed with motorhomes and awnings. Karts are everywhere - on stands, in pieces, swarmed over by mechanics as drivers munch bacon butties and discuss strategy. These are the owner teams which make up half of the entry. They take up most of the space, and I feel a touch out of my depth as we trudge between them.
But we soon find Alex and the others and set up our base under the trackside gazebo which we erected yesterday. Marianne goes off to check that our tent is still in place; the four drivers assemble around our kart, which stands amongst 35 others outside the maintenance garages. We've been allocated number 89; I can't think of any significance in the number, but hope it proves lucky.
Ben and Lee are old hands at this; Lee busies himself attaching team stickers (which he had produced himself) to the kart's bargeboards, while Ben shows us the nifty radio systems which he's wired into each of our helmets.
Mindful of the fact that my skinny backside requires a seat insert to stop the kart from beating me to a pulp, I wander off to find one. And dodge the first bullet of the weekend: at barely 8:30am on race day, they've already run out. The stores manager remembers that there's a reject one with a split knocking about, and offers to show me. I'm awash with relief: the split is small, and the insert will do.
The race briefing is at 8.30am. It's friendly and perfunctory: the organisers assume that we wouldn't be here if we didn't know what we were doing. We're asked to keep it clean, to respect the other classes on track. Our hire class is the slowest, around five seconds per lap slower than the owner karts: we'll need to be vigilant on track.
After the requisite bacon buttie breakfast, Marianne and I film the first of the weekend's video diaries. Having tested the circuit's wifi and found it wanting, I've already decided not to attempt uploading videos on the fly, as I had planned. Perhaps it's just as well: we'll have enough to think about.
For now, it's time to think about learning the track. At 10am, seventy-six twin-engined karts roar into life, and Alex takes no. 89 out to turn the first wheels in anger for team BRKC. It's a big moment - we've all made quite a journey to be here, on several levels - but there's little time to think about it. I focus on preparing for my turn, acclimatising to the radio gear fitted to my helmet. I'll have half an hour to learn the longest, fastest kart circuit in the world - and it's wet.
Alex comes in and vacates the kart and as usual, the butterflies disappear as I make myself comfortable. Even before I've left the pitlane I can tell that the kart is a peach - it pulls strongly, steers accurately, responds precisely to my throttle and brake inputs. Even on slick tyres on a wet surface, it generates remarkable grip and traction. That's partly due to the circuit - rain is hardly uncommon in this part of the world, and the tarmac has been laid accordingly. Watching practice yesterday, I was astonished at the cornering speeds.
The rain has stopped, but the circuit is still wet; I do around twenty laps and set a best of 1 minute 29 seconds - around eight seconds away from a normal dry time. The circuit is nothing short of magnificent - eye-poppingly fast, with huge sweeping corners, a tricky uphill left-hander and a white-knuckle ride through the Esses: a tarmac snake between treacherous razor-toothed kerbs. Scream if you want to go faster...
By the time Lee and Ben have practiced, the circuit is bone dry. We pit to have the kart refueled, and Alex takes it out again for the last few minutes to try the dry conditions and set a qualifying time. We qualify 13th in class and 52nd overall - fairly mediocre, but qualifying isn't especially important in a race like this. At midday the circuit falls silent for the last time until lunchtime on Sunday; we film another video diary as the karts form up on the grid, discuss strategy and try in vain to relax.
Alex has elected to start the race; I will take the second stint, followed by Lee and Ben. We plan to rotate in that order until the end, running two hour stints - the limit of the kart's fuel range. It's simple - in theory - and minimises the time spent in the pits.
At five to one the engines are started and Alex takes his place with the other drivers on the far side of the track, opposite the karts which are lined up side by side. It's an old-school Le Mans start - when the Union Jack is waved, the drivers will run across, jump in the karts and go. Each team is allowed one person to push the kart away; Lee asks if I want to do it. But I suspect that his added muscle and racing nous is tailor made for times like these, and rejoin the others behind the barrier.
As the one minute sign is shown, our nerves are at snapping point, everyone watching the start marshal who stands behind the grid, flag furled. In the blink of an eye it raises, drops, and five hundred voices drown out the engines as we cheer our men across to the karts. Lee blips the throttles, the kart already moving before Alex swings neatly into the seat. It's a sublime start, everyone else moving in slow motion as kart 89 is off and away. Once the mayhem of the start dies down, we lie 42nd, having made up ten places. Brilliant!
An hour later we stand openmouthed and dry throated by the barrier. On the circuit, the red flags are out; a kart is upended over the barriers on the infield, both engines aflame with the driver trapped underneath. The marshals are there in seconds and two drivers stop to help. The flames are doused, the driver extricated as the ambulance arrives on the scene. It's a frightening sight, as for many minutes the two paramedics work on the driver, out of sight on the grass beyond the barrier. But eventually he's up, waving shakily as he's escorted into the ambulance, and we cheer in relief. As the race is restarted, the mood lightens, but we're reminded that this is no cakewalk. There are real dangers out there on the track, and there are still 22 and a half hours to go.
At five to three I put my helmet on, and the talking stops. All of the baggage that comes with endurance racing - the travelling, the fretting, the logistics - all of it falls away to leave the core. This, ultimately, is why we do it: we're addicted to making a racing machine go as fast as it can. A simple pleasure, but a fiendishly complex craft.
The outside world begins to recede as I wait patiently in the pitlane, movement a blur around me. Ben checks my radio cables again. Alex is on his way in; with seconds to go the butterflies are long gone. The pitstop is crucial, but as the driver, my role is the simplest: jump in and go. Alex enters the empty fuel bay, leaps out, waits as the marshal fills the tank, then pushes the kart around to the pitlane exit where we wait. This is the rule here: the driver must push the kart alone.
I throw my seat insert onto the seat and leap in; Ben velcros my push-to-talk button to the steering wheel. Behind me, Lee and Alex are spraying lubrication oil onto both drive chains. A brief delay as the left engine refuses to fire, then it roars into life and I'm away, accelerating hard down the pitlane, onto the circuit.
It's completely dry now, conditions I've not yet experienced, and I'm expecting to take a lap or two to come up to speed. But before those two laps are out, several problems begin to rear their ugly heads. I've elected to wear earplugs, which instantly proves a costly mistake. In the pitlane, standing still, I could clearly hear the radio through them; on track, through the roar of the engines, I can't hear a thing. Worse, the earplugs aren't up to the task: the seal breaks with every vibration, setting up a deafening oscillation that muddies my focus and gives me a headache.
Within a lap I'm beginning to feel extra breeze around my armpits; looking down, I'm aghast to find that my suit has unzipped itself almost to my navel and is flapping madly in the wind. There's a risk I could be black-flagged for safety reasons and I battle to zip it up with my gloved hands. It's an old suit and some of the velcro has perished; the combination of wind and the weight of the radio cable is pulling the zip down. Eventually I unfasten the radio cable from the wheel and tuck it inside. But the zip refuses to stay put, and I'm forced to yank it up twice per lap.
At the bottom of the hill after the pits is a fast right hander which requires balls of titanium. Turn in as fast as you dare, hang on and pray. At the exit there is no kerb or conventional runoff, just an expanse of mudflat: go off at speed here and the consequences could be disastrous.
From the outset it's my nemesis: there's a bump beyond the kerb which bounces all four wheels off the ground. My backside lifts an inch out of the seat, my feet leave the pedals - and as I reconnect, there's a crunching in my left side, accompanied by enough pain to shoot stars across my field of view. My rib protector is set at its usual position - but I realise it's too low for this circuit. No way I could have known in advance, and no means of doing anything about it.
A familiar red and white helmet flashes past as if I'm standing still, the driver lifting his hand in recognition. Bradley Philpot, BRKC founder. I know I must be slow, but his speed adds depression to my list of woes. It's many laps before I remember that he's in a different class of faster karts. Nevertheless, the World and his wife seem to be whistling past me; it feels as if I'm going backwards.
As the stint from hell grinds on through a haze of pain and growing exhaustion, I'm dimly aware of the sun breaking through and bathing the circuit in afternoon sunshine. As the laps reel off it seems to sink lower, and I begin to fret about the pitstop. We have a pit board as a backup signal if the radios fail. I've seen no sign of it, and worry that I'm looking in the wrong place. At speed, with a fast chicane to negotiate in front of the pits, it's difficult to pick out our gazebo amongs the row of greens, whites and blues. Not looking where I'm going, I miss my turn in point for the fast chicane and gather up a heart-in-mouth moment, swearing.
All I want is for it to end...
(Click here for part two)
Friday 26 August
Seated on the bench beside me is a two-year old called Eva. She's beaming up at me and waving. Despite myself, I beam and wave back. My enthusiasm for other people's children is generally held well in check, but this little girl is adorable.
I had many predictions for how the biggest race weekend of my life might begin, but this wasn't one of them.
Team BRKC Corporate Chauffeurs has assembled at the Beefeater beside our hotel in Middlesbrough for a pre-race dinner. Four of us will be driving: myself, Alex Vangeen (our captain), Lee Jones and Benjamin Greene. All of us are British Rental Kart Championship regulars except Ben, who has kindly stepped in at short notice.
Joining us are my wife Marianne, Ben's girlfriend Jo, and the aforementioned Eva. The latter two are an unexpected and welcome addition; as we're to discover, all three will play an important part in the trial to come.
For as we enjoy a fine meal, get to know each other and take turns entertaining Eva, none of us are under any illusions about the scale of the task that faces us. The British 24 Hours will feature 76 teams from all over the world, in three different classes. Ben and I have yet to drive the circuit, but Alex and Lee have practiced today; we've all seen enough to know that the competition, the track and the weather will make huge demands of us in the next day and a half.
We part at 10pm and attempt to get an early night. But despite an excellent Premier Inn bed, sleep comes fitfully for me. I rarely sleep properly the night before a big race; across Teesside I imagine 400 other drivers having the same problem...
Saturday 27 August
Race day dawns clear but quickly clouds over. By the time we reach the circuit at 8am, rain is already threatening. With five hours until the start, mayhem reigns: the car parks are full, and the tarmac areas behind the pits and paddock buildings are crammed with motorhomes and awnings. Karts are everywhere - on stands, in pieces, swarmed over by mechanics as drivers munch bacon butties and discuss strategy. These are the owner teams which make up half of the entry. They take up most of the space, and I feel a touch out of my depth as we trudge between them.
But we soon find Alex and the others and set up our base under the trackside gazebo which we erected yesterday. Marianne goes off to check that our tent is still in place; the four drivers assemble around our kart, which stands amongst 35 others outside the maintenance garages. We've been allocated number 89; I can't think of any significance in the number, but hope it proves lucky.
Ben and Lee are old hands at this; Lee busies himself attaching team stickers (which he had produced himself) to the kart's bargeboards, while Ben shows us the nifty radio systems which he's wired into each of our helmets.
Mindful of the fact that my skinny backside requires a seat insert to stop the kart from beating me to a pulp, I wander off to find one. And dodge the first bullet of the weekend: at barely 8:30am on race day, they've already run out. The stores manager remembers that there's a reject one with a split knocking about, and offers to show me. I'm awash with relief: the split is small, and the insert will do.
The race briefing is at 8.30am. It's friendly and perfunctory: the organisers assume that we wouldn't be here if we didn't know what we were doing. We're asked to keep it clean, to respect the other classes on track. Our hire class is the slowest, around five seconds per lap slower than the owner karts: we'll need to be vigilant on track.
After the requisite bacon buttie breakfast, Marianne and I film the first of the weekend's video diaries. Having tested the circuit's wifi and found it wanting, I've already decided not to attempt uploading videos on the fly, as I had planned. Perhaps it's just as well: we'll have enough to think about.
For now, it's time to think about learning the track. At 10am, seventy-six twin-engined karts roar into life, and Alex takes no. 89 out to turn the first wheels in anger for team BRKC. It's a big moment - we've all made quite a journey to be here, on several levels - but there's little time to think about it. I focus on preparing for my turn, acclimatising to the radio gear fitted to my helmet. I'll have half an hour to learn the longest, fastest kart circuit in the world - and it's wet.
Alex comes in and vacates the kart and as usual, the butterflies disappear as I make myself comfortable. Even before I've left the pitlane I can tell that the kart is a peach - it pulls strongly, steers accurately, responds precisely to my throttle and brake inputs. Even on slick tyres on a wet surface, it generates remarkable grip and traction. That's partly due to the circuit - rain is hardly uncommon in this part of the world, and the tarmac has been laid accordingly. Watching practice yesterday, I was astonished at the cornering speeds.
The rain has stopped, but the circuit is still wet; I do around twenty laps and set a best of 1 minute 29 seconds - around eight seconds away from a normal dry time. The circuit is nothing short of magnificent - eye-poppingly fast, with huge sweeping corners, a tricky uphill left-hander and a white-knuckle ride through the Esses: a tarmac snake between treacherous razor-toothed kerbs. Scream if you want to go faster...
By the time Lee and Ben have practiced, the circuit is bone dry. We pit to have the kart refueled, and Alex takes it out again for the last few minutes to try the dry conditions and set a qualifying time. We qualify 13th in class and 52nd overall - fairly mediocre, but qualifying isn't especially important in a race like this. At midday the circuit falls silent for the last time until lunchtime on Sunday; we film another video diary as the karts form up on the grid, discuss strategy and try in vain to relax.
Alex has elected to start the race; I will take the second stint, followed by Lee and Ben. We plan to rotate in that order until the end, running two hour stints - the limit of the kart's fuel range. It's simple - in theory - and minimises the time spent in the pits.
At five to one the engines are started and Alex takes his place with the other drivers on the far side of the track, opposite the karts which are lined up side by side. It's an old-school Le Mans start - when the Union Jack is waved, the drivers will run across, jump in the karts and go. Each team is allowed one person to push the kart away; Lee asks if I want to do it. But I suspect that his added muscle and racing nous is tailor made for times like these, and rejoin the others behind the barrier.
As the one minute sign is shown, our nerves are at snapping point, everyone watching the start marshal who stands behind the grid, flag furled. In the blink of an eye it raises, drops, and five hundred voices drown out the engines as we cheer our men across to the karts. Lee blips the throttles, the kart already moving before Alex swings neatly into the seat. It's a sublime start, everyone else moving in slow motion as kart 89 is off and away. Once the mayhem of the start dies down, we lie 42nd, having made up ten places. Brilliant!
An hour later we stand openmouthed and dry throated by the barrier. On the circuit, the red flags are out; a kart is upended over the barriers on the infield, both engines aflame with the driver trapped underneath. The marshals are there in seconds and two drivers stop to help. The flames are doused, the driver extricated as the ambulance arrives on the scene. It's a frightening sight, as for many minutes the two paramedics work on the driver, out of sight on the grass beyond the barrier. But eventually he's up, waving shakily as he's escorted into the ambulance, and we cheer in relief. As the race is restarted, the mood lightens, but we're reminded that this is no cakewalk. There are real dangers out there on the track, and there are still 22 and a half hours to go.
At five to three I put my helmet on, and the talking stops. All of the baggage that comes with endurance racing - the travelling, the fretting, the logistics - all of it falls away to leave the core. This, ultimately, is why we do it: we're addicted to making a racing machine go as fast as it can. A simple pleasure, but a fiendishly complex craft.
The outside world begins to recede as I wait patiently in the pitlane, movement a blur around me. Ben checks my radio cables again. Alex is on his way in; with seconds to go the butterflies are long gone. The pitstop is crucial, but as the driver, my role is the simplest: jump in and go. Alex enters the empty fuel bay, leaps out, waits as the marshal fills the tank, then pushes the kart around to the pitlane exit where we wait. This is the rule here: the driver must push the kart alone.
I throw my seat insert onto the seat and leap in; Ben velcros my push-to-talk button to the steering wheel. Behind me, Lee and Alex are spraying lubrication oil onto both drive chains. A brief delay as the left engine refuses to fire, then it roars into life and I'm away, accelerating hard down the pitlane, onto the circuit.
It's completely dry now, conditions I've not yet experienced, and I'm expecting to take a lap or two to come up to speed. But before those two laps are out, several problems begin to rear their ugly heads. I've elected to wear earplugs, which instantly proves a costly mistake. In the pitlane, standing still, I could clearly hear the radio through them; on track, through the roar of the engines, I can't hear a thing. Worse, the earplugs aren't up to the task: the seal breaks with every vibration, setting up a deafening oscillation that muddies my focus and gives me a headache.
Within a lap I'm beginning to feel extra breeze around my armpits; looking down, I'm aghast to find that my suit has unzipped itself almost to my navel and is flapping madly in the wind. There's a risk I could be black-flagged for safety reasons and I battle to zip it up with my gloved hands. It's an old suit and some of the velcro has perished; the combination of wind and the weight of the radio cable is pulling the zip down. Eventually I unfasten the radio cable from the wheel and tuck it inside. But the zip refuses to stay put, and I'm forced to yank it up twice per lap.
At the bottom of the hill after the pits is a fast right hander which requires balls of titanium. Turn in as fast as you dare, hang on and pray. At the exit there is no kerb or conventional runoff, just an expanse of mudflat: go off at speed here and the consequences could be disastrous.
From the outset it's my nemesis: there's a bump beyond the kerb which bounces all four wheels off the ground. My backside lifts an inch out of the seat, my feet leave the pedals - and as I reconnect, there's a crunching in my left side, accompanied by enough pain to shoot stars across my field of view. My rib protector is set at its usual position - but I realise it's too low for this circuit. No way I could have known in advance, and no means of doing anything about it.
A familiar red and white helmet flashes past as if I'm standing still, the driver lifting his hand in recognition. Bradley Philpot, BRKC founder. I know I must be slow, but his speed adds depression to my list of woes. It's many laps before I remember that he's in a different class of faster karts. Nevertheless, the World and his wife seem to be whistling past me; it feels as if I'm going backwards.
As the stint from hell grinds on through a haze of pain and growing exhaustion, I'm dimly aware of the sun breaking through and bathing the circuit in afternoon sunshine. As the laps reel off it seems to sink lower, and I begin to fret about the pitstop. We have a pit board as a backup signal if the radios fail. I've seen no sign of it, and worry that I'm looking in the wrong place. At speed, with a fast chicane to negotiate in front of the pits, it's difficult to pick out our gazebo amongs the row of greens, whites and blues. Not looking where I'm going, I miss my turn in point for the fast chicane and gather up a heart-in-mouth moment, swearing.
All I want is for it to end...
(Click here for part two)
Sunday, 7 August 2011
Thruxton. 31 July 2011
"I knew you'd win," says James.
I'm glad he didn't mention that beforehand.
It's 4pm on a warm sunny Sunday and the aches are beginning to make themselves felt as the adrenalin drains away. I'm nursing a couple of blisters; we're both chugging back lukewarm mineral water as if it's about to be made illegal.
But I'm a happy bunny. It's one of those rare days in rental karting - in any racing - when everything goes right. After sixteen months of exile and four months of learning new circuits in the BRKC, it's great to be back at one of my favourite haunts.
Thruxton is a good 'un. It's expensive, but the karts are fast and biddable and the circuit is world class. 1086 metres, twelve corners, not a moment's rest. It's a challenging, demanding place - and wonderfully rewarding when you get it right. Deep in the Hampshire countryside, with the car circuit and airfield just a couple of hundred metres away, there's a sense of occasion about every visit.
It's also friendly, generally well-organised and suffers fewer kart gremlins than many other circuits. In fact, I have only one complaint, and it's the same every time I visit on a Grand Prix Sunday. There's a bloody great plasma screen on the wall, which invariably is showing the Grand Prix live, exactly when I least want to see it. The mentality is a stark contrast from the BRKC - when one of the rounds coincided with a Grand Prix, there was a TV/radio blackout and anyone who did hear the result was under strict orders not to mention it.
Wind back three hours. I'm in the queue to sign in, trying to avoid the screen where the Hungarian Grand Prix has just started. I'm seething at having the race spoiled, but deep inside is a tiny grin: I've glimpsed that it's wet at the Hungaroring. Go Jenson, I think.
I change outside and manage to avoid hearing any more about the Grand Prix; twenty minutes later I've forgotten about it entirely, as I attempt to reaquaint myself with the circuit in a ten-minute qualifying session. Some days I wonder if Thruxton is more thrilling even than Daytona. Certainly the karts are more responsive. They suit my precise style well, but are edgier, more punishing of clumsiness. The main aim today is to work on my consistency in preparation for the British 24 Hours at Teesside in four weeks' time; after such a long gap away from Thruxton I have no preconceptions about my competitiveness.
I'm pleasantly surprised to qualify in pole position. A quick scan of the timing screen reveals four of us covered by three tenths of a second, with long-time endurance teammate James back in sixth. I've got a fight on my hands, and the butterflies begin to flutter.
I'm a little tardy away from the lights and lose a place to the driver in second, who looks exactly like the Stig. I slot safely into second but struggle badly with front-end grip for the first two laps. Stig seems not to have the same problems, and quickly pulls out a three-second lead.
And there, for the next thirty laps, I stay. Stig and I quickly drop the chasing pack; his lead varies from two to four seconds. I'm driving well, but so is he: we're trading fastest laps. At fifteen laps we begin to lap backmarkers; this gets progressively harder as we work our way through the field. I'd forgotten how difficult it is to overtake here and struggle with a couple of the faster karts: there's room for improvement in this area.
But Stig has his own problems, and I keep him in sight, keep the pressure on. With 37 of our 45 minutes gone, I'm less than two seconds behind. But we're running out of laps and my hopes of catching him are fading-
And then it comes: too impatient with a backmarker who hasn't seen him, he's pushed wide at the fast chicane, spinning onto the grass, and I'm through into the lead.
But the celebrations will have to wait. He's only a few seconds back, and I've got a train of backmarkers to clear: one slip will turn the tables again.
Sixty seconds ago I was willing the race to continue. Now I'm willing it to end. With 40 minutes gone I encounter James near the head of the train of backmarkers; in a hurry to pass, I rap him lightly, lift a hand in apology and hope I haven't hurt his race.
The last few laps are tidy, and I take the flag with a mixture of relief and delight. I was a little lucky, but know I've driven well; the constant pressure forced Stig's error. My body has held up well to nearly an hour of punishment aside from my right hand, which again has blistered. I'll have to take steps against a repeat at Teesside.
James has finished a resigned ninth, a lap down; an accomplished Caterham racer, his car-honed style means he can struggle to adapt to the vagaries of rental kart handling. But he's enjoyed his on-track battles and is reasonably satisfied with his pace. We part with plans to race again in the autumn, and I head home to catch up with events in Hungary.
Three hours later I'm cheering one of my favourite drivers across the line, and raising a glass to a fine day of motorsport. A win for me and a win for Jenson Button.
And just twenty-six days until I turn a wheel in anger at Teesside. Watch this space...
I'm glad he didn't mention that beforehand.
It's 4pm on a warm sunny Sunday and the aches are beginning to make themselves felt as the adrenalin drains away. I'm nursing a couple of blisters; we're both chugging back lukewarm mineral water as if it's about to be made illegal.
But I'm a happy bunny. It's one of those rare days in rental karting - in any racing - when everything goes right. After sixteen months of exile and four months of learning new circuits in the BRKC, it's great to be back at one of my favourite haunts.
Thruxton is a good 'un. It's expensive, but the karts are fast and biddable and the circuit is world class. 1086 metres, twelve corners, not a moment's rest. It's a challenging, demanding place - and wonderfully rewarding when you get it right. Deep in the Hampshire countryside, with the car circuit and airfield just a couple of hundred metres away, there's a sense of occasion about every visit.
It's also friendly, generally well-organised and suffers fewer kart gremlins than many other circuits. In fact, I have only one complaint, and it's the same every time I visit on a Grand Prix Sunday. There's a bloody great plasma screen on the wall, which invariably is showing the Grand Prix live, exactly when I least want to see it. The mentality is a stark contrast from the BRKC - when one of the rounds coincided with a Grand Prix, there was a TV/radio blackout and anyone who did hear the result was under strict orders not to mention it.
Wind back three hours. I'm in the queue to sign in, trying to avoid the screen where the Hungarian Grand Prix has just started. I'm seething at having the race spoiled, but deep inside is a tiny grin: I've glimpsed that it's wet at the Hungaroring. Go Jenson, I think.
I change outside and manage to avoid hearing any more about the Grand Prix; twenty minutes later I've forgotten about it entirely, as I attempt to reaquaint myself with the circuit in a ten-minute qualifying session. Some days I wonder if Thruxton is more thrilling even than Daytona. Certainly the karts are more responsive. They suit my precise style well, but are edgier, more punishing of clumsiness. The main aim today is to work on my consistency in preparation for the British 24 Hours at Teesside in four weeks' time; after such a long gap away from Thruxton I have no preconceptions about my competitiveness.
I'm pleasantly surprised to qualify in pole position. A quick scan of the timing screen reveals four of us covered by three tenths of a second, with long-time endurance teammate James back in sixth. I've got a fight on my hands, and the butterflies begin to flutter.
I'm a little tardy away from the lights and lose a place to the driver in second, who looks exactly like the Stig. I slot safely into second but struggle badly with front-end grip for the first two laps. Stig seems not to have the same problems, and quickly pulls out a three-second lead.
And there, for the next thirty laps, I stay. Stig and I quickly drop the chasing pack; his lead varies from two to four seconds. I'm driving well, but so is he: we're trading fastest laps. At fifteen laps we begin to lap backmarkers; this gets progressively harder as we work our way through the field. I'd forgotten how difficult it is to overtake here and struggle with a couple of the faster karts: there's room for improvement in this area.
But Stig has his own problems, and I keep him in sight, keep the pressure on. With 37 of our 45 minutes gone, I'm less than two seconds behind. But we're running out of laps and my hopes of catching him are fading-
And then it comes: too impatient with a backmarker who hasn't seen him, he's pushed wide at the fast chicane, spinning onto the grass, and I'm through into the lead.
But the celebrations will have to wait. He's only a few seconds back, and I've got a train of backmarkers to clear: one slip will turn the tables again.
Sixty seconds ago I was willing the race to continue. Now I'm willing it to end. With 40 minutes gone I encounter James near the head of the train of backmarkers; in a hurry to pass, I rap him lightly, lift a hand in apology and hope I haven't hurt his race.
The last few laps are tidy, and I take the flag with a mixture of relief and delight. I was a little lucky, but know I've driven well; the constant pressure forced Stig's error. My body has held up well to nearly an hour of punishment aside from my right hand, which again has blistered. I'll have to take steps against a repeat at Teesside.
James has finished a resigned ninth, a lap down; an accomplished Caterham racer, his car-honed style means he can struggle to adapt to the vagaries of rental kart handling. But he's enjoyed his on-track battles and is reasonably satisfied with his pace. We part with plans to race again in the autumn, and I head home to catch up with events in Hungary.
Three hours later I'm cheering one of my favourite drivers across the line, and raising a glass to a fine day of motorsport. A win for me and a win for Jenson Button.
And just twenty-six days until I turn a wheel in anger at Teesside. Watch this space...
Tuesday, 2 August 2011
Senna
In the hushed dark, there are tears streaming down my cheeks. A small part of my brain urges me to wipe them away. Someone might see. But I can't. My hands are clawed around the armrests of my chair. I blink - for the first time in minutes, it seems - to clear my smeared vision. Nobody's looking at me, anyway.
All three hundred of us are riveted to the big screen, where a long-ago nightmare is playing out. We all know how it ends. Some of us want to tear ourselves away. But we're helpless against the tide of images, of memories.
The weekend of 1 May 1994 was among the darkest in Formula One's history. It began with a lucky escape for a future star and ended with the untimely death of the most iconic racing driver the world has ever known. I was just twenty at the time. Too young to remember the bad old days, completely unprepared for the tragedy which struck the sport I loved. Two violent deaths in as many days shook the world. Motorsport changed forever that weekend, and me with it.
Ever since the news of a feature-length documentary on Ayrton Senna broke, I'd known that I'd have to live through Imola '94 again. I expected it to be tough to watch, and it was. But it was worth it and then some.
Asif Kapadia's film is a masterpiece, nothing less. There are no talking heads, no narrators. Just the magnetic charisma of Senna himself, backed up by a fascinating cast of real-life characters both familiar and new. Through 106 breathtaking minutes, you're swept from the heady days of Senna's early career in karting, to his near-vertical rise to Formula One, through the magic of his first win at Estoril in 1985, the three championships that followed, to Tamburello on 1 May 1994.
There are familiar scenes, footage that has become part of motorsport folklore - but not nearly as much as you might think. Most has never been seen before, and the insight it gives into Senna and the world he inhabited is at turns fascinating, comic, thrilling, and tragic. It's beautifully crafted into a true story that plays like an epic.
Crucially, it crosses the boundary from niche to mainstream - you don't have to be a motorsport fan to enjoy it. My three companions - none with more than a passing interest in F1 - were as enthralled as I was.
See it.
All three hundred of us are riveted to the big screen, where a long-ago nightmare is playing out. We all know how it ends. Some of us want to tear ourselves away. But we're helpless against the tide of images, of memories.
The weekend of 1 May 1994 was among the darkest in Formula One's history. It began with a lucky escape for a future star and ended with the untimely death of the most iconic racing driver the world has ever known. I was just twenty at the time. Too young to remember the bad old days, completely unprepared for the tragedy which struck the sport I loved. Two violent deaths in as many days shook the world. Motorsport changed forever that weekend, and me with it.
Ever since the news of a feature-length documentary on Ayrton Senna broke, I'd known that I'd have to live through Imola '94 again. I expected it to be tough to watch, and it was. But it was worth it and then some.
Asif Kapadia's film is a masterpiece, nothing less. There are no talking heads, no narrators. Just the magnetic charisma of Senna himself, backed up by a fascinating cast of real-life characters both familiar and new. Through 106 breathtaking minutes, you're swept from the heady days of Senna's early career in karting, to his near-vertical rise to Formula One, through the magic of his first win at Estoril in 1985, the three championships that followed, to Tamburello on 1 May 1994.
There are familiar scenes, footage that has become part of motorsport folklore - but not nearly as much as you might think. Most has never been seen before, and the insight it gives into Senna and the world he inhabited is at turns fascinating, comic, thrilling, and tragic. It's beautifully crafted into a true story that plays like an epic.
Crucially, it crosses the boundary from niche to mainstream - you don't have to be a motorsport fan to enjoy it. My three companions - none with more than a passing interest in F1 - were as enthralled as I was.
See it.
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
BRKC round 6. Daytona Milton Keynes, 3 July 2011
As I tap the brakes and turn in, I feel the right front tyre shudder, fighting to keep its hold on the tarmac. But I'm already straightening up, lightening its load, bracing for the first half of the fast chicane. Over the kerb, brushing the barriers on the left, flat on the throttle as I line up for the second kerb. Kissing it with the right wheels, letting the kart run out to the rumble strips on the left. Sweeping back over to the right for the hairpin.
I brake a little early, turn in as the circuit goes off camber and tries to drag me away from the apex; all the while, making tiny corrections to stop the front wheels sliding. Power on, straighten up, peer ahead to spot the braking point for turn five...
Under the visor, I'm grinning. We've been to some fun circuits this year, but Daytona is still the Daddy. It's good to be back.
It's Sunday, the sun is shining, and the most familiar strip of tarmac in my world seems little changed from when I last visited. With a year off in 2010, it's been the longest exile since I started karting - 651 days, to be exact.
After a 25 minute test session, I'm not back to the inch-perfect precision I reached at the 24 Hours in 2009. But it's not bad. I set a high 1.11 at a time when the 60kg lightweights are doing mid 1.10s. Around here, the weight difference is worth a second.
Today's format is unusual for the BRKC: as at Birmingham, we'll do a short qualifying session and a 30 minute race. With no less than 55 drivers entered, we're split into 2 groups. The top 15 from each group will go into a 10 minute shootout final.
With the test sessions complete, there's a real end-of-term feeling as we congregate in Daytona's upstairs lounge area, between the bar and the briefing room. The BRKC trophy table groans with silverware, both for the race and overall champions.
I've come to look forward to seeing familiar faces almost as much as the racing: Bradley, Alex, Sean, Chris and the other BRKC regulars, and the tireless support team. Bradley's mother, grandparents and girlfriend Becca have given generously of their time since the birth of the BRKC. They've helped make it the best championship I have ever competed in.
As the briefing video starts and Martin Brundle's familiar face fills the screen, the adrenalin begins to flow. I can't win the championship. But I know this place. Inside out, back to front, in every weather condition imaginable. With just a touch of Lady Luck, I can do well here today.
An hour later, it's clear that Lady Luck's taken the day off. I sit in the kart on Daytona's back straight feeling like the most unpopular kid in school, as driver after driver is called forward to form up the grid. The ten minute qualifying session went reasonably smoothly; I managed a couple of clear laps and know that there's little more to come from either me or the kart. It doesn't feel awful, but something is obviously amiss.
I line up 18th. Having expected to trouble the top six, I now face a fight to make the top 15 and progress to the final. It's a battle to shake off the sinking feeling and focus.
Not for the first time this season, I make a great start. As other drivers get tangled up with each other I seek out the gaps and find myself tenth after the first lap. Brilliant! Maybe I had a poor qualifying session, after all.
But within three laps, the sinking feeling is back - I'm easy meat for the chasing pack on the long straight. In isolation, the kart doesn't feel too bad, but its acceleration out of slow corners and top speed is way down. I drive the wheels off, but am overtaken easily by drivers 15kg heavier than me.
Ten laps in, frustration starts to seep through the cracks: pushing too hard, I make a small mistake into the turn four hairpin and run wide. Mistakes are unacceptable on this track; I force myself to dial it back. The kart won't go any faster. The only way I'm going to progress is by staying consistent and taking advantage of others' misfortune.
I'm fifteenth at the flag, though I don't realise it at the time; out of the kart, nursing a blistered hand, I'm on the point of heading to the changing rooms when the PA system blares my name. I've scraped into the final, 30th and last.
At the start of the ten minute shootout, I follow one of my best starts of the year with my worst. It's all my fault: I'm expecting to come to a stop in formation before being sent off for a rolling start, as we did for the main race. But it doesn't happen. I'm slow to realise that as I'm slowing down on the back straight, everyone else is accelerating away. I'm ten metres back as we cross the line, cursing.
By half way around the lap I've caught the tail of the field - but in the middle of turn 6, I feel the blister on my right palm tear. Even through the adrenalin, pain shoots up to my elbow.
This kart is far better, and I'm rocketing up the order. But I'm running out of laps, and my right hand will barely grip the wheel. I take the flag 22nd, having made up eight places in as many laps and driven the last three one-handed. It's hard not to be frustrated by the way the day has gone, but I've done the best I could.
Later, when I have a chance to study my results in detail, I discover that my race kart was two seconds per lap slower than my practice kart. There will always be variables in rental karting, but that isn't good enough for a national championship. Daytona remains a wonderful circuit marred by frustratingly patchy quality. When comparatively tiny operations like Hereford and Matchams can achieve good parity across their fleets, it's a disappointing showing from Britain's karting giant.
For now, though, BRKC 2011 is over. We cheer inaugural champion Chris Hackworth to the rafters, say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. We'll reunite for the 0-plate - a one-off, weight-equalised race at Sutton in Leicestershire - in October, and BRKC 2012 is barely six months away. Next year will see a new minimum weight limit to even up the lightweight class, and new circuits mixing it with the favourites. I'll be aiming for a much stronger showing than in 2011 and can't wait.
But it's time to turn my attention to the big ones: the British 24 Hours at Teesside is just seven weeks away, with the Daytona 24 Hours following seven weeks after that.
Training starts now...
I brake a little early, turn in as the circuit goes off camber and tries to drag me away from the apex; all the while, making tiny corrections to stop the front wheels sliding. Power on, straighten up, peer ahead to spot the braking point for turn five...
Under the visor, I'm grinning. We've been to some fun circuits this year, but Daytona is still the Daddy. It's good to be back.
It's Sunday, the sun is shining, and the most familiar strip of tarmac in my world seems little changed from when I last visited. With a year off in 2010, it's been the longest exile since I started karting - 651 days, to be exact.
After a 25 minute test session, I'm not back to the inch-perfect precision I reached at the 24 Hours in 2009. But it's not bad. I set a high 1.11 at a time when the 60kg lightweights are doing mid 1.10s. Around here, the weight difference is worth a second.
Today's format is unusual for the BRKC: as at Birmingham, we'll do a short qualifying session and a 30 minute race. With no less than 55 drivers entered, we're split into 2 groups. The top 15 from each group will go into a 10 minute shootout final.
With the test sessions complete, there's a real end-of-term feeling as we congregate in Daytona's upstairs lounge area, between the bar and the briefing room. The BRKC trophy table groans with silverware, both for the race and overall champions.
I've come to look forward to seeing familiar faces almost as much as the racing: Bradley, Alex, Sean, Chris and the other BRKC regulars, and the tireless support team. Bradley's mother, grandparents and girlfriend Becca have given generously of their time since the birth of the BRKC. They've helped make it the best championship I have ever competed in.
As the briefing video starts and Martin Brundle's familiar face fills the screen, the adrenalin begins to flow. I can't win the championship. But I know this place. Inside out, back to front, in every weather condition imaginable. With just a touch of Lady Luck, I can do well here today.
An hour later, it's clear that Lady Luck's taken the day off. I sit in the kart on Daytona's back straight feeling like the most unpopular kid in school, as driver after driver is called forward to form up the grid. The ten minute qualifying session went reasonably smoothly; I managed a couple of clear laps and know that there's little more to come from either me or the kart. It doesn't feel awful, but something is obviously amiss.
I line up 18th. Having expected to trouble the top six, I now face a fight to make the top 15 and progress to the final. It's a battle to shake off the sinking feeling and focus.
Not for the first time this season, I make a great start. As other drivers get tangled up with each other I seek out the gaps and find myself tenth after the first lap. Brilliant! Maybe I had a poor qualifying session, after all.
But within three laps, the sinking feeling is back - I'm easy meat for the chasing pack on the long straight. In isolation, the kart doesn't feel too bad, but its acceleration out of slow corners and top speed is way down. I drive the wheels off, but am overtaken easily by drivers 15kg heavier than me.
Ten laps in, frustration starts to seep through the cracks: pushing too hard, I make a small mistake into the turn four hairpin and run wide. Mistakes are unacceptable on this track; I force myself to dial it back. The kart won't go any faster. The only way I'm going to progress is by staying consistent and taking advantage of others' misfortune.
I'm fifteenth at the flag, though I don't realise it at the time; out of the kart, nursing a blistered hand, I'm on the point of heading to the changing rooms when the PA system blares my name. I've scraped into the final, 30th and last.
At the start of the ten minute shootout, I follow one of my best starts of the year with my worst. It's all my fault: I'm expecting to come to a stop in formation before being sent off for a rolling start, as we did for the main race. But it doesn't happen. I'm slow to realise that as I'm slowing down on the back straight, everyone else is accelerating away. I'm ten metres back as we cross the line, cursing.
By half way around the lap I've caught the tail of the field - but in the middle of turn 6, I feel the blister on my right palm tear. Even through the adrenalin, pain shoots up to my elbow.
This kart is far better, and I'm rocketing up the order. But I'm running out of laps, and my right hand will barely grip the wheel. I take the flag 22nd, having made up eight places in as many laps and driven the last three one-handed. It's hard not to be frustrated by the way the day has gone, but I've done the best I could.
Later, when I have a chance to study my results in detail, I discover that my race kart was two seconds per lap slower than my practice kart. There will always be variables in rental karting, but that isn't good enough for a national championship. Daytona remains a wonderful circuit marred by frustratingly patchy quality. When comparatively tiny operations like Hereford and Matchams can achieve good parity across their fleets, it's a disappointing showing from Britain's karting giant.
For now, though, BRKC 2011 is over. We cheer inaugural champion Chris Hackworth to the rafters, say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. We'll reunite for the 0-plate - a one-off, weight-equalised race at Sutton in Leicestershire - in October, and BRKC 2012 is barely six months away. Next year will see a new minimum weight limit to even up the lightweight class, and new circuits mixing it with the favourites. I'll be aiming for a much stronger showing than in 2011 and can't wait.
But it's time to turn my attention to the big ones: the British 24 Hours at Teesside is just seven weeks away, with the Daytona 24 Hours following seven weeks after that.
Training starts now...
Monday, 20 June 2011
BRKC round 5. Brentwood, Essex, 19 June 2011
Over the weeks and months, the BRKC has evolved, and me with it. From reticent outsider (or Johnny No Mates) at round 1, I've gradually become integrated, part of the core. This is due in no small part to its excellent Facebook page, where drivers, followers and organisers come together between races.
Most of the drivers compete in other series beside the BRKC, and my interest is piqued one evening when the subject of the British 24 Hours is raised. I've mentioned elsewhere that I won the 24 Hours at Daytona Milton Keynes in 2009; I'll be returning with part of the same team later this year. The British 24 Hours, at Teesside, is the UK's other big 24 hour kart race. Like Daytona it attracts a huge entry and serious talent. Fellow BRKC driver Alex Vangeen is putting a team together under the BRKC banner; before I know it I'm signed up, paid up and looking into hotels. I'm home alone while Marianne is away sailing. Clearly I can't be trusted.
So, to Brentwood. My first visit to Essex has been a pleasant surprise: I wasn't expecting forested lanes and pretty little villages so close to the M25. As I park at Brentwood Raceway - a wide, smooth 800m circuit surrounded by the forest of Thorndon Country Park - I'm praying for rain. That may come as a surprise given the disaster that was round 4, but again, I've attempted to glean a little circuit knowledge before race day.
On Saturday evening, I met five of my fellow drivers - including Alex, my British 24 Hours team captain - for a pre-race test session. Which happened to take place on a sodden track. But unlike Matchams last month, this circuit retains a fraction of grip when it's wet. I enjoyed myself and set some quick times. Though not as quick as Alex, who appears to be something of a Rainmaster. This bodes well for our big race in the Frozen North.
Race day is cloudy and blustery. After a comfortable (if lonely) night in a nearby Holiday Inn, and a relaxed morning, I'm ready for anything. Alex and I and the other Saturday drivers stop one step short of a rain dance. But to no avail.
After just five laps of dry practice I feel more or less dialled in. The circuit is fairly simple, with a long straight followed by a flat-out 180 degree right hander which leads into a slower, more technical infield section. The final corner, in front of the pits, is the trickiest: a fast chicane with a wide, flat kerb which needs to be driven over. But hit it wrong and it bounces the kart: the loss of traction loses you time all the way down the following straight. I'm not sure I get it 100% right all day.
I've drawn a 10th place (out of 11) grid slot for my first heat and have a fleeting five and a half laps to make up places. Five and a half, because on this circuit, the start and finish lines are on opposite sides of the track. Nobody can think of a similar layout elsewhere.
I make my best start of the season and somehow find myself sixth after the first lap. Good pace and some neat passing sees me fourth at the flag, thoroughly pleased with myself. This is more like it. My delight redoubles when I realise I've managed to beat none other than the great Bradley Philpot, despite having started behind him.
There are rumbles of discontent in the ranks, though. This race has a significant injection of one-off local entries - ten or so of our total of 35. They all appear to be about eleven years old and there's talk of dirty driving, although I've yet to experience it.
In my next heat, though, I'm tagged into a spin at the second corner. I never see the culprit, but it tumbles me down the order. I recover to finish eighth.
Two more heats. In one I'm hobbled by a slow kart and hold station to finish eighth again; in the other I start third but lose two places to a pair of youngsters whose combined weight adds up to a box of Rice Krispies. But I'm driving solidly and making the best of what I have; I'm happy with tenth on the grid for the B final.
Today, tenth seems to be working for me: I blast up the inside into the first hairpin on lap 1, and people magically fall out of the way. For the second time today, I'm sixth at the end of lap 1.
And there I encounter BRKC stalwart and racing instructor James Auld. James is in the heavyweight class and carrying at least 10kg more weight, but for the next nine laps I'm alternately grinding my teeth in frustration and shaking my head in admiration. I'm quicker, and 4th placed driver Harry Wicks is tantalisingly within view, but James puts on a brilliant display of defensive driving. It's hard but absolutely fair: no weaving or bumping (aside from when I get clumsy on the brakes) - he just places his kart just so and keeps me at bay.
It's a valuable lesson and the most fun I've had in a kart all year. I'm sixth at the flag, 17th overall. It's been a good day: the result still isn't stellar, but no less than 7 of the local lads make the A final, so I'm effectively 10th.
With only 4 of our regular drivers in the A final, the BRKC are predominantly spectators. And we're not impressed. There is some shoddy driving, a subsequent stewards' enquiry, and tears from a couple of the local littl'uns afterwards. It's all a bit School Sports Day and in my opinion, not up to the high standards of the BRKC. If you want to play with the adults, you need to behave like one - as all of our excellent under-16 regulars do.
Still, a good event at a friendly circuit and for me, a solid result. And just two weeks to wait until the season finale...
Most of the drivers compete in other series beside the BRKC, and my interest is piqued one evening when the subject of the British 24 Hours is raised. I've mentioned elsewhere that I won the 24 Hours at Daytona Milton Keynes in 2009; I'll be returning with part of the same team later this year. The British 24 Hours, at Teesside, is the UK's other big 24 hour kart race. Like Daytona it attracts a huge entry and serious talent. Fellow BRKC driver Alex Vangeen is putting a team together under the BRKC banner; before I know it I'm signed up, paid up and looking into hotels. I'm home alone while Marianne is away sailing. Clearly I can't be trusted.
So, to Brentwood. My first visit to Essex has been a pleasant surprise: I wasn't expecting forested lanes and pretty little villages so close to the M25. As I park at Brentwood Raceway - a wide, smooth 800m circuit surrounded by the forest of Thorndon Country Park - I'm praying for rain. That may come as a surprise given the disaster that was round 4, but again, I've attempted to glean a little circuit knowledge before race day.
On Saturday evening, I met five of my fellow drivers - including Alex, my British 24 Hours team captain - for a pre-race test session. Which happened to take place on a sodden track. But unlike Matchams last month, this circuit retains a fraction of grip when it's wet. I enjoyed myself and set some quick times. Though not as quick as Alex, who appears to be something of a Rainmaster. This bodes well for our big race in the Frozen North.
Race day is cloudy and blustery. After a comfortable (if lonely) night in a nearby Holiday Inn, and a relaxed morning, I'm ready for anything. Alex and I and the other Saturday drivers stop one step short of a rain dance. But to no avail.
After just five laps of dry practice I feel more or less dialled in. The circuit is fairly simple, with a long straight followed by a flat-out 180 degree right hander which leads into a slower, more technical infield section. The final corner, in front of the pits, is the trickiest: a fast chicane with a wide, flat kerb which needs to be driven over. But hit it wrong and it bounces the kart: the loss of traction loses you time all the way down the following straight. I'm not sure I get it 100% right all day.
I've drawn a 10th place (out of 11) grid slot for my first heat and have a fleeting five and a half laps to make up places. Five and a half, because on this circuit, the start and finish lines are on opposite sides of the track. Nobody can think of a similar layout elsewhere.
I make my best start of the season and somehow find myself sixth after the first lap. Good pace and some neat passing sees me fourth at the flag, thoroughly pleased with myself. This is more like it. My delight redoubles when I realise I've managed to beat none other than the great Bradley Philpot, despite having started behind him.
There are rumbles of discontent in the ranks, though. This race has a significant injection of one-off local entries - ten or so of our total of 35. They all appear to be about eleven years old and there's talk of dirty driving, although I've yet to experience it.
In my next heat, though, I'm tagged into a spin at the second corner. I never see the culprit, but it tumbles me down the order. I recover to finish eighth.
Two more heats. In one I'm hobbled by a slow kart and hold station to finish eighth again; in the other I start third but lose two places to a pair of youngsters whose combined weight adds up to a box of Rice Krispies. But I'm driving solidly and making the best of what I have; I'm happy with tenth on the grid for the B final.
Today, tenth seems to be working for me: I blast up the inside into the first hairpin on lap 1, and people magically fall out of the way. For the second time today, I'm sixth at the end of lap 1.
And there I encounter BRKC stalwart and racing instructor James Auld. James is in the heavyweight class and carrying at least 10kg more weight, but for the next nine laps I'm alternately grinding my teeth in frustration and shaking my head in admiration. I'm quicker, and 4th placed driver Harry Wicks is tantalisingly within view, but James puts on a brilliant display of defensive driving. It's hard but absolutely fair: no weaving or bumping (aside from when I get clumsy on the brakes) - he just places his kart just so and keeps me at bay.
It's a valuable lesson and the most fun I've had in a kart all year. I'm sixth at the flag, 17th overall. It's been a good day: the result still isn't stellar, but no less than 7 of the local lads make the A final, so I'm effectively 10th.
With only 4 of our regular drivers in the A final, the BRKC are predominantly spectators. And we're not impressed. There is some shoddy driving, a subsequent stewards' enquiry, and tears from a couple of the local littl'uns afterwards. It's all a bit School Sports Day and in my opinion, not up to the high standards of the BRKC. If you want to play with the adults, you need to behave like one - as all of our excellent under-16 regulars do.
Still, a good event at a friendly circuit and for me, a solid result. And just two weeks to wait until the season finale...
Monday, 6 June 2011
BRKC Round 4. Matchams, Bournemouth, Sunday 5 June 2011
As I turn off the leafy lane into the entrance of Matchams Leisure Park, the clouds hang low overhead. Like Cambridgeshire last month, there's something spooky about this place. At one time it was clearly a vibrant destination, but these days it's a sprawling ghost town of abandoned buildings and roads that lead nowhere. It did briefly rise to notoriety in late 2008, when it hosted the ill-fated Lapland New Forest scam.
But spooky or not, as I thread my way up the access road towards the kart circuit at the far side of the park, I've got a good feeling about today. For I'm armed with a weapon I've not had before this season: knowledge. Matchams is reasonably close to my home in Southampton; yesterday, a karting friend and I entered a team endurance race. Against two stag groups and a smattering of casual karters we won easily; more importantly, I have an inkling of what lies in store.
The grid is thinner this month, the location less convenient than of late; the BRKC regulars are bolstered by some local talent. As I'm beginning to realise, local knowledge counts for a lot here.
At 420 metres according to the website, this is the shortest circuit we will visit this year. It feels a little longer, perhaps because it winds between trees. Or it could be that every lap takes such a toll that you feel it must be longer.
It's bumpy. Not rough or nobbly, but proper bounce-an-inch-off-your-seat-count-your-fillings bumpy. There are sections where just hanging on to the steering wheel is a challenge, let alone turning it. The second corner is a fast, tightening right-hander with a tyre wall to the left and what feels like a row of sleeping policemen underwheel; hit the bumps wrong and the kart simply launches you into the tyre wall.
Circuit owner George Lovell is proud of the quality of his karts, and rightly so: they're consistent and handle nicely, though their short wheelbase makes it difficult for me to cram my lanky frame in. I feel like an elephant in a shopping trolley.
Still, I'm quick in the test sessions and in the free practice before the heats. My first race is heat two, and I've drawn pole position. I'm sitting on the grid, raring to go with that slightly weak-boweled feeling that only adrenalin brings... when the rain starts to fall.
It's heavy enough that the circuit is soaked in seconds; I get away in the lead, but by the time we get down to turn two I can already feel the slick tyres slithering on the rutted surface. Tentative on the brakes, I get mugged by a local and lose a place straight away.
By lap three it's turned into the heat from hell. I've raced in the wet many times. I've won races in the wet. But I've never encountered a wet surface like this. Parts of it are rough enough that the tyres dig in, giving you precious nuggets of grip; but most of it is heavily rippled tarmac, worn smooth and coated in rubber. With a layer of water on top, the kart floats across it at pathetically slow speed, ignoring all attempts at direction by its hapless driver.
Over three heats and a final I try several techniques. None of them work aside from the locals' line through one hairpin: drive right around the outside of the corner with your right wheels in the dirt at the edge of the track. With hindsight, the correct method seems to be to pretend you're cruising round on an in lap. Any attempt to push the kart results in disaster.
Everybody is struggling to some extent, but I've found it harder than most. After perhaps the least enjoyable karting event of my life, I'm 19th out of 29 and have, incredibly, scored two points. But it's a poor showing: I've allowed my frustration to seep into my driving, making matters worse. I slink home, thoroughly disgruntled and wondering why I keep putting myself through this. Perhaps I need to face an uncomfortable truth: maybe I'm just not good enough to compete at this level.
But spooky or not, as I thread my way up the access road towards the kart circuit at the far side of the park, I've got a good feeling about today. For I'm armed with a weapon I've not had before this season: knowledge. Matchams is reasonably close to my home in Southampton; yesterday, a karting friend and I entered a team endurance race. Against two stag groups and a smattering of casual karters we won easily; more importantly, I have an inkling of what lies in store.
The grid is thinner this month, the location less convenient than of late; the BRKC regulars are bolstered by some local talent. As I'm beginning to realise, local knowledge counts for a lot here.
At 420 metres according to the website, this is the shortest circuit we will visit this year. It feels a little longer, perhaps because it winds between trees. Or it could be that every lap takes such a toll that you feel it must be longer.
It's bumpy. Not rough or nobbly, but proper bounce-an-inch-off-your-seat-count-your-fillings bumpy. There are sections where just hanging on to the steering wheel is a challenge, let alone turning it. The second corner is a fast, tightening right-hander with a tyre wall to the left and what feels like a row of sleeping policemen underwheel; hit the bumps wrong and the kart simply launches you into the tyre wall.
Circuit owner George Lovell is proud of the quality of his karts, and rightly so: they're consistent and handle nicely, though their short wheelbase makes it difficult for me to cram my lanky frame in. I feel like an elephant in a shopping trolley.
Still, I'm quick in the test sessions and in the free practice before the heats. My first race is heat two, and I've drawn pole position. I'm sitting on the grid, raring to go with that slightly weak-boweled feeling that only adrenalin brings... when the rain starts to fall.
It's heavy enough that the circuit is soaked in seconds; I get away in the lead, but by the time we get down to turn two I can already feel the slick tyres slithering on the rutted surface. Tentative on the brakes, I get mugged by a local and lose a place straight away.
By lap three it's turned into the heat from hell. I've raced in the wet many times. I've won races in the wet. But I've never encountered a wet surface like this. Parts of it are rough enough that the tyres dig in, giving you precious nuggets of grip; but most of it is heavily rippled tarmac, worn smooth and coated in rubber. With a layer of water on top, the kart floats across it at pathetically slow speed, ignoring all attempts at direction by its hapless driver.
Over three heats and a final I try several techniques. None of them work aside from the locals' line through one hairpin: drive right around the outside of the corner with your right wheels in the dirt at the edge of the track. With hindsight, the correct method seems to be to pretend you're cruising round on an in lap. Any attempt to push the kart results in disaster.
Everybody is struggling to some extent, but I've found it harder than most. After perhaps the least enjoyable karting event of my life, I'm 19th out of 29 and have, incredibly, scored two points. But it's a poor showing: I've allowed my frustration to seep into my driving, making matters worse. I slink home, thoroughly disgruntled and wondering why I keep putting myself through this. Perhaps I need to face an uncomfortable truth: maybe I'm just not good enough to compete at this level.
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