I'm in quite a bit of pain at the moment; my back is a mess and my knees are bruised, but it was worth it all. Tony, Dave and myself went off to Lakeside Karting on Saturday to compete in a team based endurance karting event.
The last one we did was at a different circuit and we finished 3rd. We were all confident of a win this time around so we gave it our all. It was a standing start and we'd qualified 3rd, so as the lights went out I tried desperately to keep 4th place behind me, but into turn one I had to yield and let him past.
Three corners later and I understeered into the tyres and we dropped from 4th to 15th - dead last! By the time the marshal had sorted me out we were half a lap down on the back of the pack. I was so angry with myself, but I got down to business and drove the wheels off the kart. 23 laps later I pitted only to be told we were in the lead - I couldn't believe it!
On the back of my success we decided that instead of the normal sequence of driver changes, we would fiddle it so I ran in the last session. Dave and Tony did a fantastic job and we hovered around 4th place. Fully recharged I went out and gave it my all. I had some great battles fighting my way up to 2nd place, and was chasing down the leader when disaster struck - I exited the corner onto the pit straight and I had almost no power! One of the engines had stalled (don't tell anyone, but it was a Honda engine). I had a good lead over 3rd place so I did another lap, praying that the chequred flag would come out. Unfortunately it didn't and I had to pit, and we emerged from the pits in 5th place and completed just 2 more laps before the end of the race.
What can I say. We were all absolutely gutted. But such is the nature of motorsport, and these things happen. We have a lot to take away from the race and we are 100% confident we can win the next one.
The weekend before all of this was of course Trax 2006, held at Silverstone. Unfortunately this was basically a big static show with lots of rice'd up cars from around the country - no real motorsport content. However there was some track time available and although it was supposed to only be for road legal cars, I thought I'd go and have some fun...
Lap one was quite tedious, stuck behind the field and the pace car. I got the brakes and tyres warmed up so on lap two I turned the lights on and went on a mission. The car felt great and I knew exactly what it could do seeing as I was there just a few weeks earlier. I dispensed with six or seven cars on that lap and was rapidly catching another group on lap three, when the red flags came out. An Elise had spun into the gravel and that was that - end of session, game over.
The rest of the day went quite well and our Hondas-On-Track stand had lots of interest. I don't think I'll go back next year though.
I've got some new bits to fit to the car (roll bars and springs mainly) so I'll update again soonish...