Far From Perfect: Round 1 Of The 2013 Club100 Sprint Championship

Round 1 of the Club100 Lightweight Sprint Championship was held on the 24th February at Buckmore Park in Kent. Here's my account of my day's racing.

Standing trackside at 9am with what felt like icicles forming on my face, I did begin to wonder why I'd exchanged hard earned cash to be here. Sprinklings of sleet and a stabbing wind made the near freezing conditions feel almost arctic. Many would have turned around, gone home and climbed back into bed. But not us racers, because as soon as we heard the bark of a 115cc engine and inhaled the smell of 2 stroke racing oil, all we wanted to do was go racing.

QUALIFYING

A succession of races from the various classes then led into the Lightweight Qualifying. The morning's bitter wind hadn't gone but at least the sleet seemed to have halted. Being the first time I'd sat in a racing kart for over 6 months, I felt a little apprehensive. To add to my concern, as I rolled out of the pitlane it became clear just how little grip was available to play with. But taking advice from the late Colin McRae, "If in doubt, flat out," so I was soon throwing the kart into turn one with a handful of opposite lock.

After a solid couple of warm up laps the kart felt good and grip increased, so I pushed on to see what I could do. Almost immediately I caught another kart and nosed alongside him. It turned out he hadn't noticed me and as a result fired me straight into the wall, my first "oh cock" moment of 2013! It was a fairly substantial impact that sent me piling into my own steering wheel, which I'm sure would have almost certainly bruised a rib or two had I not been wearing my rib protector. After confirming all limbs were still attached and that the kart was straight, I moved it into position to restart. As soon as I was rolling I had to forget about my impact and get hunting down that fast lap.

2 laps on I found some clear air and sliced through the corners, nailing my braking points and completing a smooth lap without any mistakes. Each one of my following attempts was hindered by traffic or yellow flags, so rolling past the chequered flag I knew that that lap had to be the one. To my suprise it placed me on Pole for the first race, with just under 2 tenths of a second advantage over 2nd place. Not a bad start to the day!

Racing towards the start line

RACE 1

Sitting on pole for the first race, I was a little confused as to why I was on the left side of the front row despite this circuit being clockwise. Failing to gain an answer it was then suddenly time to start and begin the rolling up laps. So cruising along on the outside of the front row (which I later found out WAS the wrong side, the grid in the pitlane did not reflect the actual grid!) we approached the start line and revs slowly began to rise. Screaming past the waved Union Jack we hurtled into turn 1, and as expected those on the inside were able to nose through. I exited turn 1 in 3rd but managed to squeeze back into 2nd through the infield. The following laps had me chasing down the leader, with there being several notable areas of the circuit where my pace was better than his.

Buckmore Park isn't the easiest circuit to pass on, with it's narrow width and flowing corners. But if you are going to pass, generally the easiest places are into turn 1 after stealing a tow up the hill, or in the tight infield with it's low speed hairpins. Unfortunately for me my Jack Daniels ribs addiction meant I was 7kg heavier than the minimum weight limit, so stealing a tow wasn't possible as my kart had to lug my pork filled butt up the hill. As a result, passing the leader in the first sector was much more difficult. But my confidence remained intact, as I felt I could bide my time, pull away from the chasing karts and then pick a clean spot to overtake for the lead.

As good as that plan seemed, it didn't account for one tiny problem; backmarkers. Our leading group of karts were soon to face the challenge of clearing lapped traffic; traffic that in some cases more closely resembled moving road blocks. Unfortunately for me, I caught several of these karts in sections where time was most easily lost. As a result my grip on the leader was loosened and he began to maintain a significant gap. To add to this, an early braking backmarker caught me by surprise into turn one, and despite my best efforts I was unable to avoid punting him off.

Caught by suprise: Punting off an early braking backmarker

This unfortunately was the final blow to my race, as the resulting penalty meant despite crossing the line in 2nd, I was relegated to 6th. Not what I'd hoped for, but there was always race 2 to redeem myself...

RACE 2

After my strong pace in the morning, I knew my target for race 2 should be to come out on top. So sitting P3 on the grid, a small amount of confidence had begun to brew behind my tinted visor. Rolling out of the pits I took extra care in making sure tyre temperatures were at optimum, to help avoid a repeat of the mornings poor start.

Despite my tyre warming efforts, accelerating up to the start line it immediately became clear that my kart wasn't going to co-operate as I'd hoped. Opening up the throttle I watched the surrounding karts creep forward  as my engine struggled to pull itself into the power band. As a result I fell back from the leader into turn 1, and was edged wide by fast accelerating karts behind. Falling back into 5th I was frustrated that my confidence had turned to desperation as I watched the leading pair edge away.

I was lucky to sneak back into 3rd after the pair ahead ran wide in turn 8. From here I began to regain hope that I could draw in the leaders and chase that win I so wanted. But this hope was short lived as I battled sluggish straight line speed, and almost immediately fell back to 4th after being out dragged into turn 1. To add to my misery, whilst chasing 3rd place I got greedy on the kerb of Cafe Curve, throwing me out wide and costing me time.

Pushing hard: Despite my best efforts I couldn't catch the leaders

From here it was a race of damage limitation, with the leaders out of reach and unimpressive straight line speed meaning I was chasing points rather than trophies. Pushing as hard as I could I still lost another place, eventually crossing the line in 5th. (Somehow this turned into a 4th after the race - most likely due to a kart ahead receiving a penalty).

Despite the potential shown after qualifying pole, I ended up leaving Buckmore Park empty handed. The only thing I had to show for my weekend was a very sore back thanks to my morning impact (tyre walls aren't as soft as they look!) Nevertheless, it felt great to get back out racing. Lets just say I'm looking forward to proving myself at Round 2.

For those of you who'd prefer a video, here's my onboard footage of Race 1:

Round 2 of the CLUB100 Lightweight Sprint Championship will be at Bayford Meadows in Sittingbourne on the 14th April.