When I think of Switzerland, I don't think of a tax haven, I don't think of the phenomenal Alps, I don't even think of Swiss cheese. What I think of is far more beautiful than all of these things combined, something so precious that few of us Brits have ever witnessed it. What I'm talking about, is a fully functioning, reliable public transport system.
No I'm not high, they really do exist in certain far reaches of the world. London however, is not one of these places. A city once engulfed by the plague, it now suffers from another terrifying disease, but this one is far larger than a bacterial infection. Our modern plague is experienced in the form of "severe delays", "signal failures" and "someone under a train".
Just because the train's here, doesn't mean you'll get there on time
The London Underground in particular seems to do away with the laws of physics, instead operating by the far more influential Sod's law. If you have an important meeting, an urgent appointment or even a hot date, don't use public transport. It WILL destroy everything, Sod's law dictates this. Whilst that stunning blonde sits waiting alone at the restaurant table, you'll be entering a panicked sweat as you wait in a tunnel for twenty five minutes due to a "signal failure at Clapham Common." When she decides to leave and never answer her phone, as the man who apparently stood her up, you will join the ranks of people who've suffered at the wrath of Transport for London.
It is the oldest underground system in the world, I do understand that. I'm sure things will have to go wrong every so often. But as a frustrated Londoner who spends hours in delays each year, I think many can sympathise when I say, I hate public transport.
The most reliable transport I know
That's why I think I'll be ditching my Oyster card this year, in favour of far more reliable sources of transport; my feet, my bicycle and of course my car. Oh wait, I live ten and a half miles from the city, a city with a congestion charge and a good habit of stealing your bike. So I'm stuck with TfL then. Crap.
The title above applies to not only my days racing, I'll explain why shortly, but also the publish date of this post. Not my most prompt piece of writing, but here it is; an update of my day's racing the weekend before last, better late than never eh.
Bayford Meadows, the circuit that gifted me my first win, as well as my first Championship way back in 2003. A place with some great memories, most of them very vivid and seemingly far more recent than a decade ago. I wish I could have said the same for the racing lines however, as I quickly realised my on track memory was far from anything useful. But never fear, the sun was out and the afternoon's racing was about to commence, so I was feeling excited to jump into a kart and back onto what was very a special track to me.
Back on track at the place of my first win
QUALIFYING
My feeling for the circuit in qualifying was actually better than expected. My previous evening's YouTube research had meant I had a good understanding of the basic layout, which enabled me to pick up the racing lines fairly quickly. I completed several clear and smooth laps so was hopeful to have secured myself a grid position at the sharp end of the field. Unfortunately, much to my disappointment this was not the case, as I lined up in 11th for Race 1. Apparently, despite my initial thoughts, there was a lot of work to do.
Fighting up from 11th on lap 1
RACE 1
Sitting towards the front of the midfield and rolling up to the start line, I was thankful to be on the inside as the karts muscled together. Immediately I was able to gain 2 places before I'd even approached the first corner, followed by another 2 as we approached the infield. I was now in hot pursuit of the leading 6 drivers with every intention of winning the race; funny how things can change so quickly.
A couple of laps in, the leading pack had begun to space out but the pair immediately ahead began tussling quite heavily. I was able to take advantage of their fight and nudged my way past them both into 5th, placing me a second or so off the back of the 4th placed driver. The following few laps saw me trying my utmost to latch onto the leading karts, where I was also still learning the racing lines and details for that perfect lap every step of the way.
Thankfully I began to 'click' with the circuit, and before I knew it I was driving up to the back of the 4th placed kart. Stealing a tow along the start/finish straight, I nosed ahead of him into turn 1. The leading trio had a slight edge over me, something I knew I could decrease if I had the race time, but unfortunately the chequered flag was shown too soon for that to work. Still, I crossed the line in a surprisingly strong 4th; if you'd have offered that to me before the race, I'd have certainly grabbed it with both hands.
Racing through the last corner
RACE 2
After my strong showing of pace in the closing stages of Race 1, I went into Race 2 expecting to at least be a contender for the win. Accelerating over the start line on the outside I unsurprisingly fell back to 5th into turn 1, however I quickly snatched the place back in the next corner. The following laps saw me chop and change position, fighting with the group immediately behind the leader. Our tussling caused the leading kart to begin to break away slightly however, and to my annoyance instead of focusing on trawling him back in, the surrounding karts seemed more focused on fighting for the 2nd best place. During this hard fought tussle I did manage to work my way up to 2nd, but quickly fell back to 5th after an opponent had what can only be described as an optimistic lunge and 'hung me out to dry'.
Instead of doing the natural thing and acting out on my anger through over driving, I had to calm my emotions and focus on dragging myself back into contention. Thankfully, everything began to fall into place and as my pace remained strong the karts ahead continued to battle. This helped me to claw my way back towards them, quickly dive past and then break free from their ongoing conflict.
Crossing the line in 1st
After the 2nd placed kart came off whilst fighting for the lead, I was faced with just 1 kart in front, albeit a couple of seconds down the road. Driving some of the most immensely focused laps of my life, I was surprised to find myself on the bumper of the leader far quicker than I had expected. As we crossed the line for the last lap, I glanced back and saw that there was a small cushion between my bumper and the still bickering karts behind. The leader defended into turn 1, as well as into turn 2. However he left the door ever so slightly open into turn 3, and acting on impulse I lunged alongside him. Squeezing him on the exit he clung on and proceeded to lunge back into the following 2 corners. I gave him room but carried momentum, meaning he not only wasn't able to pass, but was also pushed back to 4th by the pursuing karts who'd now arrived on the scene. Defending and parking my kart on all the apexes for the remainder of the lap, I happily crossed the line for the win despite leading for less than two thirds of just 1 lap. I think it is safe to say that this one was very much better late than never!
So thanks to the day's successful racing I went home with not only a winners trophy, but also a bundle of points that propelled me up to 2nd in the Championship. And with at least another 6 rounds to go, it's all still very much to play for.
Check out my onboard footage for Race 2:
Round 3 of the Club100 Sprint Championship will be held at Rye House in Hoddesdon on the 28th April.
In rather timely fashion, Aston Martin have confirmed that they'll be entering a zero emission racing car into the daunting Nurburgring 24 hour race this May. The car, based on their road going Rapide S, is far from similar to those quiet electric racers mentioned in my recent post 'Will Green Cars Always Sound Boring?' Instead this green racer will be fitted with a more familiar Aston Martin 6 litre V12, with the ability to emit nothing but water thanks to it's hydrogen conversion. This will be the first hydrogen powered car to not only complete a lap at the Nurburging 24 Hours, but also the first to compete in an international racing event.
The hydrogen powered V12 is boosted by 2 turbos, essential to ensure the burning of hydrogen is as efficient as possible. The car will also use conventional petrol for much of the race, however Aston Martin have confirmed at least one lap of the circuit, nicknamed the 'Green Hell' by F1 World Champion Jackie Stewart, will be driven under full hydrogen power.
This may only represent a sneak peak into what the future holds, but it looks to be a significant step towards the goal of one day seeing a full grid of hydrogen racers growling through the forests of the Nurburgring. A fitting location given its serious mechanical challenges and naturally beautiful, tree lined surroundings.
The 41st Nurburgring 24 Hour race will take place on 19th-20th May, with the race starting at 4pm CEST / 3pm BST.
There's an ever increasing number of green cars on our roads, with a recent surge in available electric vehicles further emphasising this. Electric vehicles are fast becoming a realistic option for urban drivers, offering improved range and useful performance whilst producing zero emissions from their tailpipes. But it would be hard to argue that these cars sound at all sexy, so are future drivers doomed to a near silent future of whining electric motors?
How would you define the word green? Not the colour, but the treehugging, beard growing environmentalist's word. Well according to a reliable source (ehem..Wikipedia), green is defined as something that inflicts "reduced, minimal, or no harm at all upon ecosystems or the environment". So with this in mind, how about defining a 'green car'? You may say something like a car that produces close to zero emissions, something quiet and maybe something slow? You'd probably steer clear of saying something exciting like a 12 cylinder Pagani Zonda or V10 BMW M5, because they scare sheep and spit fire. Green cars sound a bit boring then, don't they? But surely there exist some fun green cars...
Combustion engines aren't very green, especially when they spit fire
To explore this we'd first have to understand what fun is, in the driving sense of course. There are many components to a fun drive, but I'd be confident in saying that in almost all circumstances said fun car will at least make a nice noise. Something like a Porsche Carrera GT would do, or even the screaming VTEC engine of a Honda S2000. In all of my favourite sounding cars, there's a key component that brings a wry smile to my face, it's called the combustion engine.
Well we're all familiar with hybrid vehicles, which utilise both a combustion engine and an electric motor to provide power. They are often referred to as green due to their reduced emissions and improved efficiency, and they also retain an engine so don't lose touch with conventional car characteristics. So hybrids must be examples of potentially fun, and at least slightly green cars. Case closed...
La Ferrari - a hybrid that's not even trying to be green
Unfortunately it's not so simple, as the prosecution has a new piece of evidence against those 'green' hybrids. Take the latest generation of hypercars from Ferrari, McLaren and Porsche for example. Each come fitted with energy recovery systems and hybrid motors, helping to improve performance without increasing emissions. But since each car still requires the ignition of nature's oil in a dozen or so cylinders, they can hardly be called green. And to remove any strands of green that did remain on the Ferrari, the company's Chairman, Luca De Montezemolo admitted that their hybrid motor was fitted purely to boost performance rather than reduce emissions. Not very environmental of them then!
So that brings us back to the definition of green cars. Those that argue only zero emission cars can be called green, may turn our attention to completely electric vehicles. There are quite a few of these on the market at the moment, a popular example of which is the Nissan Leaf. But the Nissan Leaf, well, isn't exactly exciting. Yes it has some clever electric wizardry, but I doubt the lack of emotive sounds will be able to please the caravan burning Top Gear generation.
The electric Lola-Drayson doesn't look so boring, does it?
Nevertheless, there are now electric cars that are built purely to go racing...and racing cars are fun. The electric powered Lola-Drayson B12/69EV currently being developed by entrepreneur Paul Drayson is a great example of a fast electric vehicle. It produces zero emissions yet is still able to reach 200mph, matching the performance of it's combustion engined rivals in the Le Mans 24hours where it'll be competing this year. Plus with the introduction of a new international electric vehicle racing championship called Formula E, we will soon have a fully fledged series of fast electric cars racing wheel to wheel throughout the year.
Great then, we've found our fun green vehicles. Or have we? There's still that one thing that these electric racers can never bring to driving, and that's of course noise. They do make a noise, but it's closer to that of your washing machine then a brutal GT racer. It seems electric cars will always be fighting a losing battle, as combustion engines tend to our primitive needs. Fire, aggression and a feeling of power are all associated with high performance engines, exciting our inner caveman when behind the wheel.
A hydrogen V12? Why not!
So what does the future hold for fun driving? Are we destined to face country sprints with a noise resembling a kitchen appliance to disappoint our ears? Not necessarily. Electric motors are not the only completely green source of power. Hydrogen, a very real option for the future, is constantly being pushed towards becoming a viable solution to providing power in mass produced vehicles. Plus hydrogen requires a combustion engine, meaning we can have our V8s back. Instead of fire though, these V8s would be more likely to spit bubbles thanks to producing nothing more than H2O at the tailpipes. How very green!
Now this being said, we shouldn't discourage the increase of electric cars on sale today, since they are a fantastic solution to urban transport issues. Although, I think it is also fair to say that many of us will be hoping hydrogen will one day be a practical solution, because as much as I'm all for a sustainable future, one without pops and bangs and bouncing rev limits just doesn't sound fun.
