The 3rd Round of the Club 100 Lightweight Sprint Championship took place on the 28th April at Rye House in Hoddesdon. Here's my summary of my day's racing.
Located just a short drive from my home in North London, Rye House is my 'local'. Except this local doesn't serve lagers, but similarly it does have a habit of leaving you a little sore the next day. Rolling out of bed at a not so painful 7:30am, I was excited to return to a track I must have driven around 1000 times. Clear blue skies with promise of warmth meant conditions were thankfully also looking perfect.
Not long after we arrived at one of F1 stars Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton's old playing grounds, in true Club 100 style the racing got started as quickly as possible (the event organisers firmly believe in working to 'the sooner we get started, the sooner we go home'). Having to focus myself for qualifying, my attitude for the day's racing took influence from F1 World Champ Fernando Alonso's consistent performances last year. I figured since the Club 100 season is long and filled with variety, consistency is key. Inspired by his success I targeted podiums for both of the day's races, deciding that points were more important than 'binning it' when chasing that extra place, better to finish the race and grab what I can.
QUALIFYING
Despite it being early morning and the first time I'd sat in a kart for a couple of weeks, with this probably being something like my 1001st lap of Rye House, I was able to immediately settle into a rhythm and start chasing that perfect lap. The pace soon came and my laps were good, with just a few outliers here and there, mostly thanks to traffic. Using every inch of the backbreaking kerb at Pylon (shown in the title pic), I was taking some serious risks.
Upon my return to the pits, it became apparent just how necessary those risks were; pole position by 2/100ths. Doesn't come much closer than that.
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| Pole position over the start line |
RACE 1
Sitting on pole position for Race 1, I was by no means confident. The tiny margin between myself and the pursuing karts meant there was little chance of me breaking free from them if everyone remained settled. But speeding over the line, my start was clean and fast as I swept into Stadium bend. Feeling confident enough not to defend, I pressed on with setting fastest laps in order to drag myself out of the danger zone.
This is when it became apparent that my kart had just a few issues. It didn't lack straight line speed, but an out of line steering wheel began to trouble turn in, with a suspected tracking issue as the problem. This coupled with a heavy vibration meant my working conditions were far from ideal. Nevertheless, I pushed as hard as I could only to be out dragged into turn 1, painfully conceding 1st.
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| Conceding the lead |
Despite the loss, it was here that I really began to 'earn my money' (unfortunately in reality my money likes to travel in the opposite direction). To chase down the new leader I had to race my socks off, setting qualifying lap after qualifying lap with my less than perfect kart. I soon began to match the leader's pace, but the threat of attack from behind later into the race meant I chose to defend rather than attack, remembering consistency is key.
The final result saw me just crossing the line in 2nd, disappointed not to get the winners trophy, but very pleased with the 127 Championship points.
RACE 2
Due to only setting the 4th fastest lap in Race 1, I lined up 4th on the grid for Race 2. As I crept out of the pits to begin our warm up laps, I recognised the machinery; this was Race 1's kart. I immediately returned to the pits to swap to another kart, that wonky one wasn't costing me another race. Once I'd joined the formation lap it seemed as though the decision to swap was the right one. No vibrations and a straight steering wheel, I felt much more confident.
Accelerating over the start line, I managed to maximise my position and slot into 4th; nothing spectacular, but what I had to do. I was happy to realise that I was actually now quicker than the karts ahead, so sitting on the final podium positioned kart's bumper, I was able to notice several key areas where I was quicker. But accelerating back onto the straight in what I thought was a prime slipstreaming position, it became clear my afternoon's kart struggled on the straights. Despite my overall good pace, the lack of top speed made it near impossible to make a clean overtaking manoeuvre for 3rd. In a desperate attempt to move forward, I placed my kart's nose on the inside of turn 1, hoping to force the kart ahead into a mistake. Instead I found myself on the outside of the following corner, which allowed the chasing kart to slip through into hairpin 1. I'd gone backwards rather than forwards.
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| Regaining 4th before snatching 3rd from the off line kart ahead |
Remaining focused and hopeful of a way back through, I pressed on and thankfully squeezed back into 4th as the karts ahead squabbled into hairpin 2. I was even able to steal 3rd from of the out of position kart in front, as he ran wide after a failed attempt at taking 2nd. I suddenly found myself on the tail of 2nd place; this was my chance to snatch the place and break free of the pack, in the same way the current leader had managed to do early on.
Sat on the bumper of 2nd, despite every attempt at carrying momentum and getting that good exit onto the straight, I couldn't quite match the straight line performance of his kart. Almost losing sight of 'Alonso's consistency philosophy', I had a couple of fairly ambitious lunges over the course of the following laps.
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| Tight squeeze: lunging for 2nd |
Thankfully I saw sense when a late braking manoeuvre almost saw both of us out of the race. As we crossed the line for the last lap, I decided to defend my position rather than jeopardising points in trying to steal 2nd. Still, 3rd was far from safe as I had to defend from a late onslaught from behind. To my relief I managed to hold on and grab that final podium position, but more importantly I'd secured a healthy sum of 124 points.
No wins, but 2 podium finishes, Rye House was good to me that day. To top it off I was the highest points scorer of the day, so even though the silverware didn't display it, I felt good as I had come home as the number 1 driver for the day.
I now find myself leading the Championship as we head into Round 4 at Ellough Park. I won't be racing then however, due to getting an exciting chance to drive the Spa Francorchamps F1 circuit in Belgium that weekend (a very valid reason to miss a round I'm sure most will agree). Thankfully though, the Club 100 Championship allows you to drop rounds, so through default that missed round will be one of my dropped days. My Championship hopes are therefore very much alive.
Check out my onboard footage from Race 2 at Rye House:
Unfortunately due to a lack of funds, I had to withdraw from the 2013 Championship despite being the leader at the time. I hope to race in a Club100 kart soon.
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