My first race - Clay Pigeon IKR Spring series, round 1

It was an early start, up at 6:30am and out by 7am to get to the track on time to sign on and do scrutineering.

There are 2 practice sessions, and I had a mechanical failure early on my first session which meant I had to stop and come off. Luckily some other dads helped dad and they were able to get the kart going again so I could go out for the second practice session. Then it is qualifying, which determines your place on the grid for the first heat. I had on the wrong tyres because it was really wet on the track and I had on my old wets which had hardly any grip left so I was sliding around and that meant I qualified in last place (but only by a tenth of a second!)

The qualifying times


In the Heat race I managed to overtake 3 people to get to 14th, still wearing the old tyres! This meant that I started the Pre- final 14th on the grid. Before the pre-final we got some help and managed to put on the brand new Wet tyres which would hopefully give me a bit more grip.

In the Pre-final I was so much better even though it was very wet out on track I had so much more grip and manged to pass another 2 drivers to get up to 12th.

In the final I started 12th on the grid, and managed to pass 6 more drivers to finsh the race in 6th! The first 5 finishers get a trophy so I only just missed out. I was very happy with my performance - making up 11 places by starting from 17th and finishing in 6th. It was so much fun and I really loved it. My target was a top 10 finish - next time I am hoping to get top 5!

Final finishing positions.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My first Kart

Image
Today I got my first Go-Kart! I saved up for it myself, it has taken me 2 years to save all my birthday and Christmas money, plus money that mum had saved for me from when I was younger. I got to drive it at Clay Pigeon Raceway in Dorchester, I really loved it. The track was wet at first which was fun and then it dried up and I got faster and faster. I have now signed up for my first race which will be next weekend! This is my Kart - 5 was my temporary number for the day. Classic inside helmet shot Lining up on the dummy grid, getting ready to race Out on track                                                                                                                                            An overtake by me.
Read more

Taking the ARKS test

Image
Today I took my ARKS test at Clay Pigeon. I need this to get my karting licence. The examiner checks your driving to make sure you are safe on the track and can maintain a good lap average, and then there is a written test. On part of it (naming and describing the meaning of 10 different flags used in racing) you have to get 100% to pass. I got all the flags right and on the rest of the test I got 19 out of 20 so I passed and will get my licence! My ARKS test form, signed and ready to be sent off to get my licence.
Read more

My first MSA race, aka The One where I flipped the kart (again)

Image
HEAT 1} Heat 1 was very annoying for me as the choke on my kart was only half way in which meant when I was  going round the circuit I was going very, very, very slow and in the end I finished 23rd out of 24 racers 😒. Also in that race because there was no qualifying all novice drivers had to automatically start at the back so I don't think I gained any places but I don't think I lost any. HEAT 2} Heat 2 was a great race because just before the race instead of putting slicks on we decided to stick with the intermediate tyres and that was a good call. Racing into the first corner I overtook 3 people and then that was where the fun began. First it started to rain and while there were only around 3 drivers {including me} had the inters on everyone with slicks on were either skidding off the track or I was just breezing past them and on one of the corners I even did a TRIPLE overtake!!! In the end of that heat I ended up finishing an incredible 7th place out of 24. HEAT
Read more