Dad must do better, Driver needs a few more laps around Buckmore. That is a good summary of tough weekend, I’m glad its almost Christmas!
Testing was difficult, with thick fog hanging over the damp circuit. The last 2 sessions of the day were cancelled so 32 laps in total before qualifying. In the 3rd session on inters, James was within 0.3 tenths of team mate Oliver Bearman and matched Jack Clements to within a few hundredths, who ended up securing Pole on Sunday morning. Some of James’ lines still need tidying up but overall a good effort.
Qualifying
Then Dad messes up………no transponder on the kart for Qualifying! James will start the 1st pre-final 28th and last! His time on the dash would have put him 12th. In hindsight, he was probably on the wrong tyre, we were on full wets, his team mate Jack Clements who took pole was on inters.
Race 1
A good effort, 28th to 18th, just got stuck behind #17 at the end. Looking at the revs on the engine after the race, we probably had a couple of teeth too many on the rear sprocket.
Race 2
Briefly as high as 13th, but James was punted off, damaging his front wheel and bending a track rod. Finished 20th but the lap times showed he could run in the top 10 despite the damage!
Race 3
My fault (again) way too low on the tyre pressures (against the advice of the team), finished 18th out of 28, but we all learned a lot.
Conclusions
A new kart , some new tools, rebuilt engines, our own transponder, a check list, Dad to lose a few pounds and we are ready for 2017!
Thanks as always to Tom McMurray, Virtus Motorsport and the Arora Group.
