October 2023

October has been a hectic month, I have raced twice, moved house and started a new school. I still managed to race a Shenington and compete in my first race at Whilton Mill.We started at Shenington with beautiful autumn sunshine and unusually warm weather, on arrival the team had been tidying the kart and we had a new livery which included the Jade kart team logos, I did think the old graphics were starting to look a little tired, and now I am competing in full team colours with overalls to suit. All the little technical changes we have made to the kart are really starting to help, I really feel the kart is working very well, the engine has some 14 hours on it and is now performing at its best. The whole outfit is becoming competative,.

Shenington Round 8

I started Saturday with the hope we could continue to improve our lap times and find the perfect setup for this circuit, the day was dry and i could run a full dry setup which would hopefully see us through the weekend and all seven practice sessions, that thought ended abruptly, when a heavy shower came early in the afternoon, a quick change of gearing and the chance to scrub in the new tyres from Brian Curries Milton Keynes meant we had a good session but the earlier time improvements where not possible, I set a PB in the dry but progress was hard in the rain.

Race day was bright and sunny, the track was damp for the early practice, but I chose to run a full dry setup, it was quite greasy but with 90 minutes to go before the first heat the track would dry out.

Heat 1 and I was 21st, improving to 19th in heat two with a much fastest laps and in heat 3 15th with a new PB making it into the 0.51s times for the first time, the kart felt perfect.

The was a lot of confusion at the start of the final and I was involved with a first corner incident that left me sitting on the side-lines, unable to continue, the kart was undamaged, but the marshals wouldn’t let me continue. So I didn’t get a finish although it was a very promising weekend.

Whilton Mill FASTR Championship round 9

I haven’t raced at Whilton Mill in Northamptonshire before, but my teammate Jack Wish suggested I could do well if I did, he has also been very influential in my progress.

The championship rounds are run over two days, with practice and qualifying on the Saturday followed by heats and the final on the Sunday.

Once again Saturday was a chance to get the kart right before we qualified in the afternoon, I have done a few practice days at Whilton so we had a basic setup but we need to do some fine tuning.

Saturday saw damp conditions with a few showers which meant we spent a lot of the sessions  changing tyres and gearing to get the best from the kart. Apart from a spin or two the sessions went well, I ended up 27th in the mixed Rotax and IAME grid out of 30 starters in the practice sessions.

The qualifying is still something I have to learn about, but I managed 28th putting me near the back but the times were solid and improving throughout the day, all my previous times at WM have been in the dry so we didn’t have a good comparison for wet times.

Sunday started in great sunshine and warmer weather meaning we had to try and get a dry setup that would work well after Saturdays damp track, there was a short practice, 3 laps to check the kart and see if we were close enough to the rest of the field, I was just 2 seconds from Jack in his similar kart who has raced here a few times, so we just made a few very minor changes.

There were two heats, I finished 26th in both but had some good racing, swapping places with some of my fellow novices, the combination of the two heats meant I ended up 27th on the grid. Not last and amongst the novice entries.

Whilton is known for two things, killing karts and being extremely technical, so I was pleased to be making steady progress, the final was very dry and the formation lap was fast, I kept with the pack and made a clean start, putting in some good times and catching the kart in front, I finally finished in 27th, one place behind Jack, and 2 places between my other teammate Alessandro meaning I was 7th in the IAME class  with Jade getting 5th ,6th and 7th in the event, to top it off I was also 1st novice and took my first trophy in this kart, I was so excited to get the trophy after the disappointment of Shenington the week before.

Plans for 2024

In 2024 we will continue to keep working with Jade Karts and our Mentor Marcus Littlewood, whist making a full 10 round championship attendance at the Shenington circuit. This year will finish our shortened championship at the last round in November. As a novice that has only done a few rounds I am happy with this and will race in the main club championship aiming for a top 3 position next year. Budget depending, we may also do selected rounds at Whilton Mill and potentially enter some other bigger events to gain experience. I would be excited to continue my relationship with Brian Currie Milton Keynes as we progress into 2024  and discuss any further sponsorship, advertising or support opportunities.