March 2024

Shenington Winter Cup Round 3

March saw me back to Shenington for round 3 of the club championship and the finale of the Winter Challenge.

Saturday was practice day,  I was quicker from the very start, we have changed the rear axle in the kart for one that promotes more flexibility and thus gives more grip in the corners. We tried some different gearing throughout the day, trying to get the kart perfect for the race day on Sunday.

In the end we settled on a compromise of top speed and acceleration, giving me an excellent turn of speed and meaning by the end of the day I took 0.5s off my existing personal best.

I also found myself racing with some of the championship regulars which is a massive step forward.

Heat 1

Sunday started wet, but the track would dry as the day progressed and we were promised a dry final. Started  P11 on the grid for the first heat, with some hard racing with Louis William-Mabbs I made it up to 10th, the wet track making it hard to overtake off line, the times were good though, matching some of the faster racers for the whole session.

Heat 2

The track was dry and I was starting P3, we even had some new tyres for the session, this was to be the last weekend for Dunlop with a switch to VEGA in April.  It didn’t go well, my teammate stalled on the start leaving me sat on the grid as everyone else got past, when we finally got away, I was near last, pushing hard I made it back up from 18th to 11th but collecting a nose cone penalty dropped me back to 13th, the extra 5 seconds from the penalty didn’t make much difference, but I lost a great opportunity due to Phillip holding me up getting away at the start.

Round 3

I started the final in P11 due to the poor finish in heat two.

I got a great start and again found I was racing with Louis and this time the quick Reggie Chandler, we battle hard for 10 laps before Reggie got caught and overtaken by my Jade team mate Philip Paterau, this put Philip right on my bumper and we battled for the remaining 5 laps, a little mistake at Wilkins let Louis gain a gap that I couldn’t close but a further 3 laps battling with Philip saw me cross the line in 11th, setting some amazing lap times.

The new axle and tyres really helped me make some progress this weekend, I was so pleased to be battling now I am off my novice plates.

Next up is a tyre test on the 4th April on the new VEGA tyres followed by round 4 of the club championship back at Shenington.

In the end, we managed 7th in the winter cup, which was a great result and puts me in a good position for the rest of the year