Date: 10th January 2015 (6 days until the BRKC)
Track: Teamsport Gosport
My PB at this track (before this session): 29.956s
Best lap time this session: 32.054s

My last planned “home” practice before the BRKC, was meant to be a confidence-boosting session where I could try out some new equipment, tactics and practice my race craft. That was the plan anyway…

I could just feel that it was going to be one of those nights when I got to the track, but little did I know what was going to happen when I was racing. We were already slightly delayed before four of the drivers in my session arrived late and we waited for them to get kitted up.

I was first out on track, so I had some clear air to feel the kart underneath me. As many had said that night, the track was very slippery and, additionally, the karts were not very responsive (I believe that all of the karts were fuelled heavily as there were a lot of empty fuel cans being taken out just before our session). One recurring issue through the three sessions were the number of yellow and red flags; in the first session I was feeling comfortable and warming the kart up nicely until lap 8 when the red flags came out.

Nearly ten minutes later, I was still sat underneath the bridge waiting for the lights to change to green (apparently one of the other drivers had come over the bridge at such speed that he crashed and shattered the barriers at the bottom and we had to wait for that barrier to be removed and another one to be fixed in place). I finished with the fastest lap of the session, even though it wasn’t that fast!

The second session was very stop-start with another scattering of yellow and red flags. The next drama was during one of these yellow flags, where a marshal fell over the barrier trying to assist a driver who had buried his kart in the tyre wall. It seemed like a nasty sprained ankle (as I drove past with the marshal on the ground). Again, I finished 1st in the session with a slightly faster time.

In between the second and third sessions, I chatted with a few drivers who were racing against me and I was very pleased to hear them complimenting me on my driving and we got chatting about the track (overtaking and fastest lines through corners) and then we got on to talking about the BRKC.

Maybe my tips helped the other drivers in the third race, or maybe I was just caught behind some back markers as I tried to set my fast laps, as I missed out on the hat-trick of fastest laps by 0.05s. I did stay out of trouble and managed to squeeze out of some tricky situations where other drivers were taking each other out (much use of the “No Bumping” sign here).

All-in-all, it was a satisfying trip to the track and I’m in a good frame of mind to tackle my next big challenge – the BRKC!