Footage from my trip to Teamsport Brighton this weekend. In preparation for my upcoming endurance races, I booked back-to-back sessions; driving 30 mins straight, before getting a quick break, and then getting back on track for another 30 minute session.
Time to recap from the BIKC Local Finals which took place on Thursday night
Feeling fairly confident about my chances of qualifying for the Regional Finals to be held in a month’s time, I was in good spirits after a day at work.
It was a strong line-up in the finals for the heavyweight category, many of whom I have raced again previously in a variety of championships and races.
The finals consisted of a 15 minute practice, 15 minutes of qualifying and then a 15 minute race, with the top 6 qualifying for the regionals.
In practice, things went to plan and, on a night when track conditions were not conducive to quick lap times in any of the races, I managed a new PB of 31.327s and finished fourth fastest amongst the finalists.
Unfortunately, that was to be the pinnacle of my achievements that evening.
For qualifying, in a different kart, I just never felt 100% comfortable. There was a massive lack of grip throughout the entire session, and I couldn’t get anywhere near the lap times of the leaders or even the lap times I had achieved in practice. I eventually qualified in 7th, one place behind the qualification spot I was racing for.
The race for me, was somewhat processional; I lost one position early on, although the drivers in 6th and 7th never really got away from me, I never had the extra speed to challenge them for position (although I did achieve faster laps than both 6th and 7th placed drivers).
At the end of the 15 minutes, I finished 24s behind the winner of the race, and 2.5s behind the final qualifier.
Whilst I was disappointed not to be progressing to the Regional Finals this year, I was actually quite happy to mix it with some experienced racers and to hold my own again in a race situation.
Onwards to the next races in my diary…
The final part of my Dubai karting experience…
Even up until the morning of the event, I was unsure whether I would sign up for the Ironman, but after seeing on Instagram that there was a promotion for first-time Ironman drivers, I decided to take the plunge.
Starting at 7:30pm, with a driver briefing scheduled prior to that, it was going to be entirely under the floodlights. We were going to be racing throughout the evening on the “Switchback” layout, which although only appears to have subtle changes from the “International Circuit”, it felt completely new when I went out on track.
The aim of the Ironman session was to go out in the Dubai Kartdrome race-fleet, and test driving ability as well as fitness and endurance behind the wheel across a possible hour’s worth of karting.
The temperature, even though it was late evening, was still in the high-30 degrees meaning that it was a test for even the most experienced driver.
My aim in this session was to “keep on karting” and drive for the entire hour (with the exception of a mandatory pit stop/kart change). I still wanted to be quick and competitive, but running at over 100kg (whilst others were at the minimum of 85kg) was going to be a stretch.
The layout was fast, but I had a couple of mental blocks per lap; I mis-positioned my kart repeatedly at the second corner after the flyover (T5) and struggled to maintain speed through the chicane in reverse (T8 and T9). The slowness through the chicane compromised my lap times as it was the start of the full throttle section which ended at T13.
Whilst I did have a few battles on track throughout the hour, my main focus was with myself, maintaining concentration and preserving myself as much as I could physically to last the entire hour.
I made two pit stops during the session (for the mandatory kart change and to tie my boot lace which had loosened itself over the previous hour). During the “boot lace pit stop”, I asked the marshal how much time was left and he said about 5 minutes, so I went back out with an aim to put three more quick and tidy laps in before the end.
I believe that fatigue, (self-made) pressure, and a different kart played a factor in the last three laps not being as neat as I was aiming for but, by the end of the session, I had completed 44 laps with a best time of 1:13.637.
A successful evening and motivation for taking part in more endurance races in the future!
Part two of my Dubai karting experience was at Dubai Kartdrome.
I had been preparing for this trip for some time in advance and had targeted an event called the Ironman, which essentially is an hour-long session on a varying outdoor layout and is designed to test driver endurance and fitness.
Having spoken with the event co-ordinator back in April, I had to achieve a qualifying time of less than 1:18.00 on the International Circuit (a funny story here is that I misread the email and was aiming for a 1:15.00 right up until the day of the Ironman event) in order to be eligible to race.
I started early on the Saturday morning (racing at 8:30am) and, on a quiet but hot track, I started my practice and drive to qualify for the event (which was scheduled for the Wednesday evening). With a best lap time of 1:17.945, I had achieved my goal in my first session (not that I realised it!)
After about a 40 minute break, and the temperature ever increasing, I was out on track again, this time achieving a new best of 1:16.599. However, I felt that I had a long way to go at this stage to achieve the time required.
The heat was becoming unbearable so I decided to change my environment and walk around to the Indoor Kartdrome for a quick session before heading back for lunch. This was just a bit of fun, because there was nothing riding on it for me, but I’m always competitive when my visor closes and I went fastest in the session with a 32.787s – a full second quicker than my closest competitor.
After thinking that I had over a second and a half to trim off my PB, I returned at sunset a couple of days later to see what I could achieve.
The track was a lot busier this time around, with 18 people on track in my second session under the floodlights. Across the two sessions, I achieved 1:16.293, and even if I hooked up all of my best sectors, I would only just be in the 1:15’s.
I left the track that evening, pleased with what I had achieved, but disappointed that I wouldn’t be racing on the Wednesday.
Until I re-read the email the following day…
Look out tomorrow for the final instalment – the Ironman event itself!
Time for a recap of my karting escapades in Dubai.
To start, I tried somewhat of a novelty karting experience at EKart Zabeel. This is a kart track on the 9th floor of the Dubai Mall, in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa (the world’s tallest building).
Whilst not as long or complex a track as I am accustomed to, the temperature exceeding 40°C made it a very physical challenge by the third session.
Helmet camera footage of the three sessions can be found below.
Stay tuned for more updates later!
After a hiatus of 5 years, I have “reset” and will be sharing videos of my karting adventures here (through my YouTube Channel) and refreshing the website.
Here’s some recent videos:
My final heat is, on paper, the hardest of them all.
Back on the standard circuit (just two hours after I finish my third round race), I meet Mathias Grooten and Annelien Boutens for the second time this championship.
I will also be racing Matt Bartsch, fourth place overall in the championship last year, and Sebastian Raikkonen for the second time in two years but I had very different fortunes with both of these drivers last year… Arnaud Tinet also returns to BRKC; I last raced him in round two in 2015 and I’m hoping, with my added experience, I may be able to challenge him for position this time around.
Writing this, I am having difficulty making my prediction for the heat winner; with the level of competitors in this field, it will come down to who qualifies best and manages to hold their nerve through the twenty minutes of racing and the all-important pit stop!
Predicted heat winner: Matt Bartsch (but could be any one from five!)
My predicted finishing position in this heat: 8th
On Sunday, I will be up early for the second race of the day, again on the alternate circuit. I will be racing four of the same drivers that I lined up against in 2016; David Longman, Ramon Pineiro, Ben Churchill and Tyler Mays.
I seem to remember being in a close battle with Ben Churchill in round three last year; that time he got the better of me, but I’m determined to put that right this time around!
There are some very good drivers in this heat; Ryan Smith made it through to the semi finals last year and David and Ramon just missed out, but in my eyes, the one to watch in his return to BRKC is Mathias Grooten, who won all of his heats in BRKC 2015 and narrowly missed out on a podium position in the final.
Predicted heat winner: Mathias Grooten
My predicted finishing position in this heat: 6th
On to round two, and the brand new alternate circuit, which we will have to watch the first five heats and get as much information as possible from the drivers in those races to try to get the upper hand here.
In this heat, I meet the one driver that I have raced in both of my previous two championships, Robin Kassam. Both of the two previous occasions have been in round three and on the standard circuit. Robin currently leads 2-0 in this battle, but I am determined to at least make a fight of it this time! Also in this heat are Regis Gosselin (a finalist in last year’s BRKC), Jacob Lewis and Chris Machell, all of whom I raced last year. Last year, I managed to do the double over Chris, but I’m sure it won’t be easy to do the same this year!
I’ll be the first to admit that I have had problems with alternate circuits in previous years, but hopefully this year will be different with more experience and hopefully a clearer mind.
Predicted heat winner: Regis Gosselin
My predicted finishing position in this heat: 6th
My BRKC2017 championship begins with an interesting heat including three drivers who I have raced in previous championships; Kyle Power from round three of 2015, Annelien Boutens from round three of 2016 and Mason Bates from round four (also last year).
I have never beaten these particular drivers in the championship before; in 2015, Kyle finished three places ahead of me, Annelien won our heat in 2016, whilst I finished in seventh position, and in my final heat last year, I finished three places behind Mason. It’s not all doom and gloom though; last year, I finished just one point behind Mason overall in the championship.
There are also some very good drivers that I haven’t met in my BRKC journey yet: Sander De Baets (who finished 24th overall last year), Craig McCallister (39th), Steve Gray (43rd) and Anne d’Hondt (51st) as well as a couple of unknown entities in this heat.
Predicted heat winner: Annelien Boutens
My predicted finishing position in this heat: 7th
Gaskin Racing 