Tag: kart

Simplify, then add lightness

Brett GaskinLeave a comment

Date: 12th November 2015
Track: Teamsport Southampton (Eastleigh)
My PB at this track (before this session): 24.407s
Best lap time this session: 23.732s

My return to the track after a couple of weeks, was also the return of the GRID F1 format with a slight format change. On this occasion, whilst there was still the F1 style qualifying, the two 20-minute races had been changed to three races (two 15-minute races followed by a 10-minute “decider”).

As always in the members races, the karts were drawn out randomly for the evening; I was allotted kart 20 and was raring to go when I got down into the pits. After the disaster last month, my aim for the qualifying session was simple; to get into the second session.

I got into the kart and things just felt right; (as a side note, since the last F1 race, I have lost another 4kg in weight in my attempts to trim down before the BRKC) I didn’t know whether it was psychological, but the kart appeared to accelerate better, I could brake later into corners and carry more speed around the hairpins. I managed to beat my all-time PB in Q1, with a 24.274s lap, finishing 7th (which was just enough to get into Q2). Looking at the times now, fifth, sixth and seventh positions were separated by 0.06s, so it was all to play for in Q2.

Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to maintain the rhythm in the shorter second qualifying session, managing to put in a 24.292s lap, which was still better than my original PB before this evening, but about a quarter of a second from the top four, leaving me with a grid position of 7th for the first race. I was very pleased with my performance, but I was disappointed with the outbursts and bad sportsmanship of some other members after qualifying (and it continued throughout the evening and beyond) – I may moan about the karts that are clearly off the pace, but I see it as a risk when you take part in rental karting; the peformance of the kart isn’t 100% down to you.

The first race started with the usual melee at the first corner; I tried to cut in in front of the driver to my left, but she wasn’t yielding. Only one person really lost out here as I managed to drive around her spin on the inside and I quickly got into my rhythm. As always, the pit stop is both technical and tactical; you must not lose too much time in the pit stop phase, but you have to calculate where you are going to come out of the pits. I have to say that I think I timed it perfectly in this race; after being lapped by the leader and following him for a few laps (trying to stay as close to him as possible), I pitted aggressively and managed to get out in clear air ahead of the battle for 7th. Not to cut this race review short, but sixth place was where I stayed for the rest of the race, despite me closing slightly on the 5th place driver, Whilst the rest of the race wasn’t necessarily packed with action, I did manage to set a sub-24s lap (23.975s on lap 31 of 37), which I was over the moon with – I’m sure that if I hadn’t lost the amount of weight that I have so far, that would have been unachievable.

After more kart complaints (and kart swapping by some drivers), we started the second race with a reverse grid from qualifying. There was a little bit of a rolling start and moving from grid positions from some drivers before the start, but once we started, I couldn’t prevent losing a place after the jostling at the first corner. I was then handed the place back after a premature pit stop from the driver in front and then I made a move on track into fourth position on lap two. After some further pit stops in front, I found myself in the lead for nine laps, but having not pitted, I was aware that I needed to put lap after lap of qualifying pace to try to push my advantage to a point where I could pit and come out in clear air. My pit stop wasn’t the cleanest; I came in to the pit lane too hot, bashed into the barrier and then lost momentum before my stop. I did, however, come back out onto track in fourth place and even managed to grab third a couple of laps later. However, the slide down through the positions inevitably happened; third to fifth in the space of one lap and one more position lost about six laps after that. This initiated quite a battle between myself and an old hand at the track (that I raced a few times at Gosport). It was such a tight competition; I knew if I made even the slightest mistake, Ian would take the position off me. Both myself and Ian have a mutual respect for each other and the others on track (which some drivers don’t!)- if we can’t get past cleanly, then we will back off and try to launch another attack later. We both really enjoyed the contest, this time I came out on top and managed to defend my sixth place resolutely and in doing so, set my all-time PB of 23.732s. One other statistic that I am really proud of, is that I finished less than 15 seconds behind the leader – the closest I have ever finished in a members event.

We headed out for the deciding race (I don’t actually know how the grid positions were decided for this race), but despite the race being significantly shorter, the mandatory pit stop was still a requirement. We did have a long stoppage during this race; one of the karts suffered a mechanical failure and therefore needed to be changed. I tried to pit as soon as I could after this stoppage, hoping that this might give me a little edge on the other drivers. Both myself and Ian battled again during this race, but unfortunately for me, Ian managed to just squeeze past me this time, pushing me down to 7th position. I did set a fastest lap of 23.885s in this race, so whilst it was slightly slower than the last race, it was a sub 24-second lap all the same.

After the points were added together from the three rounds, my finishing position was given as 7th overall, just two points behind 6th place. I was immensely proud of my performance and with a little over two months before the BRKC, I feel that I am bang on track with my preparations this year.

Racing for a great cause, but the charity stops when the visor goes down!

Brett GaskinLeave a comment

After a brief break, I am now looking to combine two of my great passions; karting and fundraising.

There are a couple of races that have caught my eye in the next six months, both raising money for injured personnel from the armed forces. I will go into a bit more detail of the races and the charities below.

The first race is a three hour endurance race on December 6th, at Capital Karts in London (the longest indoor track in the UK).

This race has been organised by the former F1 driver Johnny Herbert, who will also be taking part with some legends of motorsport. Every year the Johnny Herbert Karting Challenge raises money for charities chosen by Johnny himself; this years charity is Kart Force (http://www.kartforce.org/about-kartforce/) of which he is a patron alongside former F1 world champion, Damon Hill.

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Kart Force is a charity which supports injured members of the armed forces and enables them to take part in kart races and championships around the world. This support includes modifying karts to be used by innovative hand controls along with financial support to assist with their racing careers.

The second race on my list was mentioned in my blog last year after my sister-in-law shared a link with me on Facebook. The race is yet again another three hour team endurance, planned for May 7th 2016, but this time karting outdoors at Buckmore Park. The Karting for Heroes race (http://www.kartingforheroes.com/about-the-event/), unsurprisingly, fundraises for the Help for Heroes charity, which is very well-known for providing practical support directly to ex-service personnel and their families.

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Just to give an idea of the scale of the valuable work that Help the Heroes do, in the past year, the charity has supported over 4000 veterans and their families in a variety of different ways,

Now, where my blog readers (you!) come in to help. These races “cost” a lot to enter (between £120 and £150 per driver) and, whilst I will be making a significant contribution to the entrance fees (which does go to the charity minus the operating costs), I cannot afford to pay for these fees in their entirety (I have no sponsors unlike some other karters and fund all of my karting and racing through my “day-job”).

If you would like to donate to these charities, whilst allowing me to compete against motorsport legends at the same time, please come to see me around the track or at work and donate. Any money that is raised over the “donation” to take part in these races will be split equally between the two charities.

Also, if you would like to take part alongside me in the Karting for Heroes race in May 2016, please let me know in the comments below, or on my Facebook page and I will try to make this a reality for a couple of you!

EDIT: If you would like to contact me privately, please send me a message through my Facebook page.

Racing with rookie drivers just means new people crashing into you

Brett GaskinLeave a comment

Date: 27th October 2015
Track: Teamsport Southampton (Eastleigh)
My PB at this track (before this session): 24.407s
Best lap time this session: 25.547s

After the Formula One event, I arranged another “fun” session with my colleague Nick after work on Tuesday evening. Normally on a Tuesday evening there are between four and six drivers but, on this occasion, being half-term as well, there were 9 drivers on track in each session.

In session one, things on track got very busy, very quickly, and we were soon faced with the need to overtake the back-markers. Now this isn’t normally a big issue; you follow them for a lap or two, judge where you feel you are quickest and study the lines that they take through the corners. However, the drivers that were on track fell into two categories; those that were consistently on the racing line, or those that were so erratic, that you had no idea where they were going next!

In one move, in particular, I decided to move to the outside of the track and then try to cut back in at the hairpin. It was tight, but it worked out in the end. Racing the same drivers, a few minutes later in the session, I took the decision to go out wide  again, towards the pit entry, but this time it didn’t work as it had done earlier – I collided with the barrier dividing the track from the pits (I did consider diving into the pits, but I thought I still had enough room!)

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One of the occasions that I did gain an advantage from another driver was at the opposite hairpin – I was lining up Nick for the pass when we came across another back-marker. I took to the outside, whilst Nick decided to squeeze up the inside. Remarkably, I came out of the corner ahead of both of them and into a little bit of clear air.

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One lap from the end, Nick “decided” to ram me from behind, causing me to jolt suddenly and jarring my lower back quite badly. Fortunately, I could limp back to the pits and rest up for 30 minutes before the second session. Unfortunately for me, it was going to be even worse in the next session!

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I managed to top the lap times in this session with a 25.547s lap, so I was fairly pleased with my performance, but I was still feeling the strain in my back!

The second session started as the first, dodging back markers and trying to get enough clear air to set a fast lap time.

Just about halfway through the second session, I was caught in another incident, whilst rounding the corner into the bridge section. I thought I was fairly well in front of the kart behind me, so took my usual line through the corner in order to maintain the most momentum to get up the ramp. As I was almost through the turn and trying to accelerate away, the driver behind hit me at full speed, lifted my kart into the air and my body bent double sideways (watch the video (starts at about 13:10) below to see what I mean).

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I didn’t know what to do: Do I carry on regardless? Do I get to the pits and check myself out? Do I stop here? I half-stopped, and, fortunately, my decision was made for me with the red flag coming out. This was one of the biggest crashes that I have been in, and it did really shake me up. Although one of my fastest lap times followed the crash, I almost felt like I was on auto-pilot.

I was slightly disappointed to come second, but at least I made it through the evening in one piece! My fastest lap in this session was a 25.584s, so slightly slower than the first session, but still respectable at this time of day.

I have no plans for karting until the end of November at the moment (I’m sure I will find myself a couple of drives in the meantime), but if you have any suggestions, or know of any races, please comment below and I will see what I can do!

Need to pick up the pace…? Give me more power then!

Brett GaskinLeave a comment

Date: 22nd October 2015
Track: Teamsport Southampton (Eastleigh)
My PB at this track (before this session): 24.407s
Best lap time this session: 24.830s

Buoyed by my 3.5lb weight loss in the past week through my new diet and training regime (specifically for the BRKC event in January), I turned up at the track in Eastleigh in a positive frame of mind. This was improved (despite the ~40 minute delay due to overrunning sessions throughout the day) by the banter I now enjoy with the “regulars”. There were, however, some members in this event that I had not raced before, putting a question mark over where I thought I would finish at the end of the evening.

During the briefing, the format was clarified; F1-style qualifying (three rounds with the slowest drivers knocked out at the end of each round), race one (20 minute race, one enforced pit stop, with the starting grid as per qualifying), and race two (20 minute race, another enforced pit stop, but with a reversed grid from qualifying positions). The points would be handed out in the same style as F1 and any tied places would be decided by lap times. Also during the briefing, we had our karts randomly selected for the evening; your name was called out and then the kart number you had been assigned; just to be clear, I have no problem with this way of selecting the karts, it gives everyone an equal chance of getting a good kart or a bad kart and is the only fair way of dealing with the situation. Ideally, there would be minimal differences between the karts, but when the marshal laughs when your kart is drawn out of the pot and states “Haha, you don’t want that one!”, maybe there’s a feeling that this particular kart isn’t the best.

Anyway, I hoped it was “psychological” and that I could drive the kart as well as I could and end up somewhere in midfield. I also thought that I would have an advantage over the others, having raced the the BRKC earlier this year and knowing where I had made mistakes in pit stops there.

I was all too aware that with eleven karts on track, qualifying could come down to leaving enough space between yourself and the drivers in front (the haunting memory of me being the slowest driver and compromising another driver’s qualifying in my first ever BRKC heat ran through my mind again). The kart didn’t feel too bad in the opening laps, but there was a distinct lack of acceleration at any point; I consistently put my foot to the floor and there was a big delay between this and getting any forward movement – something that would come to cause me some discomfort in the race. I thought that I would easily make it through to the second qualifying stage before I got into the kart, whilst I was in the kart, I thought I would scrape into Q2 (I only needed to avoid being in the bottom three), but when I got out of the kart and it was announced that I was dead last, I knew something was wrong.

Looking at the times of everyone in the session, I was really disappointed that, with a best of 25.727s, I was about half a second off the pace I was expecting. I stood around on my own, whilst the other sessions continued, thinking about what could have been.

I was determined that I could climb back up the field as I had done to a certain extent in the top gun event at the start of this month. After all, I was racing some of the same drivers and I managed it then!

It turns out that I couldn’t in kart 24. The race was just painful; both mentally and physically, including some incidents where drivers were expecting me to accelerate away, but due to the kart’s performance, I was just a mobile chicane in the acceleration stage out of corners. There were several violent bumps from behind; on one occasion, my head jolted back so hard that I was looking at the roof of the building for a second.

Strangely, due to the nature of the pit stops, I actually led this race for a lap, before falling to fourth before my pit stop and then to last place immediately after it.

After the first race, the race director called me over and asked me if there was something wrong with the kart, I believe my response to him was “Yes, it’s s****!”. I did go into more detail, saying that there was no power coming out of the corners and no acceleration going up the bridge. I don’t like to blame the kart (I see this as the risk you run racing rental karts) but when your best time after 30 minutes of racing is over half a second slower than the guys in front of you, you start to get disheartened.

Whilst we were told that there would be no kart swapping, the race director told me that my kart was a joke and that I could swap with kart 14. Now this was a double-edged sword; undoubtedly, kart 14 would be better than kart 24, but having sat there for 40 minutes without moving or even having its engine run, I would now be a sitting duck in the first few laps for everyone behind to pick off with their lovely warm karts.

I took the swap anyway and proceeded to the grid (a grid that due to my previous karts failings, meant that I was now on pole position!).

I got a good start, but unlike the BRKC, you were able to pit on the first lap, so I soon got caught up with the traffic coming out of the pits, but a lap down on me. Surprisingly, and unbeknown to me, I actually led the race for a number of laps whilst waiting for my opportunity to pit.

I saw the yellow light come on and I dove into the pits for my mandatory stop. I came back out into 7th position, where I quickly made it up into 6th and stayed there for 3 laps.

As much as I tried to be patient, I went slightly hot into the large hairpin corner and spun around and, in my attempt to turn myself round the right way, found myself in the tyres on the outside, resulting in me dropping down into 9th place.

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Finally, I managed to regain one more place, which I maintained until the finish, despite my attacks on the driver in 7th place. My fastest lap of this race was a respectable 24.830 seconds (almost a second quicker than I had managed all evening!), making it even clearer to me and the other drivers that it was the kart to blame in the first half of this event.

I would love to do this format again, but hopefully next time, there will be more of a level playing field!

You can’t win the race on the first lap but you can definitely lose it

Brett GaskinLeave a comment

Date: 6th October 2015
Track: Teamsport Southampton (Eastleigh)
My PB at this track (before this session): 24.732s
Best lap time this session: 24.407s

I was very excited to return to the karting track after my almost eight week break and it just happened to coincide with a member’s “endurance” race, in the “Top Gun” format, at Eastleigh. I had also just received my low profile helmet camera mount, so I was looking forward to checking out the footage from a slightly different angle.

I have never karted for longer than about 45 minutes continuously, so this format of one hour straight was going to be a push of both my physical and mental capabilities.

The race was scheduled for about a 9pm start (almost my bedtime on a weeknight!), but I was feeling very motivated nonetheless, and chatting to some of the members I know well, boosted my determination before the race.

My name was third out of the “hat” (or bright orange plastic bowl, in reality), meaning that I had a great chance to at least finish up the order in this race, if only I could keep the rest behind me for the next 140 or so laps!

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Attack is the best form of defence and, as you all probably know, I don’t have the personality that will allow me to sit back if I am in with a chance of gaining positions or, ultimately, winning the race. This is why it all went wrong for me…

On the grid, I felt relaxed yet switched on and, before the starting sequence had even begun, I was planning my dive into the first corner to take second place. It worked perfectly; I nailed the start, stayed on the left-hand side of the track and hugged the tyre wall around the hairpin and slid (metaphorically, not literally) into second place. I may have got a little over-eager from this point on, trying to push my kart into first position at any slight opening.

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This tactic slowed me down at certain corners for the others to catch me up and make their attempts to overtake me; I slipped down into third and then fourth on lap six, before I made the massive error of fighting back where there wasn’t the space or time. I clipped the back of the kart in front of me, spinning me into the tyre wall, and almost to the back of the field.

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All the hard work and effort that I had put in, mixing it with the front drivers, had been lost in one moment – for the next 55 minutes, I would be playing catch up and having to try to pass back markers on a very difficult circuit to overtake on.

I was gutted, but still determined to do my best with what I had left.

As anyone who has raced in an endurance race will probably say, I can’t remember a great deal about the rest of the race – lap after lap basically blended into themselves. Things I do remember though was getting very angry after constantly being held up by the same two drivers, who seemed to weave across the track in front of me (apologies for the exasperated hand waving at times), getting severe cramp in my accelerator foot on three separate occasions during the race and the pain in my ankle when I got out of the kart at the end (I will have to watch the footage throughout to see if any other details need adding here!)

After 137 laps of the Eastleigh track, I finished ninth out of the eleven drivers who took part (one driver didn’t make it to the track at all after booking on, so I’ll claim that I was ninth out of twelve). I was pleased to set a new PB (24.407s) at this track, but I keep thinking about what might have been.

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This is why I feel that it is important for me to take part in as many races as possible, at as many different tracks as possible, leading up to the BRKC in January; I know how to drive a kart fast, but if I make the wrong “racing decisions” in the championship races, like I did in this race, I will be shown up against the level of competition (if it is anything like last year!).