After months of talking about it, testing and spending very large amounts of money; the first race for Sheffield Uni was finally upon us. An early start, leaving Sheffield at 6:30, meant a relatively quiet journey up to the beautiful(!) town of Teesside and we turned up at 8:00 to sign on and prepare for the race.
Our first problem was encountered before the first race had even begun, with the weights of our drivers being of concern. Each driver had to weigh a minimum of 75kg with kit on, and weight could be added to bring the driver up to this level. Unfortunately, due to the feminine build of one of our drivers (Nathan!) we had to magically find 8kg to add to the kart. James also weighed in at 2kg under, Arran was spot on and with my muscular build I was sufficiently over......! So after the quest to make friends and promptly ask to borrow weights off of them, we were ready and excited to get racing.
James was the first one in the individual sprint race, with a computer generated grid position of 3rd. We had high hopes for James as he showed blistering pace in a test session at the track a week earlier. After a fantastic start and working himself into 1st position afte the first corner, he was promptly shunted off into a spin and left to get back on track. However, he continued to race undettered and through sheer determination, several warnings (we were very proud!) and consistent speed he worked his way up back through the pack to finish 5th! This was an outstanding performance and set the bar very high for the rest of us.
Arran was up next and the computer put him in 14th for his race. After another very good start Arran had managed to work his way through the pack and was very quickly chasing down the leaders, consistently matching the pace of those right at the sharp end. The track was continually getting quicker and after some great battles, Arran finished in 6th position, another brilliant showing to make up alot of positions from his original one, and even more pressure on us!
I was in the third race and was given grid position 28th, a position I was relishing as (hopefully) it mean lots of overtaking and an exciting race. My start was not as good as I had hoped, however I managed to move up to around 13th after some stubborn racing, before I made the mistake of pushing the boundaries of the track and getting a black flag. This meant a 30 second stop-go penalty, effectively ruining my race and I rejoined near the bottom of the pack, before working back to finish 20th.
The final race was given to Nathan, who was to start in 34th. This was Nathan's first ever competitive race and he showed great pace and skill to avoid any mishaps at the start and settle in to a strong position for the rest of the race. Unfortunately, due to the nature of racing, several tiny mistakes meant that Nathan finished in 28th, which was a position entirely unworthy of his ability and he is sure to finish much higher up the grid as his experience grows. Considering he had never been involved in the utter chaos of a 36 strong karting field, it was a fantastic effort and sign of things to come.
All our results put together meant that we were 15th out of the 54 teams; which, being newbies, we considered a success owing to the strength of the field.
The afternoon was reserved for the endurance races in which we paired up in teams of two. Arran and James were to contest the first race, and myself and Nathan in the second. We had high hopes after all of our pace in the morning, and with a strong grid position of 9th, James and Arran had their eyes set firmly on a podium, potentially even a win.
Arran's blistering start and some inch perfect overtakes meant that he was up to 2nd by around his fourth or fifth lap, hoping to hunt down the leaders, Loughborough, who were on fire (not literally!) in the race. He came in for his first mandatory fuel stop and driver change after 15 minutes, which all went smoothly until the point we had to restart the kart. With the Club100 karts being clutchless, it means we have to push the kart to get it going. Unfortunately, the one we had been given was a poor starter which meant that James stalled at the entrance to the pit lane for well over a minute, significantly damaging their position. He rejoined way down on the leaders and for the next half hour clawed back some lost time up to 11th. The final 15 minutes were left up to Arran again, who also hard troubles restarting the kart. This mean that after a dubious black flag and a penalty in addition to the continuing problems they ended up 23rd. This was entirely unreflective of their strength and the next race, coupled with a better performing kart, will surely mean they can show their true potential.
Myself and Nathan were in 28th for our race, and I was to take the start of the race. Drying track conditions meant a much faster track, and after attempting to avoid any flags we were in 18th once I came in for Nathan to take over. The middle half an hour of the race is physically very tiring, and Nathan was consistent in his pace and did not show any signs of flagging. A superb half an hour was completed with some very strong times and the erradication of the mistakes meant we were still in a great position for me to bring the kart home, hopefully without binning it! I managed to survive without crashing or killing anyone for the last 15 minutes, however I would recommend never wearing a tinted visor in the dark as there were some nervewracking moments! We eventually fnished 21st and were proud of not having made any major mistakes throughout the race and finishing strongly, with times close to the leaders.
The day was a fantastic one and we all performed great together, showing flashes of speed, skill, madness and danger at various points throughout the day. The rest of the season is promising for us, we can only continue to get quicker as we learn more and more. The buzz of motor racing can not be matched by anything (well almost...), and we are all raring to for the next round at Buckmore on the 2nd March. Please get in touch if you want to come along and watch and support!
Thanks for reading!!!Josh, Arran, James and Nathan.
