Site last updated:
 15 April 2008

"Jaywalkers" Team report.

Having opted to have 2hrs sleep and go karting rather than spending the day lounging around watching Australia comprehensively beat England I felt I deserved some luck.

Everything was looking good; I was in team "Jaywalkers" with Jody, Susie and Ian. We had enough speed and experience to lead from the front and let the rest follow. After asking the team what kind of tactics they had decided on and receiving the answers, how long is the race? and who wants to go first? we came to the unanimous decision that we should copy everyone else. Two stints each, one 20 mins and one 25 mins long. I was nominated to start with Susie next, Ian and then Jody. This seemed a sensible idea, go out, take a lead and let everyone try and catch up. This sensible idea lasted all of about 30 seconds when Jody managed to pick our grid position, 6th of 9.

After the practice session "Jaywalkers" had no complaints about the kart other than the fact that the brake pedal seemed further away than normal. At this point I overheard someone ( I shall not mention his name as he may get the label of being a "Natural Born Complainer") mention to a marshal and everyone else around that "There’s something wrong with our kart" and "I can’t believe it’s so slow" "Its losing grip" followed by "The back end keeps sliding out".

From a standing start the light turned green, the 200cc engines roared and the karts crawled to the first corner. I managed to hold my 6th position until I could figure out how fast the people in front of me were and how I was going to overtake them. At this point to my dismay I recognised two of the drivers’ helmets in front of me. They were Louis and Jonathan. The three of us gradually made our way to the front of the pack and started to pull away from the rest which was being headed by Ray.

10 minutes later we all had pulled away far enough to start thinking about back markers and how will we get past. We crossed the start-finish line nose to tail only to see a marshal showing the yellow flag and running across the track. When we continued at 1/2 race speed we saw the marshal jump into the middle of the track and shout stop. It was now clearly visible what was going on. Colin from "Maniacs" had been battling with another driver when he got a nudge and veered through the tyre wall, Colin then rose into the air, turned 180 degrees and landed on his head and the kart landed on top of him. Fortunately Colin was not scarred, mentally or physically by this incident and was later seen clocking up some very creditable lap times. The race was restarted with Louis, Jonathan and myself joining the back of the grid, effectively giving us a lead of about 30 seconds. The restart was easily the most frustrating time I have had since I was a spotty 13-year-old. For the next 8 to 10 minutes before being called in I sat 8th in a convoy of 9 cars, unable to make any impression on the car in front who in turn had nowhere to go. The reason for this chaos was Ray from "Ramblers" had decided he wanted to practice his blocking manoeuvres and taking every bit of the race line. This of course he is entitled to do but everyone behind started doing the same making it a bit of a parade.

Our second driver Susie went out and was quickly got up to race speed, she was treating the circuit with respect ensuring she did not go over any curbs which may have damaged the kart. She did however forget the golden rule of not gripping the steering wheel too tight and a few laps later she decided to test the kart’s performance on the grass. She then coolly steeped out of the car and handed a marshal the steering wheel. By the time a spare car had arrived we had lost some 4-5 laps and had travelled from 1st or 2nd place to last.

Ian our third driver then went out. Considering his limited karting experience ( 1 DNF at Daytona ) we were pleased to see his speed gradually build up and his lap times dipped into the 33 seconds.

Jody, our team captain went out and seemed to have a fairly uneventful stint. I think the reason for this was that food was being served and we had to get our priorities right.

I was now out again and having a great battle with Louis until out of nowhere one corner in front of us was Dennis "Dawdlers" weaving all over the track in a vain attempt to put Ray off and get past. The karts slowly started to built up in a convoy again until for some reason, why, I am not sure, Ray left enough room for 3/4 of a kart down the inside. I decided that this was my chance and forced my way along side him. Not really sure what I was going to do next as our wheels were touching and I did not have a line into the corner I decided to give him a little stare. This appeared to do the trick because I managed to avoid the raised kerb and get around the corner first. This bold move obviously had him shaken because both Louis and Dennis were able to get past him on the same lap.

I handed the Kart over to Susie who was looking good until she decided she wanted to check our reserve kart’s performance on the grass. Only a few seconds were lost this time but unfortunately the marshal sitting opposite saw the 20-foot dust cloud and issued a black flag.

Ian was out and was getting into the swing of things by getting overtaken and then overtaking back.

He was stuck behind a determined Jo "Sluggers" who he felt was holding him up and was forced to give her a friendly nudge to get past.

Jody out for the last 20 minutes and we were hoping to get up into third position. Jody was lapping quickly but this plan had failure written all over it. It took a while for him to get past Jonathan "Joggers". Once past him he quickly made up ground on the driver in front. Stuart "Sluggards" often referred to as the "tank". Stuart had found Ray’s earlier line and was making it very difficult to pass. After several coming’s together the marshals had decided they had seen enough and gave them both a black flag.

At the post race team meeting ( In the bar ) it was felt that it was just not our day. I mean how can you account for a steering wheel falling off.

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