Karting Corner

1 - Southern Success!

Expletives fail me - idiot, wassock, pillock, imbecile, dipstick - no, that's not fair, dipsticks have their uses, unlike a certain Mark (2) Wyatt of BP Oil who severely blotted his copybook and allowed Southern Car Club (Adrian Grinsted, Giles Grinsted, Nick Jenkinson, Jeremy White) to break their duck and pull off a long overdue win in the closest finish we have ever had at Slipstream Racing on the 9th of September.

Organised by Peter Noble of The Wheelbarrows in a fit of post Sandown euphoria - they won - (see last month's Windscreen) the event attracted twelve teams, some old, some new, some borrowed (members) and one distinctly blue - I think - to try out the new, extended endurance circuit.

For reasons as yet unknown - I haven't asked - Windsor Car Club didn't appear and were eventually declared OTL at signing on and the other eleven teams proceeded to the customary briefing and practice session. Herein lies my first and only criticism of Slipstream Racing, please Jonathan when we return - as we undoubtedly will (that should scare you) can we have some new jokes for the briefing. Oh, and by the way has that penicillin you got worked yet ? One more penalty from you for BP Oil and I'll tell everyone why you got it.

Tony Reynolds of BP Oil (borrowed from HART Motor Club for the evening) stole a march on the other competitors by setting off round the circuit in his wheelchair to check out the teams' pace notes, eventually turning in a creditable 3 minutes 20 seconds for a lap. I still think he has too much negative camber on the rear wheels of that chair.

The other teams were all very conventional and waited for their karts before venturing out for 20 minutes of timed practice. HART M. C. made good use of their position at the front of the grid to set an early fastest time but Peter Noble of the Hard Ons soon found some clear space to pop in a 32.44s which was to stand for most of the session. By the end, BP Oil had pulled out the stops to record a 32.27s and grab pole from the Hard Ons followed by HART M. C. just two hundredths of a second in front of the Rookie Rashers. Southern Car Club in fifth headed Basingstoke Motor Club and British Airways who again were only a scant two hundredths in front of Sutton Alliance. The final three were lead by the Orson Carts in ninth, not too hotly pursued by the Maniacs with a very relaxed Anthill Mob bringing up the rear.

Tony Reynolds led off for BP Oil and held the lead until on lap seven he was given a hefty shove at the back hairpin which allowed several drivers through and Peter Noble started building up a substantial lead for the Hard Ons. With each team needing to complete at least nine driver changes and refuel, it wasn't long before the pit stops began and with just under 20 minutes gone the Hard Ons held a 14 second lead over Southern who were 26 seconds up on HART M. C. with Rookie Rashers and Sutton Alliance, straight out of the pits, close behind. A further lap back came British Airways then BP Oil, the Orson Carts, Basingstoke M. C. and the Maniacs. Already four laps down, the Anthill Mob were confirming their qualifying performance at the back of the field.

Quarter distance and the Hard Ons were over a lap up on Southern who were 24 seconds ahead of Sutton Alliance. BP Oil were a bit slow getting out of the pits which left them fourth, with HART M.C. in fifth still being chased by the Rookie Rashers. British Airways weren't too far behind in seventh, followed at a respectable distance by Basingstoke M. C., the Maniacs and the Anthill Mob who had benefited from a spin by the Orson Carts on lap 43.

Lap 100, almost half distance and Southern were eight seconds ahead of the Hard Ons with Sutton Alliance in third looking like the only other team in the same race. HART M. C. were over two laps down and BP Oil over three. The others were stringing out further and further into the distance, Basingstoke M. C. were five laps down, British airways, seven !

By three quarters distance, BP Oil had finally woken up and put the hammer down and were in third place only 11 seconds behind Southern in second with the Hard Ons still out in front despite a broken throttle cable. HART M. C. were now fourth, ahead of Basingstoke M. C. and Sutton Alliance who were just 10 seconds ahead of British Airways. The back end of the field was now beginning to look fairly settled with the Rookie Rashers in eighth, the Anthill Mob pulling up to their race best ninth, and the Maniacs and Orson Carts both 14 laps down but only 3 seconds apart in tenth and eleventh.

With a little over 20 minutes to go BP Oil had just pulled into the lead when Mark (2) Wyatt came in for a routine driver change and found Van Kaiser standing in the pit entrance so he ducked through the fuel bay to avoid him. You…. (see above) if ever anyone does that again, wave, flash the lights, blow the horn - then run them down. The resultant trip to the Doghouse which I, me had to sit through put BP Oil back in second behind Southern - the Hard Ons having severely stuffed their kart to the extent that they needed a replacement which dropped them back to third.

Five minutes to go and Southern held a 1 lap lead over BP Oil, who were catching them at better than 3 seconds a lap !

Into the last lap and BP Oil were right on Southern's rear bumper - go on then, ram him you fool - but couldn't find a way through giving Southern the win by only 0.39s. The Hard Ons were third, three laps down on the battling leaders and 22 seconds ahead of Basingstoke M. C. who were 17 seconds in front of HART M. C. in fifth. Sutton Alliance were sixth, with the Rookie Rashers in seventh only six seconds ahead of British Airways. The final trio were headed by the Orson Carts, well ahead of the Anthill Mob who managed to keep just ahead of the Maniacs in last place.

The result were quickly finalised and the trophies distributed to the victors. I hope Jeremy wasn't stopped on the way home, he must have smelt like a distillery with the amount of fizzy pop that was sprayed his way.

A good result for Southern at last - despite their best efforts to throw it away - all four of them either spun or hit the tyres at some point during the race ! Can they repeat it ? Their chance comes soon, read on…

And once again, many thanks to Jonathan and all the marshals at Slipstream (except Van) for a well run event, to Peter Noble for organising it for us and of course to everyone who entered - see you next time.

2 - 1998 Karting Trophy

So what is the Southern Car Club Karting Trophy ? Well it's the same as the old trophy but the idea next year is to run a slightly more formal six event series at different venues with the best five out of six scores to count towards the club Karting Trophy. If I can I will try and obtain a sponsor to spice things up a bit.

Collecting the trophy of course is only open to members and so at each event we hope to have Southern infiltrators chatting up the non-club teams and signing them up. If we can do that then we can hopefully introduce them to the other activities of the club - but we have to recruit them first.

Nothing is really finalised yet but we will hopefully have more info by next month.

3 - The Kris Moose Bash

Christmas comes but once a year, etc. Get your diaries out now for the first event of the 1998 Southern Car Club Karting Trophy. The date is Wednesday 3rd December 1997 at Slipstream Racing in Camberley. Regs will be forthcoming soon - I hope - but let Colin Early or I know of your interest and we will make sure you get yours first.

The event will be a 2hr endurance but since it is during the season of expense there will be food during signing on so you can all be nice to each other over a sausage roll before going out on the track and knocking lumps out of each other. This does mean that the cost will be a little higher than usual but it is only once a year - thankfully.

4 - And Finally