Karting Korner

1 - Sandown Park

On the 15th August 1998, eleven teams lined up for the fifth event in the Southern Car Club Karting Trophy, the Sandown Karting Team Challenge.

A three hour race this time with one hour's practice on the same track layout which we used for the second half of the Will be Good. Sandown had pulled out all the stops for this one and all 16 of their race karts had been treated to a new (modified) 200cc Honda engine. The new engines are so effective that lap times are now down almost to the same level as a twin engined Pro-Kart!

Practice started on a damp track and BP Oil showed the way round with everyone gradually improving as the track dried. The smart teams had held their quickest drivers till last and when Southern sent out Adam Pearce he recorded a pole grabbing 49.5 secs on his last lap, nearly 1.5 secs ahead of BP Oil who had Windsor Car Club close behind in third. HART Motor Club, Loobs' Young Men, Chalfont Green Racing, Sandhurst Racing and newcomers Chalfont Green Racing II were all covered by one second. A scratch team took over the place and name of Bullwinkle at the last minute but showed well on their first outing to hold ninth ahead of the Fire And Rescue Team with XEXCO Loonies - claiming that they were saving themselves for the race - bringing up the rear. I suspect some Sandbagging was going on in the hope that the qualifying positions on the grid would be reversed.

Race director Darren Barnard had stressed the need for care and threatened dire penalties for those whose driving fell short of an acceptable standard so unlike our last start(s) at Sandown this one was a delight to behold. Everyone was so courteous that I was half expecting people to get out and insist that the other driver go first. Well done!

Needless to say that didn't last long and within a few laps the serious business of the day took over and the field began to string out. The grid had indeed been reversed and as the faster qualifiers threaded their way through the pack it became very apparent that a major change had taken place in Windsor Car Club. Trevor Joel carved his way to the front like a hot knife through butter and just disappeared into the distance.

How was this miracle achieved? As a side effect of the new engines., the seats in most of the karts had been moved forward (by Adam) to be Adam sized and everyone else, including little me, (you never get much of a good thing) was struggling for room. Windsor had spent their time after practice finding a kart with the seat well back so that they didn't have their knees up around the steering wheel like everyone else. Not sporting chaps, not sporting.

The upshot of all this was that by the end of 20 minutes, Windsor were a whole lap ahead - that's nearly 2.5 secs a lap! The rest just could not be closer, with 9 teams all on the same lap. BP Oil were second, then came Southern, Loobs' Young Men, HART M. C. Chalfont Green Racing II, Chalfont Green Racing, XEXCO loonies - Yes the Loonies, who had mysteriously lopped 3.5 secs a lap off their practice times, Bullwinkle and Sandhurst Racing. Tailenders at this point were newcomers Fire And Rescue Team.

Another 20 minutes and it was all change again, Southern were now a lap in the lead having set the fastest lap of the race so far at 49.09 secs with Windsor in second and Chalfont Green Racing II in third. BP Oil had dropped to fourth during their driver changes (losing 20 seconds when one of their drivers got into the kart without his gloves) and were pushing hard to get back into contention. Loobs' Young Men had dropped to fifth with Chalfont Green Racing and Sandhurst Racing up to sixth and seventh. All this at the expense of HART M. C. who were down in eighth ahead of Bullwinkle, XEXCO and the Fire And Rescue Team.

Coming up on one hour's racing and Southern still had a slight advantage over Windsor with BP Oil in third. Chalfont Green Racing II had lost a little ground in fourth with Loobs' Young Men and Chalfont Green Racing still only a few seconds apart. Bullwinkle were seventh ahead of Sandhurst Racing and HART M. C. and the Fire And Rescue Team had now pulled past XEXCO (shame on you) for tenth.

With the new engines, a single re-fuelling was planned at about half distance but such was the pace that two stops were eventually required. On the first stop, the marshals noticed that BP Oil had virtually no teeth left on the sprockets and called them back in to change to a new machine - losing them yet more time. An engine mounting bracket had been sheared off (probably caused by running over a kerb) letting the engine tilt back and the chain go slack and jump on the sprockets. More seriously for BP the new kart didn't have the specially adjusted brakes of the original. Oo-eck!

Coming up on half distance, Southern had extended their lead over Windsor to 23 secs and BP Oil had made their way back up to third ahead of Chalfont Green Racing II and Chalfont Green Racing (could we have shorter team names next time please guys). Loobs' Young Men, Sandhurst Racing and Bullwinkle were all swapping places but HART M. C., the Fire And Rescue Team and XEXCO were looking ominously settled at the back.

Just before the second re-fuelling stop, just as BP Oil were getting back into contention they had to change their second kart when the Nassau panel came loose and two laps later they were pulled in to re-fuel.

All this left Southern still in command with a one lap advantage over Windsor who were back to a lap in front of BP. The two Chalfont Green's and Loobs' Young Men still held fourth, fifth and sixth. Bullwinkle and Sandhurst Racing had changed places with HART M. C., the Fire And Rescue Team and XEXCO keeping formation - very well too may I add.

Through the last hour BP Oil's early race strategy began to pay off and with 45 minutes to go they were only 14 secs shy of second placed Windsor. Southern were still in command, a lap up but the battling Chalfont Green's and their pursuers were beginning to fall behind the leading trio.

With 20 minutes to go, nothing had changed except the gaps. Southern were 22 secs in front of Windsor who were 34 secs in front of BP Oil - it was all down to the last round of driver changes, which BP used to get past Windsor. Once again Trevor Joel set off in pursuit and was making a determined effort to catch BP when he tangled with someone else and settled the matter in BP's favour.

And so Southern Car Club came home ahead of BP Oil for the second race in a row by 34 secs with Windsor Car Club a further 18 secs behind in third. Chalfont Green Racing II eventually bettered Chalfont Green Racing by 36 secs for fourth with Loobs' Young Men a further lap back in sixth. A late effort by Sandhurst Racing saw them take seventh from Bullwinkle on the last lap by only 0.9 secs with HART M. C., the Fire And Rescue Team and XEXCO Loonies completing the field.

So did Southern win or BP lose? Their various excursions to the pits must have cost BP around 60 secs whilst Southern kept themselves on the black stuff and out of trouble - it really is the way to do it. Commiseration's also to Windsor who were unfortunate to lose second after such a fantastic start.

Thanks again to Darren and his long suffering staff at Sandown for their efforts on our behalf. As far as I am aware, the only kart troubles were self inflicted and the new engines were well matched and ran perfectly all day. And Thanks also to our sponsors Duckhams Oils who once again provided us with excellent additional prizes.

2 - The Last Chance