What’s the plan, then?

Oops, nearly forgot to post this. I had it on my laptop but needed to boot the PC to resize the photo. In the F1 post earlier, I posted a picture showing less of this car. Can you guess what car it is? It should be easy now, if you look hard enough. No prizes, though. If you think you know, post a comment (click Comment below). I’ll post the answer in two weeks time.

I would have been attending Round 5 of the competition last Wednesday, had I not gone out in Round 4. Instead, I tidied up this blog, tidied up my diary (removing future Rounds), organised my files, chased a couple of potential sponsors, and planned a little racing.

I learned from the competition that I need more track time in two respects. For sure, I need more time on a proper track, not just a karting track. I think this is the area that let me down in the last round. Trouble is, it’s so expensive. If I take my own road car, I’ll be going though tyres by the dozen (well, four at a time, but quickly), plus the cost of the session, plus the risk that I’ll crash and it’s not covered on the insurance. If I book a day in the circuit’s car, it’s expensive too. On tip of that, it’s a day I should be working. This is one of the reasons I need some cash sponsors. Until I know what competitions I’m going for, I won’t do anything in this respect. When I know the competition, I’ll practice for that track and car.

The other track time I need is with other people on track, and I’ll do this karting. I usually practice about once a month with a friend (whose is also named Colin). I enjoy that a lot, but I need more drivers around me. I need practice overtaking and defending my position. I handled this okay in round three (a karting round), but it didn’t come as easily to me as pounding round a track shaving tenths off my time, something I’ve done a lot. I’d make a good test driver.

With my Financial Services business and my IT business I usually see clients in the evening. Seeing clients is the bit that actually earns the money, so evenings are precious. Because I work evenings and my wife does a 9-5, I like to spend time with her at the weekends. The problem is that most karting competitions are held on weekends. The solution, I think, is to go to my local karting track on a Monday night. That’s the club night where members get two sessions for the price of one. It should be busier than my normal daytime sessions so I’ll get the practice I need.

So, the plan is: Keep karting during the day with Colin about once a month, and visit the local track occasional Monday nights to mix it with a few other drivers. I’ll also continue with my gym work (getting back to my regular visits, but improving my fitness even further) and occasionally go out on my bike.

I’m not booking anything else in at the moment because I’ve got my eye on a couple more competitions to enter, and I’ll probably organise a charity karting event later in the year if it’s worth the time and effort.

There probably won’t be any posts for the next week or so because I’m away and won’t have good internet access. Subscribe to the RSS feed to keep updated. If you don’t know how, leave me a comment and I’ll do a post explaining how to. I want to do some tech posts anyway.