Category: Karting

In this post, I told you about the Karting Meeting we had. Here’s more from the same evening.

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To see a photo of Lakeside Karting, go here. If you click and hold on the red dots, you’ll see the corner names. It’s a clockwise circuit.

A lap before the end of our 15 mins session (my second session), I was nearly run off the track into the barrier. I was approaching another driver (also a member at the circuit it turns out), and he was looking over his shoulder for over half a lap as I quickly caught him. Faster down the long straight to Devil’s Drop, I couldn’t pass him on the entry to the long Arena bend so I took a wide line. Coming out of the corner on the outside and to the left, I quickly pulled level.

There’s a piece of green concrete on the left of the track that you use on the exit if you’re quick; in other words, half the kart is left of the white line (in the picture), the other half is in the track. You can see that the (blurred) barrier meets the track at quite a sharp angle, just before the track kinks right to the grid markings.

I was fully on the track as I was level with the other driver. He knew I was there; he had been looking over his shoulder as I drew level, then he started turning left into me, forcing me left off the track. I was now heading towards the barrier. I have no doubt that he was trying to cause a crash. I had a choice; brake and swerve, or run head first into a tyre wall.

-Rant starts-

I was angry. Not because he was ahead of me, but because he deliberately tried to cause a head-on crash on the second fastest part of the circuit.

Despite braking heavily to avoid the crash and losing a lot of time, I easily caught him again going down the long back straight. There was no way I was going to overtake that psycho-nutjob going down Devils Drop or into Arena, that would have meant a certain trip to casualty via the tyre wall, but I knew I could out-accelerate his lardy-arse up the slight hill out of Arena and towards the grid. So long as I was to his right this time, there was nowhere too painful to crash if he forced me off again.

On the way out of Arena though, I could see the marshall at the start/finish line with the chequered flag. I had forgotten that they were staying out for their second 15 minutes, so I was determined to get to the finish line first. It was a photo finish, but I did it.

It’s a good job he didn’t follow me into the pits, I would have lost my reputation as level-headed. I went straight to the mashalls in the pits to let them know what had happened. They said that they knew he was driving dangerously, other marshals had seen other incidents, and he had already smashed a wheel off his first kart. The circuit rules say that if you break your kart that’s the end of your session, but they let him out in a new kart anyway.

So, here’s a message for the cheating, sad, scum-sucker in kart 22. Listen up! I would rather lose with honour than do what you did; but I didn’t lose. I beat you. I’m faster than you. I’m better than you.

-Rant ends. Normal service will resume shortly.-

On Monday 18th October we had the “All Welcome” karting session at Thurrock in Essex. Thanks to everyone for turning up. I think we all had a good time. There were six drivers and six spectators:
Kaz – driving – that’s an easy one, he’s the one who has made several comments on this blog
Mark P and Julie Bowen (my sister) – spectator (although next time…)
There was another couple who wanted to come but couldn’t, also named Mark & Julie
Mark F – driving
John B – driving
John Bowen (my brother) – driving
Colin Bowen (er, me) – driving
Blanche (my wife) – spectator
Colin B (my regular karting buddy) – driving
Eve, Amy and Laura (Colin B’s wife and their girls) – spectators

I was there at 2pm, but I didn’t expect anyone to arrive until six. About 3:30 John B phoned to say he was on his way. He had been ill with a virus that had made it painful to move. He wasn’t over it, but decided to drive anyway. He’s been once before I think. His racing lines were right, but I don’t think he had a good kart (mine was excellent). He could only do one session, so was leaving just as others started arriving. Thanks for coming John.

I said my car was excellent, but I didn’t think so as I was warming the tyres up. There was little rear end grip but it did accelerate quickly, and I equalled my personal best lap-time.

As John B left, my sister Julie arrived with her Fiance Mark P and my brother John. John said he’d drive, but Julie and Mark decided to watch; they’re saving up for their wedding next year. I’ve got news for you two; I’m spending your wedding present money on my karting!

Colin and Eve then arrived with their girls Amy and Laura who had a little cheerleader routine worked out to support their Dad. Blanche (my wife) then arrived, but sadly without a cheerleader routine (or outfit).

It was all getting a bit manic by then. John paid and went to the safety briefing, Colin paid and went to get changed, and people were turning up for practice before their 8pm corporate event. The only person I expected to turn up that hadn’t was Kaz.

We waited around for the end of the drivers’ briefing, and got in our karts. There were 11 of us, 3 from BowenRacing and the rest for corporate event practice. They wanted to do 30 minutes straight, but we wanted to do two 15 minute sessions in the hope that Kaz would turn up for the second one. The marshals said that they would give us a chequered flag at the end of our time, and the others could stay out.

On arrive and drive, they don’t start you on the grid, you just leave the pitlane and go from there. I was in a different kart, and noticed a lot of play in the brake pedal, so the first thing I did out of the pits was test the brakes; there weren’t any. Even on cold tyres I couldn’t lock the brakes, so I went back into the pits for a replacement kart. Luckily I got the fast kart 9 again.

I did quite well in the rest of our session, I beat my personal best by 0.11 sec with a time of 41.27, 1.14 sec faster than the next best lap time.

Still to come… The last two laps of Session 2 – my battle with a cheat.

Hi all,

I’ve had another person confirm they will come this Monady for our “All Welcome” karting session (see below). He is my regular Karting Buddy, Colin, and he’ll be there some time after 6:30.

If anyone else wants to come, you are welcome. Just turn up. You can also leave a comment here to let us know what time you’ll be there.

I’ve got internet access problems at the moment, so I’m having problems accessing this site and my emails. Comments won’t show up until I’ve checked them, so don’t be suprised if they don’t show up immediately.

See you Monday. I’ll be there from 2, but most people are turning up after 6.

BowenRacing is sponsored by ik Software at http://www.ik.com

Right folks, get your diaries out.

Monday 18th September. Lakeside Karting. Any time from 2pm until 8pm (last sign-in about 7:15).

Look at their website for details including directions, track layout, and a movie of a lap.

It’s an arrive-and-drive day, meaning anyone can just turn up and drive – no booking necessary. However, if they get a corporate event booking, they will cancel the arrive-and-drive for that day. Call them the Friday before (or later) to check the arrive-and-drive is still on. I’ll be there if it is.

I’ll arrive at 2pm. I’ll be there until they close at 8pm. Just turn up, or leave a comment here stating the approximate time you’ll get there so we can get more people on track together.

You pay £2 per visit for insurance, and £25 per 15 minute session. I’ll do four sessions (more if people turn up after my first four).

If you want, you can join their club. You pay £50 per year membership, and that gives you two sessions for the price of one all day Mondays and 9 to 5 other weekdays. I’ve done the maths – if you do four 15 minute sessions a year you break even. Any more than four sessions and it’s half price. I’m not connected with this circuit, and have no financial interest. Call them for details. If you want to join, bring a passport sized photo for ID.

See you there!

My karting buddy (also named Colin) and I went to Lakeside Karting Raceway again yesterday for an arrive-and-drive session (it’s ’bout time they sponsored me or gave me a discount at least). It was busy for a change, and it gave us the opportunity for some overtaking.

The circuit had mini-moto practice all afternoon, and a couple of sessions for privately owned karts. We arrived at 2pm, but they couldn’t get us on track until 3:40 and 4:40.

There were eight drivers. Some had not raced before. Most of us went out in the twin-engined Pro-Karts, but two people did the first session in single-engined Senior Karts.

I had planned to compare lap times for smooth driving and manic driving, but due to the amount of traffic I decided to just go for it and practice my overtaking. Some of the drivers used conventional racing lines and some used, let’s say, unpredictable lines.

Session 1.

I was in kart 35. I “won” the session, and posted the fastest lap. Colin (the other one) was slow for the first part of the session until he realised that one of his engines had stalled. He pitted and did about six laps on two engines. Looking at his lap-times, the second engine makes an eight second a lap difference.

I did plenty of overtaking, learned a few lessons, and most overtaking was fairly easy. The most difficult people to overtake were those using “unconventional” lines.

Lakeside Karting Raceway is a clockwise track. Scroll down their page for a photo of the track, and hold down your mouse button on the red spots for corner info.

I have to admit to a bit of illegal overtaking. I didn’t realise at the time it was illegal, but in hindsight cutting corners is probably not legal. It’s full throttle from the exit of Hairpin 2 to just after Devil’s Drop. There’s a quick right-left that you straight-line on the Back Straight and there’s not a lot of room there. I was next to a car approaching the left-right hoping they would give me room. They didn’t, so I took to the grass on their left, cutting the corner. Of course, I kept the power on and it worked fine, so I did it again with another car later.

Session 2.

I was in kart 6. Again I won the session and posted the fastest lap. Colin was second with the second fastest lap.

My favourite part of this session was overtaking six cars in half a lap. Going down the Back Straight, I could see a group of cars at Devil’s Drop. By the time I got to Arena I was right behind them. I had to slow a bit at the apex of Arena to avoid running into the back of a car, so I didn’t have to use all the track on the exit. I got a good run out of the corner anyway, and went past the first car just after the exit. I stayed in the middle of the track as I passed him so he would get held up by the next car as I passed it.

The third car to pass was center-track so I moved to the right (ahead of the two cars I just passed) to set me up on the inside of the first turn of The Complex. I normally start braking just after the apex of this turn and finish braking halfway between the start of the kerb and the apex at turn 2 (the line is shown by the cars in the photo). I passed the third car before I got to turn 1 and got up the inside of two more cars. I had to brake earlier into turn 1 so I could give the other cars room between turns 1 and 2, but by turn 2 I had passed them.

I passed the sixth car up the inside at Hairpin 1. That compramises the exit of that turn, so I defended at Hairpin 2 and was set for the full throttle half of the track.

I hope I haven’t given away too many secrets! Stay tuned for an invitation to meet at Lakeside (in Essex) for an “all welcome” session.

Two last comments – I’ve still got to solve the problem of the RSS feed not updating. Sorry about this, but I’m new to that part. Until it’s solved, you’ll have to come to the site for updates. Please tell your friends about the site.