Hello everyone!
Its been quite a while since you were last up-dated on my racing progress !
The simple reason for that is that I have been very busy studying and creating my own racing team.
Thanks to the University facilities we, the team "UCLAN Kart Racing", have been able to race prepare a competition KART that we are going to run in a championship. The Team is structured around Paul Picket, the team manager, James Elliot, a mechanic (both of whom study motor sport engineering with me), and myself as the driver/coordinator . We spent many hours rebuilding the two-stroke engine to racing standards, and setting up the chassis to fit within the regulations, with great success. I really enjoyed that time rebuilding the kart and now have a much better knowledge of how it works, which will help me when I race it. We first tested it on the 1st March at the Three Sisters track situated just outside Wigan (Lancashire). Weather conditions were very poor with high winds and rain. We transported the Kart in the UCLAN RACING truck, which is used to carry the University owned Formula Ford to the tracks throughout the UK. We were very unsure about how well we would perform amongst the other more experienced competitors and thus we were a bit anxious to get going. This first outing proved to be a bit of a learning process for us as we had difficulties getting the kart out of the pits. It turned out that my team was not giving me enough initial momentum (to get sufficient rotation within the engine, and thus enough power) when pushing me out of the pits.
However when we got going, the kart was flying! We were amongst the quickest karts around the track on a damp surface.
At the end of the testing day the track was dry but we decided to stay on wets because we didn't have enough time to change to slicks. Now that we know we have the speed, we are going to buy new tyres, which fit within the regulations to enter a race at the end of April/beginning of May.
On the car side of my racing :
I re-tested a Formula Palmer Audi (250bhp spec: 50bhp less than in 2001 Euro version) at the Bedford Autodrome on the 1.7mile West track on the 1s of February. It was very tricky conditions with high winds and a very damp and greasy track. Several other friends came down to watch and give me support. I had access to the Stack Data logging system which gave me read-outs of many different parameters amongst which were: speed, steering angle, engine speed, boost (turbo), G-forces etc This was compared to the best lap in similar conditions to give me an idea where I could improve my speed through the corners. Within an hour I had several spins (one at 130kph) and a near miss with a wall which I was approaching at 125MPH! But all went well and I got valuable experience of wet weather racing.
I was second fastest out of four (I didn't use my boost button like the others did!).
After visiting the Three Sisters track I was told about a scholarship in Formula ford that they run. Due to the fact that no sponsorship money has come in (like many other of my racing friends) I decided to give it a go, knowing that I might have a chance to get the ultimate prise. Finalists get to test a formula 3 car and even a Formula 1! The top three then win races in Formula Ford. I entered round one of the scholarship (Qualifying) on the 9th of March, held at the three sisters track in poor weather conditions (again!!). Thanks to my kart test I knew the track layout. We were assest in MG ZRs were I was awarded 90% for my driving skills. Only three drivers got that top mark out of 27 drivers. Then we were sent out in the formula fords for practice. Since I attended the Silverstone intensive race course in August 2000 I already had a sound knowledge of these cars; I spent a week in them and even got pole position in one for my first race. The track was wet and very greasy, so it was very hard not to spin. Many of the other drivers that day spun, and one even crashed, and was subsequently out of the scholarship. I was fastest in my group in the afternoon session; I was just taking it easy, keeping it on the track. The only girl on that day spun the car into the tyre wall on the last lap of the day; luckily she was not hurt (she went off at 60MPH). At the end of the day I was apparently (we had no access to lap times) fastest out of the 27 drivers and thus will get into the semi finals to be held at the same track on the 29th May.
I am confident I will do well, and will do my best to win the scholarship.
That's my aim. I'll keep you up-dated!
RAF / UCLAN Kart RACING Team.
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