Motors and Me

More karting tomorrow and, again, it’s with the lads from Mini2.com . One of the lads even got himself and his car into the launch edition of GoMini Magazine , doing performance tests of his Cooper S. It’s since been heavily modified, mind, so I’m rather looking forward to seeing it again. Still, flash cars to one side, the karting’s the main thing. It’s been a fair while since I got a crop of bumps and bruises on the indoor track at Dunston. By some miracle, the circuit owner (also a Mini2 person) can’t attend, as he’s down South somewhere on a trackday, practicing for his entry in next year’s John Cooper Challenge. Good job, really — he’d show me up otherwise. :) Even with the main competition out of the reckoning, Dunston’s a hard track to race on. While it’s better laid out than it was under previous owners, it’s still pretty hard to overtake. Add a random grid-slot into the equation and it usually makes for some fun racing. Expect a report... sometime (I’ve given up on promises

Okay, it took an age to post, but here it is — Martin Brackenbury’s verdict on my first round in the Michelin Renault Scholarship qualifiers. Corners: Good use of all track + good racing lines. Needs to push harder into corners. Steering: Nice + smooth steering. Good hand position. Braking: Braking too early for most corners in 1st session; 2nd session, braking too late. Throttle: Nice power delivery, even in very wet conditions. Gears: Good gear change, up and down the gearbox. Overall: Very good to start with, but looked to have got too over confident at the end and started braking too late. Grade: B (on a scale from A to F) The comments were pretty much exactly what I’d thought myself. Still, I got through and am looking forward to the second round on 6th January. Fingers crossed for a lack of ice. :) P.S. The commenting system on this blog’s finally working again. :)

I’m through to the second round of the Be A Racing Driver competition. Seems they couldn’t turn down my next two hundred quid. Hmmmm... I’m a sucker for this, aren’t I? :) Whatever, I’ll post a full report of their verdict on my first round soon.

It's taken me a while to post about it, but Thursday 23rd October saw my first step into the world of competitive racing. Well, a potential first step. It was my first round date for the Michelin Renault “Be A Racing Driver’ competition. On arrival at Elvington, I got my first bing of the season from the Mini as it announced the temperature had dropped to 3°C. Things didn't really get much better weather-wise, as rain clouds came scooting across the plains and drenched the airfield, leaving standing water everywhere. Despite this, the day was great. My instructor was none less than last year's winner, Martin Brackenbury, and he loved the wet. Good job, really. The qualification was split into 4 sessions on the cone-marked track. First were 2 laps with the instructor to learn the circuit layout. Next, it was his turn to take the students out for a few flying laps, showing the lines and the sort of pace you can hold. The last two sessions were yours to show what you'r