Motors and Me

So, yes, I was karting last Thursday... and I won. Mid-life crisis resolved. Kinda. I got pole, the win, and the fastest lap by a second or more. But by god, it was hard work. And my fastest lap was about 3 seconds slower than my previous fastest on that circuit. Three seconds! I don't know how much of that was down to the karts being different (completely different models since I got my fastest laps) or how much the cold circuit affected it, but I hardly feel like I performed anything like as well as I used to. Rather reminiscent of my last trackday , in fact. It just goes to show, this stuff takes practice. I've not been practising and, naturally, the speed and the skill have gone. On the up-side, I went to this event with both my wife and my mother in tow: probably not so cool, but was really nice to have them along. My mum especially, as it was the anniversary of my dad's death and it's just nice to think my parents were represented. One time, many years ago, I ev...

A lot has happened since my last post, back in August 2009. God! August 2009! That's 2½ years ago. Anyway, in that time, I've gone from having a girlfriend to having a fianceé and now a wife . :) Said wife has also started learning to drive, which has required the purchase of a slightly more sensible car: a 5-door, 10-year-old Ford Focus. That said, the 350Z remains in the garage. So, in short, I've grown up, but am still clinging the last vestiges of boyracerdom. ;) Another thing, pertinent to this blog, that's happened in the past few years is that I've almost completely stopped doing trackdays. The last trackday I did in my own car was February 28th 2009; just under 3 years ago. And I was dreadful. The last track experience I did was a second Palmersport day, in August 2010. Since then, nothing. Well, except for a charity karting event, which hardly counts. All of this has left me feeling pretty flat about my own motoring/motorsport. The presence of the Foc...