Newcastle Kart Racing Club – 10/2/2017 to 12/2/2017
Round 1 of the Australian Kart Championship, and we were on the road to Newcastle. We arrived on Thursday, and let me tell you, it was hot. This would become the theme for the weekend. We set up the pits, and then retired for a quiet night of panic based preparation.
Friday was practice, and I somehow managed to find a way to make the kart slower and slower with every session. It was hot though, like really hot. Like 45 degrees type hot. So there was that.
Jim did what he could during qualifying on Saturday, but I still hadn’t managed to get the kart set up right and Jim qualified in 20th. That would be his starting position for the 4 heats under the new race format. Due to it being so hot, the heats were reduced to 6 laps each, meaning there wasn’t a lot of time to make up places.
In Heat 1 Jim got a decent started and finished in 15th. In Heat 2 Jim finished in 21st. We did find some consistency though. It was the weather. It was hot, around 50 degrees hot, so heat 3 was postponed to Sunday.
On Sunday, Jim had a few problems, and finished in 29th in Heat 3. We spent the break trying to fix an engine problem, and didn’t realise Jim’s steering was bent until we were on the grid for Heat 4. This slowed Jim down a bit and he finished in 26th.
Jim started the final from 21st, and was involved in a few battles throughout the race. He eventually finished in 20th, but managed to show glimpses that he wasn’t far off the pace of the top 10.
We struggled a fair bit over the weekend, from the heat, from getting the setup right, and from a bit of inexperience. Jim did a great job, adapting to conditions and driving a kart that was different every time it hit the track. The mechanicking was poor, and we will be looking at what we can do improve this for the next round.
Jim would like to thank Iocane, WIFA Racing, EvoKart Australia, Haak Engines, and his mum and sister for all their support. Thanks also to all the officials and volunteers, without whom Jim couldn’t race.
I think it was too hot for Christine to try anything. There were ample opportunities for her to try, but the weekend was relatively incident free. The current score:
JP -> 3 (Survived 2 weeks without hurting himself, use of Angle Grinder Persuasion, Ancient Spirit Mumbo Jumbo)
Christine -> 7 (Burn by exhaust, Degreasing of the eye, Magical Goggle Piercing Metal bit, Special Combo, Epidermal Peel, Degrease, Rinse, Repeat, 98 Octane Eye Wash).