Eastern Lions Kart Club – Puckapunyal – 4/8/2017 to 6/8/2017
Woah… What a busy couple of weeks. There has been a lot going on – a trip to Emerald in Queensland for round 4 of the AKC, a race in SA, travelling to Puckapunyal for round 5 of Pro Tour, bad weather, an interview, and some IT issues to top it all off.
Let’s start with the trip to Emerald for round 4 of the Australian Kart Championship. It was fun getting to Emerald, and by fun, I mean a flight to Brisbane, followed by a 10 hour drive to Emerald. We did get a chance to try out some of the Jayco campervans, and I’ve got to admit they were a bit nicer than our normal van to sleep in.
Jim was interviewed as part of the AKC promotion (see it here https://livestream.com/mysportlive/events/6859877/videos/160112247). Jim did pretty well for his first ever interview on camera.
On to the racing – As per usual, it was a fairly big field.
It took us a while to get a handle on the track, and setup. Jim qualified in 23rd, but did well to move forward during the heats, finishing in 14th, 16th, 23rd, and 12th. He had a couple of good battles in the final, and bought it home in 14th.
We then travelled home, to find some IT problems. Being an IT person, we tend to have an overly sophisticated system at home. Well, let’s be honest, we probably have a more complicated IT system than NASA. And one of the computers decided to die – horribly. After waiting a week for the new parts to arrive, most of the family was getting edgy with the degraded wireless and internet. First world problems.
So while we waited, we went racing up at Monarto for the Dublin Winter Cup. Jim did well winning all 4 races and taking out the race meet.
We then had to get ready for Pro Tour, and an 8 hire drive to Puckapunyal.
When we got there it was raining, and we had to get inventive in the pits to channel the water away from us. In the end, Mt Evo and the Isle of WIFA, were quite nice places, and the gas heaters kept the area nice and warm.
A big shout out to the Eastern Lions Kart Club – Great facilities at this track, and we enjoyed the dinner they provided on Friday and Saturday night. Even with the inclement weather, we were reasonably comfortable staying at the track.
With the changeable weather, we struggled to get on top of the setup. Jim qualified in 13th (in the wet), and finished 11th, 13th and 12th in the first 3 heats which were contested on a dry track.
We were starting to get our heads around the setup, but the rain settled in on Sunday, and the pre-final and final were wet. Jim finished 11th in the prefinal, and 10th in final, but the results probably don’t reflect how he was going as he was involved in an incident or two. On top of this, Christine was up to something (see below).
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 who worked out in the rain, without whom Jim couldn’t race.
Christine looks like she is trying something different now. There was some minor attempts with the degreaser (I’m all over that now), 1 attempt to amputate a finger with a sprocket and chain (she’s too slow), and the old fuel in the face trick (I learnt to close my eyes when taking the hose of the carbie so that failed).
In what can only be described as a ‘hissy fit’ Christine somehow managed to introduce a leak into one of Jim’s wet tyres. If we changed the tyre, Jim would have to start from the back, so unfortunately, this affected his qualifying and the 2 races on Sunday. We managed it as best we could once it was discovered, but this is still a low blow by Christine. I’ve talk to the ref, and we will start taking points off if she keeps it up.
The current score:
JP -> 3 (Survived 2 weeks without hurting himself, use of Angle Grinder Persuasion, Ancient Spirit Mumbo Jumbo)
Christine -> 8 (Burn by exhaust, Degreasing of the eye, Magical Goggle Piercing Metal bit, Special Combo, Epidermal Peel, Degrease, Rinse, Repeat, 98 Octane Eye Wash, Inappropriate Tool Grabbing).