From the Archives

How karts have changed over the years..?

Whilst looking through some archived images I came across the above pic of yours truly, when I made my race debut at Fulbeck in Lincolnshire on novice plates (or what is now more commonly accepted as being a 'rookie'), in the 100 National class.

It was a scorching hot June day in 1984, and the kart was my brothers' (Andrew and Kieran) Premier chassis (from the late Brian Wilson stable) using a Parilla TT27 engine on Bridgestone tyres, and which was fresh from a race win at Wombwell the previous month in Andrew's hands.

It was a traumatic day as I had only been able to get in five laps practice the previous weekend at Lindholme before an engine problem intervened on the older TT22 motor. The problem remained on the TT22 for first practice when the engine refused to start, and so we switched to the race-winning TT27 for the second session, only for one of the more experienced green plates to spin on the first lap and wipe me out! I was able to re-start, and with the grand total of three laps to learn the track, plus the five laps from Lindholme a week earlier, I was into my first race!

Starting 29th I finished 11th, and then in the second heat after starting on grid 30 (all novices had to start at the back of the grid), I finsihed in 10th place. With no experience, but with two good results against the class opposition of the time, I was on a high, until Andrew found a fracture in the chassis that we could not repair.

The fracture obviously came from the earlier 'hit' at the chicane in practice, but unknown to me it had also kinked the rear axle. When Kieran subsequently drove the kart at Wombwell the following week he declared it undriveable. He asked me if I had felt a vibration at Fulbeck, which of course I had, as I remembered how my blurred eyes had watered from the vibration, but I thought that was normal..! No experience remember, I just thought that was what karters put up with. I'm pleased to say young bruv was quite impressed by my latent prowess!

Fun days.

Zuera 2010

OK, maybe a bit of artisitic licence has been used, but my frustrations at not being able to go to Zuera in Spain for the next round of the WSK series, will be evident from those who know me. Up until early this morning my evening flight with Ryanair from Stansted still seemed a possibility, but then the weather problems made even that an impossibility. And even if I had, somehow, been able to get to the track, the problem would have then been trying to get back.

At least there are a few benefits by not being able to travel to Spain today, and decorating the house is not one of them. Eurosport has Jon Lancaster's first race of the year in the WSR Formula 3.5 event tomorrow (after a 22-hour drive to Motorland Aragon in Spain), we then have the Chinese GP on Sunday, and I have a load of requests from Glan-Y-Gors drivers to see if I have any images of them from the last Super 1 round a couple of weekends ago. Leading TKM driver Randal Lynn has even made a tentative offer to race with 'Hayden-Media' logos, so that is something esle that I now need to look at...

The next WSK race is at Genk in Belgium next month. Perhaps the ash will have cleared by then..? If only to stop me having to suffer from cancellation charges..?

Glan-Y-Gors TKM Super 1

My season opened in North Wales last weekend with the TKM (and Honda Cadet) round of he 2010 Super 1 Championship, at the pictureseque G-Y-G circuit, where some excellent racing was on offer.

To say it was a bit chilly on the highest part of the circuit was perhaps an understatement, and with the distant mountains covered in snow, apparently from a snow fall just a couple of days earlier, maybe an extra thermal or two would not have gone amiss..! And after coming back from Asia just a couple days earlier where the temperature had been closer to 40 degC, instead of the 5degC at G-Y-G, maybe I had good reason as I struggled to avoid camera shake!

Randal Lynn (pictured) had an accident with Charlie Bruce-White in Extreme TKM when both had been fighting for the lead, leaving the way clear for Ryan Cole to take a closely fought win. Over in Honda Cadet meanwhile Billy Monger was a worthy and ecstatic victor, with James Peace (Junior TKM) and Michael Rich (Senior 4 Stroke), mounting the top step of the podium in their respective classes.

Zuera is next on the schedule in two weeks time in Spain, for another round of the 2010 WSK championship, so further news to follow soon...

Top Step of the Podium

Well, it's been a long time coming, and because of a sojourn in Asia I have been away for awhile so this Blog update is later than it would otherwise have been, but Anthony finally returned to the top step of the podium after winning the Sebring 12-hour race for Peugeot.

Teamed up with his Austrian ex-F1 friend Alexander Wurz, and the Spanish ace Marc Gene, the three of them won a tense and exciting race, with Anthony overjoyed at being in charge of a 'proper' racing car again.

It was curious at the weekend when commentating for 5 Live in the Malaysian GP, when Ant and David Croft received a text suggesting Anthony was criticising Force India..? Whilst he would no doubt wish to be able to get into such a car, and would arguably be quicker than either Sutil or Liuzzi, the fact remains that the Peugeot LMP is, as Anthony put it, a "race winning car", and that is the difference.