A Weekend As A Racer

Firstly, Krabi Go Kart Speedway.  Where else but Thailand could you find yourself racing around in scenery like this?

The track winds around a series of small limestone kastes.

Even has a little Thai temple so you can ask the gods to keep you out of the tyre wall as you drift the kart through the sweeper and onto the main straight.

The 'Make it or break it' chicane in the straight, where you hit it at full speed .  Get it just right and take half a second off your lap time.  Get it completely wrong and check into the hospital. 

The scene of my Sebastian Vettel moment (see later).

The pits early on qualifying day before the masses arrived.  The staff and teams did a great job as usual, making everyone feel like the serious professional that most of us aren't.

Number 32 takes its place in the paddock.  Slight lack of sponsor decals etc compared to the others.  Anyone want to throw thousands at an up and coming race star????

AND THEN CAME THE RACING!

Qualifying......

After a series of practice runs we came to qualifying.  First session and I qualified 4th of the ten entrants.  Good news : only three people in front of me.  Bad news : there are six mad people behind me and a few others who were coming only on Saturday and would be starting at the back of the grid with a reputation for being fast and aggressive.

Heat 1

Got past one, but the fast guys from the back of the grid came through and passed me.  Result, 6th.

Heat 2

Starting 6th with a couple of people just in front of me I thought I could compete with and maybe get ahead of.  Get through the madness of the rolling start, get around to the chicane, step on the throttle and.... no drive.  Broken chain!  First retiree in heat two means starting at the very back of the grid in the final.

Final

Start at the very back.  Make a big move to get past a couple of slower karts at the end of the back straight and get punted wide.  Last by about five seconds.  Its a longer race though.  Get back onto the last runners and started making some passes.  See a kart or two retired on the side.  Make a couple more passes and then do what one of the mechanics described as my Sebastian Vettel.  A big pass on one of the fast guys, around the outside of the sweeper missing the tyres by about an inch on the exit.  I think I was mainlining adrenaline as I did it.  Then last couple of laps on my own, pulling away from the people behind but can't see the people in front. Pull in and try to start breathing again.  Then doing the maths, if I passed four, saw a couple of retirements......  Get distracted by the mechanics congratulating me on my outside pass on Michael.  Get my race gear off and sit in a corner to get my overalls off and take a moment to settle.  Then get the mechanics telling me to hurry to get to the podium.  I thought I must have snared the final spot as fifth but get called up for fourth! 

I'm the old bastard in amoungst the young guys. 

Confusion!!  As a foreigner am I supposed to "wai" (thai sign of respect) to the dignatories like all the Thai's do?  I settle for a slight bow and he speaks to me in English, so I don't think it was a diplomatic faux pas.  The police have not come looking for me (yet).

 Notice the inspiration on the podium... 

Firstly Jerome in the wheelchair.  No use of his legs at all.  Has a kart specially modified with both brakes and throttle mounted onto the steering wheel.  He passed me in the first race and simply drove away from me.

Secondly little Harry.  The track celebrity and rightly so. Weight is a big factor in Go Karts.  We worked out that all 26kg of Harry and his little national championship competition junior kart was probably 70kg lighter than the combination of me and my kart.  Albeit with a lot less power as well. Harry's fastest laptime was about the same as mine, but he would do it lap after lap like a metronome where I could get it right one lap in three.  I was on his tail a couple of times but did not manage to pass him once in the whole weekend because he knew exactly where to place the kart on every corner.  Smooth, consistent, and give him a millimetre of space and he was past you.  Oh, and by the way, Harry is 8 years old!

Two great lines to come out of the weekend.....

First from Greg (in his sixties and still loves to race)

"All the young guys only look for the apex of the corner.  All I see these days are the trees!"

Second was when I complained to someone that I keep drifting wide by getting into certain corners too fast.

"Thats all right.  I used to make the same mistake when I first started driving."

Harry, 8 years old.