2012 Inkart Championship Festival - Daytona Manchester

Last Sunday was the presentation for the overall top three in the Cadet and Junior Inkart Championship at Daytona Manchester.  However, before the presentation took place, there was a Festival race for Cadets, Juniors and Parents.  Tom kindly raced for us in the parents race!

A slightly different format to the races than previous - a two lap qualifier would determine grid positions for each of the heats - fastest to go first.  Samuel, for the first heat started right at the back of the grid - probably due to the change in format and that he was behind a slower driver.   So here is the video from that heat and his grid start was pretty good!


After the three heats, he was placed third on the grid in the final and despite changing places with Jordan for second at around half way through the race, Samuel finished third and received another trophy!

And here is the podium for the Cadet, Junior and Parent (or designated driver!) race finals:

Tom finished second in his final and also received a trophy!

And then the presentations for the overall Championship - covering all 11 rounds from January to November.  Samuel finished 9 times on the podium including a first place and the total of all the points gained meant he finished second overall in the Cadet Inkart Championship!  The other two podium finishers in the Cadet class have both been karting a number of years so its quite an achievement by Samuel as his first ever go in a kart was only just over 18 months ago!  And he is the youngest out of the three by 3 years!

And here he is with Tom and their three trophies!

And there ends the 2012 karting season!  12 trophies in total, 10 indoor races, 1 outdoor race and 1 Championship trophy.  Not a bad haul for his first season of karting - hope it continues next year!

Hooton Park Indikart Championship and a Trophy!

Samuel took part in the final round of the IndiKart Championship for 2012 at Hooton Park on Sunday.  He had a good solid test day the previous day and enjoys the track when its wet so he was looking forward to the race on the Sunday.

He set the third fastest time from 18 drivers in qualifying which placed him third on the gird for heat 1.  The videos of his grid starts are not as spectacular as previous races because he is so near the front and has less overtaking opportunities but he's still quick off the mark!

Heat 1 grid start:



He finished in second place so he started in second for heat 2:



And finished in second place!  So he was second on the grid in the final:



And he actually finished the race in third place!

Here he is with his third place trophy:

This is his highest placed finish from the outdoor races he's had this year - all 4 of them!  And its fair to say that he is looking forward to the first race of the 2013 IndiKart Championship at Hooton Park on 20 January!

Samuel Round 11 - Inkart Championship

It was round 11 of the Inkart Championship at Daytona Manchester on 25 November and it was also the final round of the season.

Samuel was placed 5th, 1st and 5th to start on the grid in his three heats and he managed decent finishes to be placed third on the grid for the final.

The final was fairly static so here is a video from the third and final round as he starts 5th on the grid.



He manages to move up a few places and then gets a black flag for advantage by contact so he then has to drive into the sin-bin which moves him to the back of the heat.  So from 7th place he then manages to move up and finishes 4th.  Not bad considering there are only 10 laps in the heat and a lap is done in around 30 seconds if not quicker!  And its not an easy track to overtake on.


He starts in the final in third place and finishes in third.  Which means he's won his 9th trophy of the season from 11 rounds and takes second place overall in the Cadet Championship in his first year of karting - 18 months ago he'd never been in a kart!

Here he is on the podium with Saul and Jordan:

And with the Juniors and their trophies:

And Samuel and Jordan together!

The race report can be viewed by clicking on the link in the sidebar if you want to have a read!!

Third Outdoor Race - Hooton Park

Samuel completed his third outdoor race on Sunday 18 November 2012 at Hooton Park.  He'd had a good practice on the day before and the weather was a lot nicer this month than the previous one!

There was a field of 18 Cadets and following the qualifying session, Samuel started in 15th place for heat one:

He didn't have a particularly good start but the lights were already showing green, then turned to red and then back to green, hence his stop-go-stop-go start! Despite this he finished in 12th place, and had a better start in heat two:

He finished in 9th place which gave him a 9th place grid start for the final:
By the first corner he was up into third place but ended up loosing places when he was forced off onto the grass by another driver although Samuel managed to rejoin the race. He finished 11th overall.

Last outdoor race of the year is on 16 December.  Apologies for the light sabre effect - I can't help where the sun is place in relation to grid starts!!

Samuel Round 10 - Inkart Championship

Another exciting Sunday morning on 28 October as it was round 10 of the Inkart Championship at Daytona Manchester!  There were 12 cadet drivers which meant more heats than usual although each driver only takes part in three prior to the final.

Samuel started on pole position for his first heat and retained it, taking maximum points.  In his second heat he finished third from a fifth grid start, and the third heat he started fourth and finished fourth.  So this meant he started fourth on the grid in the A final.

True to form he had a rather good grid start and managed to get past Jordan on the first corner into third place and held of Michael Burrows.

Here is the video from the final.  It's a bit longer than usual as the race was red flagged part way through due to Jordan's fuel cap coming off.  You can just about see Samuel as he's the one in black and the lights seemed dimmer than normal!


So he finished in third place which meant another trophy (he is getting awfully close to the 10 he needs to get for a trophy cabinet (I promised in February when he won his first trophy that I'd buy him a cabinet if he won 10 trophies, not thinking he'd manage it!)) and a podium finish!

One more round to go at the end of November and then that's it for the year - Samuel is currently in second place overall in the cadet championship.

Samuel's Second Outdoor Race - Hooton Park

Samuel took part in his second outdoor race on Sunday 21 October at Hooton Park.  He'd had a good solid practice day on the Saturday and was prepared for Sunday!  It was really heavy fog at the track - so much so that you couldn't see most of the track which was a bit worrying in the morning practice sessions as Samuel has a black suit, black helmet and black visor.....!

By the time qualifying came the dense fog had lifted and it was a glorious (but cold!) sunny day - the kind of sun that is really low in the sky and rather blinding!

He qualified in 21st place from 27 drivers and here is the video of the grid start with Samuel more or less camera centre (I zoomed in a little just in case!)  Just watch how many he manages to get past before he's lost in the engine smoke!


From this heat he finished in 17th place which meant he started the second heat in that place on the grid:


And he finished 16th which determined his placing in the final.  I didn't actually see his little skirmish with the back wheels of the kart in front as I was struggling to see with the sun right in my eyes and trying to video him but Samuel didn't actually realise what he'd done until we told him afterwards!


He finished overall 20th out of a field of 27 drivers which is not bad although his grid starts were good he just needed to keep the pace around the track.

Next outdoor race is Sunday 18 November and I'm not expecting the weather to be as kind!

Jacob's Fastest Session (So Far)

Jacob had his first race with Samuel on 16 October at Daytona Manchester - Samuel was already booked into the Tuesday evening session and as Jacob's football training was cancelled, we decided to take the risk of letting them both on the track at the same time!

There was no need to have worried as they were both fine - the last time they raced together was when Samuel was a Bambino over a year ago - so it was really nice to see them both on the track at the same time!

Out of 6 drivers (and some were quite a lot older than him) Jacob came 4th and knocked almost 0.2 seconds off his previous best time.

It was the first time he'd done a 30 minute session and he looked rather shattered when he came off track!

New Personal Best For Samuel - Again!

I'd like to say that we actually saw Samuel log his personal best on the track at Daytona Manchester on Sunday, however we missed it!  We were too busy watching all the other drivers, one of which I'm sure thought he was in a bumper car rather than a go-kart!

Samuel is still 4th on the board for the cadet and juniors but his new time is now 28.738 seconds - knocking 0.148 seconds off last weeks personal best.

Bish, Bash, Bosh!

Jacob had another go in a cadet kart on Saturday at Daytona Manchester and managed to knock 0.5 seconds off his best lap from the week before, so he now has a 31.748 second lap.

He had a rather novel way of re-arranging the track:


Cold track + cold tyres = a spin!

Samuel - Round 9 Inkart Championship

Last Sunday was round 9 of the Inkart Championship at Daytona Manchester.  Samuel went into the race in second place overall in the Championship despite a rather inconsistent round 8 when he finished 5th.

From the random grid placings, he won the first heat, fifth in heat two and finished third in the last heat.  This meant he had gained 30 points and was placed in third place on the grid in the final.

He managed to keep the fourth place driver behind him for the full 20 laps although Samuel would have pulled away and challenged for second place, if the kart had been performing at its maximum, as he is usually a good half a second faster than the driver behind him.

So despite a few heart-stopping moments, Samuel finished third and here are the photos from the podium and also the video of the final:

 And the video:

Jacob's First Cadet Session!

A short video of Jacob's first time in a cadet kart at Daytona Manchester.


He's only just turned 7 but he's too big for the Bambino kart and the Manager, Nick, has agreed to let him and two other Bambino drivers who are nearly 8 have a taster.  Once they have enough experience and are competent, they can then drive with the other advanced cadet drivers.  One of which is Samuel.  Which would make interesting viewing!

Jacob's fastest time was 32.12 which is not bad for a first time out.  So next time, he should go faster!

Incidentally, Samuel went in the same kart immediately following and set his personal best!

New Personal Best for Samuel

Samuel had a good practice session at Daytona Manchester on Saturday and despite a lot of yellow flags during the session, Samuel managed to beat his previous personal best of 29.055 seconds.

Here he is with the updated board - 28.886 seconds.  Not bad when you consider that the three above him are at least two and a half years older and have been karting a lot longer!

First Outdoor Race - Hooton Park

Samuel completed his first outdoor race in the IndiKart Championship at Hooton Park over the weekend of 15 and 16 September.  He had a reasonable day on the Saturday, testing and getting more used to his kart plus a lot more traffic on the track!

We were prepared for a lot of rain on the Sunday and although there were a few showers it was largely fine although windy.  Samuel didn't manage to do the two practice sessions due to technical issues with the kart and then trottle was sticking when he did the transponder test, but after that was rectified, the kart was in good shape!

A great grid start on the first heat - starting in 14th place out of 18 drivers - he managed to make up 4 or 5 places before the first corner and was holding his own until lap 5 when he tried to overtake on the outside, got pushed wide and hit the tyre barrier and knocked a marshal over.  Samuel and the marshal were fine but this meant he started at the back of the gird for heat two.

Two photos of heat two grid start:

On the photo above, you can just see Samuel (virtually centre of the photo) - the bloke in the centre with the black jacket is obscuring him!

And he can now be seen - all in black, again more or less photo centre.

He finished 11th in the second heat so then was placed 11th on the gird for the final.  He actually made up places again on the grid start for the final but because he's not yet got the same pace as the other drivers (this was his first outdoor race!) he lost what he'd gained.  But still finished 11th overall, just missing out on the points by a place!

Next round is 21 October.

Samuel's First Kart!

Samuel is now the proud owner of his own cadet kart!  It's an Intrepid Maky with a Honda engine.  We took him to Hooton Park with Ryan for a test day so that Samuel could get used to the kart and how it handled.

We had a glorious day although not quite as hot and sunny as the last time we were at Hooton and Samuel quickly got to grips with the kart and his racing lines.

At the moment the kart is numbered 8 but Samuel wants it to be 77 - so next time you see it, it should be re-numbered!

And yes Jacob, one day this kart could be yours!

 These last two pictures taken when he thought I wasn't looking!

The kart gets its next outing on 15th and 16th September as Samuel is going to see what its like racing outdoors and with a lot more karts on the grid!

Samuel's Test Day with CKSUK

Samuel had a test day with Champion Kart Services UK (CKSUK) yesterday and we had glorious weather!

Ryan put Samuel in a Cadet kart and let him on the track to see how he'd get on and rather surprised us with a respectable 50 second lap time.  A few tweaks on the kart and he went out again and got the times down to 47 seconds.  Few more tweaks and he went out a couple more sessions, each for around 10 minutes, and he managed 45 seconds.  All his laps were consistent although he had a few spins in the early stages until he got used to having to use his brake rather than lifting off for corners.

Samuel managed to knock in a high 44 second lap but Ryan wanted to see him get closer to 43 seconds and on his final session of the day, he got a 44.1 second lap which after a very hot and long day (with one shunt from another driver that bent part of the axle) was pretty respectable especially as it was his first time on the track.

We were also joined for the day by Tom Sansbury who added his GoPro Camera to Samuel's crash helment and filmed each of the track sessions (and probably a lot of grass footage and of Ryan talking to Samuel!)  Here is the last session of the day with the 44.1 second lap:


Thanks to Ryan, Mike, Tom and Helen for a great day at Hooton Park!

Probably more footage and photos to follow at some point!

Both Gone Faster!

Jacob had a good round 8 in the Formula Bambino Championship yesterday at Daytona Manchester - his previous fastest lap was 33.811 and he knocked 0.3 seconds off to go 33.493 .  The board has not yet been updated so I can't show a photo of it - so that will follow!  He also finished fourth overall - just not quite making it onto the podium.

Then this morning Samuel had a practice session also at Daytona Manchester.  The track looked fast as Jordan had broken the lap record in the session immediately prior.  Samuel looked like he was doing well and managed to beat his previous fastest time of 29.561 fairly early on in the session.  So we were rather pleased with that!

Jordan however then broke the lap record (that he'd set minutes earlier) probably 4 or 5 times more!  The pace seemed to be rubbing off on Samuel as he then knocked in a 29.055 second lap - a good 0.5 seconds faster than he's ever gone on the new track layout!

So the morning ended with Jordan breaking the lap record a number of times and Samuel getting the second fastest lap to date - just outside 28 seconds. Not bad for a nearly 9 year old!

And here is a photo of the rather tired, hot and sweaty young drivers:

And the top 10 Junior board with Samuel in second place.

Samuel - Round 7 Inkart Cadet Championship

Last Sunday was round 7 of the Inkart Championship at Daytona Manchester.  Samuel had two second place finishes and a fifth in the qualifying rounds and was placed third on the grid in the final.

Video below of the start of the race - didn't manage to tape it all in one go as the camera battery died part way though!  Samuel moved up to second on the first hairpin and stayed in that position to finish second.




Here he is on the podium with the other Cadet drivers and the Juniors.

 And with his trophy

Samuel actually did his fastest lap to date too - he's now completed the new track layout in 29.561 seconds, knocking almost 0.2 seconds off his previous best!

He has now moved up to second overall in the Cadet Championship.  And we just have 4 rounds left in the season.

Jacob Formula Bambino Power Lap

Jacob got on the powerlap board following Formula Bambino at the start of July.

He's saying 5th place and giving a thumbs up just in case you were thinking he can't count!

Good Lap Time - Even Better Lap Time!

With the new track layout at Daytona Manchester came a new lap time board for the Junior drivers and Samuel has got his name in the top nine drivers:

15 July 2012 - 29.943 seconds

22 July 2012 - 28.878 seconds

And he went even faster on 25 July setting a 29.748 lap time - no photo of it on the board though as its only Sunday Club times that make it!  And he's the youngest on the board by at least 2 years!

New Track Layout at Daytona Manchester & Lap Record for Samuel!

The track at Daytona Manchester has been changed and today was the first time it was available.  Jacob had a Bambino practice session (its Formula Bambino tomorrow!) this evening so he could get a head start on the track.

Short video showing the new layout:



And a handout from reception:

Samuel had an Intermediate practice session straight after - only sessions available - and he set the lap record on the Intermediate 275 metre track - 17.418 seconds.  It was the first ever session of a Cadet so we are not sure how long he'll be the record holder for!

On the old track his fastest Intermediate time was 18.3 seconds and it was the same length and the lap record was around 17.3 seconds.  Not sure if this is a quicker track, or if he's greatly improved in the period between, or if he's adapted very quickly to the new layout!  We shall see on Sunday when he has a proper practice session (he's booked in for two) with other Cadets and Juniors on the Advanced 450m layout.

Samuel - Round 6 Inkart Championship

It was round 6 of the Inkart Championship on Sunday at Daytona Manchester.  Six Cadet drivers competed and after a few setbacks during the warm-up session and the three qualifying rounds, which Samuel overcame with steely determination and showed that he is a great competitor.  For the final he was placed third on the grid.

As in previous rounds, the start from the grid line was rather exciting and changed the lineup!

Here is the video from the final:


And the results - Samuel came second!  Here he is getting the trophy from Mark:

Podium finish for the Juniors and Cadets - Samuel is far left next to Aaron who broke the track lap record twice in his final race in the Juniors!

 And Samuel with his trophy!

Overall, he is still placed third in the Championship for Cadets although he has gained valuable points on the second placed Cadet.  Six rounds down, five to go!

Formula Bambino Powerlap Board!

Jacob got on the Formula Bambino Powerlap board again following the June round at Daytona Manchester.  He's holding up four fingers as he is fourth on the board (and finished fourth).  The race report is available to view online on the Daytona website - the link is in the sidebar.

Round 7 is on 14 July.

Even Better Personal Best!

After last Sunday and Samuel smashing his previous personal best time we thought it might be a while before he does it again.  But no, he did it again this morning!

It was 25.618 seconds and this morning he knocked a further 0.11 seconds off and set a 25.508 second lap.  He actually came very close again a few laps later.

We think that if he'd had a decent amount of clear track in front of him, he'd have got it down even further!  Samuel said afterwards that he had changed his approach to the second hairpin bend so that is why his time is coming down.

And the fastest lap time on the top photo is wrong - 3 seconds??!!

Thanks to Nick who tweeted this blog via Daytona Motorsport earlier in the week (12 June)

Personal Best

Samuel managed to beat his previous fastest lap this morning at Daytona Manchester!  He set a 25.618 second lap and he had the fastest average of all 10 drivers.

It was a really good session with 9 out of the 10 drivers setting lap times of under 26 seconds.  Jordan and Andre also set their personal bests.

Click on the picture below for a larger image.

Jacob finished fourth again yesterday in round 6 of the Formula Bambino Championship - hopefully next month he will get to stand on the podium!

Getting Better

Samuel had another Karting Blast session on Bank Holiday Monday at the Three Sisters Race Track and this time he went on track with 4 Junior drivers and 2 other Cadets.

Last time he went his best time was 59.204 seconds which was around 2 seconds faster than his first visit.  And this time he managed a 56.628 which, we were told, was one of the fastest times they had seen from that particular kart.

He finished third fastest overall behind two Junior drivers, but beating the other two Cadets and the remaining two Juniors, which considering the Junior karts can go around 20mph faster than the Cadet karts, its not too bad!

On the photo below, I'd seen that Samuel was coming up to go past the two Junior drivers and by the time I'd panned the camera round, he'd gone past them on the bend!

The lap record for Cadet drivers is 51.2 seconds and that is in a race ready specific racing kart, tuned to the individual drivers requirements - not an arrive and drive kart. 

Samuel has another session booked for a few weeks' time!

Some Overtaking

Samuel seems to have got to grips with overtaking and here he is yesterday in his practice session - two short videos for you!


Second video:


Next Saturday is Jacob's round 6 Formula Bambino.

Winner! Round 5 Inkart Cadet Championship!

It was round 5 of the Inkart Championship yesterday morning at Daytona Manchester.  After a 10 lap warm up / practice lap (Samuel set the second fastest time) and then three 10 lap heats in which had two first place finishes and a fifth it was the Final for all 9 Cadet racers.  He did some wonderful overtaking to be then placed first on the grid for the Final.

He led from the start and actually set the fastest time of the Final and finished just over 6 seconds in front of the second placed driver, lapped the last place driver and almost lapped the 8th placed driver just before the chequered flag.

The video of the final is below - just under 10mins if you want to watch it all!


 
Here is Samuel receiving his first place trophy from Mark:

And with all the other podium racers - the smaller ones are the Cadets.

And Samuel with his first place trophy which is even bigger than the two previous second place trophies!

So quite an exciting Sunday morning with a first place trophy that we certainly did not expect to win!  Samuel took 56 points from the race - only dropping 4 points - so it keeps him in third place overall in the Championship with a further 6 rounds to go.  He has gained points on the second placed and overall leader of the Championship.

Next nail-biting morning will be in 2 weeks time when Jacob completes round 6 of the Formula Bambino Championship!

Three Sisters Again

Samuel had another Junior Blast session at the Three Sisters Race Track at Wigan.  Short video below.  He knocked a few seconds off his last session which is good - shows he is getting to grips with the track!

Jacob on the Bambino Power Lap Board Again!

Here I am again on the Formula Bambino Power Lap board after last Saturday's Round 5 with a 30.082 lap - my best yet!

Jacob

So Close!

Jacob finished joint third 5 round of Formula Bambino earlier today - his highest placed finish!  Over the two rounds the fastest time is added together from each and then divided by two which determines the overall finish standings.  He and Jonathan had identical average times but Jonathan had set a slightly faster time on his second round so he stepped onto the podium for third place.

So Jacob actually took points for fourth place.  He was really pleased with himself as he set his fastest ever time of 30.082 seconds!  Just got to wait now to see his name on the Formula Bambino Power Lap Board!

Samuel - Round 4 Inkart Cadet Championship

Round 4 of the Cadet Inkart final earlier today - the grid start is in the video below.  I was 4th on the grid again, just like round 3 and again I jumped two places to get into second place by the time I got to the bridge.

Here I am getting my trophy for second place

And on the podium with the other drivers and the Juniors - I am second closest to the camera

With my trophy!

I am now third in the overall Cadet class in the Inkart Championship at Daytona Manchester with 188 points after 4 rounds.

I also set my personal best time of 25.903 seconds in the final.

Samuel