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!