First MSA Race

Samuel took part in his first MSA race on 23 June at Three Sisters for the Manchester and Buxton Kart Club Championship round 6.

The weather was rubbish - cold and damp.  Samuel qualified as the fastest Honda Novice with a 55.34 fastest lap.  Heat 1 was a challenge but he still managed a quicker lap with a 54.83.  Second heat he moved up to 17th from 21 drivers overall with a time of 54.38.  And the final he finished 7th out of 8 Honda's and 18th from 21 and set a faster time of 54.22.

It was the first time he'd done a rolling start as he is much more familiar with a standing start, so he learnt quite a bit which will, hopefully help him for his next MSA race on 21 July at Cheshire Kart Club at Hooton!

No pictures or videos of Samuel racing, but here is one of Jacob changing a tyre!

Samuel - Round 3 IKR Championship - Three Sisters

Sunday was round 3 of the IKR Championship at the Three Sisters race track and Samuel was racing in his new kart!  The CKS team sticker kit has not yet been put on it so he was racing with black side pods and bumper and yellow stickers.

The circuit had been changed to the Valley from Club and its been a while since Samuel raced on it so he took it easy on the practice lap.  But still managed to clock the second fastest time with a 55.020 second lap.

He qualified in 5th place overall from 15 drivers with a 53.956 lap time.  The video below is from the qualifying session.


Round 1 he finished in 7th place after an uncharacteristic spin from Samuel and went marginally quicker with a best lap of 53.708.  Round 2 he finished in 4th place and went quicker - 53.456.  The combination of the two heats placed him 5th on the grid for the final.

And he finished 5th overall with a fastest lap of 53.847 and 2nd in the Honda engine class.  And here are a few photos of the podium and one of him with his trophy!

All the timing results can be found HERE.

His first MSA race is next weekend....!!  Black and white numbers are waiting to be added to his kart!

Like He's Never Been Away!

Samuel was itching to get out on track after watching Jacob have a podium finish at Daytona Manchester in the Formula Bambino Championship yesterday!  After checking that there was an available space in one of the practice sessions, Jacob quickly changed out of all his race gear so that Samuel could wear it.  The boys are a similar height despite the age difference so seeing Samuel dressed in Jacob's race gear was a little confusing!

Samuel had not been on the track at Daytona Manchester since the Festival and presentation of his Cadet Championship Second Place trophy on 23 December 2012 so it would be interesting to see how he did especially as he's now racing outdoors and it is very different to being indoors!

After a few laps of literally bouncing around the corner from coming off the bridge, he settled in and managed to creep up to be the fastest driver by lap 12.  He dropped down to second fastest and then took it back on lap 39 (incidently he was driving kart number 39 too!) with a 28.440.

Which, managed to be the fastest time of the day!

He really enjoyed the session and his overtaking was the best we'd ever seen him do at the track - really smooth and no hesitation when trying to get past the slower drivers.  Not bad to say he'd not been at the track for almost 6 months!  Samuel said after the race that if he'd have been in his own suit, helmet, gloves and boots, he would have done a 27 second lap!!

He's next outdoors at Three Sisters in the IKR Championship next weekend and then the following weekend is his first MSA race!!

Jacob Makes It Three In A Row!

Jacob has managed to make it three in a row in the Formula Bambino Championship at Daytona Manchester!  And he now has a full set (1st, 2nd and 3rd) of the trophies!  A link to the Facebook post from Daytona Manchester is here.

He wasn't quite on top form but managed a 33.752 lap in the first heat and a 33.861 in the second heat.  The average of the two times meant that he'd completed in the third fastest time and therefore a podium finish!

He got changed after his race rather quickly as Samuel was itching to get out on track.  And there was a vacant spot...... more to follow!!

ARKS Test for Samuel

Samuel took his ARKS test yesterday at Hooton Park.  He remembered all his flags and what they were for (including the cake one!) and he was watched whilst out on track by the examiner to make sure that he was competent.  Needless to say, he passed!

And no blog post should be without a few photos so here are some.

As it turns out, he wasn't well when undertaking his test which probably explains the hard eyes in the first photo!

The application for his MSA race licence has been sent and we are hoping he can race soon although he will be classed as a Novice and will race under black and white numbers until he is 'signed off'.

Samuel - Round 2 IRK Championship - Three Sisters

Round 2 of the IRK Championship was held on Sunday 19 May at the 3 Sisters racetrack at Wigan.  Samuel qualified in 7th place from 12 racers (IAME, Honda, WTP and Comer Cadet engines all raced together) on the Club circuit and set a 50.602 lap time.

He finished in 5th place over 10 laps in heat 1 with a time of 50.157 seconds, 5th place again in heat 2 with an improved time of 49.996.

He was placed 4th on the grid for the final and finished overall in 5th place but won the Honda engine category and set his best time of 49.681.  Which he was really pleased with (I think more than wining the category!)

Footage of the final:


And here he is with his trophy:

Round 3 is on 16 June and I hope the weather is just as nice!

Jacob On The Podium Again!

Sunday 12 May was round 5 of the Formula Bambino Championship at Daytona Manchester.  Jacob was still the lap record holder!

He was in heats 2 and 4 along with other quick drivers and he just didn't look comfortable in his first heat and actually finished 4th out of the 5 drivers.

In his second heat he really looked a lot more confident and finished first.  However, we didn't know any of this until the announcements in reverse order following the race!  I didn't think Jacob had managed to secure a podium finish, but he actually managed to pull it all back in the second heat and completed in the second fastest time (average of the two heats) overall.

So here he is on the podium:

 And with his second place trophy which now has pride of place next to his first place trophy!

Samuel is back in action on Sunday 19 May at 3 Sisters in the IRK Championship.

Samuel - Round 1 IKR Championship - Three Sisters

Samuel entered a brand new championship aimed at non MSA drivers at the Three Sisters race track in Wigan.  Round one of the IKR Championship was held on 21 April.

There were 3 Hondas racing against Iame and Comer engines and there were 11 racers overall in the Cadets.  He qualifed 9th and then moved up to 7th after the first heat.  The second heat was a bit more nailbiting as he didn't make it very far due to an incident with another kart - race footage taken with a GoPro Hero 3 black mounted on the front of the kart is below.


He was taken off track by the paramedics in the ambulance and given a through check over - he was ok and fit to race although he had missed heat 2.  He started 9th on the grid for the final and at this point it had started to rain although not too heavy.

Samuel enjoys racing in the wet and he picked off the drivers in front of him lap by lap and finished overall in 5th place, just 0.27 seconds behind 4th place.  He finished second in the Honda class and all the results can be viewed HERE. Footage below of the final



And here he is with his second place trophy:

Round 2 takes place on 19 May

Jacob Does The Double!

It's been such a long time coming that we didn't think it would ever happen! 

Round 4 of the Formula Bambino Championship took place on Sunday 14 April at Daytona Manchester and as Jacob had completed a rather good practice session the week before (he set a new lap record for the year!) and his football season is over, he wanted to enter it.

His first heat (two heats with the fastest average time of them determines where the driver finishes overall) he looked fast and managed to lap the other 3 drivers in the 15 minute session.  He looked not quite as quick in the second heat but still held his own.

Then its the announcement of the placings in reverse order once all heats have completed.  When the third place driver name was read out I knew Jacob had a podium finish but didn't know where!

Only first place!  AND he broke the lap record that he set the previous week by 1.3 seconds!!  Apologies for the blurry podium photo - I was shaking!

And here he is with his trophy:

And the new lap record:

It wasn't all good news for the day though.  Samuel had round 4 of the Indikart Championship at Hooton Park but didn't even get as far as qualifying due to some mechanical issues that could not be resolved.  Still, he has round 5 in May to look forward to and next weekend he's competing at Three Sisters at Wigan in their first IKR Championship for non MSA drivers.

Round 3 - IndiKart Championship 2013 - Hooton Park

Round 3 of the IndiKart Championship at Hooton Park took place on 10 March.  Samuel qualified in 7th place from a field of 18 drivers and after the first heat he finished in 10th place.

The video below is from heat 1 and you'll see some rather quick reactions from Samuel as he manages to avoid other drivers' interesting driving techniques!


He finished heat 2 in 5th place which gave him an average of a 7th place grid start in the final.  He managed to finish 10th overall but still picked up 4 Championship points.

He's currently 4th place overall after 3 rounds.

On-board footage taken with a GoPro Hero 3 Black.

Round 4 is on 14 April.