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.

Round 2 - IndiKart Championship 2013 - Hooton Park

Round 2 of the IndiKart Championship at Hooton Park was very very wet and cold.

Samuel had a difficult qualifying session and only managed one decent lap, however that was enough to give him 4th place.

He managed to stay in 4th for heat one and heat 2 so started in 4th for the final.  And finished 4th!

The top 4 drivers from the field of 16 were podium finishers so he got another trophy!

Footage below from his qualifying session and taken on a GoPro Hero 3 Black fixed to his crash helmet.



And with his trophy:

Round 3 is on 10 March.

Round 1 - IndiKart Championship 2013 - Hooton Park

Last Sunday saw the first round of 2013 in the Indikart Championship at Hooton Park - a week late due to the snow the previous week.

There were 18 Cadet drivers on the line-up and Samuel qualified in 7th place for heat one.  Here are the starts shown as a spectator and also from the GoPro Hero 3 Black camera fitted to his helmet.

Heat One - started in 7th place and by the first corner he was leading the race!






He finished in 6th place so that was his grid start position for heat two:




The final was the average of the two heat finishes so he started in 7th place:



He finished the race in 4th place (top 5 finished on the podium) with Lee and Alex from the Championship Karting team finishing in 2nd and 3rd, it meant that the team were all podium finishers!

And here they are on the podium along with 5th and 1st place drivers:

Round 2 is this weekend!

Mind The Mud (And Ice!)

Samuel had a full weekend at Hooton Park despite it being rather cold and frosty and it was the first time he'd been to Hooton since his third place finish in December.

Look out for the rather large patch of mud on the left hand side of the track - he ends up wearing most of it!

We had fitted a GoPro Hero 3 Black camera to his helmet for the full weekend and here is Samuel getting his nice clean suit muddy in his third session on the track on Sunday:



More footage to follow including some overtaking and his fastest session of the day (he's flat out through most of the corners!)

And yes, the GoPro is fantastic and the quality is amazing - it's just like being there!!

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.