Manchester and Buxton Kart Club - August - First Place!

Another weekend - another race!  This time at Three Sisters, Wigan for the Manchester and Buxton round 8 race.  This was to be Samuel's last race as a Novice.

In Heat 1 Samuel finished first for the Honda's and 11th overall (from 17) in all the Cadets, moving up 4 places from his start position.  He set a time of 52.93 on the Valley circuit.  The heat was red flagged due to an incident at Valley and the driver didn't compete for the rest of the day.

Heat 2 Samuel he gained 3 places and again was the fastest Honda.  In Heat 3 he again gained 3 places, was the fastest Honda but the race was red flagged as another Honda driver tangled with Samuel forcing him off, leaving a streak of black rubber across the side of his seat.  Samuel was fine and drove back round to scrutineering.  Two of the IAME drivers were not so lucky at the same point at Valley and both had to be treated and neither raced in the final.

In the final, Samuel stormed home to take first place for the Honda's (and also Top Novice!) and here he is on the podium:

And if you are keeping tally, that is 3 trophies from his last 3 races and takes his overall total to 22 podiums and trophies in 20 months!

Cheshire Kart Club - August - Top Novice Again!

Samuel took top Honda Novice again at the Cheshire Kart Club on 18 August.  He set a 43.77 lap in the first heat after starting 11th on the grid and finishing 11th out of the Hondas and Comer Cadets.  Heat 2 he did a 44.19 and finished 8th overall (3rd from 5 Honda's).

And in the final he went quicker and set a 43.87 finishing 3rd overall in the Honda's and top Novice.  Not his best time but still good enough to get on the podium and to take away a trophy!

He now has just one Novice race left before he can race properly and not start from the back each time.

Three of the boys came away with trophies - Garrett in first place for IAME and Alex with top IAME Novice - and they are all with Ryan from CKS.

Next race is 25 August!

Samuel - IKR Championship - Round 4

Last Saturday saw Round 4 of the IKR Championship at the Three Sisters Race Circuit at Wigan and it was on the Valley circuit.

There were 12 Cadets in total and two Honda's.  Samuel qualified in 9th place overall and then finished 5th in heat 1.  5th again in heat 2 and in heat 3 he again finished in 5th place and set his personal best with a 52.679 second lap!

For the final he finished 5th overall and beat his fastest lap with a 52.421!  He also finished first for the Honda engines and claimed a podium finish.

He enjoyed the day and completed some smooth and carefully manoeuvred overtakes against other drivers with faster engines with relative ease.

Photo of him and Sam P on the podium:

The video below is from the final:


Next race is on 18 August at Hooton Park!

Manchester & Buxton Kart Club - Top Novice!

Samuel's second race as a Novice was on Sunday 28 July at the Manchester and Buxton Kart Club round 7 Championship at the Three Sisters Race track at Wigan.  This time it was on the Valley circuit and he did much better than the last round!  The weather was better too although it alternated between glorious sunshine and torrential rain!

There were 12 Honda Cadets in total and because of his Novice status he started either 11th or 12th on the grid for each of the three heats (pre-set grid positions).  Heat 1 he finished in 10th place, heat 2 8th place and heat 3 in 6th place.  This meant he started in 8th place on the grid for the final and he did much better with the rolling grid starts too!

He finished in 7th place overall and took the Top Novice trophy!

Next race is 10 August - IKR Championship round 4.

Cheshire Kart Club - Top Honda Novice!

Samuel took part in his second MSA race at the weekend at a familiar track - Hooton Park - which is the home for the Cheshire Kart Club.  He'd had a good day practicing on the Saturday so was prepared for the race on Sunday.

As a novice he was placed 7th on the grid (at the back) for each of the 3 heats and also the final and the Honda's raced with the Comer engines.

Heat one he finished in 3rd place with a 43.24 second lap, heat 2 he finished in 5th place and did a faster lap with 42.62 seconds (which is his fastest ever at Hooton!) and heat 3 he also finished in 5th but the track was beginning to cool and he did a 43.07.

Despite the reasonable finishes in the heats, because he is a novice, he had to start the final at the back.  Samuel made contact on the first corner of the second lap and spun off and although he managed to get going again, he had a huge gap to the next driver.  He had a few more uncharacteristic spins before the checkered flag came down and finished overall as fastest Honda Cadet Novice and 6th in the Cadet class.

And here he is with his trophy:

The race results can be found here.

Next race is on 28 July!

Another Podium For Jacob!

It was Formula Bambino Round 7 last weekend at Daytona Manchester.  There were 7 drivers in total and Jacob set the second fastest time in his first heat with a time of 33.805 seconds.  In his second heat he went faster (the track was warming up as it was really hot outside!) with a 33.393 fastest lap.

Combining the two times together, this gave him an average of 33.6 seconds and good enough for second place and a podium finish!

He's can only compete in one more Formula Bambino before he turns 8, so hopefully, he will do just as well in that as he has been doing recently!

Teachers Strike = A Day Karting For Jacob!

Teachers strike = a day karting for Jacob!  This was his first time on the track at Hooton Park in the Intrepid, which is now his kart as Samuel has graduated to a Project One.

Fortunately, Jacob is a similar size to Samuel so his wet suit fitted - typical that it rained on his first time out on track!  And for a change, it was Samuel who just had to sit and watch!

He really enjoyed himself and can't wait to go again!

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!!