I joined Club100 for a handful of races this year to familiarise myself with the fastest arrive and drive karting experience in the UK.
We start off with a novice test at Bayford Meadows before my first race at Lydd Raceway for new The Club100 Experience. A sprint race follows at Rye House, before returning in the finals at Buckmore Park for both Sprint and The Experience championships.
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| Photography by John Patterson @johnnyp5000 |
Bayford Meadows
Novice Test, July 2022
Full article:
https://eyeshigherportfolio.blogspot.com/p/bayford-meadows-club100-evaluation-test.html
Before entering their first race, new drivers have to book an evaluation test session with the club. Arriving at track, John Vigor, organising director, asks into our racing background. I say electric karting, to which JV assumes indoor. Outdoor. Outdoor? I also mention my competitive experience in the Daytona InKart Championships. To which I'm reassured I've come to the right place for a step up.
The session lasts 30 minutes. I get used to kart and track during this time, start to put in consistent laps and enjoy the occasion at a great circuit in beautiful weather. 25 drivers, 5th fastest.
Also, looking at the timing sheets on the way home, fellow Daytona alum Tom Angier and I clocked in a fastest lap to within 0.001 seconds of each other! A nod to having both graduated from Sandown Park. Nevertheless, a really encouraging experience to check out what club racing is like, be successfully assessed as a racer and feel a part of a racing community. Next up, Planet Lydd!
Lydd Raceway
Club100 Experience, Round 5
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| Photography by John Patterson @johnnyp5000 |
Full article:
https://eyeshigherportfolio.blogspot.com/p/club100-experience-2022-lydd.html
Novice class was fully booked, so in my first ever race with Club100 I would be in amongst intermediate class. The Club100 Experience, newly introduced in 2021, offers a less demanding race calendar, i.e. 6-7 rounds. The format is 15-minute practice which transitions into a 5-minute qualifying session. Qualifying determines the grid for Race 1. The results from Race 1 determines the grid for the final, Race 2. Both races are 20 minutes long.
There's a peculiar phenomenon in karting where drivers can't seem to relinquish the urge to race each other ... during a practice session. As a result, everyone compromises each other's runs. I've tried backing off into my own space, but with many karts on circuit, I'm not sure qualifying was optimal. P17, out of 23 drivers. Either way, I'm a novice racing in the highest class, so I'm not worried at this point. However, I could not get my kart started for the formation lap, Race 1, so ended up starting last. After a few exchanges of position, I finished there, too. Now I'm feeling a bit underwhelmed. Just hoped the second race would be more fun.
Race 2. I gain about 5 positions on Lap 1. A few more on Lap 2. But on lap 3, I find myself taking evasive action, stomping on the brakes and spinning back to last. Nevertheless, I recover from 23rd to finish 14th - the highest climber of the race. Pace was faster than the karts ahead, my fastest lap matching the guy who finished 8th. So without the early spin, that's strong potential to realise from my first outing with the club. Also, with only a second separating the pace from 1st to 17th, the level-playing field promises close racing going forward.
2022 Lydd Raceway Exp - Race Results
https://results.alphatiming.co.uk/club100/e/79830/s/208634/result
Rye House
Club100 Lightweight Sprint 2022, Round 7
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| Photography by John Patterson @johnnyp5000 |
Full article:
https://eyeshigherportfolio.blogspot.com/p/club100-lw-sprint-2022-rye-house.html
Following The Club100 Experience in Lydd is my first Sprint race, entering the Lightweight (LW) category as a Novice Class 3 (NC-3). The format is 3x heats of randomly selected grids, novices usually towards the back. The overall results from the heats qualify the grid for the Finals. Whether you're a NC-3, intermediate C2 or experienced C1 driver, it's performance that determines whether you make the C final, B final, or fastest A final.
We're also assigned racing buddies - more experienced drivers - to look after our queries and provide tips where necessary. Sam Morris kindly volunteered himself forth, many thanks. Except for knocking me out wide later on this event! As such, after a poor first heat where I struggled to acclimatise to the track, I found good pace into the second and third heats. No expectations on where I'd qualified, though, other than I'd be in the C final. Perhaps a top 10 start. Then Sam says I've qualified P2!
So it's a rolling start, me on the outside. Lights go green, foot down on the throttle. We're off. I'm edging ahead at start/finish, point the kart across the polesitter's path into Stadium Bend and exit in P1! I lead us back onto main straight to complete the first lap, then I see my kart number on the digi-board - PENALTY. FOR WHAT? I cross the line, hand raised in confusion. Not that any of that mattered ... I lose the lead on Lap 2, spin into the first hairpin on Lap 3 and drop down to P11. I recover to P8, but with penalties applied, P10 at the flag.
I was penalised for a "jump start". As I hadn't done a rolling start from the first row before, I was unaware of the rule that the lead kart should cross the start/finish line first. I reacted only to the lights so once I saw green, I was gone, mate. A shame, because we were still side-by-side over the line. And I had serious pace to convert! Anyhow, in my first sprint and only second Club100 outing, I qualified P2 out of 20. Then led the opening laps on pure pace. Exceeding my own expectations. Even if I did spin myself out of contention.
2022 Rye House Sprint - Race Results
You can also see how the race unfolded lap-by-lap via the Replay option in link.
https://results.alphatiming.co.uk/club100/e/86247/s/219972/result
Buckmore Park
Finals
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| Photography by John Patterson @johnnyp5000 |
Club100 Sprint 2022, Round 11 [Live stream]
Full article:
https://eyeshigherportfolio.blogspot.com/p/club100-lw-sprint-2022-finals-buckmore.html
After returning from the novelty of a seat fitting with Kinetik Automotive, the first thing I noticed stepping back into A&D karting was how hunched I am in the seat. I notice it more in photos now why both mechanics and fellow racers would ask me if I'd like my seat back or pedals adjusted when I first started doing this. Now I'm asking them if this is the furthest we can adjust everything!
Quite a few drivers booked some testing before the sprint. I might have benefited from this because, like at Rye House, I was off pace in Heat 1. Except this time, by merit of fending off two karts behind, I did not finish last. Plus, I knew where to improve. Therefore, I gained 8 places the next heat, despite the racing shenanigans throughout, for which everyone received "a bit of counselling", as Steve Gary lightly puts it in the official race report. Racing standards would improve henceforth, but the low mist would descend further. Luckily, anti-fog wipes meant I could better manage visibility through an otherwise unremarkable Heat 3 into the floodlit finals.
Starting P8 in the C Final, on the less favoured outside line, I knew the best thing to do is plant myself in the middle of the circuit into turn 1 (see livestream at 7:06:15). Despite taking several licks in the process, we proceed unscathed. Then I had to withstand a tank slapper from a spinning kart into turn 2 (7:06:30). I almost escape the first lap shenanigans successfully, but then two karts right in front spin each other around and force a couple of us to deviate completely off track (7:07:05). I'm P16 by end of Lap 1.
However, almost each lap, I complete an overtake. Up to P12, with the 4th fastest time. Now there's a train of karts 5 seconds up the road. Despite the limited time offered by the sprint format to catch up, my pace means I get myself right back in the mix come the final lap. I anticipate and capitalise off a last gasp move from two karts ahead to collect one position, slipstream the other to the line, but run out of track. P9, after penalties applied. I wanted more, but looking back at the results I'd at least gained on my nearest rivals from Rye House.
2022 Buckmore Park Sprint Finals - Race Results
https://results.alphatiming.co.uk/club100/e/99639/s/245330/result
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Full article:
https://eyeshigherportfolio.blogspot.com/p/club100-experience-2022-buckmore-park.html
No rain as forecast, but the track was still wet in sections from the day before. I thought this would undermine the knowledge acquired from the sprints a couple weeks back. On the contrary, I went fastest in practice out of 33 drivers, before ultimately qualifying P5 for Race 1.
I was so intent on surviving the first lap chaos that I delay back to P12. I recollect a few positions, then meet a kart ahead who is all over the pace. It's wet off-line, I cannot clear them. Later on, by narrowly missing them under braking, I end up out wide onto paint, understeer, very slowly, all around turn 1 before meeting the barriers. I rejoin in P20 and only recover to P13. A consequence of being way too tentative on the opening lap.
So Race 2, I'm in mode NOT RAMPING. I make use of whatever advantage the still wet inside line has into turn 1 to assert some authority into turn 2. In the process, I escape the outside congestion and promote myself from an under-representative P13 up to P6. For a few laps, I'm stuck behind P5 which soon backs up into a queue. A few collective tussles drop me down to P10, then back up to P8 on Lap 12. Field more dispersed, I would now comfortably build on my own pace ... until Lap 20.
I have to start lapping karts. Such traffic invites the kart behind to catch up. On Lap 24, approaching Hairpin 1, a lapped kart gives way ... on the racing line. I dive deep into the corner, lap them, but the kart behind dives even deeper and collects P8. Good move ... but I ain't having it.
On exit, they go defensive. I take the outer line, then switch back inside of them for Hairpin 2. However, another lapped kart, while sensibly adhering to the blue flags, has emerged into focal point. They're mid-corner. I brake hard, go sideways - it's still wet here, my opposite lock realises on arrival. I make the corner, but the oversteer opens space on the inside for my rival to slot through on exit and retake P8. I hunt them down closely for the rest of the lap but like the sprints, it's another anti-climactic slipstream to the line. P9 at the flag.
Penalties applied, I inherit P8, but finishing P8 on the track promoted the rival to P6. A slightly frustrating end to what was otherwise a strong race. Nevertheless, P8 out of 30-odd racers continues the upward trend from the P14 at Lydd, P10 at Rye House and P9 for the Buckmore Park Sprint final.
Buckmore Park Exp (Novice) - Race Results
https://results.alphatiming.co.uk/club100/e/101228/s/249017/result
Setting the benchmark. Club100 - Live AlphaTimings.
In only a handful of races in club racing, I've already qualified P2 at Rye House and secured a 75% top 10 race finishing streak. All in the largest grids I have experienced, such is the popularity for racing here.
For Club100 is a revelation. Parity in performance, live broadcasting at established venues across the UK. I'm looking forward to pushing even more at new tracks next season.