2023 Club100 Senior Championships
The Club100 Novice Experience
Round 5
Whilton Mill
Overview
Whilton Mill is donned as one of the best race circuits in the UK. I have never raced here before, so would be looking forward to the experience. After a calamitous previous round at Buckmore Park, I would also need a good result as I trail the championship leader by 3 points.
Format
The Club100 Experience includes 15 minutes' practice which transitions into a 5-minute qualifying session. Qualifying determines the grid for Race 1. The fastest lap from Race 1 determines the grid for Race 2. Both races are 20 minutes long. The person with the most points across both races wins the event.
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| I reference corners by name throughout this entry. Feel free to refer back to this track guide from Protrain Academy should you wish to fully immerse yourself inside the helmet. |
Practice and Qualifying
Practice made for a pretty good opportunity to learn the track and enjoy the morning's sunshine around Whilton Mill. I very quickly broke into the mid-'54s to set the pace, but had some traffic to contend with. As I got alongside a slower kart into Parker, they braked rather later than I expected, so in avoiding clattering into them, I sent myself into a spin. I recover into the correct direction.
Confident with one-lap pace, I look for my fellow frontrunners to gather some "competitive" data for myself. Data successfully gathered with a couple of laps to go before practice transitions into qualifying. From which point, the typical yellow flags kick in. Alas, towards the end of the session, I'm in clean air and empowered. Two high '54s, followed by a 53.659, bested by only 0.017 seconds by Kart 56 - Ben Smith, to put me P2 for Race 1.
2023 XP Champs R5 Results - Practice
2023 XP Champs R5 Results - Qualifying
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| Photography by John Patterson @johnnyp5000 |
Race 1
I switch on the ignition. Engine almost croaks into gear. So I'm a bit concerned throughout the formation lap, but I can't change the kart now. Head down, let's go.
A clean start, but I tread with caution. It's cold, tyres will take a few laps to bite and we have a new race leader to negotiate. Indeed, pushing way too hard, too early, Kart 56 - Ben Smith makes a big error coming out of Inkermans, sliding a wheel onto the grass on the exit kerb.
They rejoin ahead, but right into my trajectory for the braking zone. Distracted, I evade to the inside, convert the move into an overtake - then, completely overshoot the corner! I am very lucky to keep away from the barriers as I mow the lawn and return onto the track ... down in P16. Shit, I say with subdued exasperation in my helmet.
From this point on, it's a charge through the field. Whilton Mill is a very open circuit, so you can see a lot of what's going on elsewhere around a lap. And each lap, from the second straight out of Turn 2, while picking off the field, I look over to the leaders - initially at Ashbys, then coming out of Inkermans, eventually approaching Inkermans. I'm reducing the deficit whilst catching right back up into the mix. On Lap 10, I set the fastest lap of the race so far, a 53.649.
And come Lap 12, I'm now on the back of the battle for P3, led by Kart 34 - Joe Kennedy, who is being chased down by Kart 24 - Jonny Fletcher and Kart 71 - Toby Wykes. All amid traffic. A late error by Joe negotiating a backmarker promotes me into P5. Tensions flare between Fletcher and Wykes, which makes it difficult to clear them. However, Fletcher receives a penalty. I'm promoted to P4 by the end of the race.
I'm praised by members of the paddock for the comeback drive, but I'm not happy. The first lap error, the fact I couldn't clear these guys before the chequered flag ... worse, championship rival, Kart 20 - Sam White, won that race - taking the fastest lap in the end for pole position in Race 2.
2023 XP Champs R5 Results - Race 1
Race 2
I set the 5th fastest lap time that race, so qualify P5 for Race 2. My championship hopes are dimming. But I must enjoy this race and make the experience mine. That is ultimately why I am here.
Supremacy resurgent! I hang on around the outside of the opening corners, all the way up into the famed late braking zone that is Christmas Corner, to take P4. Then I have a good run on Ben Smith into Ashbys and, this time, brake appropriately to get ahead. P3.
In P2, Sam White; Kart 6 - Rizwan Mangat has taken the lead for the first time this season. And is giving Sam a tough one about challenging for it back. Sam has better traction out of The Boot to get alongside for the final corner, but Rizwan takes no notice and shunts Sam off onto the grass. I assume P2 from their slight and have a good run on Rizwan onto the main straight.
Right. Christmas. That's where I'm overtaking this guy. I'm too close to their bumper heading into Oblivion and Crook, so back off a little bit through these opening corners; I'm anticipating a better launch out of them. As envisioned, I get a supreme launch onto the uphill straight, get alongside for Christmas Corner. I have the inside line, brake with precision and finally, I'm into the lead!
From P5 to P1 in 90 seconds.
A glance behind. How is Sam right there? I have to manage the pace now. Fast forward to Lap 10. I'm hanging in there. Fastest lap again, a 53.576 - the fastest I've gone around Whilton Mill today. The very next lap, I make an error into The Boot. I open the steering a bit too early to keep the power band up, and instead understeer a wheel into a dip off the track. This hands the lead back to Sam.
I'm taken by surprise: Sam is not pulling away. And I know we've got traffic to negotiate, so the race win is still on here. A few laps later, we exit Christmas with Sam hanging onto a move around a backmarker. Riding the kerbs, the left kink before Inkermans, Kart 20 understeers into the backmarker which sends them off track. Oh, he's getting a penalty for that. Relax, you have the net race lead.
But as we come across the start/finish straight, I don't notice a penalty for Kart 20 appear on the digi-boards for that clear incident. So I have to keep pushing to ensure I win on track. Sam gets more than half a second off me once, when I get distracted by some track limits warning late onto the main straight and miss the apex for Turn 1! Otherwise, I keep him honest to within 0.5 seconds from Lap 12 to 21. Traffic would halt us. Frustrate. Would they force our patience into a potential error?
Cue the final lap. A backmarker is not giving up track position to Sam. And Sam is getting very agitated. Coming out of Chapmans, the backmarker goes defensive. But Sam sends a very neat dummy on the back straight for the inside line. They're side-by-side into the braking zone. I follow through the inside of the backmarker; I'm right on the back of Sam mid-corner, tapping his bumper, ensuring we both clear them.
Then Sam goes defensive into The Boot. The shallower line means he is surely going to bog down on exit. I switchback on him and have the inside line for the final corner. I come out of the final corner, on the final lap, onto the main straight and across the line ... P1! Fastest lap of the race. What a recovery.
I return to the paddock, sceptical that earlier warnings for track limit and a contact might have accumulated into a penalty. I'd be right to be sceptical - but not for any of that. I had just received a penalty for "bump passing" Sam on that final lap showdown for the lead.
On the contrary, Sam, fresh off the track, comes over to say how that was exactly like Lydd - a last lap showdown to the line. Except, I told him, I got a penalty. "For what?" Bump passing you. To which Sam himself objects, "Hmm ... I dunno about that."
2023 XP Champs R5 Results - Race 2
I'm encouraged by the club photographer, the esteemed John Patterson, to note the following. Out of the 6 race winners of all race events on this day, I was the only one not to have raced here before. I'm humbled by those in the paddock, including Sam White, who positively acknowledged I won on the road. I also appreciate having our rivalry acknowledged by spectators for putting on "a good race".
But as a competitor, as a racer, and my own worst enemy ... that penalty took the weight out of the whole experience. The 20 minutes worth of pure hustling. Recovering from my own errors, capitalising on those from others. Ultimately, errors in both races have invited another adverse result, especially for the championship standings. I'm now 16 points behind the leader going into the final round at Buckmore Park.
I know - Novice "Experience" championship, for new club racers to gain experience. Having said that, I also know I should be in a much better points position. I'm going to need something spectacular for the win now.