British 24hr Championship - Teesside 2016

[[TC] Viper]

Good luck, 5UCK!

[[TC-R] Sam]

I've yet to pack and don't finish work till 7, opps

[[TC]»Pete«]

Get it done...

[[TC-R] Sam]

We just completed practice, all seem to be a simular pace, I had a big off and ended up in a tire stack, but was right back on it by the next lap.

[[RDSR] Russ]

Good luck during the race then

Did you guys decorate the kart?

[[TC-R] Sam]

Not yet, but we have the Bigfoot with us to decorate it

[[TC]»Pete«]

We're awaiting Luke's arrival at the hotel, then we're having our stint talk ahead of the race

[[TC] Viper]

How's it going lads?

[[TC]»Pete«]

Sorry for 0 updates! We just finished packing up and we're heading home.

I will write up a summary when I've got home and showered.

[[RDSR] Russ]

Look forward to hearing about it

[[TC]»Pete«]

Adam, Jack, Sam and I all managed to grab 30 minutes each on track during Friday practice. Unfortunately, Luke was unable to get the time off work to join us for that, he met up with us later in the evening. The karts we used for that were substantially lighter and were ever so slightly slower than the karts we would be using on race day. We all showed similar pace during practice which gave us a much needed confidence boost ahead of Saturday. We learned that the karts on race day would be heavier, faster, fresher and more savage around a track that was already an extreme workout at over 1 minute 20 seconds in length in karts which top 70mph.

Luke joined us after dinner at the hotel restaurant on Friday evening where the Corporate Chauffeurs team were also staying. Mikee came to say hi in the restaurant before we headed out for the evening to finalise the ballast on our seat insert and to buy supplies for the race. Supplies included tubular knee bandages and heavy duty sponges which we turned into knee pads to stop the insides of our needs from bruising up from banging against the steering column through fast corners. Even after 30 minutes of driving, the four of us that were there on Friday had bruising on the inside of our legs from banging against the steering column and fuel bottle screw cap.

It's safe to say we were all pretty nervous leaving the hotel on Saturday morning but also very, very excited to get going. Luckily our gazebo was still intact when we arrived at 7am which was a relief! The first thing we had to do when we arrived was to go and fetch our kart. Jack picked our kart allocation out of the black bag and it was a good one. The chassis looked pretty new and with our nassau panel attached the hype was real!

Next was the briefing, then our practice session. We were all required to complete at least 3 laps so Sam, Adam, Jack and I did 3 and left Luke out for the remainder of the time so he could learn the kart and the track. The main difference we all noticed between Friday and Saturday was how much the kart was hopping around at the uphill chicane and on the entry of the third hairpin, it was really brutal on our ribs, backs and knees.

At this point, the sponges and duct tape came out as we began strapping bright pink sponges to our legs. Professional. It might have looked crazy but we weren't the only ones and it really works. Before we knew it it was time for qualifying. Qualifying was 30 minutes long so we sent Jack and Sam out for 15 minutes each. At this stage we thought Adam would start the race so we wanted to rest him. We ended qualifying 3rd from last in class and 51st overall. The pole time was a 1.19 and we were in the 1.22s so only 3s off pole which was really, really nice for us. It was nice to know we were so, so close to the pace. For a while we were ahead of a lot of teams but once the others settled in we were pushed down.

We decided Sam would start the race and at 12:00 on the nose, Sam ran across the course, jumped in the kart and our le mans start was over! Sam immediately gained a place and held his position for his entire stint. Adam took over the kart next, had a solid stint and then handed it over to me. When I jumped in the kart we were up to 46th place! About 25 minutes into my stint I was bumped from behind by a pro-kart out of the quad-chicane which unsettled the kart into the braking zone which caused me to spin. This wouldn't usually be a big issue but this accident spooked another kart in the hire-class behind us who locked up and slammed into the side of me. I waited for a gap in the traffic and rejoined, feeling winded. It wasn't until the long right that I realised I had an issue, my back was in serious pain and my ribs on the left side were sharp with pain. I drove 1 more lap and immediately gave the signal that I was coming in in 3 laps (3 taps on my helmet), the team swung into action and called me in perfectly. I was totally broken by the end of that next lap and had a big struggle pushing the kart out of the fuel station and tripped up because I couldn't physically push it. Jack and Luke jumped in to help and Luke went out next. As soon as I started walking back to our gazebo, I knew I was finished, I was gutted and frustrated and feeling really bad for the team as I knew it was inevitable that we would be down to 4 drivers after only 2 hours 30 minutes...

Luke nailed his first stint with no issues and then it was Jack's turn. At this point we were entering the evening so the sun was setting. After roughly 45 minutes Jack shot into the pitlane and we were not ready for him. With the setting sun we could not distinguish Jack's gloves from his helmet as they were both red. He had been banging his helmet for 3 laps as he had agreed in times of needing to pit for a break. We simply hadn't seen it. Sam ran down to the pit lane and the changeover was done with very little delay. Upon returning to the pitlane Jack informed us that one of the fuel lines had come lose on the first lap of his stint and fuel had burned through his suit over his left knee. He was able to reconnect the fuel line but the damage was done. He kept pushing for 45 minutes until he couldn't bear it and pulled in. Jack went straight to the medical staff to get patched up and the circuit took his suit to be washed and tumble dried. Because his suit was covered in fuel over the knees there was a risk of ignition from sparks of karts in front so it had to be done. After Sam had completed his second stint without issue it was Adam's turn again. Adam completed his next stint with no issues and at that point it would have been me going in the kart. Instead Luke went out. We settled into a rhythm at this point. I was able to take the role of team manager at this point which took responsibility away from other 4 guys which we realised helped massively. I tracked stint lengths and called people in after 1hr15m-1hr20m at which point we already had our change over party ready. Our radio communication was on point, our pit board was perfect, even when we illuminated it at night it was perfectly visible. It was going really, really well and we were all enjoying it.

10 hours in the fatigue got to Adam and Jack was in too much pain with his legs and ribs to continue. Luke and Sam each did 2 more stints and at 2:30am we were forced to park the kart for the night. We were broken. On the plus side, we had made it up to 44th position!

We were told by race control that we were still able to finish the race and that jumping in and out of the kart whenever we wanted was fine so with this in mind we took it easy, got some rest and then in the morning we sent Sam out to complete the race for the final 30 minutes.

At 12:00 today we finished our first 24 hour race in 51st position and that was our goal, to finish. Sure we weren't on track for 8 hours but on our first try as total rookies we are super happy with our result.

It was so much fun, everyone was so helpful, so friendly and the atmosphere was amazing. We know where we fell short this year, we know what kit we need to invest in as a team and we'll be back!

I've skipped lots of great moments because I need my bed but I wanted to write something that summarised the important points. Maybe the others can post their thoughts soon!

On a personal note, I am gutted that I had to bow out so soon but I have 12 months to prepare myself for our next attempt and I'm totally up for that challenge.

[[RDSR] Russ]

Sounds eventful but fun.

Roll on next year's!

Hope your feeling a bit better now Pete and Jack with his burnt knee!

[[TC]►Carl◄]

Despite the few downers you had, it seemed like everything was handled well and it sounds like great fun, especially for a rental class. Hope you're feeling better now though lads.

[fWANKy]

wow sounds great fun, hopefully videos and picutres?

[[TC]»Pete«]

Videos and pictures will come, along with some of the funny stuff that went down

---

My back is recovering but my ribs are still giving me grief.

---

Jack's sent us some pictures of his knee and it doesn't look comfortable at all.

[[TC-R] Sam]

I got an on board from my last night stint and it was action packed, but the lighting on the track isn't great and as we all know cameras aren't to good in the dark so some areas appear very dark which is a shame as I had some good battles and overtakes, also a few on edge moments with the owner class flying by.

[fWANKy]

how did mikee and his team get on?

[[TC]»Pete«]

They qualified 37th, Mikee got them back up to 4th in class before one of their chains came off. Then their engine seized. Their #11 finiished 5th in class and their #22 (Mike's) finished 11th in class.

[MousemanLV]

Driving karts for that long can be a good workout for your neck as well as your core!

[[TC-R] Mikee]

(2016-08-14 22:25)Fwanky Wrote:  how did mikee and his team get on?

Kart was a pile of *Removed*, Qualified 22nd in class. We managed to get it fixed for the race and got us up to 4th in class. Left engine started to die and the carb was flooded with oil. Lost 10 minutes and was dead last in class. We manged to fight back to 8th with 4 hours to go. Then it went tits up.

Steering wheel snapped, Chain fell off and finally our engine seized up. 11th in the end haha!