Jitty Goes Karting - 09/02/2008

On Saturday 9th of February 2008, a group of editors and a few others from the forum went karting at a specialist F1 track.

We arrived at the karting circuit at approximately 2:50pm. However we did not need to be there until about 3:45. We were early because of the coach company, which insisted that we should leave at 2:30 because of the traffic.

After we arrived and signed in we trundled upstairs and watched the group on the track at that moment right up until about 4pm in which we could all get ready to race. The group before us did not look particularly good, although they did show us what the track was like and on some occasions what not to do.

But still we were not allowed on the track for another half an hour, so we trotted into the waiting room, and what was the sight that followed, but FOOD. So we all started to munch on anything that we could get our hands on.

At about 4 we had to go into another room to get our overalls. When we had our overalls on we had to watch a small video about safety, and what the different lights or flags mean.

Finally it was time to go on. So off we trotted to form a queue so we could all get in the karts. The staff checked us to make sure that we were all safe to drive, e.g. our helmets were on correctly. Then we all jumped in the first kart that was available and then... we were off, whizzing around the track like maniacs who have never driven before. After about four laps, James decided to get out of his kart and abandon the race, because he likes to drive at speed and did not feel that he would have been able to continue, and he wanted to get an outside view on the driving standards of everyone, to give feedback in the break.

After about 25 minutes we finished the first round and headed back to the waiting room for a break and had time to relax a bit, chat about how we thought the first session went and what we could do to try and improve our standards of driving. After about 25 minutes of eating and drinking, we went back onto the track for the second and final session.

When we were all seated in the karts, and checked for all the safety things (helmets) we were back on the track for another 25 minutes. The second session was much better than the first, everyone tried to beat their best time in the first round instead of racing each other, which is what happened before the break. We all became good drivers and most of us tried to keep to the correct lines and not overtake on the amber lights/flags, which a lot of people did in the first round.

After approximately 20 minutes there was a massive pile up on a corner, in which I was caught up in. Someone smashed into the back end of me causing me to do a 180° spin whilst I was trying to get past a little crash on the corner. This resulted in me needing a new kart, as someone broke my other one and the back wheels would not turn, because the crash had messed up the break pads. It turned out that my new kart was better for me than the first one, because I went from 13th to 9th just in the 4 laps that I managed to do before the end of the round. We all managed to escape the pile up with a few minor injuries.

The fastest lap time of the evening was 25 seconds which was achieved by Lampard. The best lap time ever at the circuit was 22 seconds which was done by a professional racer. Lampard was only a second slower than James, who previously got round in 24 seconds. So well done Lampard, and might I add, this was Lampard’s first time in a go-kart. We all had a great amount of fun and many people got adrenalin rushes.

I would recommend that everyone should go, as long as you don’t mind getting a few bruises. And even if you do mind I would still recommend it. It doesn’t matter if you don’t drive, you can still enjoy yourself and be able to work the karts. You probably will never experience adrenalin rushes as much as you will whilst karting.

- By Ant
11/02/2008

Results

Kart number, top speed in mph and best lap time in seconds

Kart Speed Best lap

18 -- 39.1 -- 25.85
19 -- 35.3 -- 27.90
14 -- 35.0 -- 28.07
20 -- 34.9 -- 28.24
15 -- 34.5 -- 28.48
06 -- 34.5 -- 28.51
21 -- 34.4 -- 28.60
08 -- 33.2 -- 29.62
09 -- 32.4 -- 30.40
10 -- 32.4 -- 30.41
17 -- 31.8 -- 31.01
16 -- 31.6 -- 31.15
13 -- 31.4 -- 31.30
11 -- 27.3 -- 36.05
12 -- 25.2 -- 39.00