Go Karting

Another week of marginal forecasts and sod-all riding, so it was a little disappointing to awake to a brilliant day today because we had programmed a Go-Karting Challenge to beat the winter blues.

With the start scheduled for 1100 at Elsdon Indoor Raceway, I had a pretty cruisy start to the day...until I went down to prep and load the bike, only to discover I'd left the key in it and the battery was flat! At this point I would have just taken the car but after today’s event, I was planning to do some prep for the next slow handling ride and since it was only 1010, so I threw the battery charger on then proceeded to load my camera, gear, tapes and tennis-cones before going upstairs to kit up.

At 1030 I tried to start up, but to no avail so I pulled the jumper leads from the car, but the small battery and space meant I needed to connect via a lead which has smaller clips and only 18-20 gauge wire and with the big ergs sucked by the headlights, along with the really flat battery, the volts drop was too great and the bike wouldn't start.....bugger!! She'll be right though, I just repositioned the bike and shoved the big clips straight onto the smaller ones and voila, I was in business.

I quickly put the seat, sidecover and right bag on, put on my helmet and gloves and was away by 1045 for a hasty trip to Elsdon, where fortunately they were running behind...so I had plenty of time to team up with my last year's partner Warwick, change, sign-up and pay, then chat with the other 19 drivers and couple of spectators, take a few photos, get briefed, then get under way.

The format was an 80lap (40 per driver) race with a Le Mans start and Warwick took the first stint, but encountered problems getting the kart out of the blocks so we started out in 6th. With Dave getting a brilliant start, by the time we had the first change, we were up to 3rd or 4th but a lap down on the leaders. By 40laps we were still in 3rd but 2 laps down on Dave&Les and a lap down on Trev&Herman, but then the worm turned and by staying out of trouble we managed to claw back the deficit to get back on the lead lap, then around 60 or 70 laps we found ourselves in front with a narrow lead........Yes!!! ...and we held on to take the chequered flag.

With the fun over by 1300, we were off to a cafe but the Black wouldn't start....@$%&**!

I thought the 20 odd minutes would be sufficient but not so, so I opted out and headed for the Riverbank carpark, but even then I wasn't prepared to stop the bike, so I just checked the measurements on an area I planned to use then headed home to put the bike back on charge.

It was a great day with much power-sliding and hairpin slip-sliding involved as well as tactical nip and tuck. I now have a fully charged battery and the Tip-Over Bars refitted so I'll give it a few days before testing the bike to see if I need to invest in a new battery or not!