I met up with teener owners Stu Long and Eric Valdaserra for a couple of sessions at the indoor kart track in Wallingford yesterday afternoon. Sorry we missed Ed Morrow who had family obligations.
The 4 fastest guys of the day were in our first heat, in fact the January FTD (so far) was set during that session. My first time at this and I was second onto the track. It wasn't long before I was passed and I did my best to keep up but wasn't ready to go flat out in the high speed turns yet. Each time one of the hot shoes got by me I took the opportunity to study his line through the next couple of corners until he moved out of sight. I got 11 laps in an 8 minute heat with my best being 40.1 sec and 2 other laps below 41 sec. The FTD lap was 36.95 sec.
The second session was a lot different for me. 15 karts and I was near the back. I ws being passed after a couple of laps, by the guys who were first out. But I was trying to make my way through the slower drivers ahead of me at the same time. After about 5 laps I found a clear track and got down to business applying what I learned in session 1, even though this kart was set up a bit looser than my previous ride. I managed to avoid the brake pedal before the sweepers, and kept the rear from sliding too much in the tight corners. The result was another half second off my best time, with the best driver in the sesson only being 1.7 sec faster than me.