Thanksgiving!
Nov. 24th, 2018 11:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torkellToday was the annual thanksgiving karting followed by the annual thanksgiving meal hosted by Beth and Jonners. This time round we had the downstairs track at our usual haunt, Crawley Teamsport.
Qualifying was quite good - I came 6th out of 9th, and consistently improved as the session went on. In fact my fastest lap was my 2nd-to-last one - my last lap was the second fastest, and then on the very final lap into the pits I overcooked it and spun on the corner before the up ramp (very nearly collecting Martin in the process). The kart I had was very slippery, and it took me a few laps to get used to the lack of grip, but once I got my head round it it was fun to drive. The corner before the up ramp is after a pair of flat-out straights and I generally took that corner by tapping the brakes to make the back slide, catching the spin with the throttle and counter-steering, and then drifting sideways round and onto the ramp. The top of the ramp/bridge section is a tight S-bend pair that I again drifted round with bootfuls of throttle and aggressive counter-steering. It's probably not the fastest approach, but it's the fun one.
The race was less good - Jonners asked for a reverse grid, but there was some confusion and what actually happened is the slowest driver got pole, followed by everyone else in grid order. I got a decent start which quickly became very confusing with a spin at the bottom of the ramp bunching everyone up, followed by Craig stalling on the back straights and us getting red flagged while the marshals restarted his kart and signalled him through the pack to the front for some reason. We then settled down to a proper race, most of which I spent stuck behind Jean trying to find a way past her and fighting with my kart - unlike in qualifying, this one had more grip and the back flatly refused to step out unless I got really aggressive with the brakes and throttle. I got past once, only to be punted by someone else which let Jean regain the position, so I spent several laps trying to catch up and pass again. Once I got past her I did find myself lapping faster than a pack of drivers behind me, but the race soon ended and I finished down in 8th.
Qualifying was quite good - I came 6th out of 9th, and consistently improved as the session went on. In fact my fastest lap was my 2nd-to-last one - my last lap was the second fastest, and then on the very final lap into the pits I overcooked it and spun on the corner before the up ramp (very nearly collecting Martin in the process). The kart I had was very slippery, and it took me a few laps to get used to the lack of grip, but once I got my head round it it was fun to drive. The corner before the up ramp is after a pair of flat-out straights and I generally took that corner by tapping the brakes to make the back slide, catching the spin with the throttle and counter-steering, and then drifting sideways round and onto the ramp. The top of the ramp/bridge section is a tight S-bend pair that I again drifted round with bootfuls of throttle and aggressive counter-steering. It's probably not the fastest approach, but it's the fun one.
The race was less good - Jonners asked for a reverse grid, but there was some confusion and what actually happened is the slowest driver got pole, followed by everyone else in grid order. I got a decent start which quickly became very confusing with a spin at the bottom of the ramp bunching everyone up, followed by Craig stalling on the back straights and us getting red flagged while the marshals restarted his kart and signalled him through the pack to the front for some reason. We then settled down to a proper race, most of which I spent stuck behind Jean trying to find a way past her and fighting with my kart - unlike in qualifying, this one had more grip and the back flatly refused to step out unless I got really aggressive with the brakes and throttle. I got past once, only to be punted by someone else which let Jean regain the position, so I spent several laps trying to catch up and pass again. Once I got past her I did find myself lapping faster than a pack of drivers behind me, but the race soon ended and I finished down in 8th.
