I have been out of action motorsport wize for a while because I perforated a disk 18 months ago, but its getting a lot better. Today was its first real test, I did a 3 hour mini GP at http://www.easterncreekkarts.com.au/ with their corporate karts. The facility is pretty good, with lots of track variations available. However you dont really get a pick which one you drive on, so we ended up on the same track that I drove on last time I was out there about 5 years ago.
It was raining heavily on the drive out there, so I was kinda looking forward to sliding the karts around. Once I got out west it had cleared up a fair bit, and by the time we did the drivers briefing and got on track it had stopped raining. The track was still very wet so good fun was had by all. There was a few slow blokes and I got caught out behind one of them and accidently overtook one in the no overtaking zone, so they pulled me over in the middle of heat one and gave me a lecture. That put me in 4th place by the time I got going again, and managed to get back to 2nd.
Heat 2 I started from 4th on the grid and managed a win. Then the final the dry line had appeared on the track and some faster times were being set, but it meant overtaking had to be done offline and it was still as slippry as anything. All was going well until about 10 laps into the 20 lap race and my steering wheel column decided to part company with the cart, so I had to slow down as the column is directly attached to the steering and changed the front wheel geometry. The guy who was in 2nd Kiern caught up about 2 seconds a lap and caught and passed me on the 2nd last lap. I gritted my teeth (the steering was getting quite scary by this time flopping around in my lap) and kept on his six, put some pressure on the final lap and managed to pass him on the last corner, and hold him off as we crossed the finish line virtually side by side. The winning margin was .07 of a second in the end!
Thanks to Scotty for allowing me some time off to get my fix, was just what I needed. However I do feel a bit sore now :P
