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[Sam-KK24]

Last Sunday, for the first time ever, I won at Larkhall race circuit. 431 days after my last win.

Was a strange weekend, all Saturday I was off the pace all weekend but we thought the new tyres would be make a difference on the Sunday.

Sunday was dry, but it was threatening with rain all day..

Heat 1: Started P6, finished 1st. Was into P3 by lap 1, P2 by lap 2, P1 by lap 4, led and won. My first heat win at Larkhall.

Heat 2: Started P2, Finished 5th. Had a great start and went to into the lead after lap 1, but then a very over ambitious move on me sent me back down to about 8th, where I recovered to 5th.

Heat 3: Started 5th, finished P5. Had a decent start, was in 4th after turn 1. The track was a little greasy, it had been spitting of rain for a few mins before we went out.. and at the top I went off, rejoined and recovered to 5th, although it really should have been 3rd.

My heat results lined me up third on the grid, and with a good chance to take a maiden win at Larkhall. I got a poor start though, and was in 4th by lap 1, and was about 2 seconds behind the front three, but I was catching.. And then the rain came. The front three got to the hairpin first and went off, luckily I manged to keep it on the track and went round, now leading on lap 6 of 12. 2nd place man was 1.02 second behind me, but over the next 3 laps I pulled out the best laps of the year I think. I was 2 seconds quicker than anyone else at times, and opened my gap to 10.45 seconds with to laps to go. By this time I knew the race was safe, and just crawled home, for the first win of the year, and my first at Larkhall. I did panic a little bit though, I didn't realise I had it quite so easy, one of the 3 that came off was behind me after I had lapped him, but I thought he was in 2nd! And in those last 2 laps when I was just crawling home, he was catching me so much I had to speed up a little, but it turned out he had been lapped! The other 2 that came off also rejoined, one of them making his way up 2nd, and the other was a lap down. I had the 2nd fastest time in the dry, and in the mixed conditions I was easily fastest, so it really was a great one to win, not one I'll forget in a while.

I also a bet with my friend, who has a lot of hair.. If he won, I had to grow my hair as long as his, but if I won, he has to get his shaved off! Can't wait to see that next week!

That may very well have been my last junior race, next month is the start of the Winter Series and hopefully we will be in Seniors by then, and I'm so happy I've managed to cap off the year with a win at Larkhall, and now I've won at every track in Scotland.

[Jabberwocky]

well done mate,

[texasmr2]

Sam you should try to get a test with Toyota F1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[7UpJordan]

I've already said it to you on MSN, but once again well done Sam.

A great performance beating the opposition in a Kart 5 years older than your opponents.

[Sam-KK24]

Haha, should Email them and see what they say

[texasmr2]

Haha, should Email them and see what they say

It never hurts to ask and aswell it show's true motivation so why not right!!!

[TheMaster]

Congratulations, well done and keep it up

[Sam-KK24]

Today I had my first test day in the the Senior Rotax Max class. The engine is the same as the junior version that I race, although the senior motor is unrestricted and had a powervalve, making it roughly 1 second a lap faster.

We got there, and it was very wet, so I knew it was going to be very tricky to judge braking points and turn-in points etc.

First session we went out and I was just getting used to the extra speed and powervalve, and I came in about 1.8 seconds of the pace of the 2 frontrunners. One of the front runners is a class-act around the Larkhall track, especially in the wet, and he was 3rd in Britain last year. The other, who was Junior British Champion last year, has been in the senior class for a full year, and took a European podium earlier this year, so I knew I was up against the best. There was one of guy of similar ability to me, who was also testing for the first time in the senior, but I was quicker than him almost all day.

Throughout the day my times tumled, and I took 9 tenths out of my first session time, and at points I was only 0.7 off the fastest. That was alright though, since I'm on a 2002 motor and on the old clutch, and I was also running light. The old clutch is worth about 0.3, not too sure about the engine, and although theoretically the weight should have made me go faster, but in the wet you want more weight, so that was also more time in the back. So really it was a pretty positive day, I really enjoyed the extra power, even if I wasn't that quick.

It's a shame in a way, the junior grid wasn't that strong so I could probably have made it 2 out of 2, but now we're up against the best.

My next meeting is in 3 weeks at Larkhall, and it will be my final race in Junior, before I have to move up to the senior class because of my age.

[Jabberwocky]

sounds promising

[Sam-KK24]

Well my Junior Karting Career is now over, and I think I ended it in with the worst performance of the season, by some margin!

It was wet all weekend, and in testing we looked to be about 0.4 off the pace, and it was all about tyres. Everyone was trying different tyres to get them to work, and it was just luck that some tyres were working were, and some weren't. We tried 3 sets of tyres, 2 intermediates, with almost a full second between sets, and then a brand new set of wets only found us an extra tenth, nowhere near enough.

Heat 1: Started 12th out of 13. Had a decent start and was up to 7th, but I had very little grip, and a few guys just sailed past me, and I finished 9th, about 8 tenths off the pace. We made changes for heat 2, where I'd start from the front row of the grid.

Heat 2: Started P2. I struggled to get any heat into the tyres (the same problem I had all weekend) and was down in 7th by the end of lap one, and in last by the end of lap 2. There was even one point where I was passed on the inside AND the outside at the same time in the braking zone, Zonta-esque. Finished last, the first time that's happened for a very very long time.

Another competitor was suffering from the same problems as me (and he's also normally a front runner), and he finished last and 2nd last in the heats, so threw in the towel and went home before the final.

I was starting P10 for the final, and the track was drying. We went up to the grid on wets, as did everyone else. We thought it might be worth a chance, so we ran back and put the slicks on, and arrived back to the grid with only 2 minutes to spare. There were another 2 on guys on slicks, and they started on the row in front of me. As soon as we took to the track I knew it was the wrong decision, but stayed out just incase it dried up. I was in 11th after Turn 1, and was 2nd out of the slick runners. Our pressures were too low in the slicks, so it took an age to get any heat into the tyres, but was absolutely flying at the end of the race as the track dried, but it was not to be. Finished 11th.

Was an awful end to way the season, especially after my win the month before. But now we're looking to 2010, with the hope of entering the Nothern Karting Federation Championship and the Scottish Championships in Senior Max, hopefully on a new chassis if the Sponsors continue to help out next season.

I'm especially looking forward to the Scottish Championships, as my local track (Larkhall) is going back into the championship, so there will be a race there, which is good! Hopefully we can do well in 2010 a few wins in Senior would be great, and hopefully we can attract more sponsors to do the British Championships in 2011, that has to be the aim.

Also in 2010, I'm hoping to mechanic for my mate, who will be competing at the British Championships in the Junior class that I was in this year. Should be good, I helped him once this year and we got on great, so really looking forward to that next year aswel!

[Sam-KK24]

Had a succesful first senior test of the season on Saturday!

The track was wet to start off with, and I just spent the first three sessions running the engine in.. Pretty boring stuff, but it had to be done.

Then I got to put the welly down. I was lucky that there was some good competition there, 3 other seniors there with another novice driver, and one of the three drivers finished 11th in the British Champs in 2008. In the wet I was doing ok, maybe about 0.3 off the pace, but I was 7 kilos underweight, which really wouldnt have helped me in the wet conditions, as I didnt have enough weight to move the kart about in the fast corners.

Then it dried up, and although I had the wrong tyres on (which probably just about cancelled out my 7kg underweight) I was 0.2 faster in the mixed conditions, with the next fastest driver pushing so hard he went off trying to catch me.

Was a great day to get the kart out and get the feel for it again. Got a great feeling about this season, although we will definately be starting the season on a 2004 chassis, which won't exactly help us when we start racing.

For this season we are concentrating on the Scottish Champs (4 rounds), the Scottish Open and we're thinking about entering the NKRA championships, which has 5 regional meetings and then the grande finals in Wales in August.

Next race will be Larkhall in two weeks, but if not I'll have to wait until the first Scottish round on the 11th April, although I'll hopefully have at least one test before then.

[vaptin]

Great stuff! Good luck

[Sam-KK24]

Today, was the beginning of the end I think.

I'll cut a long story short. I was about 0.6 seconds off the pace all day (still 4th fastest, and I got to within 0.2 in one session) , on a 6 year old kart, and on tyres which had been sitting on someones garage for 6 months. We struggled for grip in the right-handed corners, we tried adjusting camber, tyre pressures, but nothing would get us close to the front man.

Then in session 4, I got a crazy vibration from the back, and came straight into the pits. What was the problem? The axle had snapped in two! Bit shocked, very unusual (meant to take pics - it's in the bin now), so we had to cut if off and get another one, but as I was cleaning the kart I realised that the chassis had been snapped, and that was the reason the axle had snapped (stress on the axle) and that was the reason i struggled in the right-handed corners, because the chassis had snapped on the right, so I couldn't get any tyre-lift.

Absolutely devastated. Had to withdraw from tomorrow's race, not got a kart now, and I've got THREE snapped chassis now sitting in the garden. Hopefully I can get sponsors before the start of the season (April 11th), otherwise that's it. Game over.

[texasmr2]

Daym that sucks bigtime Sam sorry to hear it hopefully something will workout.

[Sam-KK24]

Just a bit of an update on my situation for 2010.

We've sent out a number of sponsor letters in an attempt to get a new(er) kart for the start of the season, so far with only one reply saying no.

Tomorrow morning my 2004 chassis will be welded back together, and it will be the chassis I will be using throughout the 2010 season. I'm a bit peeved that nobody wants to sponsor us, and I'm disappointed that last year's sponsors are pulling out (by the looks of it).

In a way I think it gives me a great challenge, and something that I think I've been competing against for the majority of my racing career, that I'll be on a 6 year old kart when the majority of the rest of the grid will be on new karts. It'd be incredible if I could do the business and win on this old kart, which by everyones standards, should not be anywhere near the front of the grid, although it's a shame that most people at the circuits won't know how old my kart is, since the graphics are from the 2008 kart.

It's a funny situation, and it feels quite special in a way, almost like Brawn last year. The first race is 1 week on Sunday, and the First round of the Scottish Championships is in 4 weeks - and only tomorrow I'll know if I have a kart to take to those races.

It's a reincarnation, I don't know if she's called Chloe or ChloeV2