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[Sam-KK24]

Hey Guys,

Racing again this weekdend, at the Larkhall club meeting. The meeting includes the special shield for my class, and the Open, which involves money!

Should be good, I was out testing 2 weeks ago with my main rival.. and although we were similar pace in the dry (I did have very worn tyres, same as I used in Genk..) but in the wet I was 1.3 seconds faster in one session, and 1.7 seconds faster in the other.

Tomorrow should be interesting, it'll be close but I think if we just sandbag and stay behind our rivals we should have the extra pace on Sunday to take the win - at least a podium.

I need to put this into perspective, I've not win since July 2008, and I've never won at the Larkhall track (my home track). I REALLY need to make this one count, it's probably going to be my last race in Juniors there, so I really wanna go out on a high. I'll hopefully post tomorrow about what happened in testing!

[EwanM]

Hey Guys,

Racing again this weekdend, at the Larkhall club meeting. The meeting includes the special shield for my class, and the Open, which involves money!

Should be good, I was out testing 2 weeks ago with my main rival.. and although we were similar pace in the dry (I did have very worn tyres, same as I used in Genk..) but in the wet I was 1.3 seconds faster in one session, and 1.7 seconds faster in the other.

Tomorrow should be interesting, it'll be close but I think if we just sandbag and stay behind our rivals we should have the extra pace on Sunday to take the win - at least a podium.

I need to put this into perspective, I've not win since July 2008, and I've never won at the Larkhall track (my home track). I REALLY need to make this one count, it's probably going to be my last race in Juniors there, so I really wanna go out on a high. I'll hopefully post tomorrow about what happened in testing!

Good luck Sam, I hope it works out.

Can't you get some of your fellow competitors to purposely crash and block the track?
EDIT: I heard that Flavio Briatore is free, maybe he could become your manager?

[Jabberwocky]

good luck mate

[Sam-KK24]

Ewan, I sure as hell don't want to crash so one of his other drivers can win!

[EwanM]

Ewan, I sure as hell don't want to crash so one of his other drivers can win!

[Jamie]

Hey Guys,

Racing again this weekdend, at the Larkhall club meeting. The meeting includes the special shield for my class, and the Open, which involves money!

Should be good, I was out testing 2 weeks ago with my main rival.. and although we were similar pace in the dry (I did have very worn tyres, same as I used in Genk..) but in the wet I was 1.3 seconds faster in one session, and 1.7 seconds faster in the other.

Tomorrow should be interesting, it'll be close but I think if we just sandbag and stay behind our rivals we should have the extra pace on Sunday to take the win - at least a podium.

I need to put this into perspective, I've not win since July 2008, and I've never won at the Larkhall track (my home track). I REALLY need to make this one count, it's probably going to be my last race in Juniors there, so I really wanna go out on a high. I'll hopefully post tomorrow about what happened in testing!

Sam i think your going to do an awesome job!! You have potential, But you just need a good boost of morale. But you will make it into the big league. Just keep it up!! Tony Kanaan didn't have the best of luck in the lower leagues, but when he made it into the big guns? hes now IRL World Champ. That could be you one day pal

[Sam-KK24]

You know the days when you wonder, "How does it happen to me?" Well it was one of those days.

Nice and Sunny all day, pretty warm spells too.

Heat 1: Started P4 (On the outside at Larkhall is awful, and from P4 you're guaranteed to lose positions). Anyway, I went to last (7th) but fought back up to 3rd on about lap 4, and ended up 3rd. It was decent, top 4 were covered with 0.2, and the top 6 within 0.3.

Heat 2: We noticed a crack in the exhaust, so we put our spare in. I thought the wadding had been put in previously on the spare, but it hadn't. Anyway, I get to the grid, fire up the engine.. And theres a problem with the exhaust, no wadding in it.. So I wasn't going anywhere. I was meant to start from Pole aswell, so with a DNS it meant the weekend just got a whole lot harder.

Heat 3: Started last. Made up positions quickly and with 4 laps to go I was in 3rd, and then 2nd the following lap. The red flag came out though, because I collided with the person in 2nd, who hit the wall pretty hard, but I was fine. They restarted it with 4 laps to go, and I had no tyre temperature at all, so was SIXTH going into turn 3. I couldn't believe it, but in the next 2 laps I got into 4th, and took 3rd on the penultimate lap, which made up for me being an idiot with the tyre temperature earlier.

Final: Started P4 (DISASTER). Was in 6th after turn 1, and by lap 2 I was 1.5 off the leader. I got into 5th, but was blocked by the guy in P4, which I thought was completely retarded, as it cost me another 1 second in 2 laps. I cleared him and got into 4th, where I finished. It was annoying though, because I ended up 3.05 seconds of the winner, and I lost 2.5 secs because of sillyness. In the end the fastest lap went to the man in P3. And the leader was 0.05 faster than me, with 2nd place being 0.02 faster than me. Just shows you how close it was!

Next stop is Whilton Mill for the last round of the British Championship. Seriously up for it!

[Sam-KK24]

Sometimes you need to look at a situation, and think, sometimes it's just not meant to be. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work at it, theres going to be something in your way..

I leave at 1 o'clock tonight for the last round of the FKS British Championship..

We went out to clean the kart and get it ready today, to find that the chassis is SNAPPED in TWO places, identical to where my 2005 kart snapped. I was up against it in a 1 year old kart, but this weekend I will be driving a 5 year old kart. Sometimes I wonder what I need to do, to make the right things happen.

So yeah, I'll be on my 2004 kart (which I think is about 0.3 slower than my 08) and another 0.2 off the front runners. This should be interesting, really looking forward to the challenge, but jesus, it's going to be a hard weekend. Top 20 would be awesome, really, this is damage limitation.

[7UpJordan]

Sometimes you need to look at a situation, and think, sometimes it's just not meant to be. Sometimes, no matter how hard you work at it, theres going to be something in your way..

I leave at 1 o'clock tonight for the last round of the FKS British Championship..

We went out to clean the kart and get it ready today, to find that the chassis is SNAPPED in TWO places, identical to where my 2005 kart snapped. I was up against it in a 1 year old kart, but this weekend I will be driving a 5 year old kart. Sometimes I wonder what I need to do, to make the right things happen.

So yeah, I'll be on my 2004 kart (which I think is about 0.3 slower than my 08) and another 0.2 off the front runners. This should be interesting, really looking forward to the challenge, but jesus, it's going to be a hard weekend. Top 20 would be awesome, really, this is damage limitation.

Damn, harsh luck Sam. How do these Karts snap in places when they're not moving or anything BTW?

Chin-up, if you can pull off a good result in a 5 year old kart some heads will turn.

[EwanM]

Geed luck.

[Sam-KK24]

Well that's the thing, I thought I had done a very shoddy job at Larkhall after a brilliant test day.. I'm very inclined to think the chassis was beginning to go on Sunday afternoon, I was complaining of the kart feeling "weird" but we couldn't spot anything too obvious... And obviously after the final we wanted to leave ASAP so just launched it into the van and left.. so yeah, maybe I could have been much faster at Larkhall..

[EwanM]

Well that's the thing, I thought I had done a very shoddy job at Larkhall after a brilliant test day.. I'm very inclined to think the chassis was beginning to go on Sunday afternoon, I was complaining of the kart feeling "weird" but we couldn't spot anything too obvious... And obviously after the final we wanted to leave ASAP so just launched it into the van and left.. so yeah, maybe I could have been much faster at Larkhall..

You just need to remain gritty and fight on. You can do it.

[Sam-KK24]

Well Whilton was a bit of a disaster! Really struggled to get on it with the 2004 kart and it just didn't feel right all weekend. On the Saturday I was 26th, which put me 4th in the B final, and I came through that in 2nd, and into 26th for the Grande Final. Made my way to 22nd where I stayed, but in truth, I just didn't have the pace.

On the Sunday this time I started 2nd in the B final, my tyres were totally gone after having to do the repecharge race and it just shredded my tyres. Was taken out at the start and was about about 5 seconds off the pack, clawed them in and at the end was under 1 second off them, but it was just too late.

That was a bit of a disappointment, but I knew it would be hard on the kart, and the track was very tough and physical, not helped by the fact I had no testing their prior to the event.

[Sam-KK24]

Today I was at Larkhall, testing for next weekend's race, and I also got to test the new 2010 kart!

There was only 2 of us in my class there, me, and the driver who I've had a few run-ins with, and he's the driver that got all the attention at the British events in our team..

First 2 sessions I was fastest by about 0.2, and then he pulled it back in the next and we were about level, although I kept catching him when either the flag fell, or he came in.

Later in the day we were going better again, setting times quite quick, considering I was using the tyres that had done the last British meeting (lots of laps on them!). Also just went to show the the 2004 kart really wasn't that bad, when it was easily matching the 2009 kart's times and pushing it along!

Then just before I left I got a shot in the new 2010 prototype kart, albeit on a "Junior Blue" Engine, which is a lot more grippy but slower in a straightline. I was very impressed with it, turn in of the kart was brilliant and it gave you the confidence to go almost flat out in the "medium speed" corners. Me and another driver tested it back-to-back, and I was 1 tenth off his time. I wasn't too dissapointed though, he did a full season in that class last year and was 2nd in their British Championships, and he is lighter than me too which will have made a slight difference! Although I'm not too fussed, it still doesn't stop him annoying me about the fact he was faster!

Next race in next weekend at Larkhall, and I think the urgancy is starting to kick in a little, because it's nearing the end of the season, and also my Junior days.. And I really want to go out with a win at Larkhall. I've NEVER won at Larkhall (only track in Scotland I've not won at) and I've not had a final win since July 2008! I've come close so many times at Larkhall, and hopefully this will be it!

[7UpJordan]

Sounds like you had an encouraging test today, hope all goes well next weekend and you finish the season with a win.