6 Heures du TeamSport Part One

I woke from a deep sleep as the bedside alarm went off. 4.30 a.m, Sunday 13th September. It's still dark outside. After a long week in work that had already included a pre-5 am wake up call, I contemplated for a moment just turning over & going back to sleep. But there was already an excitement stirring within me, the anticipation of what was to come having a better effect than any caffeine could. The reason for all the early morning excitement? Racing, Or more specifically, karting. At 6 a.m that morning, the first-ever TeamSport Bristol 6-hour endurance race would get underway, & I was going to be a part of it!

Driving to the circuit that early on a Sunday morning greeted me with next to no traffic & only a couple of dog-walkers (why do they go out so early?!) Arrival time was scheduled for 5am, as we all had to sign on, sit through the driver briefing & have a half-hour qualifying session before 6am. I was greeted by some familiar but very tired-looking faces, first amongst them was Mike 'Dutch' Westhoff, already raring to go at this early hour. Ollie Bayani, Krystian & Zac were also present, as well of course as my team-mate/race director/general bringer of mischief Martin Savage, who had managed to thankfully get enough staff to sign on in order to run an event this early!
Our team, 'Total Eclipse of the Kart', had been allocated kart no. 5 for the race, & I felt immediately comfortable with it as I completed my first few qualifying laps. Halfway through the 30 minute session, I swapped with Martin so that he could set a time before heading back out for the final few minutes. Martin suspected the clutch may have been beginning to slip a little already, but none the less- we were on pole for the first ever 6 Hour TeamSport event!! 

Coffee was soon had, & after a short briefing (no disintegrations!) the assembled drivers started to get ready to make their way to their nominated karts, for the short qualifying session. Martin & I had decided we'd both have a crack at setting a lap time, whilst some other teams nominated just one driver to tackle the session.

Martin & I had already worked out a running order for the race, which had to take into consideration two refuelling windows, where for a period of half an hour, no driver changed would be allowed, & each kart would be called to the pits individually for a 90-second stop in order to refuel the karts. The karts would be called in in numerical order, so as to be as fair as possible, & then once the refuelling window had closed, drivers changes would then be allowed again. 

Martin would be starting the race for our team, with a stint time of approximately 1 hour before handing over to myself. I joined Dutch in the spectator viewing area to watch the start of the race, at the precise time of 6.08am. The five red lights came on- then green, we were racing!! Martin got away cleanly at the front, immediately building a small advantage over the 2nd placed driver. A small accident on the first lap left one kart already half a lap down, but there was a long way to go..

My first stint was due to be a gargantuan 90 minutes, including the first of our 2 refuels, so I was going to be in the hot seat from around 7 to 8.30 am. Gradually the first hour of the race went by, & with 15 minutes to go I started to get myself ready. Suit back on first, then boots, earplugs & balaclava. I made my way down to the pits with our number board (to be given to the pit marshall in order to signal to your on-track teammate to come in) put on my helmet, gloves & neckbrace, then it was just waiting..

Martin had more or less controlled the race at the front, & had only lost the lead late in his stint to the ever-quick Ollie Bayani, who's team had adopted the no.8 kart that Zac, Krystian & Andy George had abandoned during qualifying. The signal was given for Martin to pit, & a lap later he raised his arm to signal to the other drivers he was coming in- for me, it was go time. Everything seemed to go into slow-motion as he approached the spot where I was waiting for him in the pits, my heartbeat quickening, senses on high alert, the noise muffled by the earplugs, balaclava & helmet. Martin pulled up bang on his marks, climbing out of the kart to the right as I entered from the left, taking his seat insert with him. The kart hardly stopped rolling forward as we seamlessly switched over, & then I was on my way! 

Everything felt immediately comfortable for me, the kart was picking up well & handled predictably- perfect. I set off after Dutch, who was leading after taking over from Ollie, with Andy George between us having yet to stop. Andy is a driver that knows how to take just the right line in order to protect his position without losing too nice time, as I find out later in the race- this time around however, I was able to surprise him with a nice move coming off the flyover, I was back up into 2nd, & feeling great at this early stage. Dutch was next up, & far more compliant in letting me pass. Between Dutch, myself & Ollie, we had agreed pre-race not to hold each other up in an effort to try & defeat the team of Krystian, Zac & Andy. The only reason for this arrangement was that we had all  originally planned to team up together, so we felt working together would be the best way to have a chance of scoring a good result. 

I was ahead of Dutch now & flying at the front, passing back-markers with minimal time lost, & opening up a nice lead. Only a couple of brief yellow-flags broke up the first 45 minutes of my stint, & as we approached the first refuel, I began to wind it back a little to try & conserve some energy for later in the race. Andy had managed to pass Dutch at some point, & due to spin mid-way through his stint, I was soon back up behind the big man, who was fighting with another driver for position. I knew I had a good gap back to 2nd place, so sat back & enjoyed watching the battle ahead for a few laps, watching as Dutch pulled off a nice move through the esses. I followed him through a lap later, but then stayed behind him, acting as rear-gunner for a few laps while he built himself a small lead over the driver he was battling with. Dutch was already on his way however, & as we left the other kart behind I made a clean pass to lap him as the refuelling window opened. At this point the kart was very light on fuel & felt really alive. It was great fun coming up behind the karts that had just pitted (therefore heavy with petrol) & just blasting by them on the straights! I was then right up behind Andy George again when the signal came for me to head to the pits. I peeled off the circuit, made my way slowly down the pit lane & jumped out as the pit mechanic poured petrol into the fuel tank. Martin was in the pits overseeing this first round of stops, & he was able to give me quick update on positions. We decided that for my next stint, I would go out for a short 25 minute sprint before the next round of refuels, & switch drivers just before the window re-opened. It only took 40 seconds to refuel the kart, so with over half a minute to go I did a little stretching before climbing back in & getting comfortable for the last 10 minutes or so of this stint. The last few laps of my 90 minutes past without incident, & I was soon back into the pits to hand over to Martin- it was time for a well earned break.

I had a quick check on the timing monitors, confirming that we were still leading the race, before catching up with Dutch, who had handed back over to Ollie. Things were working out well, it seemed that Krystian & Zac would be on track around the same time as Martin (who is a little quicker than me) whilst I would be out for a majority of my stints with Andy & Dutch. All Martin had to do was hold off the 'Power Rangers' as best as he could, & leave the rest to me-easier said than done. After taking care of hydration & a much needed bathroom break, I got myself comfortable & went about updating social media as to our progress, before shooting some video from the spectator area. Andy George was off track now also, & we talked about the difficulties of passing backmarkers. One driver that we all feared coming up against was Aaron Smith, who had a tendency to drive extremely defensively, even to the detriment of his own lines. The problem is, that you never know if he's going to be compliant & let you through if you're amongst the race leaders, or fight tooth & nail with you regardless of your position. I think at some point we all came across Aaron during the race, as did we all experience this spectrum of Aaron's driving. But more on that later…