IgloONotes

It was the race of races. After the last race being my swansong, claiming fastest lap and top speed of the race, it was time for the veterans to have their revenge.

Unfortunately, only one veteran was to be present...Schumacher Adam, who I will now dub as Sparky. Oh, in case you were wondering, he's an english fellow.

I was ready for this race. The previous weekend, I had bought myself a pair of Puma's in anticipation. My Alpinestars gloves were on standby and I had picked out the shirt I was going to be wearing. It was the Audi A4 DTM Tee that I had picked up the previous day. According to my calculations, I added about 3 HP. There was a total of nine of us doing the 111 lap go kart race. It consisted of a 10 lap warmup, a 7 lap qualifying, and a 111 lap race.

Qualifying

For some odd reason, I was put in the last kart of everyone so when I finally got out onto the track, there was loads of people in front of me. I looked at my Kart, number 3. This baby had better give me some speed. It took a couple tugs of the starter, but soon enough I was off. It was tough to get by the slower karts but when I finally made myself some clear space, I put down a final qualifying lap of 28.26s, good enough for second place on the grid.

To put into perspective how much I was held up in traffic, Sparky was a whole .3s faster than me in qualifying. No matter, I had 111 laps to pass him. The lights went out and we had started. We were racing!

The first few laps were a continuation of my warmup. I still hadn't gotten into the groove and in that time, Sparky had started to pull a gap between us. I didn't understand why I was so slow! I guess I still hadn't adjusted to being in a Kart again. But as the race progressed, I started to close up.

I was consistently hitting 28s laps. By lap 12, I had run into my first backmarker which dropped my lap times to 37 seconds. It was bad, and now Sparky had pulled an even bigger gap. I was frustrated at having so many people appear in between us and I started to drive a bit more ragged, but at the same time a little bit faster. I started to hit more 27s laps but then on the 34th round all my work had been unravelled in one fell swoop.

As I was racing along trying to make up time, I braked way too late into the first corner and quicker than you you could say 'uh oh' I had spun the kart, facing the wrong direction.The guy I had just passed on the same lap had now zoomed right by me and to my dismay, so did four others. To make matters even worse, I couldn't just turn my car around. I had to wait for the track marshall to jump over the barriers and come to my aid. By the time I was back on track in the right direction, I had lost almost about half a lap and had four cars between us. It was time to put down the hammer. I was frantically signaling to the the marshals to let me by the slower cars and wave their blue flags.

About 10 laps and a yellow light period after, I was right back on Sparky's tail. When the yellow lights went out, I was back in the game! We were immediately blazing the track in the mid 27 seconds per lap.

You know how you can always see the drivers on TV seemingly stuck behind someone for a long time? Well, I can now sympathize with them because I found myself in that exact situation. I was trying all the tricks in my book to get past Sparky but everytime I would get close to him, I'd try a move only for me to lose a bit more time. Also add to the fact that I was still a bit nervous about braking really late into the first corner.

Now for technically inclined racing fans...the track layout goes like this:

Its a counter-clockwise circuit. Along the left side there's the main straight where you hit your top speed.

When braking into the first corner you have to make sure that you control the brakes allowing yourself maximum entry and exit speed. If you brake too early, you'll lose all your speed going into the chicane. If you go in too fast, you'll run wide, ruining the entry for the next corner. If you brake too hard, you'll spin the Kart and nail the barrier. Thankfully, its wide enough to make a mistake and not lose too much time.

Assuming you make it through the first corner, you'll be faced with a left-right-left chicane. The key is to take the straightest line through and make as small movements as possible with the wheel. You have to hug the apex of the first two corners and set yourself up for the double apex third corner. Its a little tricky because there's more than one line. You can either brake early and hug the corner all the way through, or swing wide for the first apex, braking a bit later and cut in closer to the second apex. The advantage for swinging wide gives you a higher exit speed as Sparky would attest to, as I consistently gave him a little nudge in that corner.

Sometimes if I entered the first corner too fast, the rear would start to step out a bit. Using my drifting instinct, I would just toss the kart into the corners, letting the back continue sliding while keeping the accelerator planted to the floor. It was really quite entertaining...reminding me of my old Van drifting days.

After rocketing out of the third corner, There was a series of 3 hairpins. The first one is pretty straightforward, but zooming round to the next hairpins is the setup for the big sweeping turn. You need to get a good exit or else you'll be left behind. Its tough because if you accelerate too early your tires will slip and bog you down. Enter to fast and you'll lose time. Enter slow and you've got nowhere to make up time.

The sweeping turn is really quite fun, but not as easy as it looks at first glance. On a good run you can keep foot planted all around the turn with no drama. The racing line will be coated in rubber, increasing the grip. If you deviate, you can hit some patches of bare concrete, unsettling your kart. I've needed to put in some opposite lock on a number of occasions.

The second to last corner is very important because it will set you up for one of two passing zones. For the guy in front, you can hug the inside and protect your line. For the chaser, you can swing wide, keeping as much speed as possible through the turn, rocketing up the inside of the final hairpin and making the pass. I would know because I was passed at that corner.

After the hairpin, it leads onto the main straight after a 90 degree bend which you can still keep your foot down. If you had a better run out of the hairpin, you may be able to make a pass at the first corner.

Sparky is not only fast, but he's a bugger to get by. Gran Turismo helped me go around the track quickly but it sure didn't teach me how to pass. I was trying to take a slower entry and a fast exit, or a fast entry and a fast exit, or even sometimes a really fast entry and a slow exit. There was a couple times I was right behind him and I saw him nearly lose it in the first corner. The sad thing is that on those laps I wasn't close enough to take advantage of it. One lap though...

I was on his tail for the entire lap, less then 50cm between the both of us. I had a really good exit through the final hairpin and Sparky made a mistake. He moved to block the inside of the final corner and I moved to pass on the outside. He was half a kart in front on the main straight, but he moved to the outside and forced me into the barriers. I had nowhere else to go but back to second place.

Nonetheless I stuck to his tail waiting for an opportunity to arise, and sure enough it did. Stumbling into a backmarker mid-corner, Sparky had to slow down to avoid rear-ending the guy. I dived for the inside and squeezed into the little space. I did it!! I was Finally leading the race. this was on lap 84 and I just needed to defend my lines and finish the race up front. Sparky wouldn't have any of it. Going into the final hairpin on the next lap, he snuck up on the inside and took back his position.

From then on, I tried the same move on him lap after lap but I either couldn't grab enough speed into the corner or was too afraid of braking too late, lest I would spin the car and lose all my time. On one lap we were powering down the main straight, no gap between us. I wanted to make a pass but right as I was going to work my stuff, he cut me off.

I was relegated to second place, and I knew it. I decided to try to set some fast laps in the closing stages. On lap 110, I set my fastest lap of 27.269s.

I finished 1.2 seconds behind Sparky, not bad considering the vast difference in experience. We had both lapped the third placed guy twice and the last placed driver 13 times. It was a great end to a great race. I was extremely tired getting out of the car, but it was worth it. We even got trophies and a podium ceremony!

Comparing my stats, it was clear who had won

Fastest lap Tim: 27.269

Fastest Lap Sparky: 27.237

Top Speed Tim: 47.5 km/h

Top Speed Sparky: 47.6 km/h

Average Speed Tim: 43.7 km/h

Average Speed Sparky: 43.8 km/h

And I only led for one lap!! I guess I have to concede this loss in every aspect. No worries though, I shall be back with vengeance!

Tags: Germany, go karts, Life in the Fast Lane, racing