5 Hour
Race time: 5 hour
Qualified: 10th Result: 14th
Final placing for 2008: 4th in B Grade
What a great day’s racing for the final round of 2008 (pity about the weather). The day started with a sensational qualifying effort by Gil, he managed to put the kart on the 5th row (highest position for the team so far), he said he has to thank the driver of kart 30 for running him off the track, this fired him up and it showed in the times, might also have something to do with it being his birthday as well.
The race went according to plan with all drivers doing consistent times and keeping out of trouble. Even though the times where not as fast as the top teams, consistency was the order of the day, all Team Canberra had to do was finish and this would seal 4th position in B grade for 2008, so Eric being the wise one said ‘take it easy and stay out of trouble, all we have to do is finish’ Gil and Chris took this advice and forgot about it just as quick, both Gil and Chris went out and raced hard while Eric took the conservative approach (actually he didn’t like the kart setup while Gil and Chris found it to their liking).
Starting from position 10 on the grid and getting up to 2nd overall at one stage, Eric started the race and found that starting up at the pointy end has it rewards, he managed to stay clear of the mayhem that was happening at the back of the grid, with several karts coming together and one losing a front wheel, the safety kart was called out, 8 of the top ten teams all took this opportunity to come into the pits for a drive thru, this resulted in Team Canberra being promoted to second outright (who cares how we got there, we were 2nd for a few laps, Wahoo!). On the return to green flag racing Team Canberra dropped back to mid-field and circulated around the 14-18th position all day finally settling in at 14th for the run home. All 3 drivers really enjoyed the day and there was some close, fun racing, Chris once again showed how good a driver he is and that he has enormous potential. After qualifying Gil simply said ‘I love this track’ this was evident with his times being 2 seconds a lap quicker than at the first round at Oran Park back in February. Eric didn’t enjoy the kart setup as much as the other 2 but still did his usual clean consistent lap times all day.
In conclusion it was a fantastic year for Team Canberra considering 2 out of the 3 drivers had no racing experience. To finish 4th in B grade was more than the team ever hoped for considering all the troubles they had with the kart during the earlier rounds. They still have a lot to learn about kart setup and driving technique but this will all come in time.
Team Canberra would like to thank the following for all their support throughout the year:
· All the teams racing in TEKA for their helpfulness, understanding and most of all patience for putting up with guys who had no idea (at first) what they were doing out there.
· The TEKA committee for all their voluntary hard work throughout the year.
· The racing officials from the AKA, Steve Ellis in particular.
· George from Geelong for making the strongest stub axles ever.
· Simon for solving the muffler issue.
· Steve Allen from King of Parts for his speedy delivery of parts when we really needed them.
· And most of all, our families for putting up with our weekends away (some may say that is a good thing), the expense and all the crap that goes with living with rev heads!
Thank you all.
See you all again in 2009
Popularity: 28% [?]
Add A Comment