shenington drs50 part 1
4:45 am, the alarm sounds. Luke barely opens his eyes as I give him a nudge. “It’s race day, Luke,” I whisper, and up he jumps from his sleep. On any given day, getting Luke ready involves a complex task of timings, patience, and making sure everything is just right… on race day, however, it involves significantly less of that and an awful lot more excitement and enthusiasm!
Race suit on, shoes tightened, last-minute inventory check done, and it’s time to head out. First thing to notice about the morning is that it’s not raining; there’s a calmness in the air and even a bit of blue peeping through the off-white clouds. That was all to change though on the hour-and-a-half trip towards Banbury.
When we arrived at Shenington, the air was cold, and the flags on the track were flapping wildly in the constant wind and rain—it was going to be a long, hard day in this weather.
The wind didn’t stop for the track walk, but at least the rain did, albeit temporarily. Luke, eager as always, was straight to the front following closely behind and hanging on every word from Andy.
Next up was practice—with the wind still blowing and the rain now back with a vengeance, one thing would really stand out: SLICKS!
The decision had been made that today’s sessions would all be run on slick tyres. Wow, this was going to be fun. Luke settled into the kart; this is the time that Luke really relaxes. When that helmet goes on and that visor drops, there is nothing else in the world for him to think about or worry about. On the other hand, this is my least relaxed time. Have I got the transponder? Did I clip the GoPro in correctly? Have I double-checked that Luke is seated correctly? And have I given him enough encouragement and love so that he knows that whatever happens, we are all so proud of him?
Going out for his first session on a track that’s wet, on slick tyres, Luke pulls away slowly and lets a few others get in front. Well, why not let them test the grip for you? That’s exactly what they did, and on the first breaking zone down at the hairpin 3, maybe four karts spin in front, but this is only testing, so if you’re going to test the limits, now is the time to do it.
Everyone makes it round the out lap safely. Luke’s kart number 70 flashes past me as I just about take my position at the main straight. As quick as a flash, he’s out of view again and on to the first timed lap for the session. I can see most of the track from where I am, but there are also large parts that I can’t, and somewhere, although the karts are in view, making out who is who isn’t easy, but before too long, they are back in view again racing up the back straight just in front of me. Where’s Luke? What I think is probably every karting parent’s nightmare: the pack goes through, but your kid is no longer there. Where is he? What happened? Is he ok? I didn’t have to wait more than ten seconds before that was answered as he finally flew by me. As it turns out, he didn’t learn from the others at the turn where they all spun. Jumping on the brakes too hard, Luke locked the wheels and did a 360, leaving himself nowhere to go but to take to the escape road.
Lap times started to drop away on an ever so slightly drier track, but everyone was still in about the 1:04’s, roughly about ten seconds away from a dry time. Luke was looking good and was running about p14 of 22 when he pushed too hard going into the café corner and ended up again facing the wrong way. After getting a few more laps under his belt, the session was over. Luke finished the session in p19, not the best but certainly not dreadful in very tricky conditions.