Ollie Gussman Racing

07/08/2024

Forest Edge Round 6.

What a weekend we had at Forest Edge, for round 6 of the Championship. From having top pace during practice on Saturday, to winning my first heat on Sunday, topping it off with p3 in the final , it was an epic weekend and not one to forget.

Saturday:
We showed consistent and fast pace on Saturday, practicing overtakes and dialling in the carb settings for the race day ahead.

Sunday:
Heat 2: p4-p1
Starting near the front of the gird, my aim for the race was to hold that position and get a solid start to the day. Going up to p2 on the first corner, I knew I had the pace to get into p1, which is exactly, what I did. I was able to stretch a gap and hold it until the end of the race.

Heat 3: p12-p7
Negotiating and overtaking up through the pack and gaining, 5 positions in this race it was challenging and exactly what race craft is about, making it a cracking race, which enabled us to have a great position on the grid for the final

Heat 4: p17-p5
Starting at the back of the grid for the final heat of the day, I knew I needed to utalise all my skills, to make up as many positions as possible. As with any race, there can always be an element of collisions and carnage. This race delivered on both aspects, I avoided all of the mishaps and confidently climbed back up 12 positions for a top 5 finish.


Final: P3-P3
I had a great start; gaining a place up to p2, during the race prep we had made the decision to set the tyre pressures, too high which meant after lap 5 we started to loose pace. However, I held on and finished 3rd thorugh the chequered flag, and headed to the podium. A great result from a great day of racing.

Overall it has been one of my best weekends yet, I’m already looking forward to getting back in the seat.

I want to say a huge thanks to my dad for doing an amazing job on the spanners as always, congrats to for the win as well.

01/08/2024

Camberly Kart Club ROUND 5 .

Sadly this was not a great day for us, and our worst round of the season so far, however our luck needs to run out at somepoint, and it could have been far worse without our friends.

Friday evening prepping the kart we had a brake issue and had to rebuild rear brake caliper as it would not bleed up. It looked like it worked fine on Friday night and was returning but on track was binding badly causing massive heat in the disk, slow speeds and lack of grip meaning we almost got lapped in practice.

Sadly every session we were not on pace, but fought hard with track knowledge and race craft to get as good positons as possible.

Heat 1 p3-p3.
We had filed pads down to ensure plenty of clearence to the disk, so brakes did not bind as badly this meant that we could just about hold our p3.

Heat 2 p5-p5.
During the lunch break we were able to completely rebuild the master cylinder thanks to Pete the Parts man, which we hoped would reduce the problem, it helped a little but still not great sapping speed.

Heat 3: p8📈p4.
The rebuild did help the braking issue which meant I was able to gain 4 positions which set me up for a p3 start in the final.

Final: p3-p3 Starting behind the leader my aim for this race was to drive through the issues and turn a bad day upside down. Staying in p3 for the start and keeping pace with the leaders, we were not able to gain much on them as we were loosing speed on the striaghts, and pulling out of the corners.

We had set up the kart to come on at the end of the race and hoped for late some pace, to make some spaces up. Sadly we didn’t get a chance due to a red flag with 2 minutes to go.

Fortunatley the driver was ok.

Overall a day which we had hoped for more but still not a bad result that could have been a lot worse, and good to come home with some silverware once again. As always a huge thanks to for the pics, for the awesomely run day and my dad for doing a great job on the spanners.

Mostly for the weekend I would like to thank Darren and Kimi O'Donoghue for which without there help we would not have got the job of rebuilding the brakes and back on track, as there was not enough time between sessions for the task on our own.

This is made especially more relevant due to the sportmanship shown which is not often seen in karting world and shows a true spirit of fairness and eagerness for competition, as Kimi won every race and wanted us to be there to race him. Most karters would be happy that we were not there to make there lives easier.

Congratulation to him for a full house of a win in every race. Looking forward to August round and hopefully get back to giving you a good race.

09/07/2024

🟢🔴FEKC ROUND 5🔴🟢

Saturday:
Saturday was an interesting day for us, it was our first day in the Guy Cunnington Racingawning. We were so excited to try out different tactics and utilising the knowledge of being part of Guy’s team. The pace was on point, considering the monsoon conditions, we were buzzing for what Sunday had to bring
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Heat 2: p8📉p9

Hot off the grid, I got an amazing start to the race. Manoeuvring up 5 positions, in the slippy monsoon like conditions, I made my way to p3 on the first lap, before receiving a small tap from behind, which put me on the grass and 15 seconds behind the rest of the pack. Our amazing set up decisions meant we were able to be 1.5 seconds quicker than the whole pack until the track dried out. Only losing out on fastest lap of the heat in the final couple of laps. Gaining over 8 seconds to the leader during the course of the race, I was able to pull my way back up to p9. I was really happy with my drive in the damp on slicks. After being stone dead last and so far behind to get a respectable race finish position.
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Heat 3 p19📈p9

Starting p19, this was to be my only full dry heat of the day, meaning I needed to make up positions to improve my grid position for the final. Utilising my race craft skills, I swept through the pack overtaking, and gained 9 positions during the course of the race. 💪💪.
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Heat 3: p3-p3

Before this heat, the heavens opened, giving me the confidence going into my front start. Saturday’s wet conditions had given me some great data and speed in the wet. running in a net p1 (due to a nose cone penalty for the driver in front), I was having an amazing race before being hit from behind, causing me to drop 2 positions, crossing the line in p3. Conditions and bump aside, I was pleased with this race, and my best heat of the day.
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Final: p9-p9.

Starting in the top 10, the challenge was on. My main aim for this race, was to go forward, round out a good weekend with a nice result. I battled it out in the pack, incurred some slight power loss, meaning, I was not able to fight as hard as I would have hoped. However, I had really good pace and excellent race craft, finishing the slightly soggy weekend in a solid p9.
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Overall, it was a fantastic weekend for me, we learnt a lot, and had awesome pace in the wet and damp conditions.
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A huge thanks to for all the help and support this weekend, Stu Stretton for the awesome snaps and my dad for being on the spanners all weekend.
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As always all eyes on the next one now.👀👀.
📍CKC ROUND 6📍

03/07/2024

Dunkeswell NKC

Round 3 was a weekend that didn’t go according to plan. From mechanicals, to the wrong set up and just not a lot of positives to take out of the weekend.



Saturday Practice:

Due to a long delay in our travel to the track, because of a RTA on one of the main roads we were not able to test on Friday.

Saturday was all about learning the track and creating a good set up, which was always going to be a challenge in 5 sessions, but we were looking forward to it. We learnt a lot, with some great racing in the morning, I felt a lot more confident with the track going into heat 1 on Saturday, Sadly, our last session was cut short, due to a broken fuel line,



Heat 1: p9📉dns

Having fixed the broken fuel line we needed to put the race engine on. After bolting the engine on, it decided, it did not want to start, which is always a slight technical hitch. So, we were faced with a choice, change the engine or the starter motor (which we thought was the problem), due to the time scale, we unfortunately did not have time to change either elements., consequently we missed out on my front start which would make the rest of weekend a real challenge. But hey that’s racing, Onwards and upwards.



Heat 3: p16📉p26

Starting p16, I was hoping to make up a few places ready for the final; it became apparent that overnight the choke was left open, resulting in my power being significantly reduced, so the fight for places was hindered and I crossed the line in p26.



Heat 4: p22📈p20

My last heat of the day, I was definitely hoping to for some better luck in this heat. After being involved in an incident in the first lap, I dropped to the back of the pack. The racing challenge was now on and I worked my back up to p16 on track, As we all know penalties can make or break a race, due to the previous incident, that was out of my control and no fault of mine, I was handed a 10 second penalty. 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️.



B-Final: p22📈p11

Starting near the back of the B final my only objective was to get into p4 to go into the A final. Negotiating the pack I fought my way to p6, before a red flag meant the p4 was in sight, but as I avoided a small incident after the line, all the people I overtook there were given the position back causing me to drop down to p11. Finishing the race in p14



It’s been a weekend of challenges, that’s racing, but as always we thrive on the lows as much as the highs and take the learnings to the next track and rounds. Luck isn’t always on our side, but we bounce back to face another day on the track, and chasing those podiums.



As always a huge thanks to for the awesome graphics, for the power and my Dad for being my trusty mechanic all weekend.



Next up: 📍FEKC Round 5 📍, Bring it on

30/06/2024

Saturday testing:

Saturday was an ok day for us.
We were on older tyres and only one practice day here as a junior with very little track knowledge and being on our own with no team was a bit of a challenge. We had some base set up worked from there. Pace was a little off but every session was faster and we were looking forward to our first race of the weekend. We had a fuelling issue which we thought was kart set up however when the tank would not pressurise we investigated further and it turn out the fuel line inside the tank had gone brittle and snapped meaning we had no fuel which would explain the engine struggling to run properly.
As we were out on track we chopped the pipe and reconnected it in hope it would hold to replace the pipe later sadly 1 lap in and we had to pull off and retire.

Off to change tyres and engine for heat 1, and replace the troublesome old pipe.

Heat 1: After we put on the race engine we had realised it wouldn’t start. Quickly diagnosing the problem, we had found out the starter motor had failed, but we didn’t have enough time to change it over before the heat, sadly missing out on our front heat meaning we will be starting in the b final today.
However that’s racing and looking oreard to a good days racing and some reliability back.

24/06/2024

🟠🔵CKC Round 4🔵🟠
Kart Club round 4 was a perfect weekend, with lots of highs and very few lows. Taking in maximum points for the championship, setting the fastest lap in every race, and getting my first clean sweep of the year💪💪.

Heat 1: p5📈p1
The first heat of the day was a good one. Climbing up 4 positions, lots of great racing challenges and overtakes with the other drivers, and first to the chequered flag.
Weather held off for us to race on slicks as it looked a bit inclement just as we got to the grid.

Heat 2: p11📈p1

It was my turn to start at the back of the grid for this heat, which was going to be the hardest race of the day. Slowly carving my way through the pack, I was able to get up to p1, with an amazing recovery drive, setting the fastest lap in the process.

Heat 3: p3📈p1

This was my front start, meaning it would be a lot easier to get to the front of the grid. I was able to get into p1, after some great racing with .longman.racing and held the position till the chequered flag.

Final: p1📈p1

Starting in pole position for the final, I knew I had to hold on to p1 for the duration of the race. so we made some changes to the kart to account for the extra race time. Driving hard to get a gap early on meant I held the lead, until a red flag was raised, due to a cone that had been knocked onto the middle of the track🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️. Despite the race being cut short, with 1.42 mins on the clock, I retained my p1.

Round 4 resulted in an large accumulation of points for the championship, whilst delivering consistent fast pace, which is just what we wanted. I'm looking forward to round 5. 💪💪

I want to say a huge thanks to for the power, for the amazingly run day, for the awesome graphics and my dad for doing a solid job on the spanners all day.

Next up: 📍NKC Round 3 Dunkeswell 📍

10/06/2024

🟠🔵 CKC TEST DAY 🔵🟠
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Saturday saw us back on the OTK for a test day down at Camberley Kart Club, after trialling the Sodi kart with the epic floating disk last weekend.

Ensuring we can still drive and keep up the good pace, it became apparent that, our usual good reliability record was under threat, as our practice engine starter motor was giving us problems, needing a wallop with a hammer to start it once, then giving up the ghost for the next session. It had defiantly fought it’s last fight, so a kind man behind us lent us his spare, allowing us to get back out on the track.

After liberating it from the engine casing, we discovered a lot of swarf metal and magnet on the bottom of the engine case, which, after a good clean out, was replaced with the borrowed starter motor. Our suspicions were correct. 100% success this time, with no problems, she fired straight up.

On the plus side the weather held off, and we stayed on slicks all day. Gunner, our trusty canine mascot, was on his own day out with a friend, meaning Dad could help with putting the kart on the grid and we did not have to ask for help taking it off the trolley.

I'm sure he brings the dog so he doesn’t have to lift the kart!

The track was quick this week, resulting in a good pace all day, the chase for the lap record is on.

Bring on for round 4. 💪💪 Let the racing commence.
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Camberley Kart Club
Demon Tweeks Performance

07/06/2024

After a great weekend at Forest Edge last week with , we are heading back to our spiritual home to make sure we’re on fire for round number 4. Looking forward to catching up our old friend .karting.67 , and .

05/06/2024

Anyone local to me got any used maxxis sport they want to sell? need some for practice this weekend.

04/06/2024

🟠⚫️FEKC Round 4 ⚫️🟠

This weekend was always going to be a learning curve for me, trialing a Sodi Kart for the first time, was an exciting challenge.

The Saturday test day was all about learning the new kart, adjusting it and getting used to the brakes, ready for Sunday races.

Starting the day around 9 tenths off the pace, finishing 3 tenths off we saw massive improvements which gave me confidence for the heats ahead.

Sunday:

Heat 1: p7 📉p9(p)
Had a good start in heat 1. I fought through the pack to get myself up to p6 and hold it for the race having some good battles. We were unfortunate to pick up a nose cone penalty on the first lap, causing us to drop 4 positions.

Heat 3: p15 📈p9
Starting p15, this was always gonna be the most difficult heat of the day. I was able to avoid an incident that occurred on turn 1, and get myself into a strong p6, only to be involved in a racing incident dropping us to the back. Making a good recovery drive I was able to make my way back up to p9.

Heat 4: p2 📉p4
This was by far our best heat, only dropping 2 positions from the front row and being only 2 tenths off the pace this gave us confidence for the final.

Final p11~p11
We were hoping for a top 10 finish going into the weekend, as we went into the final, we knew we had a chance at achieving that. We got a great start, driving through the pack to p6, sadly dropping back to p12, due to a racing incident.

We started to show very good pace (even getting the purple sector one) climbing back up to p7 before being taken out and dropping us back to p11.

Overall it was a challenging weekend, a great experience in a new kart, with the Sodi Factory team.

I would like to say a huge thanks to .vitesse for the support all weekend, .barret01 for the fantastic driver coaching, my dad for doing an excellent job on the spanners and last but not least the orange army for keeping us racing all weekend. And also my team mate Dalton.
Demon Tweeks Performance
Stu Stretton

Next up: 📍CKC Round 4📍

27/05/2024

27/05/2024

🔵🟠 CKC ROUND 3 🟠🔵

Another very solid weekend down at for round 3 of the Championship. We managed to gain a very solid haul of points showing a lot of pace, setting the fastest lap in every race and only being 1 tenth of the lap record. 🤯🤯
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Heat 1: p7📈p1
A very solid heat, getting the tyre pressures just right. I managed to get up to second on the first lap and managed the race after overtaking to get into p1.
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Heat 2: p1📈p1
Starting in pole position, this was always going to be our easiest race. We managed to get a good start and controlled the race from the offset, setting the fastest lap on lap 12.
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Heat 3: p10📈p2
Starting near the back, I knew this was going to be the hardest race of the day. It was made even harder at the first corner when I was involved in a first corner incident, taking me back to p12, I made my way back up through the pack to salvage a p2 finish.
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Final: p1📈p1
With great results throughout the day, we started on pole for the Final.
Getting a good start in the first corner, I managed to pull a gap between myself and p2 of over 6 seconds. This was just what I needed to round out a very solid day.
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I would like to say a massive thanks to for the waft, for the awesome graphics and the orange army for keeping us running all day. did an great job all day even with the technical difficulties. And of course thanks to my Dad for being on the spanners and my dog Gunner.
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Well done to for an amazing comeback in the final.
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All eyes on next week at Forest Edge Kart Club for the SC plate. 🔜🔜.

25/05/2024

All heats are done here at Camberley Kart Club. Had some good pace throughout setting fastest lap in every heat.
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All eyes on the final now. 👀👀

19/05/2024

🔵🟠 Dunkeswell NKC Testing 🟠🔵

Good test day down at today in preparation for later this year.
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Managed to get some good wet testing and a couple of dry sessions and even managed abit of drifting towards the end of the day😉😉.
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Thanks to dad for being on the spanners and for the amazingly run day and the orange army for keeping us racing all day. 💪💪
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19/05/2024

🔵🟠CKC Testing 🟠🔵
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Bit of a late post, my dad forgot to buy the awesome pictures from 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️
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Had good pace all day despite being on tires that are nearly 2 years old. Still learning and getting faster all the time thanks to our mate brad. Looking forward to round 3 of the championship next weekend.
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Thanks to my dad for being on the spanners, for the waft, for the amazingly run day and the orange army for the amazing job you do💪💪.
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📍CKC Round 3 🔜 🔜

06/05/2024

Different day at Forest Edge round 3 today, as dad was away so, Iwent to help one of his old friends whose son Oakley is just starting out in honda cadet.

We played with initial kart set up and had a couple of dnf due to ill fitting tyres, but had a decent final finishing in 15. Not bad for his first race at forest and having a wet heat.

Lots more to come from Oakley, looking forward to helping him as much as possible on his Journey forwards.

01/05/2024

🔵🟠 CKC Round 2 🟠🔵 Saturday 27th April

Phew!!!!! We nearly did not make this round due a large crack in the cluch drum, but saved the day by staying open a bit later so we could fly down and pick up a new one, to make sure we could race.
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This led to a solid day on track, much better than last weekend, with consitant good heats and final.

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Heat 1:
Starting P8 in the drying conditions I thought it was going to be a difficult heat.
We were unsure of tyres, gearing and set up as it was a damp track. However we must have chosen well as we managed to go up 5 places in the first corner and 6 total on the first lap with meant we we finished the first lap p2. Managing to catch up to the leader and have an amazing battle with just to take the win, on the the 2nd to last corner.
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Heat 2:
Starting P2 in the dry we knew we just had to get infront and have good enough pace to stay infront. I got up to P1 in the first corner and managed to control the race to finish p1 at the line.
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Heat 3:
Again starting P8 was gonna be another difficult heat due to it being drier now, and the rest of the drivers being on form, chasing hard. We didn’t manage to have quite as good of a start but still managing to have good pace and fight my way through to p2 after putting in the fastest lap.
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Final:
Staring on pole position in the final we knew it SHOULD be another strong result for us, as long as we made a good start. We pushed hard from the off to get out front and once again control the race to win by nearly 4 seconds at the line.

Overall a great day in terms of championship points and looking forward to round 3 next month 🔜 🔜.

Thanks again to Kimi for the great racing in heat 1.

Thanks also to for a great well run day as usual, to all the marshalls fand helpers for there tireless works, and thanks also to our sponsers for keeping us looking fresh all season.

Huge thanks to for the mega waft as always, helping me to get to the front. And last but not least huge thanks to my dad for doing a solid job on the spanners all day, and herding the dog!!
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25/04/2024

NKC ROUND 1 RACE REPORT.

This weekend turned out not quite as we hoped, however we came away knowing we had good pace, just not the luck. Large grid sizes, with traffic in front of us, made it difficult to avoid some of the incidents, but it was a great fun weekend for us with great racing and completing performance tweaks to the kart.

Saturday:

We were in group A for all of the practice rounds.

Due to the event being well run, we had 5 practice rounds for Saturday, allowing us to got lots of testing in.

During the first two practice sessions, we were changing engines and tyres to look at what was working best for us in terms of either engine and swapping between half mag and full mag rims to see if we could gain any advantage.

In addition, we had a lot of issues with a lack of brake progression, which resulted in us rebuilding the master cylinder, rear calliper, as well as pad and disk changes throughout the day, meaning we were very busy. It may have been an advantage to us, that the second junior heat of the day was cancelled due to a large crash, which meant we had 3 laps to try and bed the new disks and pads in on Sunday morning. However, we were in P15 which was a good place to start for us, as the brakes needed bedding in.

Sunday - Morning Practice:
We had managed to fix our braking issues after rebuilding the entire system and putting on a new disc. This really boosted our hopes for Sunday.

Heat 1: Started in P2 for my first heat of the day, which was always going to be a challenge, with un-bedded brakes, we had a good first heat managing to cross the line in P8 only to find out I had a drop nose which would push me to P16.

Heat 2 :This was the re run heat from Saturday. Starting in P15, i was hoping to make up positions, as the brakes were now dialled in nicely, we made up a few positions on the first lap up to 11th, only for me to make an error and run wide which would drop me to last place. Eventually managing to make up 4 places to finish in 22nd.

Heat 3: This was also going to be an extremely difficult heat, starting from the back of the grid, we knew we had to make up positions, but at least we would not be going any further back. Tough battles with those in front, we made up 7 positions after getting caught up in traffic and receiving another drop nose, as someone spun in front us, so we had nowhere to go. This dropped us back to the B-Final. Starting P20 on the grid, I would have to make up a lot of positions to get to the a final so I had to get my head down.

We were unfortunately involved in a racing incident, within the last few minutes of the race, resulting in me finishing P23 after being able to make up a few positions, getting into P11.

Overall, this weekend was very unlucky with pace, which wasn't what we needed after being on the back foot from the offset, but we look forward to the next race weekend.

Huge thanks to for my awesome new stickers, for the waft Stu Stretton for the race Pic and Phil Martin for the grid picture as dad was to busy hearding the dog, and lastly NKC for the well run meeting.

Looking forward to the next one. CKC round 2 🔜

20/04/2024

CLAY PIGEON NKC ROUND 1 SATURDAY

It's not the saturday we hoped for here at round one of the 2024 NKC, but we are still trying our best to fix our problems and get some valuable testing in for the heats.

5 Morning Practice Sessions:

We spent the morning trying to fix our braking issues, which meant we didn’t have the pace we hoped for going into the afternoon. After changing engines and doing lots of adjustments, we were still massively off the pace due to lack of braking.

Saturday Heat 2:

Heat 2 was cut short due to poor driving standards on the formation lap and multiple drivers crashing, so the clerk decided to run the race tomorrow.

Overall, it's not the saturday we hoped for, but there’s always tomorrow, and hopefully, we can move onwards and upwards from today.

09/04/2024

Whoops i think we should stick to Kart racing it's much safer than football!! I did not want to use the pool for this weeks holiday anyway.

02/04/2024

🔵🟠NKC Testing🟠🔵
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Good day testing at clay on Saturday. Trying new things with the gearing, jetting and playing around with pressures and wheels trying to find those extra tenths ready for NKC later in the year.
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Big thanks to for the graphics, dad for the solid work on the spanners and pigeon raceway for a perfectly run day.
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02/04/2024

🔵🟠NKC Testing🟠🔵
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Good day testing at clay on Saturday. Trying new things with the gearing, jetting and playing around with pressures and wheels trying to find those extra tenths ready for NKC later in the year.
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Big thanks to for the graphics, dad for the solid work on the spanners and for a perfectly run day.
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28/03/2024

🔵🟠CKC Round 1 Race Report🟠🔵
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Very solid weekend at this weekend. Gaining good points for the start of the championship and bringing home some silverware.
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Heat 1- Started in P6, getting a very good start, up into P1 on lap 5. A misleading tyre gauge, meant our tire pressures were massively high, causing me to drop off the pace, but we still managed to keep P1.
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Heat 2- This was our back start, so we were starting in P1, hoping to gain as many places as possible. Just before we went out, lighting struck, so we were unable to go out, meaning it was gonna be harder to overtake. The rain came down very heavy, causing everyone to have to change to wets at the very last minute. I still managed to go from P11 to P2 in one heat, which is an amazing recovery.
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Heat 3- Stsrting in Pole Position, this was more about the pace, rather then the overtaking. Got a good start and managed to get across the line i. P1 again, taking the second heat win of the day.
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Final- We had some very good heat finishes throughtout the dat, resulting in a Pole Position for the final. After a good start, we managed to hold first place all the way through to the chequered flag.
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Overall, it was a really solid weekend, showing great race craft and some great pace in mixed conditions. Looking forward to the next race.
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Thanks to studio997 for my awesome new graphics, Camberley kart club for the superbly run meeting, Jenson and Kimi for the great racing.
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01/06/2023

😂

01/06/2023

Camberley round 3 Race report

solid pace all day getting a podium in the end.
Heat 1: Started p2 ended up p1. Great result pedal snapped of halfway through the race and lost a lot of pace. I was overtaken but moved up to p1 due to a
Nosecone penalty.
Heat 2: p3-p2
Heat 3: p5-p4
Final: p1 -p2 There was a
Flag issue that allowed 2 other racers to overtake me, but again some
Penalty's were given and we moved up to
Our original position of p2.

Looking forward to pushing forward to top of podium for round 4.

Next race > Forest edge SC Plate this weekend.

Please note it was a very tiring race!! 😂