I’ll never forget the first time I went karting. It was at a friend’s birthday party at a local indoor circuit, and although it was fairly sanitised (With cones on the track dictating the racing line) it was enough to get me hooked. I’d been watching Formula One for about a year and I remember feeling like a grandprix driver even as we lapped the small circuit at relatively low speed. I’d never been particularly athletic and usually got overlooked when teams were picked in school for football and such, but here was something I felt I picked up quite quickly, and even then I was convinced I was faster than the other kids that were at this party.
Me and my brother convinced my parents to take us along to the circuits ‘Junior Kart club’ which I think ran every other Sunday. Groups of us youngsters were taught the basic fundamentals of karting, with some (very) basic theory mixed with track time. I always remember thinking these were very well organised sessions and I'm glad to see that my local circuit still gets kids involved from a young age. The sessions used to begin at about 10am and last a couple of hours, which usually meant I could get home in time to watch the F1, which would just make me want to sit in a kart even more!
At the age of maybe fourteen or fifteen we went on a family holiday to Spain with another family, and on one of the days we went to this outdoor circuit in a dustbowl where they had these crazy two-seater karts, with the seats next to each other and the steering wheel going pretty much down the middle! My Dad went out with my brother, and I had a kart with my Mum. I think we did one lap before I had to pull in because she was almost hysterical! As she went back to the safety of the spectator area, I got into a conventional one-seat kart and took off back onto the track. My Brother is convinced to this day that I drove over his and Dads kart as I overtook them! All I remember is that it was one of the most fun days we had on that holiday and also that I don't think at any point I took off my Ferrari baseball cap, even for dinner in the evenings! Other than that I seem to remember spending a lot of money playing the Sega F1 arcade game at the hotel, which was supposed to be the first proper ‘3D’ racing game. Looking back now it was pretty crude, but it kept me and my friend there busy in the evenings whilst our parents were in the bar!
I think by then I was of an age where I was a little old for the junior kart club at our local circuit, but still too young to compete in the adult GrandPrix events they had there. After lots of pestering I managed to convince the instructor there that I would be able to hold my own, and eventually they let me enter. My first proper race!
I think it took me a couple of attempts, but once I won my first race there was no turning back! I think some of the older guys begrudged me a little because I was usually a lot smaller than them and therefore lighter, but I'd had so much practice at the circuit I knew it with my eyes closed. The lap couldn't have been much more than twenty seconds long, and it was pretty tight with few overtaking opportunities, but I racked up quite the collection of ‘Raceway Bristol’ trophies.
For some reason or another that I think may have been due to the planned housing developments in Portishead, the track owners moved into a larger unit based in Avonmouth a couple of years later. I remember being so keen to have a go there I dragged my Dad along to have a look at the track before it was even finished!
Once the track was up and running again I used to enter the ‘Open Grand Prix’ once every few months, adding to the small trophy collection I had and also giving karting ago at a few other venues near us, such as Supakart in Newport (a pretty good circuit let down by a poor fleet of karts) Castle Combe, which despite being outside doesn’t really offer the thrills of a proper outdoor circuit due to it being so small, Hulavington (good karts, poor circuit) and Thruxton, which is a good track with proper race karts and a long lap of over fifty seconds. The last time I was there actually I was driving the incredible Ferrari 458 on the main circuit and the instructor that sat in with me had actually raced karts against Michael Schumacher! Needless to say, I was interested to see what tips he had to offer!
Over the years I’ve driven in several national competitions, and also done some karting in France, but for 2012/13 I decided to commit to two series, one being ‘Chase the Ace’ held over five rounds at my local indoor circuit, and the other competing in three rounds of the ever popular British Rental Kart Championship, a six event competition run across the country at a variety of indoor and outdoor circuits. Unfortunately I was unable to commit to every round due to work commitments; however you only need to enter a minimum of three rounds to score points toward the championship
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