Dec '11

Once again I found myself at the Teamsport Bristol track in Avonmouth in preparation for Round One of ‘Chase the Ace’ scheduled for 31 January 2012. In my opinion not only is it one of the best indoor tracks in the Southwest, but infact probably the whole of the UK, with its ‘flyover’ section, long straights and switchback corners allowing for plenty overtaking opportunities.

A flying lap starts on the long main straight, which takes you into a long right hander which can be taken flat out if the kart is working perfectly. You hug the inside line, into the next corner, a tight hairpin right. You need to brake late and almost pivot on the spot to get around and to the right of the track for the next left hander which immediately follows. It’s important to get a good exit here and keep the kart nice and tidy as you come onto the next straight, where you carry a lot of speed through a right hand kink and keep your eyes to the left for cars emerging from the pits.

You’re then over the starting grid and into the trickiest corner of the lap, a wide right hander with a double apex where you can take a variety of lines and try not to scrape off as much speed as possible. Get it right, and as the kart slides you can set yourself up for left hander which immediately follows. Do it wrong however, and you can either spin to the inside or outside of the track, a common occurrence given how slippery it tends to be under the flyover, and also a place that usually frightens the life out of the track marshals as drivers come flying through the blind corner and usually straight to the scene of an accident. Through the next left hander you want to carry as much speed as possible as you come to up-ramp of the flyover, and then follows a flat out left and right, before speeding back down a ramp into a tight hairpin left, being careful as the surface changes coming off the flyover. The final two corners are hairpins where you need to carry as much momentum as possible before the long straight that completes the lap. The first left hand turn comes after heavy braking once you leave the flyover, then it’s a case of getting back over to the left hand side of the track ready for the final hairpin right. If you get it right, you should be able to slide the kart in one movement so as not to scrub off too much speed, and then it’s a case of getting it straight and on the power early to get good speed as you cross the line.

The final two turns are probably the best place on the circuit to overtake, as you can take a wider line and undercut the kart in front, however it does leave you vulnerable if you have someone close behind who could nip by as you go wide. A decent time should see you averaging about 35 seconds, providing you have a clean run with no yellow flags.

My best ever lap of the circuit stands at 32.801 which I set at the very first round of Chase the Ace, and it’s a time Ive never looked like beating.

During the sessions, I was able to record a lap of 34.661 in the first session, and 34.824 in the second, with average laps of 38.977 and 36.574 respectively. By no means a personal best, but with eight other drivers on track and numerous yellow flag incidents, I was satisfied with my level of performance and felt confident I was ready for the first round of ‘Chase the Ace’, having spent both sessions trying to get into a groove as quickly as possible, and also trying some different lines in order to work out what kind of grip was available.