Karting

Went Karting on a works do yesterday.

Didn’t do so well this time. Normally I am middle-ranking, but this time I was in the bottom third.

The first two races went well: two 3rd places, with the second one being stolen literally on the finish line from a guy who slowed down too soon. But it all went wrong in the third race. My turn to start at the front of the grid – should have been 10 points virtually guaranteed. But those behind had clearly forgotten it is a non-contact sport and turned it into a game of motorised rugby and also completely disregarded the rules about giving way to the car on the race line, so I came in a battered 7th and demanding a stewards enquiry.

Race 4 was doing a bit better, but two cars in front of me collided and I smashed into the wreckage, pitching one of them 45o into the air and making my car stand on its nose. Ouch!

Then in the final race I spun on the same corner as my previous smash and found myself parked sideways across the track with cars bearing down on me. They’re only doing about 30mph at most, but close to the ground it feels faster. We exchanged looks of terror but could do nothing about the ensuing smash. Side-ways on it hurt 4 times as much as the previous bump. OUCH!! I limped on but lost it again a few corners further on, sliding hard into the wall on my already bruised side. Ouch! I knew it was over when I didn’t immediately want to get going again. I was way out of the championship, I was at the back of this race, and had nothing left to fight for, so I limped ignominiously back to the pits.

Today I am bruised and stiff, but at least the office has entertained itself with stories at my expense so we have all had fun.