Jack, Jonathon, Jamie, Henry, Freddie and a guest appearance by James @ CKC

Of course we had lots of information about this weekend being covered in frost and snow but a milder than expected night left a little frost on the Surrey track but nothing that would deter our intrepid young racers.

The Bambinos were the dominant attendance for the team which left Jack (Honda) as senior driver, Jack’s responsibility included doing the first track walk of the day and he led the boys off to see how bad the slippery areas were, with Freddie La Rosa on his first visit Jack and Jonathon did their very best to quell the young excited Sicilian driver but admitted that it was probably best that I took them all round again anyway, it seemed that Freddie had spent most of his first viewing sliding across the track!

The sessions got underway with the lads making a good job of the frost, Jack with older tyres certainly doing well and making sure he was at the front where possible.

The Bambinos were just having a great time, Henry and Jonathon made sure Freddie was happy with the routine of missing the bus stop first time out and off they went setting some reasonable times but just putting hours on the new motors.

The test day on the whole aside being cold was a good affair with all the lads setting some good times, Jack finished by improving his best by .3 – Freddie finished within 4 secs of the fastest overall so made some great progress for a first day, Henry testing jets etc did not improve on his “pb” but improved like Jonathon on overall consistency, with the engines nearly ready to go off to the engine builder to be sorted for the Spring we are happy that we have all the ingredients for solid results in the summer with all the lads.

We were also joined by James on a social call simply so he could leave his coat behind and cause his dad strife for doing so!

Note to Bambino Parents!

The Bambinos are obviously very small and this factor naturally demands a little extra attention, however the track is still a highly dangerous place to be even with our 6 year olds on the smallest motor doing what appears to be a low speed, the karts weigh around 65-70 kg on test day and will be nipping around at 35 plus mph, with the excited youngsters behind the wheel the live track becomes a very dangerous place for the proud parent eager to assist our budding F1 stars and this was highlighted on Saturday with one of the Bambinos having gone ‘kerflooey’ (word of the day!) with a technical issue.

The safest place for a marooned kart driver is generally in the kart until the marshalling staff tell them to get out and move to a safe place (with the average age of the Bambino class this , please do not indicate them to stand up from a distance so they are stood beside the track with moving karts, yes yellows are being waved but this is Bambino karting and whilst they have been taught the flags no-one is in radio contact with them, get to the kart by using the safest route away from the tarmac where possible, consider the trajectory of the karts when you walk around the outside of a corner and keep your eye on the track officials – they have radios and will be watching you! If you can get the kart straight back out then do it watching for the traffic, if not get your Bambino driver over the fence and join them quickly with or without the kart but please keep your eye on the track staff, they do a great job and will keep you protected providing you are being safe and predictable, they want all the drivers to complete the sessions so will endeavour to help them where possible but trust me you don’t want to be hit by one – I carry the scars of stupidity!

The Bambino drivers are not the only ones new to karting, they bring new parents who are learning as well, if you are planning to go on the track during the Bambinos sessions get signed on, get the yellow CKC vest and ask the staff on site for advice on where to stand – it will make your day far more enjoyable and whilst helping all the young bambinos to have great sessions you will have the best view!

Many Thanks