Practice day @ CKC

Sam, James, Holly and Zain Jensen (Bambino) Associates – Olly #29 (novice)

Arriving at CKC to minus 5 degrees is not unusual at this time of year of course, thankfully though the track was itself unusually dry of ice….but still damn cold!

Sam was there with the sole purpose of testing the new dry tyres, no cloak and dagger stuff here to be honest, he had a great day, was the fastest in all sessions and concluded that while we can get grip from them to match last year’s tyres it is going to be about how quickly we can get them up to temperature, more aggressive drivers could conceivably benefit in the cooler months one thinks!

Zain arrived with hand warming gels, nice big ones that couldn’t stay in his race gloves though, despite this he managed a consistent improvement throughout the day, in the last session he caught his targets and managed to stay ahead of them with some great times being recorded for his current experience stage, Zain is very keen to get up to the pace of his team mates and in the spring could well be another young novice to watch

Our bubbly 77 arrived very keen to impress and in recent months has not failed to deliver, his general driving was strong and he very clearly had the pace especially in the last couple of sessions, let down by a minor mechanical fail and him removing the chain on a kerb saw two sessions lost but his moments of brilliance outweighed the moments affected by cold fingers, James is a very able driver and his pace over Christmas demonstrated that this test day was simply a day to put away and build upon but on the whole not too grim!

Holly has most certainly arrived and jumped in her kart ready to prove she’s ready for her first race, in all but one of the sessions she was fastest novice by far and even woke Sam up during session 4, beginning to home in on areas where work was needed she like James is gaining ground quickly and will show very strong, her first race is next weekend and the team are hopeful of a novice cup as she sets out in MSA.

Olly is still working hard and expects to grab another trophy at the Surrey circuit, with his new P1 he is settling in now and is looking stronger every time he goes out, a conscientious driver Olly is beginning to join the battles at the important end of the grid.

Not a bad day, great learning on the new slicks and the old track layout, Holly and James should together make it an interesting day for the team and their rivals.

Keep it flat!