[Back to events archive]

Location	Rye House Circuit, Hoddesdon
Date	23/04/2007
Cost	£90.00
Spaces	36
Deadline	13/04/2007
Event Information	This event has now taken place.

Event Results Available

View results from this event

Event Report

Has anyone got any photos or video footage?

Please forward them to chris@csmakarting.co.uk and we'll get them onto the site for you.

The Stig Joins the csma Karting Group!

> Race Results Available Here
> Picture Gallery Available Here


A grey morning, with the weather report threatening showers welcomed our usual mix of attendees.

We'd managed to gain a couple of younger members for this event and, as the scales proved, they were at some considerable weight advantage!!

Indeed, the lightest of our new members was well under half the weight of our most portly! Allan Goddard was going to have a hard job trying to balance the afternoon endurance teams out!



The morning qualifying enabled everyone to get a feel for the brand new fleet of karts that Rye House now has on offer. The karts were very evenly matched over the day and there were no breakdowns, which is testament not only to these great new machines, but also the clean driving on show by the group.

A short, light, shower during each of the sessions added a little spice to proceedings.

Onto the heats and as the track dried out from the earlier shower there were some good times being set by the top drivers, but the overall feature of the racing was just how clean it was.

As a club, we pride ourselves on catering for the complete beginner up to the seasoned racer and indeed from the ultra lightweight up to the gravitationally challenged, and so we see a fair spread of lap-times during the day. However, there are always great battles taking place throughout the field and they were fair spirited and clean.

Indeed, as I understand it, only one person was called into the pits for some friendly advice - and Philip assures me that he was completely innocent in the matter! Still the advice must have been good because it spurred him on to set the fastest time of the day at 40.67



Indeed, he went on to win the B final, ahead of Robert in second and Ian in third, allowing him to take a consolation place in the A' Final that followed. The battle for 4th, 5th and 6th was close throughout the B Final, covered by only 5 seconds after 20 minutes of hard racing.

The A' Final was equally hard raced. The reversed grid format meant that there was a good deal of re-jigging taking place. With the new karts and lap times being closely matched it took a while to sort out the order (Drew would like to point out that he was up to 3rd by lap 2 and lead by lap 3 - I think he was just excited to be near the front again!). Just as the race seemed to be settling down into an order, a short sharp shower lead to plenty more action, with people disappearing off track left, right and centre.



Drew's speed and experience paid off taking away a win, but Josh, one of our new junior members, came home in a stonking 2nd place. Tony finished 3rd and Chris H 4th having survived the wet patch in tact.

A short re-fuel stop / lunch break gave Allan the chance to work his strange black magic and come up with balanced teams ready for the endurance race.

It was at this point that we were introduced to our special star guest! Yes indeed - The Stig of Top Gear fame was so impressed by our racing that he couldn't resist joining in! He teamed up with Drew to form a super team. The Stig started their afternoon romp from the back of the grid, but he decided that didn't really suit his style and was up to the lead after a couple of laps. And the rest of the field didn’t really see them again until they were lapped. However, The Stig didn't have it all his own way - with Josh heroically unlapping himself at one point to delighted squeals of excitement from his mum!

There was close racing in the middle field with 5 seconds covering 4th to 6th at the end of 1.5hours of racing. Indeed our other junior for the day, Oli, took 5th place on the final lap crossing the line just half a second in front of Ian in 6th.

Thanks to everyone who turned up on the day - it wasn't the best showing in terms of numbers we've had, but the racing was as close and fun as ever.

We're off to Shenington, Near Banbury, Oxfordshire on the 25th June 2007 and with a new track and the new challenges that poses I know it's going to be popular. Please get your entry and payment in ASAP to guarantee your spot and avoid disappointment. See you there!

[Back to events archive]