19th August 2009
Sam competes at Round 3 of the CIK/FIA European Superkart Championships - Assen, August 7-9
Sam has returned from the Assen TT circuit in The Netherlands after competing in Round 3 of the CIK/FIA European Superkart Championship, an event coinciding with the famous Rizla Racing Day. Using this meeting to get his toes wet at international/world level, Sam took this opportunity to learn what it takes to compete at the highest European level.
After finally completing all the practical and paperwork required for an upgrade to an International B superkart license, acquiring the conforming helmet and race apparel, it was time for Sam to tread into foreign European territory to realise a long time dream of racing at recognised International level. For this trip, Sam was accompanied by Steve Sponberg who successfully spannered Sam to his recent Australian Championship win. Steve has good knowledge/experience of the European layout which was proven to be a bonus for Sam even before taking to the track.
The kart used by Sam was not his own, a leased Anderson/PVP unit based on a different chassis and engine and at a track never driven on before by Sam. This was going to be a new experience at every blink of the eye.
With a field of 55 karts, Friday practice was just a matter of learning the track and getting the best out of the kart. At the end of the practice session, Sam knew he would be facing a giant hill battle for qualifying. So many unforeseen variables included; the kart did not have a rack and pinion steering system, the dashboard and shift lights were not in line of sight which made it very hard to understand the optimum shift points of the engine, the gear shift mechanism felt very different and jumping out of gear after shifting, meanwhile braking points and track knowledge was far from understood to enable confidence going into the first qualifying session.
With some changes to the kart and a good night's sleep, Saturday qualifying didn't go as well as expected. Some of the changes made were for lighter steering and dash repositioning. After the first session, Sam managed to only qualify 28th of 55. With a much better time expected in second qualify session, disaster struck when the kart was stuck in gear 3rd gear on the out lap. With no improvement in second qualifying, Sam slipped further down to position 33 on the grid for the race starts. After pit inspection/repair, it was discovered that the shift mechanism inside the engine had broken requiring engine removal for replacement.
Race 1 starting from position 33 was always going to be very daughting. Sam managed to get a good start and focus ahead to improve his knowledge and lap times of the circuit and position himself into 17th place until his gearbox started to again find neutral on occasions which made Sam slip positions finally finishing in 19th place for Race 1. Onboard footage from Race 1 can be seen on YouTube HERE.
Race 2 and with some confidence built up, gearing changes were made to help the kart out of the slower corners. Sam having to start from position 33 again managed to make up some places until the engine seemed to not feel as powerful as it should. Still, slowly making some places, the head bolts had finally striped and hot water was spraying from the engine which meant Sam would have to pull the kart over to avoid further damage.
In the end, the results do not show the amount of satisfaction in experiencing the difference in kart, tyres, engine, track, organisations, competitors and the professional manner in which the CIK/FIA Superkart rounds are conducted under. A trip well worth doing and many lessons learnt for the next European attack.
