Lesson 1 - Daytona, Sandown Park

This month we throw Matt in at the deep end (almost literally) with a horrendously wet track at Daytona - Sandown Park. Here's how he got on.

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The Guinea Pig Speaks

Hi there, I'm Matt and I'm the (un)lucky guy who was chosen for the Thrashed project. I have never karted before and haven't passed my road car licence yet so the guys have their work cut out. That said, I'm pretty hot on driving games at the arcades so who knows? Jules very kindly encouraged me to pop my karting cherry at Daytona in Sandown, a normally idyllic track near the picturesque horse racing course in Esher, Surrey. Not today though, it was peeing down with rain. Still, after watching some juniors flying round I was really up for some drift action. Jules muttered something under his breath about that being the slowest way round... whatever! We changed into some wet weather gear (more captain birdseye than Michael Schumacher) and put something resembling a pair of pants on my head. Apparently this is a balaclava, then on with the crash helmet. All in all I looked like a complete idiot and had no chance of pulling the fit girl in reception.

A quick safety video and warning from the track marshals that it was a bit wet out there and we were ready to go. I took my first lap really slow, I just couldn't get the wheels to turn into the corners and when I put my foot down on the straight I span like a top. Each lap saw the weather getting worse, thunder and lightning threatening to end my racing career very shortly, at one point it was more like powerboating than karting. I don't know where I finished or how I looked but I'm hooked and can't wait to get out on a dry track to see the difference.. and find some more speed.

Lesson 1:

Get loads of practice on a relatively quiet track so that you can learn your lines. The general rule of thumb is to make corners as straight as possible. If you think about it your kart goes fastest in a straight line so try to make each corner as straight as possible going from outside of the track to the inside at the middle of the corner and back to the outside on the exit. This is the foundation of cornering, but every corner is different so you may have to change approaches depending on track conditions or where you need to be for the next corner. Aim for a smooth line from one corner to the next.