Social Race 1 - Whilton Mill

The iconic Whilton MIll was the location for our first social race of the 2021/22 year. With there being plenty of enthusiastic new members to UBMRC, what better way to introduce them to the sport than at one of the best tracks in the UK? The weather on the day was absolutely torrid however upon arrival at the circuit, the rain dances paid off and the rain disappeared so while we didn’t get wet, the track definitely was but spirits remained high and you could feel the excitement and energy bubbling. This was the first proper social race after COVID disruptions.

After the drivers were briefed and kitted up, practice began. A 20 minute session with each driver getting five minutes of practice before handing over the kart to the next driver, however everyone who has been karting before knows that driving on slicks on a soaking wet track has a steep learning curve. Add in the fact that many of the drivers were karting for the first time, with it being the first time in the wet for others, you can imagine how it went…

The marshals got a nice workout recovering a seemingly endless supply of karts on the grass, the yellow flags were out for what felt like the entire session, everyone really got thrown into the deep end. If you’ve raced at Whilton MIll before you will know you enter the pits by peeling off to the left at the boot complex. A few drivers missed the memo and accidently went around for an extra lap before realising, however we had one driver who completely took over the stint of a team captain, resulting in an on the grid driver swap right before lights out.

With that being said, the results of practice/qualifying were:

1. Mega Shuut with a 1:11.151

2. Take It Up The Brum Brum with a 1:11.352

3. Lich The Stamp with a 1:12.143

4. Don’t Drink and Drive with a 1:12.561

5. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner with a 1:14.832

6. Legs 11 with a 1:14.916

7. Bin It To Win It with a 1:15.320

8. Send It In Christmas with a 1:16.184

9. Why You Comin’ Fast!!! With a 1:16.558

10. Last Place with a 1:18.688

11. Brummie Boys with a 1:27.047

12. Team 12 with a 1:30.018

13. Team 10 with a 1:44.273

Team 12 made a ridiculous start and was up into 3rd place by the end of lap 1 with don’t Drink and Drive being the biggest loser falling down to 12th. Understandably the team captain of Team 10 did not make up any places as they had no laps of practice going into the race. The stints were 15 minutes in length with each driver getting two of them. Team captains would take the first and final stints to ensure there were huge differences in speed between drivers on track, however the racing between the team captains was not as close as it usually is in social races with our BUKC drivers using their experience in wet conditions and pulling away from the field before handing over the karts.

Kart changes was where the field truly began to spread though, with so many new members to UBMRC, there was no way of determining pace or ability so very quickly, the field spread as some teams benefitted from experienced teammates while others spent more time facing backwards than forwards. It’s at this point where you have to believe me that there were too many incidents to keep track of. One such incident was new members Edward and Nathan having a coming together at Christmas corner resulting in both drivers going for a spin. The marshals quad bike was constantly in use, the digiboard was showing penalty after penalty, this race was quickly starting to become a test of who could avoid spinning out on the grass as you’d likely be waiting a while as the marshalls were busy recovering other karts before they’d have a chance to get to you.

With it being a night race, you couldn’t see much from the spectator areas and while there was lots of action taking place on the home straight, it was difficult to see who was driving each kart for anyone not wearing their own race gear so the race report ends here.

In the end, the results were as follows:

1. Don’t Drink And Drive completing 85 Laps

2. Lich The Stamp 1 lap behind

3. Mega Shuut 3 laps behind

4. Take It Up The Brum Brum 3 laps behind

5. Legs 11 6 laps behind

6. Last Place 7 laps behind

7. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner 7 laps behind

8. Bin It To Win It 8 laps behind

9. Brummie Boys 8 laps behind

10. Send It In Christmas 9 laps behind

11. Why You Comin’ Fast!!! 11 laps behind

12. Team 10 12 laps behind

13. Team 12 17 laps behind

Many thanks to Whilton Mill for hasting an incredible event that was marshalled extremely well, to all new members who took part in karting for the first time in suboptimal conditions and all who helped make the event possible!