April 18, 2009

• Spent the last half of the week down at the South Coast at son Paul’s house. During our stay, Paul’s eldest son Jake had his thirteenth birthday.

  His treat was to have an hour’s exclusive use, along with ten of his mates from school, of the Buckmore Park Karting track near Chatham in Kent. This is a state-of-the-art track that was opened by a group of top Grand Prix drivers.  Lewis Hamilton cut his driving teeth on this same track; there is a video on YouTube showing him coming from fourth place right at the end of a Kart race to win the race at the age of  11.

  The package included a talk on tactics, a practice lap before racing, a certificate recording lap times, a hat and bag, a meal after the race and a “Champagne” dousing on the podium at the end..

  It drizzled throughout the afternoon, but this added to the drama with some spectacular spins before the gang learned to steer into their slides on the bends.

  Pics below show the gang before kitting up for the racing, the layout of the course and the pitstop area, and a quick video of Jake taking the grandstand bend.

    

  

  

   

   

  • 7:03 am
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