We headed north this weekend for round two of the NKC 2025 championship, at Fulbeck in Grantham. Round 1 didn’t quite go to plan with a blown engine so we are hoping for better running this time out. The weather is hot and sunny.
The race weekend is run over three days, Friday & Saturday practice, a race on Saturday evening, two further races on Sunday followed by a final Sunday afternoon.
The conditions for the weekend were good, sunny and hot all weekend. We love the Fulbeck track layout although the condition of the track isn’t quite up to the standard as the others we race at and over taking is more difficult due to it being quite thin and 3 chicanes.
In Friday practice we experimented with different set-ups. We spent alot of time testing sprocket sizes and tyre pressures until we were happy we were on the right set-up. The last session of the day followed a rain shower so we went out on slicks on a damp track for some experience and fun.
Saturday practice went well and we progressed through the day tweaking set-up ready for our first race on Saturday evening. NKC have mixed grids so there is no qualifying we go straight into our first race at 5pm.
Race 1 – Our starting position was 12th, we made a good start and by the third corner had made up 9 places and was running in 3rd. That’s where our luck changed, a kart spun off and crashed straight into us. Losing 3 places straight away and then we realised that our rear axel was as bend as a banana. Jacob was determined not to have another DNF so drove our un-drivable kart through to the end. Unfortunately we lost alot of places finishing 25 out of 35. Not the start we wanted in our first race but at-least we get some points on the board.
Saturday night was spent fixing the kart, we had to cut off the axel as it was so bent it wouldn’t go through the bearings. By 9pm she was as good as new, all repaired, laser aligned and ready for our Sunday races.
Race 2 – Our starting position was 29th, we made another good start and gained several places on the first lap. We pushed hard throughout the race making up 12 positions and finishing 17th.
Race 3 – Our starting position for our final heat race was 12th. We made a good start and made our way up the grid in the opening laps, we got up to 5th when the race was red flagged due to an accident that required the ambulance on track, the two ambulance got alot of use this weekend as the racing was tough.
On the re-start the kart in-front of us was asleep and got in the way, it ended up costing us some places and we finished the race in 7th, making up 5 places.
Final – Started 9th, had a good start and drove well, we didn’t make up any places nor did we loose any, we finished where we started in 9th.
It was a tough but enjoyable weekend. We got through quite a few parts this weekend but we gained 10 places in the championship so are on the right path to repair our lost points from round 1.
Only a two and a half week break then we head down to Dorset for round three at Clay Pigeon Raceway.
