Team PJ Engineering
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As you can see during the mid season break I have had to make an apearance for PJ Engineering, Paul is the man who does all the wizardry on our engines. He's a top bloke and had invited me to join his team to race in a 2.5hr endurance Kart race and without hesitation I booked a night off from work. The meeting was made up of 7 teams all involved in the motorcycle trade somehow or other, and a minimum of 5 in a team.(picture to the left) Richard, Paul (No2), Darren, Paul of P.J's and me Ian. We had the compulsery pretrack talk & walk then a 15min practice. |
| The fastest qualifier in practice started on the front row of the grid and the slowest at the back. We qualified 1st on the grid with a time of 23sec, we were 1.5sec faster than second place. Paul (No2) put in the fastest time so he started the race, but from the start it was obvious we had a different kart than in practice, Straight from the start we dropped to 2nd. Paul (No2) held his position for 20min when his back started to hurt so he pitted in and Darren went out. By the time Darren managed to get out we had been lapped. |
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4 Laps later he stuffed the kart into
the tyre wall right infront of me then carrying on with the wheels facing
different directions eventually coming to a stop at the end of the tunnel.
They Stopped the race and changed his kart. Away they went again this
time he stuck his thumb up saying the kart was a lot better. Darren
managed to do a stunning job and unlaped us before he pitted in. I was
out next but by the time I had got out we had been lapped again, so
out on a mission I went. I managed to pass a few in the process getting
a warning for bumping. This was to become a problem later on, as I came
up along side a kart into the hairpin he turned into me resulting in
me getting a black & white flag and a stop and go penalty. 30 seconds
later I rejoined the race and been 1 lap down again made me even more
determined. After about 10 laps I settled down and managing to pass
a few, It seemed like forever so I signalled to the pit to come in,
they signalled back saying 10 I presumed 10 laps but as the race came
to a stop 5 laps later for a red flag they shouted 10 minutes to fuel
stop. The race carried on and it seemed for ever this 10min. I was so
tired that I started to make mistakes, but I was out on my own so it
didn't matter to much. suddenly the black flag came out I thought can't
be me so I carried on next lap it was out again and the marshal was
pointing at me. So into the pits I went asking what had I done he said
fuel stop mate, it was over I was so tired I couldn't get out the kart.
Richard was next so he helped to drag me out the kart. back in the pits
Paul (No1) of P.J Engineering came over to see how I was, I was just
getting my breath back I said how long was I out, he said about 40 to
45 minutes and we were 4 laps in the lead.
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Richard was out for 25 minutes in this time managing to keep out of trouble and us still in the lead. Paul (No1) was out next, he to managed to keep us in the lead but came in after 20 minutes tired and not been comfortable in the kart. Out went Paul (No2) by this time with all our pitstop's our lead had dropped to less than a lap but only just because 2nd place was just in front and after a few laps managed to pass him and extend our lead. With only 20 minutes remaining we signalled to Paul to pit in. So in came Paul and out went Darren, we were still in the lead but only just about 7 seconds to be exact. Darren drove superbly and after 5 minutes had managed to pass 2nd place |
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and put us 1 lap in front again. With just 5 minutes to go Darren was still flying and managed to put our fastest lap in of 20.34 seconds and a lead of 1 lap and 12 seconds. It was time to slow him down one crash could loose all the hard work we all had done. As the chequered flag was dropped we all gave a big cheer as Darren had maintained his lead of 1lap & 12sec to second place 3rd place came in 11 laps down. On the podium having recieved our winners medals Paul gave us all a soaking with the champaign. Well done to all the lads and special thanks to Paul for inviting me and his wife Angila and son Ashley for taking the Photo's. A big thank's goes to the sponsors Prox Racing. |
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This page was maintained by Ian Miller