results

I would just like to say a big well done to everyone who completed the event and a big thankyou to all my team B who did an outstanding job' for novice drivers. The star of the team was Bob Mckenzie and the most improved was Atilla Sabir who was able to take up to 3 seconds off his starting times, I think this was to make up for the telling off i give him after him speeding through the pit lane but here are the final results.

ps: Now none of my team can wait for the next ironman race at the end of October as we all should be making some good progress up the field.

24hr update

Team A finished 37th overall.
Team B finished 41st overall
Provisional result before weight handicap adjustments.

More accurate info to follow in near future, for now... bed calls. Was a busy last few hours so no time for updates.

Update after 21 hrs (9am)

At 7.30 am, the race was stopped for 30 mins after an incident involving just one kart. The diver was taken to hospital for xrays. The suspected cause was the drivers scarf becoming caught in rear axle, possibly luckily,during a full course yellow and therefore relatively slow speed. It doesnt bear thinking what would happen at full speed...
This meant we changed our driver change / refuel strategy to suit and next out for Team B was Bob. After a few laps getting tyres back up to temperature, he was detirmined to break the 1min 21 secs barrier. Not quite, but his lap times were consitantly in 1min 21's & 22's. Bob in now, Malcolm is now in the seat. Ste has scrapped his last stint due to his worn body and so the remaining four will finish the race for Team B.
Team A are currently in 34th seven laps ahead of Team B and are without problems.

Update after 19 hrs

Daylight has broken. Earlier, Steve of Team B went out immediatley behind Martin of Team A who had just began his stint one lap earlier. Steve caught and passed Martin quite easily and pulled out a very large gap. This gap continued to increase to the point Steve was catching Martin again to take one lap back. The gap was reducing by approx 2 - 3 secs a lap and it looked like Steve would finally catch martin, but wirh ten minutes of Steve's drive left, Team A brought Martin in early. Martin commented on a tough stint due to a slipping clutch and handling probs. They made a very fast pit stop and Warren went out still ahead of Steve by just under 10 secs. This gap was shrivelled with the help of a full course yellow, but on the restart, Steve only a few seconds behind and viewing the number 88 in front, Ste fought to catch Warren. He did so and made a great pass leading into the chicane, altho this was short lived as he had a spin at the back of the circuit and re-appeared about 10 secs behind Warren.
More drama was to come.... Steve came in for his pit stop ten minutes later, although a mistake meant Amhed (Steves replacement) was not yet ready and meant he had to continue through the pit lane and back out again losing time. After a couple of laps, the freshly awoken Amhed was ready to take over. Steve emerged looking in pain.... his side had become quite bruised from the battering Karting gives.... esp over 24 hours.
Most people are still asleep with those still awake feeling the effects of tiredness. We are now getting close to the final hurdle... but... anything can happen. Will get a position update soon

Update after 16 hrs

Nothing of any note to report. Team A slightly edging ahead, Team A 34th... Team B 41st. 6 laps difference now so Team A have pulled out another 2 laps over the last 4 hours. Different pit stops make a difference. Team A have done approx 636 laps in the race so far. Team B now 3 laps ahead of afformentioned Scuderia Cento.
People are getting tired now and many sleeping where time allows. Not me of course... as well as updating the blog, i am keeping times for Team B.
more later

Update after13 hrs

Things are closing between Team A and Team B. Team A 41st and Team B 44th at present.
Didnt see what the gap is between them. Not much news, Race stopped at about 11pm after a driver went into tyre wall heavily after the esses and had to be removed from the circuit (not sure about injuries). Team B light problems again...... remaining front light stopped working, so at the last pit stop, A spare one was taped to the front. On looking closer at the previous one, it was noticed it had sheared clean off at some point.
Bob has just finished his stint where he has been persuing the next Kart which is Team Scuderia Cento.... the team run by our friend Emily (EmSpem). He has been setting reasonably good times altho we are still chasing that Kart.
Team A... still going strong according to Warren Clough, altho the fact they were 37th doesnt look good, Warren insists this is due to a pit stop and is looking for good times when his stint starts in 10 mins.

update positions at 11pm

Team A are 37th with 435laps team B are 43 with 429laps still continuing very tight battles throug the race

-- I sent this from my 3 mobile -- Steaallan

Update after 10.5 hrs

Sorry about lack of updates, but things are all go here with no time to spare to switch laptop on. Could of done with someone here to do that job alone. Anyway, Dont know the positions.. (a result of being to busy with everything else).. but will check very shortly.

Team A doing well, Colin has just finished his stint and reported very good times. "Had a clear run and kart seems to be running better in clear air. I still havent picked a race with Steve yet..." said Colin.

Team B, also doing ok, altho further back after their earlier probs. We had an initial problem with the lights not working, but soon sorted that on a pit stop. Altho, we were asked to take front one off as it was too bright. Bob reported.." its was brilliant, i could examine the engines of the karts in front, it was so bright". Anyway, we altered the angle to point to the floor to take its brightness away.... we need to be able to recognise the kart at night. During the last stint, the rear one was damaged beyond repair... Ste said... "i was rear ended by a privateer..."... no more info required..
Hopefully will post positions soon...

19:30 change over

At the 7:30pm change over attilla team B and Martin team A both went out at the same time and have been swapping places for 6/7 laps with really tight racing untill Martin lost control and spun so Attilla was able to pull away

-- I sent this from my 3 mobile -- Steaallan

Update after 7hrs

Few incidents regarding yellow flags and drivers not paying attention prompted a clerk of course meeting with team captains to re state the regs. This seemed to go unheeded and after a few dangerous moments involving marshals, the race was stopped momenterally and the law laid down.
Team B position still hovering round the late 40's and just been in to pit garage for a routine maintanance check. Only problem noticed is left hand front light broken (only a cosmetic issue).
Heading towards darkness soon.

Update after 4.5 hrs

Current positions:
Team A 40th
Team B 50th

Team A, no real problems, steady running.

Team B lagging a bit after speeding penalty and now having Starting cable snap after a refuel. That meant more lost time and taken around 3 mins to replace. Amhed replaced by Malcolm at 16.30hr.

Newsflash

3 hours in, Atilla Sabir gets a 20 min penalty, reduced to 5 mins for speeding in pit lane. Team B 53rd pos.

Approaching 3 hrs

As Ste has already mentioned, Team B got a good start from the flag, only for the problems of fitting 66 Karts into one corner comes into play. The second corner is always fun on the opening lap at this circuit and often its someone else who dictates what position you emerge it in. After dropping back, he had the humiliation of another spin in front of the watching crowd which dropped him further back to last place.But Ste is made of strong stuff and after a few laps settling in, he soon brought his times down to respectable consistancy. This is a 24hr race after all. In Fact, he went a bit further and started setting personal best times around the 1min 22secs mark. A consistant run by Malcolm held station and then Amhed ran without fault.
After 3 hrs, Team A 40th position, Team B 46th position.

2hr mark

Team B managed to get a great start by Steve passing lots of other competitore after the 'Le Mans sprint start' but at the second corner i got rear ended which put me almost to the back of the pack, but then started to regain positions again. Them it was time for malcolm to go out and as usual he did a stirling job with not to much drama apart from a couple of spins. When he came in he said he doesnt think he will have enough adrenaline to last the full 24 As it is manic out there
Steaallan

practise session

Well after the first practise session team A finished 20th fastest And team B 23 fastest for team B Bob Mc was fastest with a lap of 1:22:7 next was S Allan with 1:23:3 then Ahmed Sabir with 1:23:4 and Malcolm Mcphie with 1:23:8 followed by Attilla Sabir 1:25:4 so as a result Bob will be doing our qualifying tomorrow well tucking in for some food now and got my bed ready Steaallan

BBQ

I'm hoping the chilli burgers are not going to be giving me a johnny cash in the morning!

preparation

Well preparation is going well so far for Brian (team a) focusing hard on the job in hand
Steaallan

Weather

I have just checked the weather for the event, today for the practise there is a 70% chance of light rain but for saturday (raceday) it looks like it is going to be a nice day with temperatures up to 16c and then getting cloudy but should be dry for sunday.
Dont forget keepchecking back here

Kart numbers

As Stockton motor club We have now been allocated our kart numbers;
Team A, no.88
Team B, no.89
It is really busy at the circuit at the moment with the private teams doing setup and testing for the big event. There are just short of 70 teams, each with 3-6 drivers racing around the 2.1km circuit at speeds in excess of 60 miles an hour at Teesside autodrome

Stephen A Allan

Press Release

TWO teams totalling 11 drivers will fly the Stockton and District MC flag in this weekend’s 24-Hour Kart Race at Teesside autodrome.

It’s the third year in succession the club has contested the event and we hope to build on previous experience.

“The Le Mans-style start this year adds a new dimension to the race and the whole endurance and team experience is amazing,” said SDMC team captain Ste Allan.

“The first year we blew two engines and had a total brake system failure which had to be replaced through the night.
By the time we crossed the line at noon on the Sunday we had endured a rollercoaster 24 hours.”

Captain of SDMC’s team two is Colin Peacock and Allan added: “There is an intense rivalry between us.
We are both targeting top 10 finishes in our class, but club honours are at stake and that certainly pushes us along.”