GBC goes KARTING!!!

Up astonishingly early last Sunday morning, off to Glasgow to meet up with a bunch of fellow MZers and friends. Had brekky at a roadside Little Chef and bumped into a famous darts player - Wolfie, aka Martin Adams. Spotted that his left hand was covered in those hideous bulgy gold rings that darts players often wear, and then saw his van outside. The waitress was besotted and he promised to send her a signed photo to display next the to the pic she has of Bobby "Dazzler" George.

There were 9 karters in total. Rather than wear the helmets and boilersuits provided by the karting place we all took suitable bike gear (or for the one guy who actually rode his bike there, he was ready dressed).

The weather was forecast to be wet and windy, well, it certainly was windy for the drive south but after a light smattering of rain the sun shone most of the afternoon. Fully briefed on what the various coloured flags meant and a reinforcement of the 'no barging people out of the way' rule, we were given numbers 1-9 and split into two groups for our first practice runs. It was found to be most amusing by some people that I needed a booster seat so that I could reach the peddles. But then I found it most amusing that I 'won' my practice run, won my heats and did rather well in qualifying for the final, despite my kart breaking down and despite having been shoved off the track on a few occassions!

I'm the yellow dot on the left side of the track...

The only downside was that the Organisers started me from NINTH position on the grid for the FINAL!!! How'd they work that one out? The final was a rare old chuckle though, with the 'no barging people out of the way' rule going AWOL. Because there were only 9 of us, everyone qualified, and from my start in 9th, I cleared about 3 karts before the first corner, then made it round the outside and inside of a couple more and was in 3rd place, rapidly gaining on my main rivals at the front of the pack, only for the race to be stopped after a pile up at the back. A re-start was in order so back to 9th again, and this time I only managed to get to 4th as the chequered flag fell. Miffed? Yes, of course! Fun? YES!! Do it again? DEFINITLY!!! Oh, and the bestest thing of all - the organisers had money on me to win.

Just out of curiosity (ok, more to do with my ever so advanced competitive nature) I acquired a copy of the fastest lap times - shall I post it up? Wadday say? Do you think the guys would be pleased to have their times posted? I'm sure they won't mind. Here is it....Followed by a pic of some of the slowest guys on the track, meeowww!!!

Thanks to UN for instigating the BIG KARTING DAY OUT and thanks to all who went along and made it one of the best days out away from bikes I've had in a long time. See you next time...