October 2025

Its getting a little harder to find events to compete at. Many of the championships have finished but I still found plenty to do, competing in round 9 at Shenington and a visit to Whilton Mill, somewhere I haven’t been this year.

As the weather changes into the autumn, shorter days and varied weather, racing becomes more challenging. Tyre and engine choice becomes more critical and having good luck with the weather can make or break a race.

Shenington Round 9

Saturday Practice

Another dry Autumn day, cold and bright, we got some good practice sessions in. I’m still running-in my second engine and it still lacks a little pace compared to my race engine. We looked really good on pace though, running in the top 3 all day. Realistically 4th would be the best I can get from the championship. Most of the damage was done earlier in the season, losing out to various incidents and accidents.

Sunday Race Day

Heat 1

This was my best start position of the day, starting from P2; the track was dry but again quite cool.

I lost out at the start losing 2 places and dropping to 4th, but by lap 3 I had battled back up to 2nd. A collision on lap 9 saw me drop down the order to 8th and by the last lap I managed to recover to 7th, very disappointed with the incident. I managed to set a fastest sector 3 time and was just 0.01 from taking fastest lap.

Heat 2

Starting from P7 on the second heat and in the wet was going to be difficult, possibly my first time on wet tyres since February, I got a good start making it up to 6th and then by lap 2 up to 5th. Racing is difficult in the rain with little visibility, I out-braked myself into he first hairpin, dropping back to 7th, but I pushed hard and got up to P6 over the line.

Final

With just the two heats due to the shortening days, I set up for the final on P7. The track was still wet, but I had little to lose from that far back. I managed to make a move off the start into P6 and was pushing hard to move up through the grid, but a spin with Philip Paterau as we battled on lap 3 meant I dropped to last and some 3 seconds off the next driver and some 12 seconds from the front.

I worked hard over the remaining laps to be consistently fast and close the gap, Lap 3, 2.52 to Philip, lap 5,1.9s, lap 6 and I was a full 1 second quicker passing Philip, Harry Davidson and Logan Baker, Lap 10 and I was up to 6th and running very quick lap times even for the conditions, that was as far as I could get in the remaining laps, but I showed some great speed and if I hadn’t been unlucky at the beginning I really think a podium was possible. Again, so close to a fastest lap too, missed out by 0.04s, and another fastest sector.

Whilton Mill Round 8

I haven’t been to Whilton Mill since a small test session back in January, That trip out in the snow, in a Rotax kart didn’t really teach me much, however with little events to do in October I thought it would be worth a trip to the Northampton circuit.

Jade were away in Europe, so I opted to work with the well-known team of Jack Dex Racing (JDR). Jack was a massive help over the weekend and made us feel at home, even though it was an unfamiliar track. I spent an hour with my coach Marcus Littlewood on the sim Friday evening, just to remind me of the way around the track, that was valuable when I first went out Saturday morning.

Saturday

The format for Whilton is a little different to Shenington, so practice, qualifying, heats and a final over the two days. Saturday would see 3 practice sessions and qualifying.

Practice 1 was a drying track. A cold and damp start meant there was some damp patches around the track. After a tentative start I managed to push hard and remember my way around, finally coming in 4th quickest, which I was very happy with.

Practice 2 was still damp but with a dry line, again I found myself in a good position, a little slower and P7. Practice 3 was the first run on a fully dry track; I was showing some good pace and made P6, still 0.9s from the front running Hodges.

Qualifying went well - I was a little disappointed with my top speed, the race engine didn’t seem as good as the precious practice motor. I still managed P6 but the gap to the front was over a second, but not too bad considering I hadn’t been to the track for so long.

Sunday

Warm up was ok, again P6 over the 3 laps,

Heat 1, the track was dry and as we made our way out on the formation lap the engine just seemed a bit off. As I hit the start, the engine just wouldn't pull - it popped and banged and there was something wrong. I was just about to pull and it seemed to improve so I pushed on, and it did finally start to give some power. Sadly the damage was done as I was sown in 13th by then, I couldn’t improve and had to settle for P13.

Some investigation found a failure in the carburettor, not something we would have seen, so dad swapped a new carb and we set up for heat 2.

Heat 2, still dry despite the forecast saying it would rain, I still didn’t get the best start, dropping from 6th to 10th. Pushing myself hard I got back to 8th, and I couldn’t catch P7 in the remaining laps. I wasn’t too unhappy, those in front were regulars at the venue and I was still beating a few others, who maybe should have been quicker.

Sunday Final

As I sat on the grid watching the time winding down before the start it started to drizzle, sat on slick tyres, dry setup, then the marshals gave us an extra 5 minutes under the safety rules to change tyres, should I go wet or dry? Will it rain harder?

Dad said ‘your choice’, I looked at the others just 4 drivers selected wets… was I right? I stayed dry, it was 50/50 and by the time we hit the start I thought I had got it wrong.

Started P7 and those that chose the wets were immediately quicker, I dropped to 11th and it was looking bad, the gap between wets and dry's was 6 seconds!! I pushed on regardless and by lap 3 it looked like things were improving. I got up to P8 but there was still a big gap. Lap 5 and it was just starting to favour the dry tyre, but I had a bad lap with a spin onto the grass, recovering and keeping 9th place. Then the rain started to come again, and there really wasn’t a lot I could do. I finished P8, given the mixed weather and my lack of experience I was actually quite happy with the result. Should have picked wets!!

Up Next

Shenington Round 10: November 15th-16th