RAF Waddington Vulcans Kart Team - First Race Weekend 2023
As sponsors of RAF Waddington Vulcans Kart Team, AFKC Station Champions 2022, tlmNexus are pleased to share the exciting race report from the first race weekend of 2023.
Words and photo courtesy of John Blondel:
The first race weekend of the 2023 season started off with a long 6-hour drive from RAF Waddington to Clay Pigeon Racetrack in Dorchester, arriving at an already packed race paddock at around 3pm. The team quickly jumped into action building our four-awning city and unpacking the 7.5T lorry load of karts and equipment, a task that was completed within the hour. Once set up, the team were then straight into preparing the karts ready for the following mornings testing sessions. As the karts had been left throughout the winter there was a fair bit of prep that needed to be completed, evening quickly came, and all 5 karts were set up and ready for the next morning. Our resident racer/chef was also on hand to cook a nice healthy curry, a meal fit for royalty.
Day two started off slightly damp but dry enough for the teams to practice on slick tyres. Within the first hour the track had dried up nicely and the sun had started to shine. Practice went well with all karts with lap times getting quicker by the minute, however kart 54 took some damage to the frame before lunch. It was out of action for the rest of the day whilst the two drivers, Flt Lt Jones and Cpl Holt set about completing a full chassis swop with the spare. All parts required swopping from one chassis to another and then requiring a full rebuild with no time to test this new setup. For our premier driver, Flt Lt Ling, Friday practice went well, seeing him tweaking his kart and gaining an edge over the other 2 stroke racers. He was fully prepped for his first competitive meet the next day.
Day three, Race Day, started off slightly wet with qualifying being the first stint of the day. Unluckily, kart 54 had a fuel issue, causing them to qualify last, however karts 50 - 53 all had strong qualifiers. In a grid of 39 karts, we were placed: 50 P6, 51 P24, 52 P7, 53 P28 and 54 P39. The weather gods were on our side for the first race and the track was nice and dry. This allowed all Vulcans drivers’ confidence to push hard and outpace the majority of the pack. After 25 minutes the team came together to pull off some extremely slick pit stops, with kart 54 requiring a new chain guard fitting. Shortly after all karts had pitted, the race was red flagged due to a driver collision which required medics to enter the track to tend to one racer who luckily, only suffered minor injuries. The race reset and after a further 15 minutes and during our second round of mandatory stops, a second red flag halted the race. This time an Army kart came off track and the driver required medical attention. The driver avoided serious injury and was released with a badly sprained ankle. With time running short, the race director then decided to end the race without restarting.. A bumpy start to the first race of the season saw the Vulcans finish 6th, 7th, 13th, 23rd & 33rd out of 39. This translated into 3rd, 4th, 9th, 17th and 24th Military and 45 points out of a possible 50.
The team then had a four-hour break until the next race, giving them time to fettle with the karts and make any much-needed mechanical repair. Race two qualifying came around and the rain had really started to hammer down, pushing all teams in to switch to wet tyres and change into rain proof coveralls. A slippery start to qualifying saw Kart 53 proves it had a great setup in the Wet and as such saw them set a quick time putting them 6th on the grid for the race. Things didn’t go so well for kart 50. After the first half lap of qualifying, the right engine started to play up. After pitting and thinking it was fixed, it went out again only to return after 2 laps with the same issue. Another quick check over didn’t identify the issue, so it was sent out to finish the session. 50 still managed to qualify 24th. This race saw 40 karts line up with the Vulcans placing: 50 P24, 51 P9, 52 P10, 53 P6 and 54 P29. Shortly after qualifying, the karts were all lined up on the grid and the starting lights set to start a very wet race. All Vulcan karts started off very strong, seeing several of them gaining places in the first few laps. However, within minutes, kart 50 started to splutter. The driver came into the pits and the team quickly set about trying to diagnose the fault. After a few minutes the team had the spark plugs out to reset the gaps and had re-terminated the kill switch wires but unfortunately, the engines continued to run rough. The driver/Team Principle made the call to retire the kart to prevent any further damage. Shortly after, kart 54 then made an unscheduled pit stop, complaining of the same rough running issue. This time, the kart was quickly inspected, and the cause being put down to damp conditions and sent back out to race, however after two thirds of the way in, the kart once again began to run rough, so the driver decided to pit the kart to prevent any further damage. Although the Vulcans saw two DNF's in the second race the remainder of the karts all pushed through and completed the race in 6th, 9th and 10th out of 39, bringing home four trophies. This translated into, 1st, 2nd and 6th Military and 50 points out of a possible 50. Overall, a cracking weekend seeing the Vulcans leading the Military standings.
Flt Lt Ling started race day in his Premier kart at the back of the grid in heat one of three and after a cautious start, Ling made up places and was up to 9th by lap 3. A further two places were made up seeing him crossing the line side by side to take 7th by just 0.052 seconds! Heat 2 also started well, with Ling starting 11th and making a place on the first lap. After some mechanical issues for 2 other karts, he was up to 8th place and closing in on two karts battling ahead. Approaching the hairpin, he was unseen by another kart and was forced to take avoiding action onto the grass. After hitting the tyre wall and luckily avoiding damage, the kart was dragged back onto the circuit and restarted. This dropped him back to 10th, where he finished the race. Whilst awaiting Heat 3, the heavens opened, and all eyes focused on quickly changing the kart to wet tyres and setup. Ling started in 10th and had moved up to 8th position on lap 3. Two laps later progress had been made to 6th, and 5th was achieved on lap 8. This was short lived, with Ling having a spin into the hairpin and dropping down to 7th. The ground couldn’t be regained in the wet conditions, remaining in 7th for the chequered flag.
With places made across all 3 heats, Ling started the final in 8th place. The wet conditions had remained, with standing water producing spray and poor visibility whenever trying to follow a competitor closely. After karts suffered from the lack of grip and mechanical issues, Ling placed in 6th on lap 3. Yet again, the wet conditions proved too tricky, with a small spin into turn 1 dropping Ling down to 9th, his final finishing position. Round 1 proved relatively successful for Ling, with valuable wet racing experience gained and successfully finishing all 4 races. He goes into round 2 leading the Novice Championship by 2 points, 9th in the Overall Championship, and hoping to improve next month at Boyndie circuit in Scotland.
