Charlotte Haegermark's blog

Last weekend I was in England in order to visit the Britcar 24h race and to do a test in a FPA car. The test took place at Bedford Autodrome about an hour drive north of London. The first hour was spent for seat fitting followed by two hours of track testing.

There were some differences in the driving technique, if I compare to karts, which made the driving difficult in many ways. The biggest difference was the gearbox which had an H-pattern shifting system rather than the sequential shifting that I?m used to and also the amount of brake pedal force you had to apply.

In the beginning of the session I took it pretty easy in order to acquaint myself with the car. In spite of that, I managed to do a few spins, slipping out into the grass and a 360 degree spin on the tarmac as well.

At first it was easy to be keen with the throttle coming out of the corners and entering the straights due to the turbo lag. You had to be really soft on the throttle and be aware of the turbo boost that would appear just after a moment.

It was a bit difficult for me, being a kart driver and having no experience in racing, to achieve the necessary driving rhythm in the beginning. In karting you have an extremely good control of your vehicle, while here you have other parameters such as springs and dampers, wings, turbo lag, limited visibility and of course a much heavier car which you have to get adapted to.

Towards the end of the session, I got a better pace. However, it quickly got dark in the evening, so after about 30 laps on the 1,8 miles long West Track it was time to head back to the garage.

Driving such a powerful racing car was really a fantastic experience for me, much different from what I had expected. But the more you practice the better you get. I hope that I will be able to do some more testing before the end of the season.

The biggest karting event of Scandinavia took place on 12th-14th of September, at Gothenburg Karting Ring. 44 drivers from all over Sweden as well as Norway and Denmark participated in KZ2.

On the Friday there were practice sessions for all classes. I had five sessions with good results and got the lap time 40,50 sec, which was only some tenths from the fastest driver. I felt that I was well prepared for the races next day.

On the Saturday I had two more practice session followed by the time qualification. I got a decent result and finished on 24th place among the 44 drivers overall.

After the time qualification it was time for the two qualification heats. In the first heat I had 16th position on the grid and finished the race on the same position.

I did a bad start and lost one or two places in the beginning, but I took them back later in the race. The kart went very well and I got a good lap time.

In the second heat I started on 16th position again and finished the race on 11th position.

Everything went smoothly and I had good pace all the time. At the end of the race I got closer to the drivers ahead of me. A few more laps and I probably would have overtaken them as well.

The good results in the heats lead to my direct qualification to the A-final. In the B-final, 24 drivers fought for the 14 places in the A-final. I got 19th starting position of the 44 drivers overall in the A-final, which is my best accomplishment this year.

I was very pleased to get such a good position in the A-final and I was certainly excited to do my best. Unfortunately my luck didn?t last for a long time, because of a driver who ran over me from behind and didn?t have much respect.

In the A-final, in the first corner, the guy ran over my kart and destroyed the radiator hose resulting in excessive leakage of cooling water.

He got up over the right rear wheel and then over the engine and finally over my arm. I kept on driving after that incident, but I soon realized that I was forced to retire from the race. The engine temperature reached 70?C before I was back in the pits.

Luckily, after the A-final, there was a second final race which is part of the Cambio Cup Championship. If I would have the time to repair the damages I had the opportunity to show my racing potential once again.

The team had only ten minutes to repair the damages and managed to make it to the grid just in time for the start. The Cambio Cup final gathered 28 drivers and I was starting at the back, on the 21st position, because I haven?t driven in Cambio Cup before. I managed to cross the finish line on 15th position after 20 demanding laps.

I?m very satisfied with the Cambio Cup race, but I had big problems in the beginning with a kart that was extremely difficult to drive since the steering was damaged in the incident in the first final. Towards the end of the race the kart went much better and I managed to overtake several drivers.

This was my last race of the season and I really feel that I have become a much better driver, thanks to the races in Germany; I?m now just a few tenths of a second behind the top Swedish drivers.

Well, enough said now? Today I?m off to England!

High pace, much overtaking and many tough fights. Those words can describe the World Cup and the European Championship in Varennes which was driven this weekend. The races were really challenging and exciting to watch. Those top drivers are amazing. In parc ferm? there were some fighting among drivers who were angry, that was probably the least impressive thing during the weekend. But it was very fun to see how everything is done on this level.

On location were three Swedes, two in KF3 and one in KZ1. Italy and France had the most participants, not so surprising.

You can find pictures from the event on my website, under Media.

I also got the chance to sit in a Formula BMW car. It felt real good.

On Saturday I will have my last race for the season. This race, Gothenburg Grand Prix, is the biggest karting event in Scandinavia and gathers over 50 participants in KZ2. Also, I will have some practice sessions on Friday at the track.

Today we?re off to France! I?m really looking forward to some vacation and to look at really good races. I hope I will learn something from this trip aswell. I mean, the karting abroad is different from here in Sweden.

I also hope that the weather will be good. I?ve had enough of rain I think.

See you next week when I?m back. Hopefully I will have lots of things to tell you and some pictures to share.

Until then, take care!

Oh! I have forgotten to tell you about the event I had last week with my sponsor Kodamera. It was great fun and appreciated.