It’s been a long time since my last blog at the end of September after winning the Rotax Junior European Title in France. I thought there wasn’t much going on to report, but I guess there is. It turns out that my last kart race really was my last race as I’m switching from karts to cars in 2010.
My last race was at the Rotax Grand Finals in Egypt in December. Before the event we knew that we’d be at a weight disadvantage, as we had to use a completely standard Maranello chassis, which meant that we couldn’t remove or replace any parts to save weight. The class minimum was 145kg and I was 12kg over. It was very hot weather too, so my cunning plan to use my weight and height to get an advantage in the wet was ruined!
We couldn’t use normal dry gearing due to the weight, so we were running wet gearing to try to compensate which meant that I was a target on the straights, but could make up places on the infield. The heats went really well and I was on grid 9 for the pre-final, and I was very surprised to finish 5th.
It was great to start the final from the inside of the third row, and on the first lap I was in 3rd, on the bumper of the eventual winner, Ukyo Sassahara of Japan. I was really starting to believe in a miracle, when the engine, running full wet gearing, decided it had had enough abuse, made a strange noise and lost power. It kept going, but wouldn’t rev and sounded sick. I fell back to 6th immediately, desperately trying to cling on to every corner, but the inevitable hit from behind (as I was getting in the way) pushed me off the track and I finished way down in 18th.
Just for a minute I thought I had a chance if the engine had lasted a bit longer. Still, we gave it our best shot, and once again my Dad did a great job as my mechanic.
I was 16 last month, so we’ve decided to make the move to single seater cars straight away. I’ll miss kart racing, but I’m very excited about the new challenge.
Lots of people have been helping me in the move to cars, and I’m really grateful for all their support and advice. I know that I have a lot to learn and I’ll do my best to learn as quickly as possible.
I’m really looking forward to the start of the racing season but also have to do my GCSE exams this year, so I have to make sure I don’t just think about racing! As soon as I know for sure which series I’ll be racing in I’ll do another blog, and get my website (www.joshwebster.co.uk) updated with the latest news and photos.
