Round 4 of the Rok Cup Thailand at Bira Circuit has been a race to remember. Although the event was not in our plans, the fact that “all the gang” were going to be in the race meant we couldn’t just sit at home while all Alex's friends were out on track. And this was to be Alex’s first race in the Senior category!
The team was well aware that our kart was now getting old and the Rok GP engine that had served us so well was also not as it once was. But with very little time remaining, we thought we’d roll the dice and enter as is.
It was always going to be tough because, with the Senior class minimum weight regulations as they are, we needed to add a total of 30kgs on the kart, something that Alex has never had before. But on old tyres, things were looking good during Friday’s free practice and Alex's pace was fast. After being realigned, Alex said the chassis felt good and the old engine seemed happy to be pushed… So far.
Official practice Saturday morning also started well, with a decent run on the same old tyres. However, with a few laps into the second session, things changed. The kart stopped on the main straight and would not restart. A carburettor swap had Alex back on track in session 3 and the plan was for a couple of test laps on old tyres before swapping to the fresh rubber for a few fast laps.
Then more drama with the kart stopping again at the entrance to turn 3 and no power whatsoever. More frantic work during the lunch break found a timing issue that took a while to be repaired. Surely nothing else could go wrong? Oh yes it could! After a couple of good quick laps in the final practice session on new tyres, the kart again came to a halt, this time a “grinding” halt. With the sound of metal rattling around, this was surely the end of the weekend. The culprit this time was a broken balance shaft gear and the team set about replacing the damaged parts.
Race day morning was wet, and with the forecast for more storms, it was going to be a fun day. The plan was to go easy on the wet tyres and a P10 in qualifying was a reasonable start to the day. As they lined up for heat 1 the rain stopped and the track was drying. A quick switch to dry tyres was made, but sadly not enough time to change the gear ratio to dry spec, so straight line speed was lacking and Alex finished P11.
The pre-final was also dry and, with the gearing changed, Alex settled in and made up a place to finish P10, but our old engine simply couldn't match the competition. The final was also dry and by this time, a tired engine simply lacked the power at the start and Alex lost a couple of vital places to the older, more experienced guys. A long 19 lap race, however, meant he had time to settle down and pull back 3 places and finish in 10th.
Although Alex came last in his class, he was still able to fight amongst the older drivers in the Master category and many valuable lessons were learned with a number of tough passes on drivers that had far more experience than Alex.
Even with all the problems, it was a fantastic weekend racing with all the guys. Many thanks to the team and all Alex’s sponsors.
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