Jul 29, 2013
@GeekKarting Weekend #12...out of the @lewisdesign lads, @ianblack29 took the gold #geekkarting (at Raceland)
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@GeekKarting Weekend #12...out of the @lewisdesign lads, @ianblack29 took the gold #geekkarting (at Raceland)
@GeekKarting Weekend #11...the 3 @lewisdesign lads, @aith_collective, @baldboss, @ianblack29 make it into the A-Final #geekkarting (at Raceland)
@GeekKarting Weekend #10...day dries up as we finish up #geekkarting (at Raceland)
@GeekKarting Weekend #9...taking a breather from the sweat suits #geekkarting (at Raceland)
@GeekKarting Weekend #7...good friend @leckie bringing a new meaning to the term wetsuit #geekkarting (at Raceland)
GeekKart.in!
The web community has many events to its name of one type of another. Conferences, meetups and pub crawls to name a few. Geek Karting adds gokart racing to that list!
Organized by the very speedy Alun Rowe (@alunr) and the nippy Josh (@FiftyDigital) 32 geeks got together on the track at Daytona Raceway for an afternoon of racing followed by a BBQ and a quick pub trip.
So starting with the Karting! I traveled up to Milton Keyes with my local web mates Ben (@ilmv) Shane (@shanegrifiths) and Toby (@tobyhowarth). Ben hired a car and we had a little road trip. We had an early morning but arrived for 11:17am. We registered and got into our gear for the safety briefing.
The safety briefing was a DVD featuring martin brundle. While the tone was serious, you had to wince at some of the terrible jokes! Safety briefing over with we popped down to the Karts. The staff let lion sit on the pit wall and i got into my Kart, number 34.
The format of the day was to have 4 rounds, starting with 5 minutes of practice, followed by two 10 minute heats, then after a quick break a final 10 lap race! First practice was mostly uneventful, it was my first time karting and after a few very slow corners i started to build a little confidence and started to slide the kart around a little. At the end of the practice we were lined back up for the first heat. The first heat started well, i had a couple of of quick laps, and was getting into a good groove. I had a few spins (like most people) but had managed to keep it mostly out of the wall. This was not to last!
On the third lap a couple of corners in, i went for the brakes with the wrong foot and ended up ploughing into the tyre wall. It was the heaviest crash of the day! I managed to wedge the kart under the tyre wall, the marshals were great and quickly got me out of the wall. Sadly i had damaged the front of the kart so it was undrivable so i headed back to the pits to get in a new kart.
The new kart felt quite different and the remainder of the racing was mostly uneventful. I started the final race in 30th, however i managed to claw my way back to 24th. I had a lot of fun moments both being overtaken and passing people.
As geek events go, geek karting was different in a very good way! It was a very fun activity which brought together a small group to have a good time. There was very little talk of work which was a nice break. After the racing we had a presentation where the top 3 drivers got their trophies and i was awarded the prize for the most spectacular crash of the day!
It looks like these geek karting events will be becoming more regular, i dont think i can attend every one (at £100 a pop its not cheap!) but i have definitely been bitten by the motorsport bug and look forward to more karting in the future!