The blink of an eye

Ask Google how fast the blink of an eye is, and its AI will come back and tell you it's a 1/100 of a second. That's pretty fast, but not as fast as the Senior Rotax drivers flying round Lydd kart track last weekend.

There was just 2/1000 of second separating the lap times of the top four drivers in the final, and Kate was one of those four drivers.

She finished P4 after a truly exciting 10 minutes with the first four karts steaming round the track like a set of train carriages. They were all driving flat out, just waiting for someone to make a mistake. Somone did, and P1 and P2 changed places, and then everyone hung on to the end. It was a fantastic race day.

If you haven't been to Lydd, go. It's a pretty track. There's an amazing first floor cafe with a terrace that overlooks the track. And they have staff and competitors who are truly friendly. The one unfriendly and aggressive driver who took Kate out in the Pre-Final by driving into the back of her and then later driving flat out into another accident under a yellow flag was disqualified and asked to leave. I collected Kate and kart (minus exhaust) from the furthest most point of the circuit. (Why is it always the furthest most point?!) I expected her to be sad and dejected, but she was beaming. She'd been having the drive of her life. Truly loving it. With the help of Griffiths Motor Sport (AKA GMS) we honed the kart set up to perfection, and the kart was doing everything Kate asked it to do, and Kate was loving it.

Once we'd reattached the exhaust with new springs and seal, and a bit of hammering to straighten the bracket, kart and Kate were ready for the final.

We had more hammering to do earlier, after Heat 1, when Kate's floor tray bent under the kart after catching on the entry to the weighbridge. A lot of hammering from me, drilling of extra holes for new bolts, and the now limited-edition hand-hammered aluminium floor tray is a better shape and more secure than the original. And nothing came off in the final.

Kate was racing with a new nose-cone too. The previous one was so warped and battered from multiple kart and tyre-wall encounters that it was actually scrapping along the ground during the previous day's testing. Once we get the new sticker-kit, everything should all match again. And the new aerodynamics of the 2025 KG509 nose-cone might knock another 'blink of an eye' 1/100 of a second of her lap times!

So, P5 in qualifying, P3 in the heat, DNF in the Pre-Final, and P4 in the final, and Kate was exhausted enough to fall asleep in the van on the way home. And from her perspective, we were home in the blink of an eye.

Do go to Lydd though. I know it's a bit of a trek down to the south coast, but drive their pro-kart rentals round one of the fastest tracks in the country and you'll love it.