The old man is snoring

"It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring. He bumped his head on the back of the bed and couldn't get up in the morning." We used to sing this at primary school even when it wasn't raining. There was something about the shape and sound that made it extremely catchy. And it was wizzing through my head when we arrived at Buckmore Park on the Sunday for Round 5 of the Medway Valley Kart Club's Summer Championship.

I knew it was going to be wet when I saw a string of lightning symbols on the BBC weather app. But come 10am and the start of qualifying, it was still sunny. So all teams were busy putting on new slicks. I'd done a sneaky walk round the paddock, and all teams were putting on slicks. So we did the same. And just as the call went out over the tannoy for the racing class before us, the heavens opened. Not just a drizzle, but torrential rain, just like the little symbols on the BBC weather app. Panic? Yes! The paddock was suddenly full of the sound of pneumatic tyre wrenches as teams, including us, raced to change the new slicks to new wets. We did it just in time. It was raining and pouring, but there was no snoring and no bump on the back of the head. There was a moment though, when I thought a nut had stripped and I did start to panic, but Kate told me just to calm down and take my time.

I was wet through when we rolled the kart onto the dummy grid. Kate was dry and calm under my umbrella, and looking forward to the challenge of a very wet circuit. There was already a lake by paddock turn and a river flowing down the hill when the karts took off from the dummy grid. And it was chaos. Kate almost span on the first turn but controlled it. Others span and didn't. Suddenly there was a kart sliding sideways down the hill. And people were disappearing off the track all over the place, even with wet tyres.

Gradually Kate found her form, and ended up doing some of the best driving she's ever done in her Rotax kart. And at the end of the day, she picked up the prize for best novice, and was runner up for 'driver of the day'.

The whole day was exhausting for me. I can't imagine how exhausted Kate was. And she definitely didn't get up in the morning.

Kate Broadbent racing in the wet at Buckmore