Shut up. I'm talking.

It’s been a super long day but I finally have a chance to fill you in on my first day back on a kart track in three years.

The long and short of it is that things went really well.

In karting, pace/lap times are measured in the 1/10th of a second. That is juuust faster than the blink of an eye.

If you are three to four tenths off the pace of the fastest guys then you are considered slow and going nowhere fast.

When we arrived at the track early this morning we agreed that if I did a 45.5 second lap time we would be satisfied. The ultimate lap times around the circuit are in the region of 45.0 and 45.2. So if we were three tenths off after being out of karting for over three years then it would be an excellent result.

We started the day on some really old tires to scrape off the driver rust and the first few laps back in a kart were absolutely awesome.

There is an indescribable sensation when driving a kart. The steering is so sharp and the manouverability so quick that it takes a short while to get your bearings straightened. You have to be so precise and gentle with steering, braking and throttle that it’s a bit of a shock to the system when you get back into it. The karts we race are capable of +/- 150km/h but about this track we ‘only’ get up to 115km/h, so they are by no means slow!

Adjusting to the braking points and turning points was the biggest challenge in the first two sessions but once in the groove we decided to stick on a new set of tires to start doing some meaningful setup work.

The first session with new rubber proved a bit underwhelming and my best time was only 45.8. We weren’t put down by this however and kept pushing. By the 3rd session (on new rubber) we managed to get down to 45.2 while consistently lapping in the 45.4 range.

Not only did we beat our target time but we also matched the race pace of the top competitors. There is a huge amount of satisfaction and relief when you find out that you can still mix it with the top drivers.

The only issue from here on is getting to a fitness level where I can lap consistently for 25 laps +. Karting is incredibly tough on the body and the bruises and blisters are already showing.

Tomorrow is my last test day before I head home and back to work. We still have another set of new tires and are hoping that we can get as low at 45.0 or even break into the 44 second lap times.

If we do that. We are in the game.