2013-12-09 09:17:19.2
A difficult day at Whilton Mill saw the IMSD team finish a creditable 6th in class. The trio of Deuchar, Miller and Hall suffered from a badly handling kart and an uncharacteristic spin from Eddie Hall to salvage 6th in class and 13th overall, dropping only on place to main rivals, II2BI.
It was clear from practice that the team were going to struggle. Stephen bought the kart in after a few laps complaining of handling problems. It was tested and they were given a spare kart. The spare was not much better and was brought in again for testing to adjust the fuel mixture.
It was again decided to let Eddie go out and qualify, after his performance at Buckmore. Unfortunately the poor handling of the kart and bad pickup were only highlighted as Eddie struggled badly for pace.
“I had to completely abandon my first run because the fuel just wouldn’t pick up at all, even after a full lap. I then struggled to fight the handling. It only became obvious when I was following other karts just how bad it was.”
The team lined up a disappointing 21st on the grid. Ian Miller started the race but dropped to last as he, too, struggled to wrestle the kart. It was evident how much he was struggling as he appeared to find it difficult to keep up with the pack.
Eddie took over at the 20 minute mark and managed little better, hauling the kart up to 17th by the time he handed over to Stephen.
“The kart was a nightmare. I think a lot of the handling issues were caused by the un-scrubbed set of new tyres on the front, as the handing did improve slightly towards the end of the race as the tyres started to grip the road better. This was only part of the problem as everybody would have been suffering from that. Our kart was just a nightmare on the entry in the corners and wouldn’t pick up out of them. I had to completely change my line to compensate for the poor turn-in. The problem was obvious as I, personally, was struggling to keep up with people who I would normally be much quicker than”
Stephen managed to establish team well in the mid field, breaking the top 10 in the Clubman class. There was a moment of joy in the team as II2BI – who were on the tail of Stephen to lap him - spun at the end of the back straight, losing over a lap and dropping behind IMSD.
Ian took over for his last stint and did a great job to maintain a good cushion over II2BI before handing over to Eddie again, who was being double stinted for the final 40 minutes.
Feeling that the kart was slightly better, Eddie was able to push a bit harder over the final 30 minutes and was running in 4th in the Clubman class, ahead of II2BI. Sadly, this came to an end in the last 10 minutes as Eddie spun while trying to make a move on a backmarker.
“It was a stupid mistake. The sad fact was that I wasn’t even trying to overtake him. I was simply sticking my nose down the inside to show him I was there. It’s obviously a bit more slippery off-line but the fact is that I just locked up and spun. Stupid!
“I feel really bad for the team because we have now fallen behind II2BI again when we should have been ahead.”
