All to play for: Owens’ endurance race at Daytona
While Milton Keynes is known famously for being the home to Formula 1 team Oracle Red Bull Racing, it's also home to one of the Daytona go-karting tracks stationed all around England. Daytona Milton Keynes hosts several different events but more notably team endurance races which range from 3 hour races to 24 hour races with a minimum of 3 drivers up to 12 participants. Endurance racing is slowly becoming a popular spectacle with new audiences being formed by series such as ELMS (European Le Mans Series), WEC (World Endurance Championship) and also the famed Le Mans 24 Heur itself. Therefore, endurance go-karting has become a popular race format that people are eager to try out and compete in, as it gives them more time on track and more time to learn and develop their own personal attributes that they are able to contribute towards a team.
Our brand ambassador Owen Turpin participated in the 3 hour event at Milton Keynes with 2 of his friends who would be the other racers driving throughout the day. This race would include 1 hour of practice as well as a 1 lap shoot-out for qualifying which is essentially 1 lap that will determine where you start on the grid. This qualifying for this specific event would last for 7 minutes to allow everyone to complete their only lap.
During practice, the team of 3 learnt a lot especially considering for Owen that it was his first time in the karts provided at the track. However, it was a positive session out on track and allowed the team to feel well-adjusted to the feel of the track in preparation for the race. The trio's driver Charlie Askew was the one to complete the 7 minute qualifying session where he was able to put the team in 14th on the grid which was a good vantage point for the team and gave them some confidence.
The race started well with Charlie being the one to carry out the first stint and also completing the first fuel stop midway through it. No issues occurred during this time and it was eventually ready for the first driver swap. The next individual to jump into the kart was Amber Farrugia, and the switch went smoothly. The team had originally had ballast complications but due to Charlie and Amber being the same weight, there was no need to make any changes including any to the pedal position. With Amber now in the kart, she was able to make her way up to 10th and the team were now looking at a potential top 10 finish if Owens’ stint was to go well.
Unfortunately, when Amber came in for fuel, she was found to be 1kg under the weight limit despite several checks by themselves and peers being done prior to the race, which inevitably meant that the team then took on a 3 lap penalty. This took them out of the chances of a top 10 finish but they soldiered on until it was time for Ambers driver change which, like before, went well with no issues even though they needed to remove 16kgs of ballast including pedal positioning changes and a removal of the weighted seat.
Owens' stint began well with only a couple minor incidents that didn't majorly affect his race and he was able to maintain optimal speed, regaining 2 of the 3 lost laps from the earlier penalty and even setting the fastest lap in the team. The race ended with Owen and his team finishing 17th after having to start his stint from 22nd but overall he stated that he was happy with what the team was able to achieve despite the setbacks they faced throughout the day.
“Overall I'm proud of the team and I genuinely couldn't have asked for more from anyone”.
He went on to say, “we were all so evenly matched in terms of pace and no one aside from me made any notable mistakes which I think makes us a great team.”
Owen said that he wasn't necessarily concerned about where they finished the race and that everyone in the team had their own victories to take away from the day. He looks forward to being able to compete in the next race.