TJ13 Go-Karting Event on 28th March 2015 – Not Quite #F1 But Will Be Fun!

· by · in Karting, Voice of the Fans. ·

A letter from Spanners Ready. Please come play with me?

Dear Judge 13 readers,

The thing I love about this website more than anything is the sense of community. The way people come back again and again to comment, fight and bond is what kept me a fan of TJ13. As a member of the crew it’s what drives me forward and makes me excited to plug in my microphone and spend a couple of hours talking to you every week.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI want to take that to the next level very soon. On March 28th I’m going down to Rye House Go-Karting in Hertfordshire for an hour smashing around their awesome track with a few of the guys from the Podcast and we want YOU to join us.

We are running a session on their Pro Kart, twin engine 160cc 4 stroke, Honda powered karts which reach speeds of up to 65 mph. These karts are bags of fun and are powerful enough for some real racing action. This is NOT your local indoor track where there’s no space or power to overtake and the lightest guy wins. This is a proper karting experience. 26 Karts on track at once is crazy!!

But more than that, this a chance to come and meet some like minded folk from an online community you love. Whether you come alone or bring some friends, you can be sure that everyone there will be an F1 fan and everyone will have something in common.

We are currently looking at an hour on track. 15 minutes qualifying and then 40 minutes racing (either one race or two shorter ones). That session would normally cost £86 pounds per racer but our friends at Rye House are offering this session to TJ13 for £69 per driver. That is more than you’ll pay at your local indoor track… but this is not your local indoor track.

We are initially looking to fill a grid of 26 while we gauge how many of you would be interested in coming (international racers welcome). If number increase we will adapt the session but I would like to get the ball rolling as soon as possible. Please register your interest in the comments or tweet me @SpannersReady or John our PM @JohnMyburgh. As soon as we feel confident we can fill a grid of 26, we will be asking people to phone up Rye House and leave deposits and we will adjust the format to suit the numbers.

We’re not laying on anything formal for the event on this occasion but we will most likely be grabbing a pint around the corner afterwards for which you are most welcome to join us. It’s all about having fun, but it’s more fun if you win. Oh and there will be the inaugural TJ13 Go-Karting Trophy 😉

Kind Regards
Spanners Ready

45 responses to “TJ13 Go-Karting Event on 28th March 2015 – Not Quite #F1 But Will Be Fun!”

  3. At my indoor tracks, the fastest guys always won. Not the lightest. There were some discussions about ‘the Guy on the already warmed-up cart wins’ but in the end, the fastest bloke won.

    But that tracks looks awesome!

    • verstappen – That has been my experience as well… the top talents on indoor tracks may be tall or short, heavy or light, young or old, man or women.

      Some interesting insights that readers of TJ13 would appreciate was learned at this year’s British Rental Kart Championships.

      A sizable contingent of northern Europeans crossed the channel to compete with some of the UK’s finest racers. Amongst the talented British racers was Andrew Duff who is also a talented writer. In speaking with the northern Europeans he learned some interesting things regarding money versus talent amongst racers.

      I’ll quote Andrew, and then link to his excellent blog as well:

      “Which brings us on to the perpetual issue facing race drivers everywhere: that money speaks louder than talent. Sander (de Baets, a talented Belgium racer) tells me that well-funded Belgian tintop and single seater drivers regularly turn up at karting events and fail to get within a second of the pace; McLaren protegé Stoffel Vandoorne is also a former indoor karter and occasionally returns to his roots. Sander allows that he’s “pretty good” and has kept his credibility within the karting fraternity.”

      http://kartingodyssey.blogspot.com/2015/01/brkc-2015-day-two-milton-keynes-18.html

      • Of course there are good indoor tracks but there are also a LOT of 30mph indoor tracks with no room to race. I just mean to say that RYE house is a proper karting experience compared to most casual venues.

        • Oh yes, I agree with you. Rye House looks like good fun, and will likely be more fun than most any indoor track. An excellent choice for such an occasion!

          Please pardon my tangent!

          • No pardon me if I sounded like I was insulting any specific track. It was an overly general statement by me.

  4. Great idea and well done for including us mere mortals. Wish I could be there, but
    a) too fat
    b) non starter due to back op
    c) long way away

    Have a great day and look forward to the write up and pictures 🙂

  5. Fabulous idea! I highly encourage fence-sitters to go and enjoy the working class level of motorsports with their fellow F1 fans!

    I’m in California, and won’t be attending, except in spirit.

    Ironically, I was involved behind the scenes at the recently completed British Rental Kart Championships, as I ended up providing them with (calculating) their official rankings through out the event.

    Arrive and drive racing such as this makes motorsports a participation sport, and I think should be encouraged everywhere.

  7. I’d have given this serious thought if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s on a Saturday. Monday to Wednesday no problem, but a lot of folks have their busiest times on a weekend.

    • I hear you but my thought was that people tend to have work during the week. Also I intend to have a drink or 6 and I don’t drink on school nights.

  8. I’m planning on attending but only as a spectator and to socialize afterwards, it’s around a 3 and half hour drive from me so that’s about £40 in fuel which I can manage, but as in all levels of motorsport my backers (the misses) won’t release the funds for a race seat.

    • Haha. Yeah I’m not the budget holder in my house either. Lol.

      It’s a long way to come for a quick half mate.

  9. Sounds awesome! But since this promises to be a real racing experience, I’m just wondering how welcome are those with very little experience in karting?

    I tried real karting for the first time at Sonoma Raceway this summer, and it was a pretty miserable experience (even if awesome nonetheless!). I tried doing a Villeneuve, but I guess the only thing I’ve proven was that I could safely find my way into the gravel traps… after spinning an obscene number of times…

    • You’ll be fine. You don’t need to be a racer. It’s just got enough power be great fun .I’ll take that as your intention to attend 😉

        • I’ve been there once and I had 5 ‘moments’ in the qually session. (one because the Grumpy Jackel wedged me into a ditch)
          By the time the race came I had adjusted and didn’t spin again. That said one of my friends had 5 spins in the race and still loved it.

  11. I’ll be very much up for this. Myself and my colleague who reads the blog are both up for it, so that makes 2 of 26 seats

    • Excellent. We will be looking for people to call Rye House and leave deposits from Friday onwards. more details will follow in this week’s podcast post. And the details will be in the podcast as well… if you’re into that sort of thing.

  12. I am in for sure as it is only an hours drive for me!

    I weigh over 100kgs so I might have trouble down the long start/finish straight, however if it rains at least I will have the advantage back!

    Will give John a bell this evening 🙂

  14. Hi – I’m up for it! …its been a few years now, but it can’t be that hard…can it?

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