Club racing 2012 season review

Sam doesn’t just WIN – he dominates at PFI

April 2012

Sam Randon finally got that monkey off his back to grab a maiden 2012 club meeting win, and in some style. In a totally dominant display at the PF International circuit near Newark, the 17 year old JCB Academy student won two of the three heats, qualified in pole position, led every lap of the final and won the race by a massive 8 seconds smashing the lap record in the process.

From pole position Sam got away on the first lap as the rest jostled for position. Father Neil said “I get more nervous on race day than Sam does, and with a long final ahead of us, an early lead can soon be eroded as grip levels change during the race. But it was soon clear that Sam was in a different league today. The kart setup gave him so much grip, and therefore confidence, he was visibly quicker through the tighter corners. Noone could stay with him.”

As the rest of the field battled for position they slowed each other down just adding to Randon’s lead and he took the chequered flag a mighty 8 seconds clear, quite rare in this class of karting.

Sam said “I want to thank everyone at Litchifeld Motorsport for providing such a great setup and support, and of course, my Dad. I know this means as much to him as it does to me.”

x

Oblivion crash dashes hopes at Whilton

March 2012

Sam’ dismal season continued at Whilton Mill with the weekend following a similar pattern to previous club weekends. Dominant throughout Saturday practice, luck deserted the teenager from the off on Sunday race day. Heat one had barely run 2 laps when Sam had a huge accident at the exit of the fast first corner, aptly named ‘Oblivion’ . “When I exited the corner there was a stationery kart on the racing line and I had nowhere to go. I just smashed into it, damaged both karts, and hurt my leg in the process”.

It’s been a long time since we qualified so far back. A top ten finish did little to raise the spirits despite achieving fastest lap of the final.

2nd in PFI Winter Series

March 2012

Despite disappointing results Sam still did enough to secure 2nd place in the Winter Series Championship held at the prestigious PFI circuit near Grantham. Sam said “A championship win was do’able but I just had too many offs, but Super One is my priority.”

x

x

Star for a day …. or two!

March 2012
Sam became the subject of a video documentary filmed over the last 2 race weekends at Whilton and PFI. TV and Media second year students from the University of Central Lancashire chose karting as their subject for a documentary chronicling the highs and lows of competition and the relationship between father and son. Sam, Neil and other members of the Litchfield team were interviewed over the two weekends. Video will be released in April. Click here for a little trailer compiled by the boys overnight after the first meeting. Big thanks to Adam, Joe, Danny and Jimmy!

The wait for that win continues

March 2012 – PF International

Race day was wet …. very wet

On a really wet race day we managed to find a good wet setup almost immediately, but a couple of unforced driver errors robbed Sam of the overdue win yet again. Qualifying wasn’t great but after 2 laps of the final Sam was in the top 3 and showing the speed that could win the race, but the visibility caught him out and he tripped over the kart in 2nd place at the hairpin. “I wasnt going for the pass” said a surprised Sam, “I just came up on him quicker than I expected and had to take avoiding action through a large puddle of standing water”. Sam kept it on the track …. just, but the challenge was over and he lost several places. A fight back to 5th was all he could then manage.

3rd place but another difficult race day

February 2012 – Whilton Mill Club Meeting

After a faultless Saturday practice where Sam was setting the pace, Sunday got off to a bad start when the steering wheel bolt snapped after just 2 corners in first session. The day went from bad to worse as problems in 2 of the 3 heats compromised qualifying points and left Sam mid grid for the final.

Optimism grew when Sam discovered his main rivals had also qualified badly, but in a final twist of fate the length of the final race was shortened due to previous red flag delays and failing light. With only 6 laps for the Final, Sam knew the first lap would be crucial, but his tyres took a little longer than others to get up to temperature and despite catching the leaders and achieving fastest lap yet again, 3rd place was the best he could do before the chequered flag came out.

Front row all weekend but still result eludes us

February 2012 – PFI Winter series round3

Despite the snow, Sam was one of the pace setters throughout the weekend but still we failed to convert the pace to a result. Running as pole man for much of timed qualifying, Sam was just pipped on the last lap by Stephen Letts. Front row in the pre-final and the same second spot for the final is exactly where we need to be this year. We missed the pile up in mid grid which caused the red flag in the final, and after the restart Sam held 2nd spot for the first half of the race, just unable to match Lett’s pace. A charging Matt Davies demoted Sam to 3rd, but Sam held onto the back of him for a lap or two. Then disaster – a wheel touched the snow and Sam was facing the wrong direction. A furious Sam was unavailable for comment …

Full results here.

Fastest lap but no result

January 2012 – PFI Winter series round 2

Despite being the fastest out there on race day, first corner incidents rendered the weekend null and void and frustrated the team big time. Impacts from behind in both heat 1 and the Final both put Sam out of the running at the first corner, both times resulting in him chasing the pack from half a lap down. Achieving fastest lap in both of those races just goes to show we had the pace to challenge at the front, and we even finished a wet heat 2 very much on the pace in p3. We return to PFI again next week – only a win will do….

Full results here.
x
x

4th place at Shenington

January 2012

The weekend didn’t quite go according to plan but nevertheless 4th place is a respectable result. Despite dreadful mid grid starts in the heats (a dangerous place to be), a good qualifying performance saw us on the front row of the grid for the Final. A timing ‘faux pas’ meant we nearly missed the race completely!! As it happened, we got there just in the nick of time but somewhat rushed and out of breath. A poor start saw Sam drop 2 places to p4 on the first lap and the leaders got away. The charging Letts came through and Sam was able to work with Stephen using the aerodynamic tow to make up the gap behind Davies in p2. Unfortunately a backmarker came into play at just the wrong time for Sam which scuppered his attempt at claiming p3. So we had to settle for a 4th place trophy but generally pleased with the pace considering Shenington is not our best track. On the bright side, the new helmet was christened!

New Look for 2012 season

December 2011

To celebrate the seeded finishing position in Super One, Santa splashed out on a painted helmet design. Specialist SFX designs were commissioned to create this unique design based on our favorite features plus an iterative design input from Sam and Neil and of course, Steve at SFX.  There is lots of detail including the honeycomb effect. The orange stripe is a nod to the Litchfield Motorsport colours whilst a subtle ghosted union jack blends in without dominating the colour scheme.

The new  lid is based on an Arai SK6 and should hit the track at Shenington next week. Overalls remain as red X-Lights for 2012.