Last Saturday,We were at Permas Go-Kart Club in JB for the Company Go-Kart event.

There were 80 of us in 16 teams, each team consists of 4 men and 1 lady driver.

The Go Kart that we have had a 80cc single stroke engine, which can travel up to a top speed of 60 km/hr (my estimate ).

I am a last minute insert into Team Puma as one of the original team member can not make it, I am more than happy to be in the team, as I was late, by the time I form a Team, the registration had closed.

We race against another team, the result is decided based on cumulative time of all team member of two round, each round we were given 3 round of practice then follow by the actual where the timing is taken.

It was quite a thrill to be in a Go-Kart, I am lucky to get a Kart with good engine.

On the first lap I learn to negotiate with care on a big bend and I spin on the hair pin as I brake too hard and landed outside the track on the glass, I am stuck, but I slowly kick myself out of the glass with one leg on the accelerator and another leg stretching outside the kart to give the Kart some push. On subsequent lap, after getting use to the Kart and the circuit, I become more daring and started to drive faster. Daring to cut the corner with minimum braking and learn to take the line, the body can feel the pull of G-force when go round the bend, what a thrill.

When the race finally start, I was behind 3 cars, and I was chasing them with full vengeance. As each lap went by, I overtook one by one, And finally when the race end, I came in first in my round, although the timing is not bad, slightly above 1 minutes on average, but soon other drivers timing improve and beat my timing by a good 5 sec, it is a lot in racing, however, after learning that those who drive faster than me had tried and practice before, I felt that I am actually doing ok.

Anyway, I was there to enjoy myself, I tried my best, and have lots of fun, period!

Then, there is a second race, the timing for most teams and most drivers improve.

The picture below is when we started from the pits.

My timing is not bad among the rest and was good enough to make it into the final 14.

During, the final I was given Kart 22 which was supposed to be a good Kart. And the race start with 2 round of practice session, the Engine stalled during the race and come to a halt as I was trying to chase up one of the fast driver ( who was later crowned  champion ). I think I must have lost about 10 second waiting for help. The “Marshall” used his Kart to push start my Kart, there goes another 5 second. When the engine finally able to come back to normal. I was pushing the Kart really hard trying to make up for lost ground, on the final lap the engine stall again and cannot be restarted, so I was push back to the pit and I ended up coming last, one consolation is that my clock my best time during the final race.

It was really fun and exciting, I now know how to negotiate a fast bend without  spinning and know how to handle the hair pin and still maintain some engine power so that I can pick up speed faster.

I would definitely do it again. Hopefully, It will be fortunate to get a fast car and improve on my timing.

Let's go.