3 Hour Team Endurance

Rye House Raceway, Hoddesdon

4th June 2017

Twenty one teams descended on Rye House International Raceway at 2pm on Sunday 4th June 2017 for the Met. Police Motor Club 3 hour Team Endurance event. That the event was still going ahead after the tragic events of the night before on London Bridge, was a testament to our combined spirit and determination to show that cowardly acts of terrorism will not prevent Londoners going about our daily lives. We remembered those that have fallen, those that are suffering, those that have lost loved ones, and our heroic emergency services colleagues who unflinchingly stepped up to the mark.

The track was dry, and with 31 karts and approximately 140 drivers all wanting to get a 5 minute slot during the 30 mins practice and qualifying, the circuit and pits were very busy. At the end, all the karts were re-fuelled and gridded up with the usual suspects all within a couple of tenths at the front of the grid – in no particular order (because I don’t have that data!); Sussex Police, P.Nuts, Babcock 1, and Team Russell filled the first two rows. Gears of War, in just their second 3 hour race with the MPMC, placed 7th on the grid in Kart 7 with James at the wheel. Well done guys!

With a great mixture of abilities through the field, the start was going to be fraught and, on the second lap, with Geoff Lamb of P Nuts and ‘Jack’s Dad’ of Babcock 1 going side by side into Pylon, another driver barrelled up the inside of both of them, left their braking too late and put the two leading karts into the tyre wall. Both were to continue after a few seconds, and the benefactor from the melee, Demetrios from Team Russell, was able to pull away into the lead.

With Babcock 1 and P Nuts now down in 9th and 10th, the fight was on to claw their way back up the grid. Meanwhile, throughout the pack there were personal battles, inter team rivalries and old scores being battled over; there was excitement wherever you looked, and no lack of spinners! Of note were the entries by teams of Volunteer Cadets from Lewisham and Barking. Its great to see their involvement and they acquitted themselves in a manner to be proud of.

With the battle at the front hotting up, P Nuts claws their way back to the rear bumper of Team Russell and take the lead on lap 12. Geoff stays out for the first hour and builds a healthy lead before handing over to Ian Williamson.

The circuit fuel the karts around the hour mark, on the basis of kart 1 first, then moving through the pack calling them in one at a time. This makes it fair for all, but does mean that for 25-30 mins it is difficult to know the true state of the race. Once all the karts had been fuelled it became clear that P Nuts were leading, but Babcock 1 were closing in. A brief rain shower added a bit of spice, and no lack of spinners, but it soon dried up and lap times returned to what they were.

After further driver changes the gap at the front was getting closer and closer, until at around lap 175 Babcock 1 took the lead and started to pull a health lead.

Meanwhile, back in the pack, Gears of War are in a mighty tussle with Babcock 2 and Team Russell for 6th, 7th and 8th, but a decision by Stuart of Gears of War to run with a seat insert lead to an unscheduled stop to remove it when he found it drastically changed the handling of the kart. The team dropped out of contention for a while due to this, but with every team having to make a minimum of five stops, they were still on course for a good finish. They continued to battle and moved back into 8th, chasing down Babcock 2 and Team Russell.

With 15 minutes of the 3 hours left, P Nuts driver, Claudio, decides that he wants to hand over and Geoff jumps back in the kart at the last of five mandatory stops and heads out with a 15 second deficit to Tony in Babcock 1. It would be nice to think that all eyes were on this intense battle at the front of the field, but in fact there were battles still raging all the way down to 20th/21st and plenty to keep the watching drivers, family and spectators excited. Indeed, Gears of War were now helped out by Babcock 2 trying to defend from a flying Geoff, with the resultant loss of control and a spin in the mighty double apex Stadium Corner, resulting in the gap coming down to just half a lap. Then, with a handful of laps to go, Babcock 2 spins at the tricky Pylon corner, handing 7th to Gears of War where they would finish for the second race in a row - surely they will be fighting for a podium at Buckmore in October?

Back to the leaders, and the gap at the front started to shrink – a slower kart holds Geoff up – is the battle over? Geoff gets past and gets his head down, but surely the gap is now too big. Tony is driving well, but gets tangled with a backmarker – the gap is now 5 seconds!! Geoff gets onto the rear bumper of Babcock 1, and Tony is driving defensively. Geoff brakes late into Pylon and Tony battles it out around the outside – they emerge side by side and are heading for the last corner. Geoff ends up with no room and goes over the big kerb losing about 4 seconds. Surely it’s over now? More backmarkers to negotiate – Geoff’s back on Tony’s tails and looking for a way past – Tony has a very wide kart! Geoff looks one way, then the other; there’s no room to pass. Then, on the last lap, going into Stadium, Tony drifts just half a kart off the tight line and Geoff’s there like a shot getting the apex for the second part of the corner and then defending down into the hairpin –what a race!! After 3 hours, first and second are separated by less than a second and P Nuts have their revenge for their loss to Babcock in October last year…..

A low point of the race occurred around the one hour mark when one of the Sussex teams’ drivers was involved in a collision at Hairpin Two and he sustained an injury as a result. He was sore at the time, but it was not until he sought medical attention that the extent was discovered. I’m sure we all wish him a speedy recovery and hope that he will be back in October to race at Buckmore.

The lap times of the leading teams were incredibly even, with fastest lap going to Babcock 1’s ‘Jack’s Dad’ at 42.75s Just to show how close the lap times were, here are the fastest times for the quickest 7 teams:-

Babcock 1 (1) 42.75s

Sussex Police (11) 42.77

Team Russell (16) 42.78

P Nuts (13) 42.80

Too Easy (8) 43.07

Babcock 4 (4) 43.29

4 Kart men of the Apocalypse (10) 43.29

The final positions were:-

Pos. No. Team Gap

1st 13 P Nuts 233 laps

2nd 1 Babcock 1 0.96

3rd 4 Babcock 4 2L 8s

4th 8 Too Easy 4L 6s

5th 11 Sussex Police 1 4L 21s

6th 16 Team Russell 5L 29s

7th 7 Gears of War 8L 19s

8th 3 Babcock 3 9L 8s

9th 19 Swixley Racing 10L 26s

10th 12 Sussex Police 2 10L 35s

11th 2 Babcock 2 11L 8s

12th 15 Team Martin 2 12L 35s

13th 5 Babcock 5 14L 18s

14th 10 4 Kart men of the Apocalypse 14L 33s

15th 6 Piston Broke 18L 6s

16th 14 Team Martin 1 21L 45s

17th 9 Team Skidmark 24L 28s

18th 18 Seabright Lights 28L 29s

19th 17 Barking VPC 34L 7s

20th 21 Lewisham VPC 41L 7s

21st 20 Team Williams 85L 1s

Note, images are from archives and courtesy of the Rye House Circuit. If any participants have images of the event, please contact Geoff Lamb for their inclusion in this report.