On 09/08/95, Barnaby took his first steps on the road to his karting career with a test session with Keith Baines at a dull and miserable Buckmore Park circuit.
Keith told us Barnaby would need to achieve a certain lap time before the club would allow him to race in their championship events, and this standard was reached on lap two!. Later on in the session, it spat with rain and Barnaby returned to the pitlane with the incisive comment 'I think the steering wheel is broken'.
Happy days........
Weighing in at 34kg, Barnaby's 1992 Wright kart and Soixante Comer engine needed a little ballast to make the weight for his first club meeting at Buckmore on 17/09/95 and on Saturday practice Buckmore produced a monsoon to greet us. Guess what, no wets! The shop was also sold out, so we purchased some from Micheal Conway and splashed round all day. Raced Sunday, got spanked, finished 5th in novices.
In those days, novice drivers had to complete 6 race meetings before losing their novice status and joining the main grid. The next outing was 15/10/95 with a disaster the day before by seizing our only engine! A quick trip to Dartford Karting to buy a new piston resulted in another poor finish and a rethink required!
By the time we arrived a circuit for 19/11/95, we had enlisted the help of Keith Baines and learnt that different tyre pressures effected the handling of the kart and that where the wheels were positioned on the rear axle made a difference. We also progressed to changing rear sprockets. Hey presto, Barnaby won the novice meeting to secure his first trophy!
One more outing in 1995 again at Buckmore Park saw another trophy on the sideboard with second place on 17/12/95 leaving just two more race meetings to go before we joined the big boys!
