NSK 1 - Le Mans Karting International

The NSK 2015 season opened with 62 drivers in Alvis' category, and just over 235 drivers in this event at the international karting circuit of Le Mans which is relatively new, opened in late 2013 - early 2014.

The forecast a week ago was for the race weekend to be raining but it gradually changed to good weather as the date drew nearer. Indeed, the weather was good over the race weekend.

The environment was more stressful than the regional races for Alvis, still lacking race experience.

His practice started on Thursday afternoon to learn the track, though official practice was on Friday.

They were the first category for practice, and the track was really sandy. Everyone was 2 to 3 seconds off the pace.
Alvis just had to adapt to the track conditions, like everyone else. At this point, setup was pointless since the track conditions for the race wouldn't be like this. Alvis just concentrated on his driving, as the lap timing decreased till sunset.

As for Friday, everyone of his category showed up, and they had to split the practice into odd numbers and even numbers. The track started to get heavily rubbered by the 235 drivers throughout the day. For the 3 recorded practice sessions that they had, Alvis was 4th for the 1st and 2nd sessions and 7th in the last one, being 1, 2, and then 3 tenths respectively off the pace of the pole of his group.

 Alvis pushing hard through the last corner onto the main straight

For the race weekend, they had a total of 1 time trial on Friday, 3 heats on Saturday and the prefinal and final on Sunday.

At national level, Alvis knew having a 3 tenths of improvement is a lot. He had to push for the time trial to make up his lack of race experience.

Alvis went out, with fresh new tyres, and gave it his all. He was improving each lap, but caught up with a backmarker on his final lap, dropping him from about 3rd to 9th on the final lap. Alvis didn't realise everyone was slipstreaming for the extra 2 tenths advantage, and would do so for the next race.

Alvis going through the chicane, kissing the kerb

 Top 37 of the time trial

Alvis qualified 16th, so group D. meaning he would start 8th for all his heats. The first heat was between group C and D. He lost 2 places at the start, due to the reverse effect of the first corner, Alvis jumped into the interior for turn 1, and was on the losing end on the exterior for turn 2. He managed to squeeze back into the interior to defend his position into turn 3. Everyone was glued until lap 4, where there was a 3 kart collision. Alvis managed to dodge it, promoting him to 7th. But he soon lost them and by lap 7, he was 9th. At turn 1 of the 8th lap, Alvis was involved in a crash dropping him all the way down to 14th, losing 5 places. Alvis managed to overtake 2 of them back on the last lap, and drag raced one to the finish line, finishing in 11th.

 C-D Heat Results

Next was B-D. Beside his teammate on the grid, they went out for the formation lap and lined up. This time, Alvis stayed in the middle of the track to not get tricked on the start, and gained a place by turn 2, just in front of his teammate. Though having a great start, due to Alvis' lack of race experience, starting from lap 2, he just kept dropping down the order though having the front runners' pace.

Next was A-D. Alvis' tyres were starting to wear out as well, as Alvis' driving style didn't suit the heavily rubbered track. Alvis repeated the same procedure for the start, gaining a place. However, Alvis got hit out on turn 9, causing him to spin out, losing 5 places. Everything got worst as he came back on track, losing more and more places. This experience would help Alvis on his next big race, handling all this pressure, tyre management. 

Alvis qualified 29th for the prefinal

Alvis knew this wasn't his pace, and overtook 2 of them right off the bat into 27th on the first lap, but got stuck behind the 26th. On lap 4, Alvis was unlucky, getting hit from behind on corner 13, spun out and couldn't start the kart. End of prefinal for him. Alvis had to start at the back for the final.

Starting 34th, the start was very tight, Alvis managed to squeeze through to overtake the 33rd and 32nd, defended his position through the whole lap, and then overtook another 12 karts till lap 9 to 22nd. He outbroke the 21st on the last lap, and due to penalties in front, he was promoted to 20th.

Alvis crossing the start/finish line in 20th

Final results

Alvis' expectations were higher, but it was a good experience for him. He will learn from this race.

We thank 3MK Events for organising NSK, the marshals, the race commission, Le Mans Karting International staff, Malevaut Sport and Aurélien.

Stay tuned! Another post coming up soon!

3rd Round - Centre-Poitou Regional Race

The 3rd Round of the Centre-Poitou regional championship was held at the international circuit of St Amand. We arrived at noon, and the sun was scorching hot. 20-25°C. At 3PM, Alvis geared up, jumped into the kart and drove off. The practice of Friday was focused mainly on the driving, and for Alvis to learn the track.

At the end of Friday, Alvis was about 1 second off the pace with old tyres, and Alvis knew he still had about 4 tenths of improvement left to be acheived on the track.

On Saturday morning, there was light rain causing the track to be slippery. Alvis decided not to go out, since the weather forecast was showing sunshine for the rest of the weekend. He watched the others drive. 

In the afternoon, Alvis head out once again, and he improved mostly on the exit of turns 2 and 3, the 2 tightest corners of the circuit. 

  Alvis going through turn 2

On Sunday morning, Alvis wanted to clock a perfect lap to be in the top 3. Everyone is allowed of 3 front tyres and 3 rear tyres in the championship. Some put the half set on the 2nd round, some of them today. 

Before entering pregrid, he told me: "I think I can be top 3." I just gave him a thumbs up, and he sat in his kart, waiting for the green flag. They went out, and on the live timing, each lap he was improving. 

Alvis ending his final flying lap

Yes! He completed the time trials in 3rd! 2 thousandths away from the 2nd, and 1 and a half tenths away from the pole sitter, Coursimault.

 Happy of the qualifying result

Time trial results

Alvis' teammate, Sacha Hebrard, was 5 hundredths behind him, sitting in 4th position. 

 Entering pregrid for the heat

Alvis knew he had the advantage on the 2nd, since Alvis was on the interior. 

 Formation lap

For the start, Alvis followed the leader into the 1st corner, promoting him into 2nd, and blocked in the double hairpins. The top 4 were all fighting furiously, and on lap 4, Alvis got overtaken by Yann Bouvier, dropping him back to 3rd. Alvis followed the train to the end, as there was no point in overtaking the 2nd since on the start the chances of dropping to 3rd were high. On turn 5, a flat out corner, Sacha decided to dive in to snatch 3rd place from Alvis. Losing the rhythm, Alvis had a bad run-up to the up sloped turn 7. As the 5th and 6th caught up with him, they manage to squeeze by him, making him drop down to 6th place. Alvis was a little disappointed, but he knew he could at least climb back up to the top 4 once again, since he was in that group the whole heat. 

Heat results

Alvis' strategy for the prefinal was to overtake them slowly one by one, since there were 17 laps. 

On the depart of the prefinal, Alvis got promoted up to 5th doing a risky move on the exterior, and glued his front bumper to the rear of Alexis Michaut. At the 10th lap, under pressure, Alexis does a mistake into turn 1, running wide and into the pebbles, as there isn't much room for error here at St Amand. 

His teammate was about 2 seconds ahead of him. 

 Alvis pushing hard to catch Sacha

7 laps left. Every lap, he was gaining about 2 tenths on his teammate, and on the 16th lap, Alvis was right on his bumper. He decides to outbrake his teammate on the 1st hairpin, And gets back up to his original position. By the time, the 2 front runners were miles away. Alvis crosses the chequered line in 3rd place.

Prefinal results

Alvis had a potential podium, since he had the pace the entire weekend. 

For the final start of this round, Alvis had to guard his position from the 4th, and had to stay 3rd through turn 1. Unfortunately for him, Alvis made a mistake, not closing the door enough from the 4th for the 1st hairpin. The 4th and 5th then drove past him. For the 2nd hairpin, Alvis gets pushed out onto the apex and drops once again. Down to 11th. What a disastrous start for Alvis! Alvis had to work his way back up, just like in the prefinal. 

 Alvis trying to climb back up

Alvis got stuck behind the 8th for a few laps, as he was being defensive. When he finally overtook him, he caught up to the 7th; too late! The chequered flag was presented and Alvis had to settle with a disappointing 8th place, despite the terrific qualifying. Alvis learnt his lesson and will be better off for his next race: National Series Karting - Round 1 - Le Mans

 Finishing in 8th place

Final Results

Every racer of every category in the Centre-Poitou regional championship for 2015

2nd Round - Centre-Poitou Regional Race

The 2nd round of the Centre-Poitou regional race was held in Cap Karting, Mer. We arrived on Friday at noon; it was warm compared to the last round at Salbris. Around 13-17°C. Alvis got geared up and was ready to go out.

 Aurélien giving Alvis a few tips before his 1st session

The practice was very chaotic, as every category from the 8HP Micromax to the monstrous 40HP KZ 125, making it difficult to get a clean lap. At the end of the day, Alvis got familiarized with the track.

Saturday morning, the temperature dropped, average 10-14°C. The practices were now by category, making it more organized. So the team focused on the setup. Alvis had a few chassis problems pretty much the whole day, but the setup was about right. At the end of the day, with fresh new tyres, Alvis managed to clock a 1:03.9, which was about 2 tenths away from the leader's pace. 

Sunday, the sun was shining, 15-19°C. Alvis head to the pregrid with all his rivals. 

 Kart being scrutineered before the chronos

Most of the time, Alvis heads out late in the session, but Aurélien gave him the instruction to go when he told him to do so. Unfortunately, the marshall ordered all mechanics to the back of the pregrid, so Alvis didn't know when to head out. Alvis made the right decision to go out early, as later seen in the session, he had all the free air, and could do a cleap lap, though struggling with the worn out tyres from Salbris.

Alvis running wide out of turn 9

 Crossing the finish line 

 Results of the chronos

Alvis was 8 tenths of the pace and sat in 8th. But there is still an improvement, last time he was 10th. Now Alvis had to try to improve in the heat. Down into turn 1, Alvis got a little squeezed to the outside, but he managed to dive in to the inside to protect his position, keeping 8th. Towards the 4th lap, Alvis managed to outbrake one of the front runners, and moved up to 7th. The rest of the pack was a little too far to catch, and so Alvis defended till the end of the race, and defended his 7th position.

 Alvis being presented the chequered flag in 7th

 Results of the heats

Alvis knew if he didn't change anything, he would never catch the front 6, most of them being 3 to 7 tenths faster. So Alvis said he would try to push a little harder in the prefinal. For the start, Alvis struggled a little more, being pushed a bit wide on the 2nd corner, Alvis dropped 2 places. He managed to climb back to 8th, but then got stuck behind the 7th throughout the rest of the race. The tyres were falling apart too. He just drove as well as the tyres could handle till the end of the race, and had to settle with 8th.

 Alvis queuing to get weighed

 Results of the prefinal

Alvis was pretty straightforward for the final; objective: cross the chequered flag in 8th or better.

Pregrid for the final

 Once again, Alvis got pushed a little wide, losing another 2 places at the start and dropped to 10th. But this time, the tyres were DEAD. Alvis couldn't catch the front 8, and could only see them slowly pulling away from him. He tried everything to try and keep up with them, but in every way possible, the kart slided. The 11th and 12th caught up with Alvis, and became a 3 way battle. Alvis defended his position well and managed to create a distance between them, and it turned into a 2 way battle as Alvis drove by himself.

 Alvis creating the gap between him and them

The front had some intensive battles between them, and Alvis had to sadly, settle with 10th. Still 2 places better than Salbris!

Results of the final

Alvis and I would like to thank CRK Centre, Cap Karting, the marshals, Aurélien, Malevaut, and all my supporters!

Till St Amand!

Taking On A New Level

First of all, I apologise for not updating the blog for months. After a long holidays and much discussion, Alvis decided to take on one of the most competitive categories in France, the Rotax Junior(National) category(aged 13 and above) this year. Alvis will be racing with the bigger boys with a lot more experience than him.

Alvis has selected CRK Centre as his regional race for 2015 and the first race was held at the 1500m long Sologne Karting International Circuit located at Salbris, France.

Alvis getting his kart set up 3 weeks before the first race 

Testing his new machine at Caudecoste

Alvis started his practice on cold and rainy Friday afternoon. The temperature was about 4-8°C. Note that the Rotax Junior category in France aren't allowed to drive with rain tyres, making it a really slippery ride.

 Alvis struggling in the wet

Saturday morning's official practice's weather was slightly better, 6-10°C with clouds covering the sun. Indeed, Alvis only had 3 days of practice before coming to this race, but he was progressing at an incredible level, shaving off tenths every session. His goal for this race was to get as much experience as possible to be better off for the next. At the end of the day, he improved 2 seconds from Friday practice, and he was happy with his improvement.

 Alvis going through turn 7

On Sunday morning, Alvis was all hyped up for the time trial. Due to the number of entries, the organisers had to remove warm ups in the morning, making it more difficult for drivers as you had to get the perfect lap on your 1st session within 8 minutes with no data on the track state or setup.

Alvis head out to the track with fresh new tyres, on a non-adherent track. At the end of the time trial, Alvis shaved off another 3 tenths, setting a timing of 1:03.687 in 10th position. It could have been another 2 tenths faster but was blocked in the last lap. Anyhow, still being 5 tenths away from the pole sitter, Antoine Perceval. Alvis was disappointed after looking at the results, realising if he improved by another 2 tenths he would have moved up by another 5 places to 5th. On the positive note, it gave him a confidence boost for the upcoming races that follow up.

 Time trial results

Waiting at pre-grid

 Alvis heading out for the heat

Green! Green! Green! Alvis has an amazing start from the chaotic 1st corner, slotting in the interior, and by the end of the back straight, he was 6th. Unfortunately, a red flag had been presented, due to a big crash in the 1st corner involving 3 karts, and Alvis had to restart 10th again.

 Everyone stopped at the start/finish line due to the incident

 Alvis looking at his watch planning his restart

 Back to racing!

 Alvis ended up 8th, just behind the front runners

Alvis was pretty happy for his first junior start, and he wanted to do the same for the pre-final, we believed he could gain another 3 places if everything went to plan. Fingers crossed.

 Bunching up once again

Alvis did the exact same strategy as the heat. Unfortunately for him, he was hit from the back and got pushed out into the gravel and was unable to recover.

Marshals pulling the kart to safety

 Alvis watching the race

 Alvis will start last for the final

Alvis was determined to get a strong comeback, his objective was to overtake as many racers before crossing the chequered flag.

Getting ready to head out for the final race

He had a good start, overtaking as many as he could. He was up to 11th with two more laps to go. He was right behind 10th and tried everything he could to get past but a mistake during an overtaking move caused him to dropped to 12th. It was a good experience for him and he will only continue to improve.

 Final results, gaining a total of 10 places

We would like to thank CRK Centre, Sologne karting, race officials, marshals, Team Malevaut Sport and finally, coach and mechanic, Aurélien. 

Shout out to "lao tioh" for the Black Sheep!

Till the next race!