Picton Go Karting 2019
25 March 2019 / Words:Jan Gibson. Photos:Rob Wilko, Jan Gibson & Rob Sedman
Picton Go Karting 16th March 2019
Rob Wilko Photos Jan Gibson & Rob Sedman Photos
RAIN – RAIN – GO AWAY!! And it did for a while.
Grand Prix weekend in Oz…if you can’t be in Melbourne for the F1 lets make our own fun… Can you go Go Karting in the rain? YOU SURE CAN!!
We awoke to a miserable morning, it was cold, dark and wet and I really didn’t want to get out of bed but we did have plans with the MX-5 club so up we got had brekky and hopped in the car to meet the other club members and friends at the truck stop on Mt Ousley. By the time we arrived the rain had stopped and at 9:30 our run leader Jeff Rowe led us out of the car park onto Mt Ousley Rd before turning left onto Picton Rd for a short drive to the go kart track. We hadn’t gone far when the rain started again and the closer we got to Picton the heavier it got. By the time we reached the track we we’re sure if we would be able to get any karts on the track as we could see water streaming across the surface at the chicane. Once parked we headed to reception and 14 people booked in, nothing was going to stop this hardy group from playing in the rain…except lightening…and so far so good.
10:45 we were called in for a safety talk, don overalls and helmets before hopping into the karts.
11:00 the rain had stopped, the track was slowly drying and with a warning the track was still very slippery and to go slow ( haha ) they let us loose and loose we were. The hairpin was horrendous the horseshoe just as bad and from there through the chicane down to the willows brought back memories of the original water slides at Jamberoo Recreation Park where you were sideways more than straight…maybe I should’ve taken Bryan’s suggestion and had a practice on the skidpan before taking to a wet track on slicks surrounded by copious amounts of testosterone…the first session saw only half the group manage 13 laps before heading back to the pits but boy did we have fun.
20 minutes later we were back out on a much drier track and throwing caution to the wind we left pit lane more confidant. It didn’t take long for the yellow flags to be waved frantically as karts spun off in several directions, amazingly I don’t think we had one bump, though we did keep the marshals busy running to retrieve karts from the mud. I’m not sure if it was the track getting better or the drivers…maybe a bit of both…but the lap times improve by a good 10 sec for the entire field and we managed 16 laps, a couple got 17laps, in the second session. After parking the karts, hanging up the overalls and placing helmets on the rack we were back in the reception area where we again checked the time sheet. There were lots of smiles and chatter and photos taken before tummy rumbles set in and we decided it was time for lunch. Getting ready to leave we saw David standing behind his car talking on the phone, he had accidently locked his keys in the car boot and with the NRMA stating he would have up to a 90 minute wait for assistance we unfortunately had to leave him behind as we were already running late for lunch. The club at Picton had their great $12 lunch menu and everyone enjoyed their meal and a drink as the chatter continued. It was soon time to head home and as we said our goodbyes every one agreed it had been a fun day. Thank you to Jeff and Pam for their organizing the day, also thank you to Rob for his amazing photos, and to all those special people that came to support us on the day..we really appreciate it. Looking forward to the next Go Karting day in August.
Place Average time
1st Mark Mansell 50.788
2nd Dan Vrubel 51.125 visitor
3rd Lachlan Rowe 51.599 visitor
4th Kerry Smith 51.604
5th Jeff Rowe 51.732
6th James Mate 52.274
7th Phil Belcher 52.738
8th Garry Gibson 52.854
9th Lucas 53.478 visitor
10th Jan Gibson 53.588
11th David Rag 54.200
12th Amy Vrubel 56.043 visitor
13th John Zaremba 56.241
14th Artur Batmanishvili 56.678
