Although I’ve competed in various charity races before, this was the first year I’ve joined the Lupus GP (they need a shorter name than the official one in the title of this post). The race was to be held at Goodwood Kartways and all the money raised goes to the Paediatric Lupus Clinic at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Our four person team also consisted of Malcolm Strachan, Anna He and Guillermo Aristizabal. Malcolm and I have shared the track together at Mosport and Shannonville as he also used to race GT cars. Anna is one of the earliest members of the Sweetie Girl Racing Team. She and  Guillermo also compete in a lot of AutoSlalom races. All four of us are instructors at the ILR Car Control School and very experienced at taking various vehicles to the limit of performance. Considering our diverse back ground, we figured we had a pretty good team lined up and we expected to do well despite the fact that only Malcolm had ever driven on this track before and that was 12years ago!

I arrived about an hour early so that I could watch the track and how other drivers were taking certain corners. I noticed that most of the club racers were having trouble in a couple spots where the track was obviously very slippery. Not surprising since the track and air temperatures were pretty cold and it would soon get worse as we all expected it to rain. We all fully expected to get soaked but it was for a good cause.

Eventually more and more people started showing up for our special event. Once I found my team, I took a few minutes to point out the problem areas on the track that I had observed earlier. Not that it was going to help much because we quickly realized that the track staff had turned all the karts around and we would now be running in reverse direction from racers who were on the track earlier. We also realized that there was now a lot of standing water on the track in some corners from the short burst of rain that had fallen while we were getting registered.

After registration, there was the drivers meeting and we decided on our starting order. Since Malcolm and I are the most experienced drivers on our team we needed to do the legs of the race where that experience would be best taken advantage of. We figured that since Malcolm was the only one with any experience here, that he would drive the last leg of the race since it was the most important. I decided to take the first leg because it was the next most important leg of the race and would be the most challenging while all the karts were still grouped together and would have the most action which I wanted to capture on my new Drift Helmet camera. I just didn’t realize how intense it was actually going to be. My race ended up being very much a ‘full contact’ race and there was a lot of carnage.

Since I was to start the race first, I was also the first one to get in the kart for the practice session. The track was wet and as I left the pits and went into corner 2…I spun. Ya…this was going to be interesting for sure. I straightened myself out and carried on and although I didn’t loop it again, other drivers were spinning out left, right and centre. Eventually the track started drying out and I was able to experiment with various lines through the corners. Anna was up next and while she was getting in the kart, I gave her some tips on how to tackle certain corners. The rest of the team did great as the track dried up and everyone’s lap times started coming down. Conditions were looking better and we just hoped that the ominous dark clouds in the distance held off or turned around us somehow. However, that didn’t happen.

There were 12 teams and most had four drivers but there were a couple teams that only had two or three drivers. The starting order was determined by how much money each team had raised and if there was a financial tie, the position would be decided based on lap times. Well, our team only raised the minimum entry fee but we were able to start in 11th place. Since I was starting the race, I would certainly have my work cut out for me as it was up to me to thread my way up through the field.

Just as the drivers took to the field for the start of the race…it started to rain again. I figured the best thing I could do would be to take it easy for the first few laps so that I didn’t get tangled up in anyone who spun out or crashed. Well it kinda worked. The green flag started waving and we all started fighting for position as we raced bumper to bumper and I was able to gain a couple positions. Although it wasn’t long before I got tagged from behind and put into a spin going into a corner and I fell to last place. The track eventually started drying out and I was able to make up some ground…until the crash (as seen in the video below). I got hurt but carried on and eventually worked my way back up through the field again. I was hit many times, spun once, forced off the track several times but eventually I was able to work my way up to fourth place. It was the most rough and violent race I’ve ever been in. When I finished my stint…I was raw. The only thing that didn’t hurt was my ears!

Anna jumped in next and had an amazing race. The track was drying up nicely and she was kicking some serious butt. Her session on the track saw the least amount of rain so she was really able to put down some great track times. Being the lightest person in the whole race, and a damn good driver, she had a nice advantage going up the straightaway, which was uphill, and accelerating out of the corners. Thanks to her smooth clean run and not being one of the karts that suffered some mechanical failures (all that bumping and ramming from the first session obviously damaged some of the karts), she was able to get our team up into first place. Great drive Anna!

Guillermo was up next and he started off great. He really found some nice lines through some of the corners and you could see him pulling away from the other drivers…until the rain started again. That damn rain was the Achilles heel for so many of the drivers out there. Sure Malcolm and I are used to racing bumper to bumper in super slippery conditions but most people aren’t. All he had to do was keep it clean, not get tangled up with another kart and he would at least do ok despite loosing some ground. Eventually though…he got passed and finished his session in second place about 8sec behind the new leader.

With Malcolm getting behind the wheel we felt confident that we would do well…until we realized that the new driver in the lead kart was damn good. This kid was a very good driver and this was his home track. Malcolm will have his work cut out for him to get first place but even if he doesn’t, 2nd place was ours to loose. There was no way anyone else was going to pass him so if he just kept if clean and didn’t spin, we would at least get 2nd place in the race. The race started again and the lead kart had an 8second advantage and whoosh…the kid was GONE! Damn he was fast. Lap after lap, he pulled away from Malcolm as much as Malcolm pulled away from the rest of the pack.

The rest of the team thought there would be little chance at winning this race but taking 2nd place was a sure thing. It was ours and as a team we damn well earned it. Then the rain started again and although the skies were dark, we had a glimmer of hope as the kid in first place started slowing down and Malcolm started catching up.

The clock was ticking and the race was nearing a close. It didn’t look like Malcolm would have enough time to catch the leader, not to mention have enough time to pass him but as luck would have it…SNAP! With only two minutes to go, the throttle cable on our kart broke and our race was over. Malcolm was parked on the grass watching the field pass him by. It was so incredibly frustrating watching our whole race fall apart. All our skills, pain and suffering to get us from 11th place where we started up to 2nd place for the final push…just to finish 11th. Right where we started.

I wish I had my Drift camera on all our helmets but here is the footage my session in the race. It was pure chaos. The next day I decided to go to a walk-in clinic to make sure nothing was too badly wrong with me but I was in a hell of a lot of pain. As soon as the doc looked at my back, she sent me for X-Rays. From there I was sent to the Emergency Room. Very sore wrist, lots of soft tissue damage/bruising around my kidneys, ribs, spine and shoulder. May have a couple cracked ribs and shoulder blade but luckily no breaks. I’m gonna be sore for a while though.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_vW35vRT1w