After last years succesfull kartcompetition we were there again this year.

This year I am working at Essent Kabelcom/@Home and our PM department was very nice in sponsoring us for this event. They paid the training sessions, the entry fees and got us some nice overalls!

Last year I was in the Telegraaf team. This year I also did some pre-event driving with them. During one of the sessions we got the idea to record movies from the kart. That should make for some nice footage. During the last training session we actually got a working setup which we used during the event to make some recordings. Unfortunatly the sound was broken, so both movies from in the kart are picture only (better luck next year).

All movies on this page are in VCD mpeg format. It seems to play well on both Linux and Windows. The size of the movies is mentioned in the subscript (some are a bit big).

After picking up Vico we arrived around 11 in Huizen. It was already quite busy with people registering.

The whole @Home group came in on different times. Which worked out well, because we now were in different sessions, so we could make enough movies and photo’s. The staff were already busy preparing the track for the day of racing.

In the meantime people were actually training, playing around with camera’s or just sitting back and relaxing.

And quite fanatical

In the beginning of the afternoon we went to the Monaco track where Dave did the introduction and we (ofcourse) got the race briefing on how not to drive.

Speech!

Pretty soon after Dave’s introduction the first races started. Below a compilation of a few highlights from different races.

Get your overall on.

Lots of people watching.

Getting all the drivers names.

No collisions please..

What did I just say?

Lifting the front wheel.

Entering the tunnel

And getting some assistance after a spin

Zigzaging the circuit

Nice overtake

Making speed going downhill

And being sandwiched

Entering the pitlane

With Vico at first place!

At 14:10 it was time for group 6 to do a heat. So it was time for me to get wired up. Unfortunatly we had some problems with the power of the helmet cam. One of the wires broke. But the work around we thought of was solid enough to actually get through both sessions.

Hooking everything up to the helmet.

Trying to get sound working and fixing the powersupply.

Wired for action.

(For those interested, the camera used is one from Conrad, part number 150348-8a)

This is the in-kart footage from my kart of the run for group 6 on the Francorchamps circuit. It is pretty big, but fun to watch.

First run on Francorchamps

In between sessions there was enough to do besides waiting for the next session.

There were a lot of people watching the races ofcourse, and also taking pictures and videotaping.

Also lots of catching up, chatting and smsing to the videowall.

Lots of people talking

And than there were the Dataman girls!

Edvard and Jeffrey had their picture taken with the girls.

And Dave too ofcourse!

Thanks for the compilation Edvard!

At 16:40 it was time for my second heat, this time on the Monaco circuit. This run was plagued by bad luck, but again fun to watch. It started with the kart in front of me in the pits having starting problems. When they finally got it running I tried to make my way out of the pits, but I got stuck. I already had my doubts about the steering, and they proved right. After exiting the pits, steering to the right wasn’t a problem, but the kart didn’t respond to steering to the left. So I ended up stopping the kart at the side of the track. Fortunatly I got a new (but cold) kart and was on my way. No top time though, but I still could put in a few laps.

Second run on Monaco

After all the normal qualifing kart sessions were finished it was time for the sponsors to do their kart session. What can I say, they were pretty spectacular!

Spectecular start

A bit of pushing

A bit of a crash

and another one

Too fast

Then you have to explain

Trying too hard

And more pushing

When the sponsors were finished with their session it was time for the kart final. Unfortunatly nobody from @Home made the final (better luck next time), but Vico did. Dispite him not getting any sleep the night before, he qualified third!
The driving was a lot tighter than the sponsor finale, less crashes, but nontheless very exiting.

Start of the finale

Tight cornering

Battle for 3rd place

Spinning…

After the finals it was time for the prizes, thanks to the sponsors.

Sponsor trophy

Karting trophy

Credits for the material used on this page:

• Pepe Wildeman
• Vico Timmersmans
• Edvard Gooijenga
• Jeffrey Koetsier
• Jason Williams

And ofcourse thanks to everybody who made the event possible, especially Dave!