VAUGHAN IS MUSTARD IN DIJON

 

The road trip through France to Dijon Prenois circuit was a long long way in the heat of the summer, but all worth it. The 2.3 mile undulating circuit is fast with some blind entry turns that need real commitment and kerbs that you respect and steer clear of.

Free practice is normally used to set the Superkart up for the circuit and learn your way around, but for the Proclean Viper Team French luck was not with us, just having done 1 lap I was down shifting for turn 1 when the engine cried enough, and that was the end of my 20 minute session. Back in the Team garage we trawled through the data and found that we had massively under jetted the carburettor for the high air temperatures and the low humidity.

Q1
With just 1 lap under my belt and having walked the track a few times qualifying was not going to be easy, but having two qualify sessions was a gift. During the session we had problems with high exhaust temperatures and I was having to back off early on the pit straight, all was ok with the new engine and was told to “keep my boot” in it to secure pole and duly ended the session with provisional pole.

Q2
With a fresh set of Dunlop’s on I managed to better my time on lap 3 by nearly 2.4 seconds just as the tyres were at their best, they are really only good for 4-5 qualify laps.

Race 1 Sunday
With air temperatures of nearly 40c and a race of 15 laps in full race suit and helmet I was overheating on the grid and could not wait to get going to at least get some air to cool me off.
Coming up to the lights I made a great start but got tagged in turn 1 but managed to correct the slide and had a good hustle with a few drivers, I still had high exhaust temperatures but it was not as high as it had been in qualify, but still unnerving seeing the temp lights flashing at me on the steering wheel, all whilst racing at speeds in excess of 130mph but held onto my position to take the win.

Race 2
Was held in the late afternoon sun with not a cloud in the sky, with the problem of high exhaust readings we took the precautionary measure of changing the carburettor and ignition and fuel pump for race 2 just so we did not have ongoing problems.
The race was a re-run of race 1 in terms of position, I did suffer with under steer on the initial turn in for the last turn, which is a fast downhill right hander that tightens mid turn and climbs on the exit, this was manageable though and only cost me a few 10ths over the lap and with my rear tyres now well past their best it was a case of easing off a bit and driving to the flag.

Big thanks to the whole team and all involved namely Proclean Racing Products for their continued support, and to Impact signs for the graphics on the kart, 4 Kam for the camera support and Demon Tweeks.

The next round is the British Championships at Croft in Yorkshire and then onto Le Mans in France for the final round of the FIA European Championships, we are on the shorter Bugatti circuit and not the full 24hr circuit.