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Jack Hawksworth

Jack's Racing Blog

19 Aug 2008
1:03 pm

Varrennes Test

Only 2 weeks until the last round of the European Championships in Varrennes. So its down to the French track this week to gather as much data as possible to get the maximum result in the overall standings. After the bad luck at the previous round in Mariembourg when i started 3rd but was taken out and finished outside the points in both races it is now impossible to win the championship. The highest i can finish is 2nd but i will need Lavanant to have a bad race for this to be possible. 3rd place is very much in my grasp though and assuming i can win both races i should finish 3rd at the least in the championship.
Im looking forward to the test and to the race, we have quite a few things to test which should give us a peformance advantage and hopefully earn us a couple of wins to end the championship on a high note.
Ill let you know how the testing go's.
Cheers,
Jack

05 Aug 2008
9:20 pm

Testing at Rowrah

After a couple of weeks out of the kart it was back to the circuit on Monday this week when i tested at Rowrah in Cumbria. The track was damp in the morning but started to dry out as the day went on. The track was greasey but the chassis felt decent at the end of the day and i was able to lap consistently quickly. The main objective of the day was to test the engines though and this went very well a few adjusments to the engine settings seemed to help us improve our lap times by 0.2 of a second. This is very promising and a jump of 2 tenths would be very valuable indeed.
Im happy with the progress that was made and i now look forward to the up and coming tests in the next few weeks in the build up for the final round of the WSK and European Championship.

24 Jul 2008
6:36 pm

Ready for Sarno!

This coming weekend will see the third round of the WSK take place at Sarno in Italy. I tested at the circuit last week despite tricky conditions and really hot tempratures i think we did a good job in preparing for the race.
I feel in perfect condition to take on the challenges that will present themselves in the races and i want nothing more than to walk away from this race with a stack full of points a big grin on my face and a podium placing.
I have a feeling that this will be the weekend where can i make the jump from the top 10 in the WSK to the top 3. The equipment feels good, i feel good and i know that together we can fight really hard. I want to bounce back from the disapointment in Mariembourg and prove im one of the best in the world... I cant wait!

24 Jul 2008
6:36 pm

Euro chances slashed

One of the worst weekends to date, it would seem i have no luck or little at all at this circuit. The weekend started off strongley i qualifyed 2nd and finished 1st 1st 1st 2nd and 2nd in my three heats.
I lined up third on the grid for the first final and on the new tires i was confident of an easy win.
It wasn't to be though as Energy driver number 238 hit me in the second corner the third corner and then out of the third corner side swiped me when he was in the position to just overtake me. It wasn't suprising that he was the pole man and championship contenders team mate, Tony Lavanant. Disgusting tactics. The damage was to much and i had to come retire from the race.
This left me on grid 34 for Race 2. I made a decent start in this race but it was short lived as the guy in front of me span which caused me to take to the grass and fall back to 34th from there i managed to work my way up to 16th but the kart didnt feel quite the same as it had done previously.
I am now out of the running for the championship crown thanks to some unfair tactics from a rival team but i hope to return at the last round and win both races on a track where i will have done some testing at before the event. With this in mind i am sure of setting the pace and hopefully taking the wins.

16 Jun 2008
5:35 pm

Fantastic win in Germany!

What a great result from a weekend which at first looked like it would be extreamley difficult to even touch the podium.
It was the third round of the highley competitive German Championship at Amphing and with a number of Europes top KZ1 and KZ2 drivers entered it would be another chance to make some good progress.
Practice didn't go that well and i struggled for pace and was probabley around 10th quickest on the Friday test day.
A few changed to the chassis on the Friday night though allowed me to qualify 5th out of the 39 drivers and then go on to finish 3rd and 2nd in my two qualifying heats which would mean i would start 4th on the grid for the pre final the following day.
Beutiful weather greeted us on Sunday morning and it was down to business for the Pre-final. I made a good start and was able to make my way through to first to win the pre final despite some pressure late on in the race from Rick Dreezen.
Starting the final from Pole position i didn't think i had the pace to win but i was hopeful of a podium position.
I made a good start and held the lead for 7 laps until Bas Lammers passed me and i fell back to 2nd. I kept pushing though and with Rick Dreezen behind me i new it would be important to get back in front of Lammers to avoid being overtaken by Dreezen. 3 laps later i passed Lammers back and Dreezen followed me through from there onwards i was able to hold off Dreezen and Lammers to take a superb win for me and the team.

A big thanks must go out to Tim Gillard, Andy Fairless, PDB Racing Team, Ian who mechaniced for me and of course my dad.

Thanks guys.

10 Jun 2008
1:26 pm

The fight back from bad start.

What a strange weekend. Ill make this nice and short before a full report and stuff gos on the website tomorrow.
Basically we arrived in Belgium for testing on Thursday and Friday. The weather was horrible and it rained continusly for the duration of practice until qualifying came around and it dryed up!
I had never driven the circuit in the dry before, the chassis was brand new that i would use for qualifying and had never been tested before and to add to this i had to run a piston in during the session.
This left me 37th out of the 65 drivers in qualifying from there on in it was going to be a fight to recover.
We made progress in the heats starting 20th in every race i finished 11t 12th and 25th after i received a 10 second penalty for not lineing up on the grid correctly. In other words some the officials screwed up.
This meant i would start 2nd in the Repercharge i came through this comfatabley and started 29th for the Pre-final i made big progress initially until i was helped off the road by some geezer on a Energy kart i then had to come back through to eventually finish 22nd.
The final made up for the bad day though as i had the most fun i have ever had on a race track battling my way through the pack with a quick package which enabled me to pass some of the big names on my to 12th position.
We had the pace for the top 5 which is superb considering the circumstances, but a bad start to the weekend hamperd us.
Make no mistake it may not have been the best result but now that i no the track and have an idea with the setup i am confident i can clean up at the European Championship in 3 weeks time at this circuit.

27 May 2008
12:55 pm

Genk test prior to Cruicial Race in the WSK

With the second round of the WSK less than 2 weeks away it was important to keep trying to make progress and push the limits to try gain an edge over our rivals at this crucial stage of the season.
To help with the cause i spent two days testing in Genk last weekend working mainly on chassis set-up on the Vega White tires which are used at the WSK Championship.
Previous to this test we had done some work with the engines and i beleive we have found a possible 1 tenth there but i can't be certain until the WSK.
After the peformance at the European Championship I hope we can now gather momentum can progress and devlop quicker than our rivals and i hope that i and the team can see the top step of the podium in Mariembourg. We need this to be in the fight for the title.

10 May 2008
10:32 pm

Euro Champ clips online

Now then people though i would let you know there is a few videos from Race 1 and Race 2 from the first round of the KZ2 European Championships quality isn't that good but check it out if your intrested...

Race 1 - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5bebh_chpt-deurope-a-angerville_sport

Race 2 - http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5bf9v_chpt-deurope-a-angerville_sport

Have fun!

06 May 2008
9:04 am

2nd in Final 2 at the Euro Champs but a feeling of what might have been. . . . . .

What a weekend we had in Angerville, fastest from the word go in every practice session and winner of all my five heats and looking good to take the wins in both finals. The Gillard chassis was superb and the AFR TM racing engines were great everything was looking good and i beleived i could win the first final from pole position. I did, infact i won by 3.9 seconds but it wasn't to be the perfect start to my European Championship debut as i was given a 10 second penalty for jumping the start which relegated me to 7th. For sure this was very disapointing as it would have been a great feeling to have taken the 25 points and the top step of the podium. Unfortuantley it wasn't to be and i just focused on making my way through in the second final.
It was going to be hard as Angerville offers little overtaking opertunitys and i new i would have to really go for it if i was to make the podium. The start wasn't great and i lost a place as i got boxed in by the guy in front. The next two laps i played it safe and made sure i didn't park it up after that I went for it and managed to make my way back through to the front and by the end was all over the leaders tail finishing a strong 2nd from 7th on the grid. I gave it my all and was happy with my peformance the material was superb and it gave me the opertunity to show what im capable of. For this i would like thank Gillard Racing karts, PDB Racing, AFR engines, my dad and ian for mecanicing for me and helping me with the setup.
I now lie 3rd in the championship overall but i think i marked myself out as a clear contender for the championship. It was a weekend where i was handicapped by a mistake off the start line but this result shows the strength and the pace we have and for sure i have the opertunity to win next time out at Mariembourg.

Cheers
Jack Hawksworth

29 Apr 2008
10:59 am

Convincing win at Fulbeck now for the Euro Champs. . . . .

Had a good weekend at Fulbeck at the first round of the KZ1 NKF Championship. I was useing the meeting as a shakedown for the opening round of the European Championship this weekend.
Practice was up and down with some good sessions and some not so good sessions where i struggled with the kart on the kerbs through the chicane.
We ended the day knowing that we were around 3 to 4 tenths quicker than British championship leader Tom Duggan who was always going to be quick.
Race day dawned and a 1st and 2nd and DNF meant i had to start 5th for the final. I got a good start and picked off the front two Duggan and Huyton pretty quickly. By lap 5 i already had a decent gap so backed it off to the flag to make sure i kept it on the road and take the win. A good weekend was rounded off by setting the fastest lap of the day at a 38.38 which was 4 tenths quicker than anyone else.
This weekend is the big one the first round of the European Championship in France. 104 entrys and tough competition is going to make it extreamley tough but after a good result there at the WSK against the worlds best i feel we have the potentiol to go for the win.
Hopefully we have found a little time since last time we were there and if th is is the case then we will be fast, very fast.
I think we can win and clear off!

16 Apr 2008
11:33 am

Cruel Luck but Big steps forward in Germany!

After the success in France the previous weekend I headed out to Kerpen in Germany for the first round of the German championship. Im not competeing in this championship but used the first round as a test session in preperation for future races.
In the races we had extreamley bad luck. We qualifyed a solid 5th out of the 47 drivers and were 6th in the first heat but from then on it turned into a disaster a huge crash in the second heat and an exclusion from the pre-final for my rear bumper falling off meant i started P 30 for the final. Worse was to follow as the bearings in my front stub collapsed and i was left with huge understeer probelms this made the kart extreamley bad and hard to drive. We came through to finish 14th which in the circumstances was an very good result!

On a more positive note we learnt alot about the kart especially in qualifying trim and on new tires. In the first heat we had the pace to win if not more pace than everyone else but a lack of straight line speed stopped me from overtaking. We did a 43.0 whilst the fastest lap of the race was a 42.9. Bearing in mind we were stook behind the guy in 5th and could have gone much quicker in free air this was a very good point to take from the weekend.

The results don't show that we made any progress infact if anything they would indicate we went backwards but this is racing and to win for sure sometimes you need to have the luck this weekend we didn't have that but what we did see were significant improvements with the pace of the kart in full dry conditions. The CRG and PCR driver had at least a tenth to 2 tenths of a second on us in Angerville i beleive we closed this gap considerabley over the course of the weekend in Kerpen and this shows we made some steps forward.

Back in December we were 0.7 off these guys we can now challenge them and if we can keep the progress going could soon be able to beat them. It might be in one race or it might be in three races but for sure things will only get better and i know that everyone is pushing hard to give me the best possible package to beat these guys.
Lets see what happens.... Roll on Angerville! (First round of European Championship)

08 Apr 2008
9:19 pm

France one week Germany the next!

After a couple of days to reflect on the weekend and my own peformance it looks like im going to be back in action this Friday at Kerpen in Germany!
Few updates on the website coming a new picture for the homepage which looks awesome so keep checking back.
Points table up for WSK Drivers championship and Teams championship. It's a good feeling to be one of the 17 out of the 72 who have at least scored a point lol
Currently lieing 9th in the standings alot of work to do before the next round but a few things to try so I and the team will hopefully be pushing for the podium at the next round.
Before that its off to Germany for the first round of German championship i won't contest the full championship but intend to use this race as a extra test session.
Some top drivers are going to be there so it will be tough. Hopefully we can find some time and push for the win.
It wont be through lack of trying thats for sure!

08 Apr 2008
9:26 am

Great start and more to come!

Well what a great weekend. All the laps and testing had been building up towards this first race of the season in Angerville for the first round of the KZ2 WSK Championship.
First of all it was a great experiance and to be racing against the top names in karting like Ardigo, Thonon, Lammers, Laudato ect ect ect it was great fun. The racing is so hard and aggressive which makes for some great moments on the circuit.
We made a very positive start to the season and were reasonabley quick through practice and were constantly inside the top 15 out of the 72 drivers.
In the heats we had a 13, 7 and 2 in which we could hav easily won the heat if i hadn't hit a wet patch on slicks and spun round which allowed Ardigo to come back past!
The finals were great as it was full dry in both the first final and second final which enabled us to see where we were in pace order. In the first final we started 7th and had some good battles at the front in the second part of the race we were extreamley quick and were able to pass Piccini for 7th and catch the leading group up. Finishing 7th meant we scored 4 points for the championship which was great considering it was the first round.
The second final didn't go quite to plan as i got fired at the start and dropped back to 13th with a bent axle. I managed to get past my team mate Renauldi and then Piccini before the end of the race though which meant I finished 11th and once again grabbed some points which could prove decisive towards the end of the year.
We now lie 9th in the standings and we proved that the Gillard/TM package has good potential to be right at the front if we make some progress. We have a few new bits and bobs to try and if we can find 2 tenths then we will be challenging for the podium places on a consistents basis at this level.
Id like to thanks PDB Racing for a brilliant job, my dad for mecanicing and AFR for the engines.
Thanks guys!
Check back tomorrow for some more news.

30 Mar 2008
11:47 am

Final Test

After a few days back in the United Kingdom since the Angerville test i was back on the ferry to Holland to visit the PDB factory and sort a few things out on my race chassis.
I spent all day Friday at the factory as we prepared the race kart adjusting it to how I like my kart set-up.
After the day had finished we set off to Genk and the following day did a full shakedown on the kart to make sure everything was working fine.
A few adjusments to the chassis set-up and the kart was working perfectly.
The lap time was also good with a 52.8.
All the testing is now over and hopefully all the work will pay off as i go for the win next week in Angerville at the first round of the WSK.
Check back to see how i go.

23 Mar 2008
10:20 pm

Final test at Angerville

Spent Thursday to Saturday preparing for the first round of the WSK in Angerville. My god its a long drive!!! Took almost 12 hours to get there and even longer to get back thanks to heavey winds which closed the port at Calais for five hours!
On the track things went well. The first two days the kart felt ok but we struggled to dial oversteer out of the kart during this time. The kart was unsettled on the rear so on the final day we made some crucial changes which seemed to solve our problem. Conditions varied with a few showers meaning our dry testing was limited. Fortuanatley we managed to make some good progress on the last day and i now feel confident that the equipment will work well at this circuit.
Next outing is in 3 or 4 days at Genk in Belgium where we will make a few final adjusments to my race chassis before heading off back to Angerville next Wednesday for the first round of the WSK.
Check back soon!

16 Mar 2008
6:09 pm

3 Weeks to go......... Bring it on!

Well its been a pretty boring couple of weeks. Not much to tell you about really. Did a test day at Shenington yesterday just to shake down the data logging before we head out Angerville in France this Wednesday for a two or three day test depending how quickly we get the kart dialled in.
The season is closing in now but it just seems to be taking forever to get there!!! Can't wait to go racing again and making my debut in the WSK is something im very much looking forward to.
We are better prepared than we were in Germany two weeks ago and we know that we have the pace in the dry and the wet. For sure we have learnt from our mistakes in Germany which cost us the victory.
Hopefully we will get the kart nailed in Angerville this weekend so that in 3 weeks time it will be all systems go as i aim to kick of the WSK campaign with a victory.
I can't wait bring it on!

Also what a great Grand Prix and superb drive from Hamilton!

03 Mar 2008
11:23 am

Kerpen highs and lows

Well it was back to racing last weekend in Germany. After some very successfull testing in Genk and Angerville we beleived that we now had the speed in the dry conditions to challenge for the win. We were correct. In practice we were very fast and come race day rain or shine we would be in with a shot at victory.
The Race meeting runs a strange format where by you have three seperate races and who ever does the best in all three of them wins.
It was wet in the morning and we were very quick i qualifyed on pole position by 0.5 of a second. I won the first race. But the bearings in my stub collapsed in the second race and i also had a spin this meant we finished 7th. In the third race we had fixed the stub but the front left tire was now in serious trouble and we were plagued with understeer. We finished 5th in the race.
It is ashame about the stub because we never got to show are true pace in the dry on race day. But it is good to see we have made big steps forward and i look forward to the coming test sessions and races.

24 Feb 2008
9:54 am

Weekend off!

I'v not really been up to much since the Shenington race meeting, so just having a chilled out weekend.
We did how ever take delivery of are new rolling chassis on Friday which will be ready for the Winter Cup in Germany next weekend!
Can't wait to get back on the track and looking forward to a strong race.
Ill keep you informed on how i get on in Germany.
Check back soon.

17 Feb 2008
10:29 pm

Shenny Win

Just got back from Shenington race meeting. Had an eventfull day won the first heat binned it in the second heat started 12th for the final and won. Crazy lol I'll come back with a better blog tomorrow when im not so tired! haha Just wanted to say the Gillard chassis and AFR engines were awesome and also thanks to ProTrain Racing.
Also the Dunlop DCH is a great choice of tire for the KZ1 class its quick and durable and it makes perfect sense to run the class on this tire.
Im off to bed!
Check back tomorrow!

10 Feb 2008
5:34 pm

Angerville

Got back from Angerville earlyer today after two days of testing. Angerville hosts the first round of the WSK and European championship so it was important to find a base set-up for the kart prior to the big meetings at this excellent circuit.
The weather was great and it was dry on both Friday and Saturday, the sun was bright and there wasn't a cloud insight.
The first day we were plagued with problems with the Alfano and data logging. We also had trouble with chassis with constant lack of grip and oversteer problems. I ended the day in the gravel trap after my front right stub snapped into the chicane!!! lol
We decided to give Tim Gillard a ring to see if he had any ideas on how to solve some of the handling problems. Fortuanatley he did and on Saturday morning the Gillard chassis was doing what it does best... going very fast.
We had been running on French tires on the Friday but swapped to the Dunlop DDH tire (European Championship tire) for the second half of Saturday. The chassis was very good on these tires and i felt the kart showed alot of potentiol. There were some difficultys under braking but we can work on that.
PCR team AVG racing were also testing and I had a some fun in the final test session of the day battleing with there driver Joey Hanssen.
I learnt alot about the circuit and the chassis over the weekend and we are getting quicker everytime we visit the European circuits. For sure there is some work to do but i beleive that with the PDB Racing team, Gillard chassis and the AFR TM racing engines i can fight for the wins in the European and WSK championship.

We set off home at 6 and got back home at 2.15... I dont think i had ever been as pleased to see Bradford before! haha

Had pretty relaxed day today watched abit of Hollyoaks and went to the gym for abit.
My next European test will probabley be at Mariembourg in the next week or 2 so keep checking out the blog.

See you around!

28 Jan 2008
2:26 pm

Lucky weather and great testing!

Wow! What a weekend i must have coverd over 180 laps of the Genk circuit over the three days!
Im back home now and I thought i would let you all know how Saturday and Sunday went.
I was greeted by blue skys as i woke up on Sunday morning and was looking forward to getting my hands on the chassis that i would be racing in the European championships this year and trying out the factory SGM motor.
Testing went well and the kart handled wonderfull for most of the day thanks to the help of Nick De Bruijn and my Dad. We made some progress with the SGM motor through out the day and finished the day with a fast time of 53.32 which for this time of year is very quick. It must also be said that AFR have done a superb job with there TM engines and they were extreamley fast!
The last session on Saturday was also fun as i battled with ex Formula 1 driver Jos Verstappen and my Junior Max rival Jorrit Pex who were also testing KZ2! I had a good battle with Jos on one lap where i overtook him but he lunged me at the next corner and he couldnt stop before the grass! lol
Also special thanks to Nick De Bruijn who helped with the kart all day Saturday.

After 2 days of hard testing i knew that Sunday would be more relaxed and that we could just have a play around with the set-up having done all the hard work the previous 2 days. We changed a few things with the chassis and stook some new tires on Sunday morning and did a 52.88! The kart was awesome and we were signifcantly quicker than the other KZ2 who were testing.

I beleive we took some massive steps forward this weekend and i now feel that we are in a real position to win. There is alot of work still to do but im confident that it will be a great year.

Thanks to everyone from PDB for building my kart up and getting it to the circuit.

Keep checking the Blog out!!!

Cheers,
Jack

25 Jan 2008
9:02 pm

First blog.......Genk test!

My first blog! The idea is to update my blog regurley to keep you all up to date with my latest news when im away at tests and races. Hopefully it will give you a good insight into what International karting is all about!
Plenty to write about today. Set off to Genk last night on the Hull Rotterdam ferry and arrived in at 9 this morning. Before we went to the track we called in at the PDB factory to get a seat fit for my 2008 kart. We spent about 30 mins there before lighting it down to the circuit in the van.
It was dry all day and I got a really good feel for the Vega White tires by the end of the day building my confidence lap by lap and pushing that bit harder. The amount of grip that these tires can offer is phenomanal!
We found out some good things about the chassis and worked well with setup.
Anyways after a long hard day I have just had something to eat and now I need some sleep. I will update the Blog hopefully before Monday to let you know how the rest of the test gos!
Cheers
Jack