I expected my holiday to be calm and relaxing but instead it was off to Birmingham to educate myself in Law, then back to school for a concert, down to Devon for a little holiday and then a session working at the Festival of Speed selling books. (No he doesn't give a discount to friends or editors, I tried - Ed) However I did, however manage to sneak off, up to the top of the hill and then hitch a ride down with Renault's Technical Director, Mike Gascoyne in the Renault 5 Maxi Turbo!!! That put a smile on my face!!

So on to Karting and we took a trip to Bayford on Wednesday for a 50 lap test session which stood me in good stead for the race, but really the tropical temperatures on the Sunday were to be the deciding factor. By 10:00am the temperature was climbing into the 20s and the engine was operating at maximum temperature without being forced. The track was very quick and as my team-mate found, a new set-up was required. I did the necessary and despite only getting one, free, clean lap was told after qualifying that I had taken P5 and my new personal best at Bayford - 46.886s, 0.3s off the lap record!! It was also a massive relief to see that Dipstick, who had dared another day, was behind, along with a friend from school, Dean Stirling. There were however only 13 drivers

Perhaps the number of starters was an unlucky omen as the leader was punted off. His kart then rolled out prompting a restart, which promoted me to the outside of row two. However there was no advantage as I got eased to the outside and dropped to eighth. After the first lap I had managed to claw my way up to sixth behind Dean and we proceeded to battle, swapping positions every lap as well as gaining on the kart in front. Dean finally managed to dive down the inside of him but it was only for one corner as the other driver came back and knocked him wide, similar to Dipstick's manoeuvres in the third round. Oh look, it was Dipstick now back in fourth!! I made a faint dive down the inside but could not match Dean's excellent second attack and in the end I settled for sixth.

So to the second race and the guy who rolled out of the first race had decided to take part, putting me back to fifth. As I attacked the first corner, promoting myself to fourth I noticed slow traffic to the outside of the corner. The only thing to do was to slam on the brake and hope not to make any contact and I didn't, apart from the barriers on the inside as I parked up beside a some what worse for wear Dean. Once again the race was stopped.

And again at the restart I started fourth and again lost a few positions realising there was no pull from the engine and that something was banging on the ground. So I pulled into the pits thinking that I had more damage than expected from the first accident. Nothing was found to be wrong and mystery shrouded the RMBC Motorsport camp.

Although I didn't want to damage anything further I entered the final in ninth. While lying in seventh my chain came off, and so did I as it locked up the rear axle. With the chain sufficiently bent, I sat with Dean (who retired earlier) and watched Lloyd Bentley drive off for a brilliant novice victory. So a new chain will be in order for our next test when we go to Thruxton. Also a piece of admin is that I will be commentating at the biggest racing event in the UK, the 12 Hour Lawnmower race!! For more info on that check out www.racemower.co.uk.

As usual, I would again like to say a few thank-yous€¦ Ricardo Mills RMBC's Chief Engineer for some brilliant advice over the last five months. Max Constanduros (my Bro) for his all round help on holding umbrellas, lifting Karts and burning himself, on the kart not the umbrella!! Jane (my mum) has been a great acting team manager when Dad has been working, although his advice and enthusiasm from the commentary box at GPs is always a massive help. My team-mate Jason Mills is brilliant - the flow of information is now starting to be a great bonus at meetings and he's great fun to play with out on the track during tests.

To my sponsors pitpass for letting me put these reports on here for nothing apart from that big sticker on the trailer and on the kart!!! (And the tattoo Ben, tell them about the tattoo! - Ed) Chris the editor has to be thanked for sorting out what comes to him as a bunch of mis-spelt scrambled words!! (Hey Ben enough about Martha! - Ed)