Video - Wanted for Assault and NiCd Battery

16/10/12, 2:28, 302 views (when posted)

OK, I'm aware that I haven't been posting as much of late, and that's because I've been settling in to university life (I now know where the nearest corner shop, pub and chippy are, so I'm all set). To make up for this, and partly as filler before I write other stuff I've been meaning to write, I give you a healthy dose of awesome, with a car chase that follows every car chase convention, but pulls it all off. You'll see why when you press Play.

One other thing I can write about now, which isn't quite big enough for a real post, is that I tried out for the University's Cheerleading Karting team last Thursday. To do so I had to go not to the local indoor one in Swansea (a very different and much hillier place compared to Wokingham) but to the other side of Port Talbot and the Llandow Circuit. This was outdoors. In Wales. Of course it was pouring with rain all day. Apparently there's more comment on sunny days than rainy days in Wales, as they're rarer. Nevertheless, there was racing to be done, so I put on some gardening gloves, a motorcycle helmet and a boiler suit. I'm pretty sure that's what Jenson Button wears when he goes racing too.

Despite slick tyres, cornering wasn't difficult in the cold shower karts we used. The harder part was seeing where you were going when following someone, and the hardest part was the braking, especially when you get confident and start braking late and hard. The final corner was a hairpin, which along with a three-part chicane book-ended a long back straight. You see, a go-kart doesn't have brakes, it has a brake, and it's on the rear axle, so if you slam on the left pedal, the rear wheels will stop turning, which is basically the same as pulling the handbrake up at speed. Much opposite lock was required when it got really wet! Even the experienced guys were caught out at various stages of the final hairpin, although I'm pleased to report that I only spun once, and it was in my first race. What's more, the one time after that when I wasn't stuck with the lethargic #3 kart, I came a close second behind someone who does this all the time and has his own Mercedes GP overalls (because he's rich, not because he's the next Lewis Hamilton). I'm pretty happy with that, despite not making the team, although the next round of the Uni Championship for Non-Team Folk is at the indoor circuit, so I'm planning to do a lot less losing next term...