JULY / AUGUST | THE COMMENTATOR

Martin Fullard talks karting

Throughout my early teens to mid-twenties I raced karts around the land , and indeed worked at kart circuits in both the UK and Middle East .

In June I was invited to reconnect with my karting roots by taking part in the Damon Hill Karting Challenge ( DHKC ) at Daytona Sandown Park in Surrey . I ’ ve not raced

a kart in anger for a few years but an elephant never forgets ( I ’ ve put on a few pounds in the intervening years ).

The DHKC runs to support the Halow Project , a Surreybased charity that aspires to create opportunities for young people with learning difficulties between ages 16 and 35 . It ’ s a great initiative , and 1996 Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill is their patron .

Before we reach the crux of this month ’ s missive , here ’ s a quick summary of how my fiveman team – HR Strategy Pro – got on in the two and a half hour race …

It was a randomly decided grid , and I took the start from ninth place . Foot to the floor I dropped to 13th entering the first corner but quickly got back to 11th . A bold move up the inside of turn four saw me 10th before I was sideswiped by an overzealous renegade at the last corner of the circuit , dropping me back to 13th once more .

No matter . I know my way around the track and set about

“ When I raced karts ‘ properly ’ in years gone by it was tense and stressful ”

the recovery drive . By lap three I was up to ninth , and by lap four I made a dive for sixth , passing Damon Hill himself , which is where I would run for the remainder of my stint .

At 30 minutes my team signalled me in ; I completed the mandatory fuel stop and proceeded to the driver change area where I alighted and team captain Nick Butcher took the reigns . A tense final showdown saw us reeling in the kart in front but it wasn ’ t to be , and we crossed the line eighth out of 25 .

It was a thrilling , friendly and , above all else , enjoyable experience and one that , weirdly ; I was not too familiar with .

When I raced karts ‘ properly ’ in years gone by it was tense and stressful . Competition was fierce and skulduggery was commonplace . At the DHKC , though , it was exactly as it was supposed to be : ‘ fun ’.

While on track I had forgotten I was racing for charity , which kept the competitive fire burning , but once back in the pits I looked around at the young people I was helping raise money for . I can ’ t think of a better way to raise money for a noble cause than to do it through the medium of a sports event .

We humans are competitive by nature , and we love helping others ( mostly ), so a sports event should always be first choice to raise money for a cause .

If there are any event organisers out there who want to help a cause , karting would be a good place to go . Please let me know …