Your first race

The first race is one of the biggest moments in any driver's life. Tell us about yours, were you fully prepared, were you nervous, did you do well, did you enjoy it?

mine was nearly 2 years ago now ..but I remember it well..of course i enjoyed it but was very nervous before it..fortunately in karts if you are a "P" plater you start from last ..which was fine by me ..it was a small field of about 6 karts so i had an easy start so to speak...rolling start of course and evryone else went at least 2 seconds before I did ..so i was left behind and trailed around at the back unable to catch em..but I did finish...actually as I did 4 races in the one day I missed the start every time..they take a bit of getting used to..finished 3 out of 4 (spun off on last lap of final race)..so it was a good day ...very enjoyable and one i look back on with good memories.

Wakefield Park Hillclimb about 5 years ago. In a Volvo 240 (yeah yeah, another Volvo). I did quite well considering the car, I got within 1 second of the owner by the end of the day. Mind you that was a time of about 73s and about 3rd last. But I really didn't care as I was having a great time.

About 7 years ago I had my first race at a wet Snetterton in November. Luckily I had a garage for my RF88 FFord1600, but unfortunately I nervously misunderstood a marshal who told me I could go straight out into the pit lane from there. I thought he meant I could go directly onto the circuit, so for qualifying I stayed in the dry until the other cars hit the track, then I followed them straight out - consequently I missed all that fun time in the holding area getting checked over.

They black-flagged me, and I missed it twice - when I finally came in I got a boll***ing from the headmaster and my license endorsed. They let me race though, as it was my first time. Back of the grid with a 10sec penalty was definitely the safest place for me to be!! Ah...what fun!

Steve

My first car race was at Phoenix International in 96. It was also Sara Senske's first race.
I started 11th, was up to 9th by the first corner, then almost flipped the guy ahead of me in turn 7 (the best passing zone). I did a late out-braking move & it didn't work! My race was over. 1st race, didn't even complete a lap!
2nd race the next day. Started 15th, got up to 4th (with some help) and finished 6th. I spent the whole race battling with the guy I almost flipped. Funny enough he always gave me room in turn 7!

My first race was in an Saab 96 1964 2-stroke and it was in HTCC (Historic Touring Car Cup) here in sweden.
It was in a friends car and in a startfield whith 27 cars and there was cars like Cortina, Falcon Futura, Mustang, Cooper S, Fiat Abarth and some other cars and of course this litle Saab whith me behind the steeringwheel.
I was starting last that was great for me, there was 18-20000 people at the race and that was a great feeling for me to stand on the grid whith that much people around and also having tv cameras on us.
This happend at the great circuit Anderstorp here in sweden.
The most scary thing was when a Falcon came from the behind and passed me on the long straight, he (Bengt "Wicke" Winqvist) came like a rocket and when he passed the litle Saab it was like a thunderstorm striked me.
You can see this Saab at my homepage http://come.to/rb_racing

regards/ Richard Binnas

sadly i dont speak swedish but a nice little site you have there Binnas..love the pics of the karting ..looks like alot of fun :)

Oh, I forgot mention that the race at Phoenix road course was in a Skip Barber Formula Dodge 2 liter. The race was won by Nascar Winston West and sometime Winston Cup driver, Austin Cameron.

Strange but I dont recall my first race (Hey, it was in 1975 for god's sake!). I rembember my drivers schools, and many races since. But my first outing must not have been memorable. I would have been at Blackhawk Farms Illinois, Elkhart Lake (Road America) Wisconsin or Brainerd Intl Raceway in Minnesota.

My first race was at Lakeside on 27th August 1989. I was driving a stock standard Valiant Charger 245 Automatic in a Club Car (Improved Production) race. Anyway I qualified last, the only car near me in laptimes was another first timer, in fact it was the first HQ racer in Queensland. I was plenty nervous and had no real idea what was going to happen, so i thought I would just tool around, take it easy and keep out of trouble. Of course as soon as the lights turned green, that plan went out the window and I was right into it, chasing the HQ all the way, I got alongside a couple of times, but never got in front. Anyway, at the end of the day, the car was still just as it started the day, i was grinning from ear to ear and i had the first of 5 required signatures on my provisional licence. :)

About 1980 on a 1/4 mile dirt speedway at Woddford Glen,Kaiapoi NZ,racing a MK2 Zephyr in streetstock,(full contact class)the only thing i was nervous about was being in the wrong grid position,i did 5 races that night and spent more time getting hit than hitting anyone,but didn't care cause i was RACING.

The pics of the kart race you could see at my site are from a charity race where we got 30,000 skr that we gave too found for childrens cancer.
This race we do every year and there is all kind of competeters both national and interantional drivers.
such as:
Anders Olofsson
Fredrik Ekblom
Carl Rosenblad
Eje Elgh
Tommy Rustad
Tony Ring
and many moore.