Drive-Tech News

The Mayor of Westbury, David Windess, organised his second charity kart race with a share of the money raised  in aid of The Wiltshire Air Ambulance.   This time he managed to get mayors from 3 other towns to take part including Bradford-on-Avon mayor Peter Leach, Frome Mayor Nick White and Glenis Ansell the Mayor of Calne.    There were also teams from local businesses and pubs all trying to be the winning team in a very exciting, albeit  little damp endurance karting event.

Cllr Windess said in the Wiltshire Times "It was a very enjoyable event, althoughit was very wet and cold.  We managed to raise about £320 in total, which will be split between the charities evenly".

"The team from Rygor Commercials, Salisbury Branch were the winners and the team from the Crown Inn did very well"  "It was one of my last events as mayor and we managed to raise £2,300 for my two charities over the year, which has been good".

If you have a charity that you would like to raise money for and would like to organise a go karting event, please email the Drive-Tech Marketing Manager, Lyn Eden at to discuss in more detail.    If you would just like to come along and try karting yourself call the office on 01249 783010 and the team will give you more information.

2012 Castle Combe Karting Championship Round 1 Report

The first round of the 2012 Castle Combe Karting Championship attracted a strong grid of 30 drivers. After downpours of rain throughout the day, Tom Haddock (Basildon) lined up on pole for the final having won all four of his heats and his semi-final. Martin Palmer lined up alongside him on the front row, with Kristian Jennings (Clevedon) starting 3^rd, Antony Weeks (Bristol) lining up 4^th, Alec Jordan (Bedfordshire) 5^th and Callum Brown (Chepstow) 6^th.

All 6 karts headed into the first corner bumper to bumper, with nothing to separate them. Tom Haddock fell down the order, allowing Kristian Jennings, Martin Palmer and Antony Weeks to battle for the lead. Martin Palmer spun, dropping him back down the order behind Tom Haddock, promoting Alec Jordan up to 3^rd. Kristian Jennings and Antony Weeks managed to pull away from the rest of the pack with Jennings just out of reach of Weeks.

At the flag Kristian Jennings took the win ahead of Antony Weeks with Alec Jordan finishing a strong 3^rd. Tom Haddock hung onto 4^th place, with Palmer finishing 5^th after his spin and Callum Brown taking 6^th.

After a thrilling first round Kristian Jennings and Tom Haddock head the points with 52 points each, both 1 point ahead of equal 3^rd placed drivers Antony Weeks and Martin Palmer. Mark Barber had a great run in the heats to line up on pole for his semi-final, but was unable to make it through to final but still remains 8^th in championship standings, behind Alec Jordan, Emerson Combstock and Callum Brown. Bristol based John Hartin was battling for the lead of his semi-final, before a mistake ended in the barriers dropping him down the order, eventually finishing 4^th in his semi, failing to make the final. Despite his disappointing semi-final result John’s heat results were good enough to place him 12^th in the standings.

For more information about the all new Castle Combe Karting Championship please contact Drive-tech ltd on 01249 783 010 or vistit our website www.drivetechltd.co.uk

We were delighted that James Gray MP accepted our invitation to attend the Drive-Tech Driving Centre last week during Tourism Week.   One of our  experienced instructors, John Yeo, was on hand to show Mr Gray around the centre to see ‘behind the scenes’ as to how we instruct both the public and lots of companies wanting to experience our many driving activities.

John started the tour in our skid briefing room so that Mr Gray could see how the skid pan is set up to teach anyone with a full driving licence how to control our vehicles on our specially prepared surface to mimic icy and slippery road conditions.   He also explained all about Health and safety issues in running such a course in a safe and controlled environment.

James Gray was then given a tour of the 4x4 course in one of the centre’s Land Rover Discoveries, which has been quoted by the Off Road Magazine ‘as being one of the best compact courses within the UK’. James then took to the wheel himself to experience 4x4 off-road vehicles and by tackling the many obstacles and driving through the exhilarating watersplash.

James expressed that the "Skid Control Course looked like good fun and a valuable experience  to learn and that having experienced a skid recently he would like to come back and do the course himself".  James also expressed that the 4x4  "was outside his normal comfort zone and was a totally new driving experience for him"

The idea for the invite was initiated by Visit England and the fantastic team at Destination Bristol - they inform us of lots of brilliant ways to promote our business within the tourism markets.    We have been working with them for over 25 years and even though we are not in the middle of Bristol they do as much for us as anyone in the great City of Bristol. 

For more details of  Skid Control, Karting and 4x4 Off Road Driving experiences please call our Team of experts on 01249 783010. 

All photographs taken by Diane Vose for Gazette & Herald

@wiltsgazette    www.gazetteandherald.co.uk

ENJOY THE BEAUTY OF THE WAR HORSE FILM LOCATION AND MAKE A WEEKEND OF IT!

We have joined forces with the beautiful Castle Inn hotel in the amazing little village of Castle Combe to offer their guests discounted 4x4 courses http://www.castle-inn.info/special-offers/4x4-experience.   There are lots of offers on their website including a War Horse weekend special at £340 + VAT for a couple sharing.   The offer for the 4x4 which is £103.50 per person as opposed to the normal £115 can be done any day of the week (we do need a minimum of 2 people to run a course) and it takes 3 hours if we have the full compliment of 3 drivers.  You don't need to supply the drivers as we put people together.

The 4x4 course is perfect for couples that want to learn the skill of off-road driving and is immense fun!  We have BORDA (British Off Road Driving Association) instructors who will show you the course and then you get lots of hands on driving fun to learn all about 4x4 skills including a watersplash, scary ascents and descents.   To book the offer you must be staying at the Castle Inn hotel and booked through them - if you were after a valentine's offer we have one on our karting which can be booked direct on 01249 783010, see http://www.drivetechltd.co.uk/component/content/article/46/91-valentine-special.html for more details or call us to discuss.

The Visit Britain website blog has the trailer for War Horse and also pictures of all the filming locations - you cannot go wrong with visiting the village of Castle Combe and less 5 minutes from us!  http://www.visitbritainsuperblog.com/2012/01/in-pictures-war-horse-locations/ 

 A Great End to the 2011 Season.

 The 2011 Junior Karting championship has drawn to a close, with Alexi Littler wrapping up the championship in perfect style taking a maximum 31 points, winning all 4 heats, the final and getting fastest lap. Will Hertzell failed to improve his points total at the final round so had to settle for 2nd in the championship. Oliver Bayani had a great end to the championship, taking 25 points and 2nd in the final, which was good enough to move up to 3rd place in the overall standings. Max Tadd improved his score, taking 22 points and 5th in the final, but this was not enough to keep Bayani behind and Max had to settle for 4th in the overall championship, only 1 point behind Oliver. Chris Ludlow took 5th in the overall championship, while Justin Draper took 6th in the overall championship and took the Driver of the series award. While Charlie Summers had a great end to the championship taking 17 points in the last round and the driver of the day award, moving up to 18th in the overall championship and taking the best Novice award.

The Spring 2012 Junior Karting Championship revs up again on the 15th January @ 1pm.   Kids Karting is great fun!

Junior Kart Racing at it's Best 

Alexi Littler leads the Castle Combe Junior Kart Championship from Will Hertzell by just 4 points with only 1 round to go!  Although no one other than Alexi or Will can win the overall championship, the battle for 3rd place is hotly contested with a potential 9 drivers still in contention for 3rd place.  With prizes for the top six and a best novice award for drivers in their first Championship it is going to be a great afternoon of kart racing.    The best novice is up for grabs with Stephen Netting currently leading the way.  However, Ben Gilbert, Alexander Roberts and Charlie Summers still have a great chance.

For those that have not been signed off yet there are spaces in the morning sessions, a great time to get in some extra practice and get signed off ready to race in the new Junior Kart Championship starting 15th January 2012.  Telephone 01249 783010 and book your place today.

As it's Christmas there are sweets for everyone who signs on.

CONGRATULATIONS TO DAN HEALEY

For regular readers of our blog you might remember an article wishing Dan Healey, one of our Junior Kart racers good luck at the Team Sport National Championships.   For those that didn't you can find the article at the following link http://www.drivetechltd.co.uk/blog/item/23-junior-karter-dan-healey.html 

Well he won!   Well done Dan what a fabulous achievement.   He was competing against under 16's and came out on top.    Dan only took up go karting with us at Castle Combe about a year ago and is doing spectacularly well.

As with alot of youngsters it is very hard to progess in the sport of karting so his mum, Jo Healey, is currently looking for anyone looking to sponsor an up and coming talent.   She can be contacted on 07742 212665 if you would like to speak to her.   Dan says that "his idol is Lewis Hamilton and his plan is to race professionally".

If you are interested in following in Dan's footsteps we have a junior karting session this Sunday, 20th November for anyone aged 10-15 years (min 4' 8" in height).   You do not need to have had any karting experience to take part, but you must pre-book on 01249 783010.   Call the office and get on the grid!

GOOD LUCK DAN!

Dan Healey who is just 13 years of age has qualified to compete against other UK finalists at the Grand Final on Sunday, 30th October at the TeamSport Karting Centre in Crawley.    Last year's winner received VIP tickets for the Grand Prix next year as guests of Virgin Racing, so there is something equally great up for grabs this year.   Another of our youngsters, Oliver Bayani got the fastest lap of the day.

Dan has been karting with us since April 2010 and is currently competing in our Autumn Championship and is currently in the top 10 from only 3 rounds.   

Max and the team at Drive-Tech would like to wish Dan all the best for the UK Finals - Good luck Dan.

You can read more about his exploits in the Bristol Evening Post article below:

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Karter-Dan-s-fast-track-success/story-13425529-detail/story.html

KART MARSHALLS - FIRE TRAINING

We have just had our 2011 Marshal Training Day to make sure all of our Health and Safety boxes have been ticked.    It’s a serious business making sure all is fun for our customers, so it is crucial our marshals are experienced in all aspects of safe, effective running of the kart track.   We have a major incident plan that has to be adhered to and this covers all areas from Fire Training which can be seen in the pictures above and below.   Luckily we have never had to use these techniques for real, but we have to make sure all our marshals are up to speed.

The other areas covered include general track safety and kart maintenance to keep the karts running in prime condition.   The main thing is we need all marshals to work closely as a team under each of our experienced Race Directors.   

Max, a Race Director of many years, who ran the course, commented "We know that our customers have plenty of calls on their money these days, and fully understand that we have to be better than ever to deserve the business, so our discussions centred on how we can improve the real karting experience that only a quality outdoor track can give. There was some great feedback from experienced and new marshals alike, and we all enjoyed the fire practice - thankfully, none of us has any experience of using a fire extinguisher and whilst we all hope we never have to use one, it was great fun learning! I'm confident that we can keep up our high standards for the future". 

We were pleased to welcome four new marshals on the day for their initial training day, and have had so much interest in being a marshall that we are keeping a list for any future vacancies.