Johnny Herbert Karting Challenge
23rd November 2003

Roy Craig's report on the event

Dateline Sunday 23rd November 2003; place, London's Kings Cross and The Raceway Circuit, once again the venue for The Johnny Herbert Karting Challenge - the 8th time that this circuit has hosted the event, it is sometimes hard to believe that so many years have passed and with it of course, so much water under the bridge!

The benefiting charity was, again as last year THE NATIONAL KIDNEY RESEARCH FUND. Some things stay the same however and the best one is that our man Johnny is still a top flight racing driver! I can't help but be envious as this year saw him driving my two favourite marques, Bentleys and Audis, not only racing them but getting results with them. These are documented elsewhere on the website so I will stick to the report in hand!!

This year's weather will be remembered for drought and heatwave but neither were around for us last Sunday. Thanks indeed went to the fact that we have Johnny's event at an indoor circuit as the deluge that befell London and the South of England caused havoc for travellers and it was travellers that we were indeed waiting for. As the door opening time of 9.00am passed, it was more a trickle of people that were turning up and not the usual rush. That said it wasn't long before spectators, celebrities and drivers were amassed in The Raceway's foyer trying to get in from the incessant rain.

Knowing what drivers and celebrities have arrived is always a difficult task to keep up with and with the knowledge gained from the previous years I would like to think it gets easier!! I guess that is true to a point but that knowledge doesn't help them get there on time so the wait is something we will have to get used to. We have 144 drivers to get checked in, signed on and briefed before a wheel can be turned. l would like to thank Heidi Alland for her help in getting his done so smoothly.

For the drivers and spectators who have arrived and are patiently waiting for the start they can at least either enjoy some refreshments from The Raceway's cafe, whose staff certainly have their work cut out on such a busy day, or view merchandise from the Fan Club faithfully bought along as always by Johnny's Mum and Dad, Bob and Jane, and this year with help from Jane's sister and Sarah Plester (Johnny' sister). As well as the clubs regalia, they could also check out the items that were to be sold in the auction and raffle.

Lee Egdell of Invert Clothing very kindly donated some exclusively designed T shirts commemorating the day to further boost the coffers and I thank John Thorpe for helping out in the shop all day. My thanks also go to Bob Constanduros for helping us with his many years of experience behind the microphone by sharing the commentary duties and for his interjections throughout the day.

In previous years our race director from The Raceway has been Peter Rankin who used his vast experience to keep the 3 hour race under control. That role this year was undertaken - and successfully too - by Jason Kafizas ably assisted by Pedro. It was also Jason's job to brief all the drivers but with the accent on brief as time was getting on!! Last to arrive and just in the nick of time as usual! was Gary Jordan and his team, hardly surprising when I say that they travel from Northern Ireland to take part - no, not the day before as you may expect, but on the very morning of the event. What may surprise you even more is that as soon as the race is over, it's up and away for Gary and his men and back to Ulster!!

I think this year's weather just might have made my trip home to High Wycombe somewhat longer than Gary's to Belfast!! With 144 drivers taking part space and time (let alone my typing finger!) does not allow me to mention them all. We did of course have teams from all over the country and as I have already mentioned, Belfast. Celebrities as well as teams also have their travelling to do, as diverse as our good friend James Allen who just has a couple of miles to that incredible character Allard Kalff who jets in from Holland, not to mention those who have to make the trek from Monaco!!!!

As soon as the karts hit the track the lap times are recorded and the fastest of these will dictate the grid positions. It is a hectic 30 minutes as teams not only try for fast time but to also get to know their karts, some of course not liking and frantically changing them in the time allowed.

Practice was soon over and karts began to assemble the grid. Not surprisingly on pole was BAR test driver and celebrity for team NO 3, "Team Think", Anthony Davidson. The team consisted mainly of personnel associated with Goodwood Circuit, and Anthony had served them well.

It has become a tradition at Johnny's annual challenge that the celebrity from each team starts the race and what a terrific sight it is. Forming up behind Anthony in 2nd slot was none other than 2003 Le-Mans winner, Guy Smith for The Bentley Boys team and behind him in The COOL Team (entered by XL refrigerators) was kart racer Adam Norton. So these were the fastest 3 from 24 teams and soon the spectacular snake of 24 karts was circulating this superb circuit in the heart of London.

Our main man Johnny Herbert who, as usual headed his team HERBIE'S HEROES was back in 8th slot with probably 8 reasons why!! This years event did see an influx of much younger kart racers and although I have not dwelled on the reasons behind this I think that it is now an established event at an exciting venue that features a race that everyone 'wants to win, lets face it how many opportunities arise were one is able to race against Grand Prix drivers, Sports Car drivers, athletes, TV presenters and pop stars. I have this week had many E-mail's from up and coming race drivers saying how grateful they were to be able to test their skills against JOHNNY HERBERT.

My commitments for the day somewhat restricted my ability to watch much of the race and with 3 hours to run there would be an awful lot to say, I did manage some spectating and it was certainly all go for those in the thick of it. Some drivers, and I cannot name any, did come in for criticism for being somewhat over-enthusiastic in their gameness to be on the podium. But of course we all know the old saying, "to finish first you first have to finish" - a saying that perhaps some ought to practice learning!! With that said and considering the amount of distance covered and karts on the track I guess incidents were very few. I hope Keith Ord, who did suffer a badly bruised leg in one of them is now recovered.

During the course of the day, a production team from Granada Television, alias The Wheel Power Team, captained by Andy Spellman and starring no less than Louise Goodman, Sarah Matravas and Ben Edwards in their line up, were filming a slot to be shown on GP World, a programme on Motors TV (bound to be a hit!!).

3pm signalled the close of the silent auction and the draw for the raffle and both I'm sure gave some smiling faces to the people who had placed bids and purchased winning tickets. Soon after and 218 laps after the green light it was The Mach 1 Racing Team fronted by Rik Parfitt Jnr and captained by Paul Clarke that took the chequered flag. It has taken The Mach 1 Team 5 years of trying to win this event and Paul Clarke was delighted that they had finally done it.

Just 1 lap down Adam Norton had led The Cool Team into 2nd and only 14.96 secs behind them was The Flying Chickens. This team was captained by John Ogilvie and should have had James Walker the 2003 Jnr F.Ford champion as their celebrity but illness forced James to miss the event so it was up and coming kart racer Danny Spencer of Spencer Motorsport who replaced him. Evo 6 were 4th, The Bentley Boys 5th and the Fl Wanabees from Ulster 6th.

The podium presentation was as always conducted by Johnny himself with much applause for the winning teams, I have no doubt they knew they had been in a memorable race.

Gareth Jones of TV fame, who has been a supporter of this event for many years, took control of the microphone to conduct the trackside auction and made a splendid job of adding to the donations and making a total in the region of £25,000 for The National Kidney Research Fund. I would like to thank everyone involved in making this years JOHNNY HERBERT KARTING CHALLENGE another success by raising so much money for this very worthy cause.

With a special thanks to the JH Fan Club members and The Kidney Fund Volunteers headed by Peter Hendley without whose help the show could not go on. Others who of course make our day so special are the celebrities who so kindly give their time to us and I make no excuse for naming each one: Louise Goodman, John Hindhaugh, Ben Collins, Beat Zehnder, Tim Sugden, David Scott, Darren Cambell, Guy Smith, Charles Hollins, Allard Kalff, Ben Edwards, Sarah Matravas, Marino Franchitti, Ryan Sharp, Tim Smith, Gary Jordan, Jeroem Bleekemolen, Adam Norton, Susie Stoddart, Danny Spencer, James Hanson, Gary Spencer, Rik Parfitt, Carl Stevens, James Allen, Gareth Jones, Richard Keen, Chris Brooke Fulke-Greville, Shane Lynch, and Bob Constanduros. I beg forgiveness if I have missed anyone!!!!!

Thanks also to Michael Segal and his wife Sandra along with all his staff at The Raceway for the many hours of hard work that are put in over this weekend.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot - thanks Johnny!!!!

ROY CRAIG

Some photos of the event are here...