Johnny Herbert Karting Challenge
25th November 2007

Roy Craig's report on the event

Well, another year gone - and another Johnny Herbert Karting Challenge over - wow!

How the years do go so quickly - the event this year was memorable as it did mark the end of our association with The Raceway, Kings Cross. Not, of course, The Raceway itself - as we found out last year their name lives on in the South East of London at Docklands. But it is the Kings Cross circuit that we were so sadly saying goodbye to as, after Christmas, the bulldozers will be taking the place of the karts at the venue that so many of us have come to love since our first visit in 1995.

That is a long time ago and you only have to cast your mind back to our Johnny in his Benetton Race suit and with a certain M Schumacher as his team mate (allegedly!) and it almost feels even longer.

The Kings Cross circuit had undergone a few changes over this time. Some of us look back with affection at the early layout and a surface that seemed to require a bit more skill in balancing the grip with a touch of opposite lock as you encountered the far banked corner - unlike the tarmac of today that just seems to say "hang on!"

Some changes by the circuit owners, Michael Segal and Dave Ross were purely voluntary. But others were not of their choosing - as when a fire spread in to the circuit from a neighbouring factory and destroyed a recently refitted reception area and much more. What came out of that was the transformation that we have come to know and that will be so sadly missed.

However, on Sunday 25th November 2007 we were all assembled at this venue for this very last time with 22 teams ready to take on each other in what is becoming an even more ultra competitive event. We have seen a massive shift in relation to the team entries from 13 years ago, when they were mostly made up from Fan Club Members and company employees.

Yes, we still have Herbies Heroes with almost the same driver line up as back then (yours truly has bowed out !!!) and we do have our long standing entrants like Lynne Baines with her EVO 6 team who are always front runners, and Ian Hammond with his team of enthusiastic drivers who as yet have not had a whiff of the podium but are forever hopeful. Team Forum who, as the name suggests are from members of the forum of Johnny's own web site have also been competing for a while and they are sorted and entered by Meg Turner.

Teams made up of young karters are filling the ranks and none more so than 100cc PR run and entered by Adam Jones whose drivers include rising star Mackenzie Taylor, World Champion Karter Oliver Oaks, Robert Foster Jones, Jamie Croxford and Formula Renault Champion Duncan Tappy. Another team making its second appearance at Johnny's event and named after its entrants is Pacha London which is one of the Capitals leading nightspots and its star driver is up and coming racer Joseph Riley.

One of the main attractions at Johnny's annual Karting Challenge is the opportunity for those lucky enough to be part of a team to be racing against such an array of stars, mostly of course from Motor Racing but others from the TV and entertainment world too. Those not taking part on the track are free to meander and play spot the celebs.

It is, of course, always hard to pin down celebrities to join us on a November day in London - not because they don't want to be with us! On the contrary most are genuinely upset if for some reason they can't make the date. Who could blame anyone for holidaying in Oz during November for example!

Many drivers find themselves committed to testing roles or sponsors events or even the odd house move has kept them away. My friend Danny Watts was in Malaysia coaching A1 GP drivers, Allan McNish had commitments in Shanghai, Guy Smith was called up by Porsche for duties and even our long time supporter Johnny Mowlem was unable to join us. A certain Mr Massa of Ferrari fame was holding a karting event in Brazil on the same day so even Bruno Senna and Nelson Piquet Jnr had to be absent too.

For me, a star of the weekend was Emmanuele Pirro who with his son Christoforo flew in from Milan just to be with us. He was driving with Team Fiamma Italia entered by Andrea Colombo and, if you include MASERATI GB, one of four Italian entered teams.

It was great to have Joey Foster back in our midst having recovered from his horrendous crash in Germany last year and, also back with us again, was that oh so lovable TV presenter Gareth Jones showing us all "HOW" to be a great human being!

Although some teams bring along their own celebrity driver/s the big attraction are the four celebrity teams, the first headed by the man himself, Johnny Herbert. His team members were ALMS star Marino Franchitti, BMW scholarship winner Ollie Millroy, Euroseries Champion Paul di Resta, and ex World Kart champ Colin Brown.

Motorsport Writer and thoroughly good bloke, David Tremayne, ably assisted by his son Tom were there and next up was the ladies team " Fiona's Flyers" (the name derived from their leading lady Fiona Leggate of BTCC fame). Her team members were those dynamic racing sisters Sarah and Linda Playfair, kartist Helen Gardiner, and Julie Izzard.

Our benefiting charity, The Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance, were represented on the track by "The Rescue Racers". In charge of the team was the one and only Rick Parfitt Jnr. He was assisted in his task by rising star (and watch out for this name in the future) Alex Albon. This very young man is the son of Nigel Albon, a Porsche Cup driver, who I used to race in karts against more years ago than I care to remember! Another star who has been with us on previous occasions and helping Rick was stunt driver Terry Grant, alongside Sportscar racer Robin Liddel and British GT champion Bradley Ellis.

The last celebrity team I gave to Gareth Jones which he promptly christened " Gareth Jones On Speed" - as if you don't know this already, that is the name of THE world's most popular car podcast. I recommend you download it next time you are online, this man is without doubt A STAR! His drivers were, son of World F1 Champion James, Freddie Hunt, Kartist Ryan Cooper, Ted Kravitz from F1 ITV and up and coming karting talent James Doherty.

Back to the business of the day and undoubtedly the slowest part is getting over 139 drivers signed in (or should that be waiting for them to arrive so they can sign in!). I guess it wasn't so bad and eventually we could continue with the mandatory safety briefing and then practice and qualifying - always a hectic part of the day! All eyes were on the timing screens as the ever changing digits told the story of the fastest teams present.

When you consider the amount of karting talent we had in attendance it was an amazing drive by Helen Gardiner that put Fiona's Flyers on pole position. Alex Albon gave The Rescue Racers 2nd spot and I'm sure it was Joseph Riley that put Pacha London in 3rd.

Jayne Farquharson is the events manager of The Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance and she has a very busy day along with her helpers. Not only did they erect the displays and banners to advertise their presence but they made sure that everyone had purchased an event programme (hopefully) and that no one missed out on the raffle prizes by not buying a ticket. I thank Jayne for her tireless support and for helping me to organise this event - the wonderfully presented programme is also thanks to her.

Catering for the event is in the more than capable hands of Sandra Segal and her hard working staff. She more than compliments husband Michael's efforts in managing the circuit. Many thanks also go to his team of marshals and mechanics who put in so much hard work before, during and after the day.

Some would say that it is lucky that our benefactors are the Air Ambulance Unit as it does save us from hiring emergency first aid cover because of the nature of the event. That said the doctor on duty did have to be called into play when photographer Dave Baker was suddenly taken ill and proceedings were temporarily postponed while paramedics helped Dave to a waiting ambulance and to hospital. I am more than happy to report that, although Dave did have to undergo an emergency operation, he is now at home and making a good recovery. Our good wishes go to Dave and our many thanks go to Dr Dhushy Kumar for his expertise in helping Dave at the circuit.

With our timing almost spot on, the 3 hour endurance was about to get underway with teams busily selecting their drivers to do the first of the many stints. A new rule for this year was that 11 pit stops had to be conducted by each team and, on one of those stops, another challenge - team members had to change a wheel and tyre of a Westfield sportscar that was positioned in the pits and manned by the staff of Westfield, who also had a team entered in the event. If a team did not wish to change the wheel themselves, they could pay £50 to the charity and Westfield's personnel would do the change for them - not surprising then that half of the teams opted out.

The spectacle of 22 karts forming a grid at an indoor circuit takes some beating and it wasn't surprising that the spectators were straining their necks for a view. A rolling lap behind the pace kart and then the green light signalled the start with Fiona's Flyers heading the field away.

After 10 minutes: with The Rescue Racers having made a driver change it was Fiona's Flyers in the lead closely followed by Pacha London.
60 minutes: a third of the distance gone and it was now Pacha London in 1st place, Team Club 100/1 lead by Karting stalwart Howard Kayman in 2nd and, with driver changes intervening, it was a new place 3rd place team, Arbuthnot Latham Private Bank, who had a podium finish at last year's event and also with top Porsche driver Richard Westbrook again.
90 minutes: and the half way stage, Team Arbuthnot had taken the lead from Pacha but with Fiona's Flyers back up to 3rd. It was to be these three teams that dominated the top positions for the rest of the race but with Club 100/1 sitting in 4th.
3 hours and finish: it is hard to explain just how close this finish was and it was Pacha London who had to make another driver change or be penalised for not doing so with just 1 lap to go! They did make it and took the chequered flag by just 3 seconds from Arbuthnot Latham, with the ladies team, Fiona's Flyers, just 6 seconds behind them. Now that was close!!!

The raffle draw had taken place at 3 pm with Johnny's niece and nephew drawing the winning tickets. Prizes ranged from a signed Bridgestone cap from Jenson Button to trackdays in a Westfield sportscar - lucky for the winners.

Podium presentation time and a call for Johnny signalled the climax of the day. The Raceway looked splendid with its illuminated barriers. Also splendid were the glass trophies uniquely engraved with the event name and date - again I mention the last at this venue. No doubt these will one day be a collector's item!

Sadly we will be one short because as Johnny was presenting one to Helen Gardiner gravity somehow got the better of it and it smashed into a thousand pieces as it came into contact with The Raceway tarmac! As you can no doubt guess that little episode is available to view on YouTube!

Happily the rest were duly presented with one more surprise in store. I had forgotten to mention to our commentator extraordinaire, Peter Rankin, that we had a trophy for the fastest lap of the race. Who was to be the recipient with such a list of drivers present? That team name cropped up again - Fiona's Flyers - and Helen Gardiner was to hold the lap record that will surely not be beaten before the close of this most wonderful circuit.

We had two more things left for the day - a trackside auction of a few major items and to get to the bar for a pint!!!

The auction was nearly as spellbinding as the race, as John Millroy (Ollie's father) and Ian Percival of Team Forum battled it out for the winning bid for a wheel and tyre from the Williams F1 car of none other than Jacques Villeneuve. The hammer went down at [a substantial sum] with Ian the winner. My thanks go to Paul Osborn of Cars International in Kensington for donating this to the event.

Other items on offer were two Permagard car treatments, a picture signed by cricket legend Gary Sobers, a fantastic print of Johnny in a Benetton and three lots of hospitality at the Monaco-kool suite at Silverstone during an F1 test day.

Well I feel that everyone had a great day as always at Johnny's Annual Karting Challenge, with maybe just a tinge of sadness (understatement I think!) for those teams who didn't quite make the podium. There's always next year, of course, when we will return to The Raceway Docklands with, I'm sure, new ideas for the circuit and new ideas for Johnny's day too. Watch this space…

All in all, the event raised about £20,000 for The Warwickshire and Northamptonshire Air Ambulance. My thanks go to everyone who has helped in making The Johnny Herbert Karting Challenge the success it has become.

Roy Craig

Other stuff...

David Cunliffe's photo album of the karting.

Lou Massara's photo album of the karting.

Johnny Herbert's Smashing Trophy - a video of the moment that the trophy for 3rd place was dropped. Whose fault was it? You decide...