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15:00
Congratulations to the Crash Test Dummies who took the win by two laps. The Brain Research Trust will be the best part of £1000 to the good, plus the £300 or so pledged to Eurodragster.com. Thanks to everyone who pledged and has sent money.
The final finishing positions after three hours were:
Sharkman is now beavering away on today's photographs, so stay tuned and those will be available very shortly from the event index page.
That's the end of our coverage of the Santa Pod Racers Club/Eurodragster.com Charity Kart Challenge, thanks very much indeed for tuning in. Let's hear it again for the sponsors of this report: American Car Imports, Jeff and Belinda Bull, Paul Bryan, Andy Carter, Dave Alexander, Team Heaven and Hell, Cottingham Engineering, Dragsterworld.com, Jim Broome, Peter Knight, Yvonne Tramm, Andrew Mackenzie, Dave Cumbridge, Alan Currans, Draganbuild, Lesley and John Wright, Shelby Webster and Kirsty Spendlove, Kathy Taylor, and Dave Lee. Many thanks to you all.
Thanks for their help today to Darren Prentice, Roger and the staff of Whilton Mill, and Pat Talbot.
Our next live event coverage will be on 19th-20th March when we will be simultaneously covering the APIRA Test and Tune at Shakespeare County Raceway and the Peak Performance Day and Run What You Brung at Santa Pod Raceway. See you then!
14:30
Twenty five minutes to go and the top three remains as-was, but the first two are very close and it's going to go to the wire!
This event is going to become a regular fixture I think, a lot of people already talking about "next time". That's great to hear.
Biggest cheer of the day so far was for Andy Robinson who decided to give it a go, a cheer went up as he overtook another kart. Way to go, Gus!
H and C Racing have switched strategies. "We're letting the young 'uns go longer, us old gits can't last as long!", said Crunch.
Rick Cuthbert of Santa Pod Inmates is now drenched in fuel after the fuel tank cap came loose. "The kart has started to slide around!", he said.
14:00
One hour to go and it is still open, Crash Test Dummies have regained the lead after sorting out a transponder problem on their kart but there are still some stops to make and so the lead could be changing hands again.
13:25
At the halfway point we have a new name in the top three as Team Botch.com have moved up the standings. Refuelling is now open which is changing the standings every few seconds.
Darren Prentice, who organised this event, said that he was doing fine save for Santa Pod's David Lloyd-Jones running into him. "He put himself off, though, and I gave him the finger as I went past!", said Darren.
Rick Cuthbert of Santa Pod Inmates said that his team had a different strategy to the others. "Most teams put their fastest drivers out first - except us, I went first!", he said. "The first three were lapping me by the end of my first session. Then we put Andy out, he made up some places and Lloydy lost them all again! You have to fight the steering on some corners, but the karts are dead easy to fling around."
Kevo of Team Botch.com said that it is all going really well apart from his thirty-second penalty. "The karts are pretty easy to drive, nice and fast", he said. There isn't much grip out there! It's good fun though. It's freezing cold on your neck and throat out there".
New Eurodragster.com sponsor Andy Robinson has only been out once, during practice. "I'm too big and they haven't got enough horsepower!", he said.
Steve Harrington, who at time of writing is in the lead with Chris Isaacs, said that he and Chris are evenly matched. "It would be difficult to find four drivers so well-matched", he said. "As karts go these are like buses! They are heavy and fairly physical, you have to work at it."
Jim Usher of Farkham Hall said that he was glad to be driving and not crewing. "You've got to be fit, though!", he said. Jim added that team-mate Dave May might not have got the idea. "Dave thinks he's in a lawnmower!", said Jim.
The Round The Bend team suffered the misfortune of an engine failure in the early part of the race. "It's not one of ICE's engines, it went two laps then let go!", said Nick Davies.
12:45
Fifty minutes in and Isaacs Race Cars have taken the lead. We have had our first penalty, handed to Team Botch.com for speeding in the pit road!
Although not in the lead, Round The Bend Racing have taken the prize for the best self-catering with most of Tesco's in the back of Stephen and Pat Talbot's Silverado pick-up.
12:25
At half an hour the top three remains the same although the placings have changed:
12:10
Fifteen minutes into the three hour race, and the top three teams are:
11:50
The pace kart clears the start line and we're off!
11:45
Practice is now finished, with every driver having had a turn around the circuit with a minimum of four laps each. Lap times ranged from fifty two seconds to about a minute and ten seconds for an eight hundred and fifty metre lap. We had remarkably few spin-outs given that we have drag racers on the facility.
Right now the first drivers are being lined up behind the pace kart for a rolling start, then we are into the three-hour race.
Let's give you a run-down of our teams and drivers:
Team 1: Ruck Sack Racing. Charity: Cancer Research UK
Team 2: Santa Pod Inmates. Charity: Cancer Research UK
Team 3: Farkham Hall. Charity: NABD
Team 4: Isaacs Race Cars. Charity: St Francis Hospice
Team 5: TFZ Racing. Charity: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Team 6: Round The Bend Racing. Charities: Medical Action Research/St Luke's Cheshire Hospice
Team 7: Shakey Starters. Charity: The Lavenda Trust
Team 8: H and C Racing. Charity: The Tsunami Appeal
Team 9: Team Botch.com. Charity: Brad's Cancer Foundation
Team 10: UK Street Racers. Charity: Make A Wish Foundation
Team 11: Gus' Gofers. Charity: Save The Children
Team 12: Grumpy Old Men. Charity: Breast Cancer Research
Team 13: Crash Test Dummies. Charity: Brain Research Trust
11:00
The drivers have been briefed on safety and on the workings of the karts. We've now got a practice and qualifying session.
One interesting point which came out of the briefing was that each team must make nine stops for driver swaps; there will also be a half-hour refuelling slot seventy minutes into the three-hour race.
10:00
Good morning and welcome from a chilly but dry Whilton Mill for the Santa Pod Racers Club/Eurodragster.com Charity Kart Race. We're here to bring you all the action from the three-hour endurance kart race, it's already shaping up into a fun day and hopefully we will make a lot of money for charity.
On that subject we are very grateful indeed to those who have pledged money to sponsor this report to add to the charity total. Step forward for a big pat on the back: American Car Imports, Jeff and Belinda Bull, Paul Bryan, Andy Carter, Dave Alexander, Team Heaven and Hell, Cottingham Engineering, Dragsterworld.com, Jim Broome, Peter Knight, Yvonne Tramm, Andrew Mackenzie, Dave Cumbridge, Alan Currans, Draganbuild, Lesley and John Wright, Shelby Webster and Kirsty Spendlove, Kathy Taylor, and Dave Lee. Many thanks to you all.
We have thirteen teams in all with four drivers per team. Signing-on is currently underway; overalls, gloves and helmets are being handed out (interesting to see the really serious racers have brought their own safety equipment!) and the drivers are about to be briefed on safety and procedures. Stay tuned and we'll be back with another update very soon.