Last Sunday, I went to Teamsport Reading for my first academy session.   I also got to meet up with my girlfriend (Amy), who is already an advanced academy racer.     Amy decided to drop into the beginners group, so that she could join me on the same session.

I’m really pleased with how well the sessions went!   Firstly, everyone starts academy as a beginner, as the marshals and instructors need to start everyone at the same place, no matter how much experience they may already have!

It was a pretty calm beginners session but Amy and I had to overtake most of the field,  which can be frustrating at times but also, it's all good experience for my race craft.

After the session finished, I got my academy log book.   The instructors told me there was nothing to say to me and that I would be moved up into intermediate straight away which was a great confidence boost!

Second session saw Amy and I in the intermediate group and we could instantly tell the other drivers were more experienced.   Amy and I worked together throughout most of that session and I finished with a lap PB for that track at 31.774 and Amy got a 32.390.

A massive well done to Amy and I'm looking forward to more academy meets with her soon!

On Saturday the 18th May, I went to the MK Dons football stadium car park for my second 'Young Driver' lesson.       It was great fun and my instructor was really pleased with me.    I even managed to parallel park!

I've been visiting more of the local'ish Teamsport indoor karting tracks over the last few months.   So far this year, I've been to Coventry, Dunstable, Leicester & Reading.     Teamsport offer an academy membership that allows you to drive, race and improve your race craft in dedicated academy sessions under the tuition of their instructors.

We've just signed up for this membership and I'm really looking forward to racing with like minded drivers and progress into track championships and maybe even the British Indoor Karting Championship heats.

Sorry, this is a bit of a late blog post as I did this in March but I've had my first experience in driving a car!

I'm keen to progress from racing karts to cars and so we all thought it would be a great idea for me to get some basic experience of car control in a controlled learning environment before I try to start racing them.       It was a great lesson and I learnt a lot... It's not as easy as you think and yes, I did stall it a couple of times! 

I'm hoping to do a few more lessons in the near future!