The big event of June was a new venture for the club – a karting day at Shenington race track. Eight teams plus their supporters and hangers on met at the north Oxfordshire circuit on a sultry Saturday afternoon to battle it out on the 1000m circuit and after a brief practice to learn the track, we began a 90 minute endurance race in the twin-engined karts.

A confident RO with the 'Pocket Rocket'

If the experience taught me anything it was that I’m too heavy to be competitive at this sport, though the lap times posted by all were very consistent and there was only a handful of laps between all the teams at the chequered flag. Congratulations are in order to our winners, who were presented with medals and got to stand proudly on a rostrum, and also to the all-female team who managed to break or crash three karts during the afternoon’s entertainment.

The 'author' tries his hand at 'drifting'

After the presentations and some studying of the print-outs we drove (very carefully) the short distance to the home of our RO, Mike, who was rounding off a fine day by hosting an evening barbecue. As we hungrily gobbled burgers, ribs and sausages, the day’s racing was discussed at length, and the winning team even opened bottle of bubbly to celebrate.

The awards ceremony

Our next event is scheduled to be a less energetic but no less enjoyable evening at the Battle Proms at Blenheim. Hopefully the weather will once again be kind to us as we picnic in the beautiful grounds of this fine country house with accompaniment of a concert, a cavalry display and a large amount of cannon fire.