Marcus Hudson uses EBC’s Green kart pads as he competes in this British Championship class
EBC Brakes’ EBC’s Green kart pads and BF005.1 silicone fluid is the brake setup of choice for Marcus Hudson and his fiery ABKC 250cc National kart.
Hudson is currently competing in the Northern Karting Federation Super 4 British Championship for another year, so far achieving impressive results to see him sitting highly in the standings.
The latest round took the roadshow to Oxfordshire’s Shenington Kart Racing Club, where Hudson experiences some thrills and spills across the weekend, as you can read in his own words below.
Heat 1 (Grid: 2nd)
“Off the line I didn’t make a good start from the front row, but also the 3rd-place driver didn’t either, so I didn’t lose a position luckily.
“At the beginning of the race, the kart was going well, but mid-way through developed some hop coming out of Bruno, this hindered us and we dropped back to 5th and just managed to finish ahead of 6th place.
“After the race, we came to the conclusion that the tyres were too hot for the start. I did two burn outs to the grid like I have always, but with these new tyres (which have more grip) and the track temperature being a lot higher than we have experienced this season so far, the tyres gripped too much which caused the kart to bog down.”
Heat 2 (Grid: 13th)
“Made a better start and made up a position as we went through the Cafe Corner, and held it going through grandstand and down Stratford Straight.
“On Lap 3, there was a crash which cause damage to the tyre barrier, this brought out the Battenberg flag which means slow down and effectively the leader becoming a safety car.
“We had the Battenberg flag for three laps as the marshals repaired the tyre barrier. On the restart, we made up a position, moving us up to 11th, and with two laps to go one of the karts ahead of us made a mistake going off the circuit and I managed to get by him before he re-joined the circuit and just finished ahead of him finishing in 10th place.”
Heat 3 (Grid: 10th)
“On the first lap, the kart I was following was losing water and as we exited Bruno Chicane, the top radiator pipe blew off and coolant went all over the kart and myself.
“I took a tear-off so had clear vision but the coolant was over the pedals and boots so when I wanted to brake my foot was sliding off the brake pedal not allowing the correct pressure on the pedal. With this we finished in the same place as we started.”
Final
“I lined up in 9th for the final but was down to 13th in Lap 1. After the second lap, we had moved up two more positions to 11th, and on Lap 3, was on the back of 10th who was in a battle with 9th – it then became a three-way battle for 9th.
“For the next four laps, we were jostling for positions and going into Stratford Hairpin, they came together in the braking zone and one of them went off the circuit and it was then a two-kart battle for 9th. Due to the time stuck in the battle, 8th was too far ahead.
“I tried numerous times to dive into Stratford Hairpin, but just couldn’t make it stick. Also tried a few times around the outside going into the first corner but on one occasion he pushed me off the circuit there. I kept trying so he thought that’s where I was going to pass him but on the following lap, I dived up the inside of turn one and then pulled out seven seconds on him in the last three laps finishing in 9th”.
“We were happy with the weekend – not necessarily the results, but that we improved our lap times in every session on the Saturday and in the heats and final on the Sunday by getting the kart and myself better. We are sitting 5th in the standings heading into the next round at Three Sisters in Greater Manchester on June 23-24.”
