Le Jog

Billed as the toughest endurance motoring event in Europe, Le Jog has pre-1991 classic cars making their way from Land’s End to John O' Groats, from the very bottom to the very top of the United Kingdom. Le Jog is a clever acronym for Land’s End to John O Groats. It’s billed as a ‘reliability trial’ because it’s as much a test on the car as it is a test on the driver and co-driver.

That’s Land’s End to John O’ Groats in 4 days. Last weekend Kate did the equivalent distance in just 24 hours, and it was as much a test on Buckmore Park’s brand new Sodi karts as it was a test on all the drivers. There were 6 drivers in the El Kartel team that Kate was part of. And of course, it wasn’t Le Jog, it was the famous and renowned Buckmore Park 24 hour endurance race. The BPTFHER. Okay, not quite as clever as LEJOG.

Kate’s team drove a staggering 1,651 kilometres in the 24 hours of the race. There were two mandatory 9 minute mechanical stops, when Buckmore’s extended team of mechanics changed the front tyres (rears as well would’ve been nice!), and adjusted and lubed the chain. Of course they checked the general well-being of the karts too.

I’m always amazed that Buckmore Park owners do this. Completely renew their fleet of Sodi RT10 karts, and then completely trash them a week later. I must admit, the karts looked nice at the start of the race. They still looked nice by the end of the race, but a lot of them were making strange sounds. “Exhaust has gone”, “chain’s too loose”. Kate reeled off her diagnostic list as we watched and listened to the karts limping in at the end of the race.

Well how did it go? They came 4th in class. Not bad. All drivers really pushed themselves, but they were all noticeably slower for the second sessions when they were battling with lack of sleep and a kart that was no longer at its best. Just three black flags – a couple for racing under a yellow flag, and one for track limits. So, lots of clean driving.

When Kate did the race last year, she was really struggling in the second session. This year though, she was surprisingly fresh when she came off the track after the second session. A lot of that is thanks to her university coach pushing her in the gym (as part of her sports scholarship).

Like all big endurance races (and it was also the weekend of the London marathon), there’s always a ‘never again’ feeling at the end. But, a day later, and Kate’s already planning to pull together a team for next year – an all female team!

A Global Lights GT2 - Kate will be driving this at Shennington

No jogging for Kate though. She’s testing at Brands Hatch on the Monday after the BPTFHER, UKC Round 2 at Kimbolton 8-9 May, and testing at Snetterton in a GT2 on 12 May.