IN THIS ISSUE: • We Wrap up Our First Pre-Season Practice at QR • We Speak to Jordie Ford in This Month’S Driver Profile
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IN THIS ISSUE: • We wrap up our first pre-season practice at QR • We speak to Jordie Ford in this month’s Driver Profile. 2021 is gathering momentum the first practice day for the year happened at Queensland Raceway on the 7th of February see below all the goss! The club and 125GB are going through a growth period with 3 more new members joining with KZ2 chassis one is a returning member in Paul Davies who dominated the 125GB class 2012/3 in his Stockman Honda will be fantastic to see Paul back on track. The club currently has about 60 members with about 30 of those being drivers! Now to get all 30 of them on track at once. Another new member in 2021 this time jumping in the deep end buying a 250 International is Ewen Burg who was introduced to the club via David Dyson welcome to the club Ewen and can’t wait to see that PVP out on track and it scaring the s$#t out of you haha. If you’re reading this and would like to get involved then contact us via Facebook/Instgram or via email [email protected] we’d love to get you involved and have some of the most fun you’ll ever have on 4 wheels. Our Driver profile this month is the legend himself and someone who came and took the world of Superkarting by Storm in 2015 and following years including winning the 2019 Euorpean Mono Championship and British GP the one the only Jordan aka Jordie Ford. Big thanks to Jordie for taking the time out to chat to the Qld Club. The club is planning a social night in early July probably a trivia night so keep that date free in your calendar with more details to come! Enjoy the latest edition of the Queensland Superkart Club Newsletter and if you have any feedback or article suggestions let us know, look forward to hearing from you! The first practice day of the year and it was hot hot hot! Big news was we had 3 new potential members having their first go in a Superkart. Big thanks to Drene/Chryss Jamieson and Ray Raaymakers for getting everyone and the karts to the track. They absolutely loved it and 2 out of the 3 at time of writing have joined the club. Ric Gale one of the new members had the following to say after his first experience in a Superkart. ‘Qld Superkarts, what a privilege it was today to have been given the opportunity to participate in todays practice day with a truly fantastic club full of people that are extremely enthusiastic about their sport and so willing to openly share their knowledge and experience. A huge thank you to the club and all involved today especially to Ray and Drene for all the help and getting me into an amazing Superkart and around the track today. With a couple of minor technical issues throughout the day it was refreshing to see the assistance and effort offered and given from all the members to ensure everyone’s kart got out on the track. What a fantastic sport, a brilliant club, really looking forward to the lakeside round’ Greg Hack came to drive a 85cc Gearbox kart but circumstances saw him jump into the 125 Stockman Honda and took to it like a duck to water cranking out a 1:26 in the third session which was very impressive! He had the following to say: I think Ric has said it perfectly, It certainly was a privilege to be handed a kart and let loose!!! It was my first time jumping into anything other than a hire kart and it was definitely an experience!! We met a few of the club members today, these guys aren't there because they have too nor looking to make a million bucks! The passion they have for the sport is clear and Drenes generosity is like none other!! A huge thank you to all involved today, specially Drene for loaning me a weapon of a kart (I'm hooked) and to Ray for kitting me out in his 14 year olds gear Already counting days for the next race!! And have the tough decision of what kart to get Russell Jamieson was there with his 250 Inter fresh off the Stockman Dyno where I hear some good numbers were made track testing the new airbox/pipe setup. 3 solid sessions saw Russ end the day happy with the engine setup and fine-tuned the chassis in preparation for Round 1 of the SKA championship in April at the Bend can he bring the Title back to QLD ? Brian Stockman made the drive up from Tamworth to test a new driver XXXX in the famous #43 VM Powered Stockman. Early sessions saw them getting to grip on chassis setup with kart looking very nervous and twitchy but after the third session XXX was looking much more dialled in and coming to grips with the kart. Chryss Jamieson had a different engine setup to try but not sure whether it was the heat or other factors but the engine wasn’t happy and saw Chryss chasing his tail for most of the morning. Hopefully Chryss will have it sorted before Round 1 in March. David Dyson was looking to dip his toes into a 125GB but some technical issues saw him jump in one of Drene’s 85cc Gearbox karts and had a ball although he said it wasn’t a lot different to the Rotax other than you had to change gear haha. Maybe later in the year we’ll see David get into the 125GB kart and shake up the established pecking order. The next practice day is the 6th or March at Lakeside Park Raceway with plenty of members keen for that! Spectators are free if you’re looking for something to do that weekend come and check us out! He took the Superkart world by storm is 2015 absolutely smashing the 250 National lap record at Eastern Creek and has since gone on too much bigger and better things including taking on the world’s best in Europe. We catch up with Jordie Ford and get his side of his exploits and plans into the future. Queensland Superkart Club: How/When did you get into Karting? First of all thanks so much for the opportunity to join in on your club news and profiles! I started racing Sprint karts in Melbourne when I was 7 but had luckily watched my Dad race since I was born. It didn’t seem to help though.... I completed about 300m until I made a wrong turn too soon, cut the track and had other karts coming head on. It was almost game over before it even started. Queensland Superkart Club: How did you find out about Superkarts? I’d grown up with the Williams family and was always aware of Superkarts, especially as other friends got involved in the mid 2000’s, but it wasn’t until 2014 when Scott Williams threw me in a 250 National and I was sucked into the Superkart World. From there the Williams Racing Team have given me every opportunity to meet new people, travel and race all around the world! Queensland Superkart Club: What class have you enjoyed driving the most? It is tough, I’ve enjoyed success in all the gearbox classes, but nothing beats the raw speed and knife edge limits you feel driving a 250 International Kart. You barely feel in control at times, as if the kart is driving you. You simply have to just hold on! The close racing of 125 open is appealing and fun, but you can’t aspire to race a better vehicle than the Twin. Queensland Superkart Club: What was it like taking on the best in the world over in Europe? Close, calculative and aggressive. I was taken back at first about how aggressive the drivers are in Europe, but they don’t crash. The respect between drivers is huge and it is so fast. We were surprised we were so competitive but when you have a strong and established team it makes the driving and setup so much easier Queensland Superkart Club: How are you enjoying being a dad? and is she a next generation racer in the making? Haha I’m not sure if she is a racer yet, but I was sure to make her listen to plenty of racing when she was in Mum’s belly! Being a Dad is the best thing yet, it’s just as exciting to get home each day than it is to race. Whether she races or not, I’m sure she will chase speed as her Mum is an impressive water-skier too. Queensland Superkart Club: What are your plans for 2021 and beyond? It’s hard to tell what future plans will be with a family, I’d love to say that I’ll be chief mechanic for the little one Some day, but for myself it will definitely be in karts and Superkarts. There’s nothing more pure, out of control scary and intimidatingly fun than the 250 Twin, so I wouldn’t ever move out of Superkarts. This year we hope to race the National Festival of Superkarts at Phillip Island but it is hard with Covid to make any other plans at this stage. Queensland Superkart Club: What would you like to see happen in the world of Superkarting to help promote the sport? I envy the golden days, the 80s and 90s when we had 60+ grids in 250cc and attention at large events; I wish I were there.