The Craziest Fortnight Of My Life (Week 1)

Saturday, May 29th, 2021. The Last Blog I uploaded. No ramble, into the blog.

Saturday, May 29th, 2021

The 29th Started off with me doing my first race since early April (before plodding off to Uni)....unfortunately this went...as well as one can expect with no practice at COTA. Terribly. I also met a backmarker which was...interesting.

I rarely meet Kabort drivers on the track (me doing so few races, and the sprint GT3 Challenge) so when myself and JP Smith were in the same server, it was a nice opportunity to catch up and prove to myself that I wasn't Kabort's Worst Driver - but as Sod's Law States: Anything that can go wrong, will.

Yes - I may have lost it/control, but Mr Backmarker definitely didn't help matters or recovery from my mistake (going into the corner too hot).

The 29th - 30th was also a massive weekend for racing: an iRacing 24 Hour Race (No Kabort Entries), Round 1 of the ISRC at Road America (12 Hours) and an Extreme E race/rally/rallycross event in Senegal next to the Ocean (the Ocean Xprix) The Kabort Crew would qualify in 7th (In Class) for Road America, before shuffling up to the Top 5 an hour in, but would end up with a DNF. ~ Whilst everyone else was on track, I was elsewhere - Spending my time on a special little date with Annie, which she said to arrive for 7:30pm - 8pm.

At 7:50pm, I arrived - coincidentally at the same time as the Food Delivery Man - which was a little interesting considering I was just standing there not really knowing what to do - but anyways, we worked it out and I gave Annie the flowers I bought whilst getting fuel.

Except from to wear jeans, I really was in the dark as to what to expect, but oh boy was I in for one hell of a surprise!

You know your girl is a keeper when she spends 2 hours and £200 on setting up a romantic evening for you both!

Following this, we each had a magnum ice-cream, before lying next to each-other (in the bubble) and just staring into one another's eyes, talking about life ahead.

It eventually got a little cool, so we bought some of the stuff (from within the bubble) inside (the house) before watching an episode of Riverdale and binge-watching Glee. It was about 4am by the time I set off back home - it went spectacularly well and one hell of a surprise (and I'll admit, I'm glad I missed/failed the Stay:Up Charity event!)

30/05/2021

The 30th marked the exact day in 2019 that I created Kabort Motorsport. No, it wasn't called Kabort in the beginning, (for the 8 days) but the server was created and a small handful drivers from RSR Esports joined along in addition to Tim who, I met at AOD Racing. From here? The rest is history!

Whilst the Kabort drivers were busy with the NEC (Nurburgring Endurance Championship), I was busy down on Bournemouth Beach with a friend and her baby - yes, it may have been packed, but we found a little open area with a little space to sit down and enjoy the nice weather.

After seeing if the baby liked the Atlantic Ocean (she didn't) as well as making a miniature sand/rocky sand rowing boat, castle and "other" shapes, we went and had a lovely meal at the harvester - myself trying something new on the menu!

A total shock not having chicken nuggets or fish and chips! I had "Bird, Surf and Terf" which was a dish of chicken (bird), Scampi (Surf) and Beef (Terf) which I enjoyed greatly.

For desert I had a chocolate fudge cake (DELISHHHH) whilst she had an icecream/Sundae.

We'd finish up by going to a nice(ish) scenic carpark before we headed home - during which I overtook a Mercedes AMG GT. Big up Kiara. (yes, I know it was doing less than 70, but let me have my moment!)

During today, the Legends League I participate in also headed to Lime Rock Park (which I missed), but it was well worth missing it!

31/05/2021

1 Year. 365 Days. 52 Weeks. Almost 9 Thousand Hours.

Me and Annie first started messaging each other on this day in 2020 - Evie put us into contact, and since then the rest has been history. Rocky history, yes, but history nevertheless and something to tell my - existent or not - future child/ren.

The day started...well...with me being sick (self inflicted, I should have had breakfast instead of trying to subdue hunger by downing 3 Rowntree Randoms) - but no matter, after dealing with Esher's simply abhorrent parking layout (Smartcars only it seems) we had a very lovely meal and I only left one slice left of what seemed a very large Pizza - but I managed.

We also had a very good seat located next to a window where she could watch the sunset and I could watch the cars at a junction - a convertible AMG GT being one of the highlights to go through said junction.

During this, I was also given a lovely card handwritten by Annie.

1/06/2021

Another month rolls by and June introduces herself.

Tuesday was insanely busy - and fairly messy.

After helping a friend's sister out with collecting a paddling pool (and a few other errands), I was on the road once again to see Evie.

We would head down to Bournemouth (obviously having McDonalds first) only find out that Bournemouth Beach was rather busy (although I found a spot or two which were unoccupied, but having not even set foot on the sand, we'd set off again, this time slightly West, to the very end of Bournemouth Beach in Sandbanks...but it wasn't this side we were interested in...it was the side facing Poole Harbour that made us stay.

Quiet, idyllic and a main road away from the screaming chaos that was the beach.

We'd eventually set off back home after spending a little bit of time at South Sands. It was definitely worth the drive though.

I'll admit now though, in the beginning I was quite bummed off, especially as Evie was pretty darn excited/enthusiastic about going to (in her words): Bloody Bournemouth - my optimism about finding a spot which wasn't too busy..I guess was just too prominent. But I am glad she didn't make us go on the beach otherwise I would have never thought about taking her to Sandbanks!

2/06/2021

Onward from here, I'd go up to Harlow (via a slight detour to pick up a car-seat since my friend's baby had a growth spurt ( :p)) - I'd stay overnight due to big plans the following day!

The 2nd June was also my Grandmother's 90th Birthday - however COVID cancelled plans to see her (her being in Germany and travel being a nightmare at the moment)

3/06/2021

The 3rd June started Brighton Early (yes, I did just say that) - we went to Brighton to meet a relative of my friend and go to spoons and have a tour of the pier, me turning out to be the Manny (Male Nanny) for a couple of hours, which I was OK with as the baby slept the entire time - and I only was interested in the one sole water-ride on the pier which we finished the day by going on. Oh, and the arcade, but don't get me started on getting kids into gambling...that's for a a whole new blog!

As we returned to the car, I saw a nice Ferrari California (hard-top) and caught a glimpse of a beautiful sunset over Brighton Beach.

It was rather late by the time we arrived back in Harlow and having driven all the way from Harlow to Brighton and back - I just sat watching whatever was on and was consumed...

4/06/2021

I woke up on the very couch I fell asleep on - albeit everyone being gone. Evie said she wanted to see Amelia and before I knew it, I was in Kiara, heading to Surrey - of course, since Evie was my mate, I instantly agreed - especially as my friend in Harlow and Evie both got on - it was an agreement by all of us.

After picking Evie up and her quieted the baby with some YouTube in the back we headed to mine (via Dominoes of course) - only half-way realising my mum was in Jersey- but thought my dad was still interested in seeing the baby. Turns out my mum was actually on the flight home from Jersey so got to see the baby after my dad picked her up from the airport and dropped her off back home - what a massive surprise to come home expecting a quiet house and WHOOMPF your son, two of his mates and a baby are already there!

It was so un-dyspraxic the timing of my arrival and my dad going off to the airport to pick up my mum!

My passport also arrived which bought me a step closer to sorting the Netherlands with a different friend of mine.

To finish of the day, we went to my local Spoons with a fellow college mate of mine and my friends with Evie. (In total: me, my friend, her baby, our friend from college and Evie)

Once again, it got rather late and I stayed the night...again.

5/06/2021:

The 5th was another hugely adventurous day.

On this day, we went to Littlehampton to see my friend's brother, eat some fish and chips (or just chips) and an area where they filmed a scene out of The Inbetweeners which was quite cool!

In the land of motorsport, it was all kicking off: - The Baku Grand Prix topped my priorities - ISRC's iRacing Le Mans 24 Hours topped Kabort's and went full steam ahead, (I didn't have a proper drive except from an empty LMP2 seat I was considering taking before finding out I'd be staying in Harlow a little longer) Kabort fielding no GTE entries.

- It was the Road America EES (European Endurance Series) - the final race of the season, S2, 2021.

- It was also the Nurburgring 24 Hours featuring a Dacia Logan and an Opel Manta!

The Nurburgring 24 Hours was the shortest on record - the leader only completing 59 laps in 10 hours of Green (and yellow) flag racing - this being hugely down to poor weather conditions and fog.

ISRC'S Le Mans 24 Hours probably went just as well for our one and only entry as they ended up retiring after a few unplanned meetings with the barrier...

Road America EES went much, much better (for everyone) - the PINK Kabort car of the Dangerous Duo Dutchmen of Aston Engelmeers and Niels Ykema slapped their Porsche 911 GTE on the GTE Podium of the Top Split! Incredible Stuff!

The Baku Grand Prix was absolutely thrilling with - now I'm not going to spoil anything - Hamilton and Verstappen scoring exactly the same amount of points -making it the third closest season after 6 races in a very, very long time!

It wasn't just up front where the action was - all over the place, up and down the field there was action!

We'd end the day by returning to Harlow, dropping everyone off and retiring to the place I had stayed for 4 nights now, including the night I was just about to stay over (5th - 6th June)

6/06/2021

Waking up on the 6th of June I had no idea of the day's events that were about to unfold. It was just another ordinary Sunday.

After 4 days of travelling - Kiaras tank was absolutely drained - and I was lucky to make it to a service station - only having 96KM (59 Miles) of fuel left before pulling into a petrol station - The yellow fuel light making an appearance.

On a full tank, Kiara can make it hundreds of miles - with the fuel I had left - I could hardly take a trip from the centre of London to Brighton (not including the reserve, if it exists).

Currently (14/06/2021) she's got about 239 miles left in her - and that's with a quarter of a tank of fuel!

The day's events would continue when Evie told me that her boyfriend's car broke down on the way back to hers. Being the OCUD (On Call Uber Driver), I offered my services to drive her back to her house - after finishing the well-done steak I had, me, my friend and her baby headed off in that direction...

~

Originally I thought I was riding over the rumble-strips or the cats-eyes on the side of the motorway/lane - but I realised I was dead centre and there was nothing I was running over - I told my friend that there was some serious vibrations coming from the rear-left and pulled over promptly - the passenger-rear tyre was fine, she poked her head around the other side....and said I had a flat.

I punched the steering wheel and said a few choice words. Looking back now, I should have got TF out of the car immediately - but I was quite panicked and didn't quite know what to do - I didn't have my mum's number (everything is on FB nowadays) and I had used up all my 4G (probably leaving it on overnight)

I scrolled through my contacts and realised the only useful contact I had was William Burfield - the only person I knew who'd get his hands dirty.

We were both stressed and a bit of a state - whilst I called Will to find out WTF to do, my friend first called the AA, then Nationwide - eventually sorting out a recovery truck to come pick us up - Will was a little "suspicious" of this, but fortunately, the truck did come along - load Kiara and us up and drive us back to Harlow.

That evening, the people we were staying with had a look at the tyre, found the culprit and we all retired to bed...

And for those wondering, Evie did manage to get home thanks to her mum.

07/06/2021

My alarm woke me early on Monday morning - a man in a mobile-fitting van was on his way between 9am and 1pm.

After replacing the first, he mentioned the front two were also mentioned to be "on the way out" - so ended up changing three of the four tyres - the right rear seeming to be alright...and to think that both the 4th and 7th of June were my free-days!

To test out the tyres, we had a simple trip to pick up a friend of my friend, had McDonalds and then dropped them off before heading back to the place I knew so well.

08/06/2021

After another day of bumbling around Harlow, doing odd jobs here and there, I eventually at 8-9pm I set off back home.

Remembering I had someone else's mask in my car, I quickly dropped by his to drop it off (totally not looking suspicious in the process - being late at night not helping a bit) before arriving at my humble abode late at night.

The 8th was also the beginning of Week 13 once again. Yup. That's right. Time has flown by SO quickly that week 13 stood on my doorstep and slapped me in the face. The previous-most Week 13, in March felt like yesterday!

Since it was late and all the juicy updates came out the following day (Wednesday), I decided to call it quits and head to bed without a race. It was SO good to be back in my own bed!

Also on this day, I recieved all the juicy details about the UWRacing event on the coming saturday (when to meet, who to call etc.)

This Blog is already very, very long - so, I am going to split it into two weeks - the first from Sunday 29th to Tuesday 8th, (The Week or so I was out with my friend) and the second from Wednesday 9th to Monday 14th (being back home)

See you in the Next Week!