Lloyd Goes The Distance
press release
Lloyd de Boltz-Miller set a new World Record for driving a kart solo for twenty four hours. The 25-year old broke South African Myk Prescott’s benchmark distance of 1,152.54km at 7:36am with three hours remaining on the clock. By 10:37am (1 October), a full twenty four hours after he started out, Lloyd had eclipsed Prescott’s 2008 achievement and established a new record distance of 1,289.12km (801.38 miles).
“I feel fine. Right as rain,” he said remarkably after his gruelling drive to raise money and awareness for the Wings for Life charity. “In the last stint I went hell for leather to make sure that the record stays with me for as long as possible.”
pic by Chris Walker, kartpix.net
The challenge had got underway in near perfect conditions at the renowned Whilton Mill circuit near Daventry, Northamptonshire (30 September), although rain had been forecast to fall from 7am the following morning. However, just before 2am, droplets of water began to spot on Lloyd’s helmet visor and quickly turned into persistent, heavy rain.
Shortly after he pitted to take on board fresh fuel and change his slicks in favour of wet tyres, Lloyd’s kart stopped on the circuit. He was pushed back to the paddock and some frantic work by AMT Racing’s Ashley Todd and Alan McKay traced the problem to water in the fuel tank. This was quickly changed, along with the engine’s carburettor and the fuel itself, following a dash over to nearby Silverstone to collect fresh petrol from Sunoco, Lloyd's fuel partner.
“It was a hard night,” said John Devlin, the event’s Chief Engineer and Strategist. “The rain came five hours sooner than forecast. That put us all under a little pressure and at a time when he was feeling quite fatigued. Thankfully, he’d done enough in the first part to allow the lap times to drop by a couple of extra seconds and we just got him to modify his (racing) lines, so he could withstand the physical punishment of driving in the wet.”
pic by Chris Walker, kartpix.net
Ironically, it was heavy rain that had put-paid to Lloyd’s attempt last summer, he observed: “This time I was better prepared. I have never had an engine like the one Ogden Motorsport had prepared for me and the Tony Kart EVR chassis (courtesy of Strawberry Racing) was phenomenal. The equipment definitely played a key part in coping with the conditions, and of course I had brilliant back up from a dedicated team of volunteer helpers and event partners.”
He added, “Last year I didn’t break the big one but established British and European records. Now, I’ve broken all three and will use this success to spur me on for my next big challenge, to drive a race-prepared Porsche Carrera Cup car flat-out for 24 Hours round a Middle Eastern circuit – We’ll let you know which one soon!”
