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Burghfield Box Kart Bash 2018 – Macbeth Are Going Downhill, Not That Fast As It Turns Out!

July 25, 2018

For a local event organised by volunteers with actual day jobs, the Burghfield Box Kart Bash continues to be an amazing charity event for all the family. Macbeth, chartered insurance broker, were proud to play a small part in the day, by being a sponsor of the event and by entering a kart!! We’ll let you decide which part took the most effort!!

Macbeth operate in the world of insurance and financial services. We sit behind desks looking at screens all day long as independent chartered insurance brokers. Putting up shelves is a challenge, let alone getting them straight! So to commit to building and running a kart was a big thing for us! Fortunately, we have a small compliment of handy staff who were able to pull it all together. The chassis had a pedigree as it completed in last years bash. A little bit of a cheat, but metal work and welding skills are seriously limited! That said, some welding was required to get it road worthy. So we feel a little less of a cheat. We weren’t the only ones, with several other karts from last year under new ownership and taking on new designs.

So with the foundations sorted, we set about building out our kart for this charity event. Taking a somewhat go with the flow ‘creative’ approach, the shape was lending itself to a classic Le Mans racer. And one of the all time classics, in our opinion, is the Porsche 936/77, in Martini racing livery. Using up a bunch of left over building materials, the kart started to take shape. A lick of white paint all around really brought things together. Then to get the red and blue stripes on, what a mission that was!! No flashy printed wraps here, everything was painted on, freehand. Just like they did back in 1977…probably. Logos belonging to our kind sponsors were stuck to the kart using left over wallpaper paste.

Thanks to Field Seymour Parkes, Blue Cube Travel, RocSearch and Clarify for sponsoring the kart. Together we’ve managed to raise a total of £400 for the Alexander Devine Children’s Hospice Service charity. The Box Kart bash raised a total of £18,000, split between Guide Dogs for the Blind and Thames Valley Air Ambulance.

With the finishing touches applied, and retro helmet purchased, we were ready to roll, quite literally. With a good shove off the start line, Kart 17 by Macbeth, independent chartered insurance broker, was go. Through the chicane and water features, no problem. Gather some speed, clip the apex on the left hander, then line up for the notorious kicker. Suffered a little bit of damage but got over it with no major drama, unlike some of the karts!

We ended up mid table, with a best time of 1:40:35. Well done to the Mortimer Sausage Company for finishing first for the second year running! They are obviously onto to something.

Thanks once again to the Burghfield Santas and all the volunteers for making the Burghfield Box Kart Bash possible. It was a great family fun day all for a great charitable cause.