Archive for April, 2012

We told you recently of Jamiroquai front man Jay Kay’s debut outing in the Adrian Flux-sponsored pink Porsche 911, which was unfortunately cut short by an engine fire.

Here you can see driver Sarah Bennett-Baggs chatting to the racing rock star ahead of the race at Snetterton.

This was no run-of-the-mill company fun day out.

When a group of Adrian Flux employees took to the karting track at Red Lodge for the latest round of their in-house competition, they were joined by up-and-coming karting prodigy Jacques Morley, who warmed up nicely for the first round of his KF3 championship.

Add Formula 6 karting British champion Nick Rodgers to the mix, who works for and is sponsored by Flux along with Jacques, and you have some seriously quick competition.

Jacques, Nick and Damien (l to r)

In the race, Nick set the pace, closely followed by in-house championship Damien Cross, while Jacques struggled with a sluggish kart before changing to a smoother-running machine half-way through the 30-lap race.

Thereafter the teenager lapped a full second quicker than anyone else, just outside the lap record, and was a rapidly gaining third behind Nick and Damien at the line.

Jacques said it was “great to be able to go karting just for fun with no pressure, but I still wish I’d had that second kart from the start!”

The Flux karters

It proved the perfect warm-up for his first ever KF3 race, which took place this weekend and for which Jacques is seeded 15. After taking pole position in qualifying on Saturday, he finished between 4th and 8th in heats and the final, ending the weekend in 7th place in the British Championship.

Jamiroquai frontman Jay Kay was forced off the track at Snetterton on Saturday when the engine of his classic Porsche 911 caught fire.
The Grammy award-winning artist had teamed up with Sarah Bennett-Baggs in the Future Classics series, driving the distinctive pink Porsche sponsored by King’s Lynn-based insurance broker Adrian Flux.

Jay Kay and Sarah in the Porsche

But disaster struck two laps before the end of the 40-minute, two-driver race, when flames licked from the engine compartment with Kay at the wheel, forcing him to retire from his first race on the Snetterton 300 track. He was unhurt in the incident.
The main aim of the day, however, was for the singer-songwriter to collect another signature on the way to completing qualification for his National B racing licence.
“The plan was just to drive sensibly and bring it all home in one piece to get the signatures, but it had no power from the moment I got in it at the pit-stop,” he said.

In full flight

“Luckily I still got the signature as we had completed more than 10 laps of the race.”
Bennett-Baggs added: “We both had a great fun weekend, and Jay has impressed everyone with how he just rocked up and got on with it, new car, new circuit, no fuss and he drove brilliantly. He will be very welcome to race again.”
The pair qualified in 22nd place on the 42-car grid after a wet test day on the Friday in the 1978 Porsche’s first outing after a heavy start-line accident at Castle Combe in 2008.
After a good start, things started to unravel when the rain came and Bennett-Baggs had to contend with a windscreen wiper failure.
After 23 minutes, she handed over to the rockstar racer, who has a private collection of more than 30 cars, but a short circuit sparked an electrical fire, melting the inlet manifold and causing a loss of power before flames brought an early conclusion to the pair’s race.

The engine compartment

“Thankfully the car was not too badly damaged and will be back out for the next round at Brands Hatch,” said Bennett-Baggs.
Pictures: David Petts and Johnny Tipler

Learner drivers could save thousands of pounds on their insurance – and protect their parents’ no claims bonus at the same time – thanks to a new policy introduced by Adrian Flux.
Parents, family or friends adding a young driver to their own insurance will often be faced with crippling additional premiums, and run the risk of losing some or all of their no claims bonus in the event of a fault claim.
But Flux’s new scheme allows youngsters between 17 and 25 to take out their own comprehensive insurance on someone else’s car from less than £2 per day.
The cover can be taken out on a month-by-month basis, so learners only pay for the cover they need before passing their test.
Harry Dodds, 17, from Norfolk, was the first to take out the new cover. He is learning to drive in his father, Clive’s, VW Passat, and has taken out a three-month policy costing £175, a saving of £750 on an annual basis if he had simply been added to his father’s policy.
The Passat is currently insured with Flux at an annual premium of £450, but adding Harry as a named driver would push this up to £1,800.
“This policy is an absolute no-brainer for learner drivers,” said Mr Dodds senior. “It’s a win-win situation – it’s saving us a small fortune in premiums and if Harry were to have a minor bump then my no claims bonus is unaffected.”

And Harry added: “It will enable me to get in some valuable extra practice and hopefully I’ll be able to pass my test sooner, saving more money on lessons and insurance in the meantime.
“It’s the perfect policy for me at the moment.”
Gerry Bucke, general manager at Flux, said there was a clear need to help learner drivers get more driving experience without heavily penalising their parents, family or friends.
“Although young drivers have a higher accident rate overall, this doesn’t apply to learners who have to be accompanied while driving at all times,” he explained.
“But traditional insurance policies don’t take this into account, and therefore the premiums charged to add learners to existing policies are out of kilter with the actual risk.
“We hope this policy will address that and help more young people get that extra practice that will help them pass their test.”
How it works:

• The learner driver takes out a policy for either one, two or three months on a specified car owned and insured separately by a third party
• The cover must be comprehensive and for vehicles up to insurance group 30 valued at no more than £20,000
• Policyholders must have a UK provisional licence and the accompanying driver must be over 25
• Cover automatically stops when the policyholder passes their driving test
• All postcodes in the UK are eligible, split into just two rating areas, with premiums starting at £90 for one month’s cover
• Any claim will be settled on the learner driver’s insurance policy, and will not affect the no claims bonus of the vehicle owner’s insurance

Call 0800 369 8590 for a free quote and immediate cover.