April 5 to 7, 2012 - KartSport NZ Sprint Championships, KartSport Hamilton

The trip to our first Nationals began on Wednesday afternoon. The trailer and kart was already in Rukuhia at Craig & Mel Tonkin's place. Thomas and I were tasked with getting the caravan to Raglan and getting it set up prior to the atrocious weather Jim Hickey had planned for us. The setup was complete at around 6:30pm and a trip to collect the trailer followed. All set for a day of practice, Thomas and I were first to sleep in the new caravan in Raglan on Wednesday night.

The weather was awesome for the next 3 days, which was a bit of a shame, as we are always more competitive in wet conditions. After a quick setup, we hit the track for some “tuning time”. The kart seemed fast, although we couldn’t benchmark ourselves against anyone as there were no posted results. We felt comfortable we had the kart right and confident we could achieve our objective of a top 15 finish? During the day, Michael Holland from Close Up came and interviewed Thomas, Barney and Robert for a segment on families who race karts. The interview aired on Friday night and was great publicity for KartSport NZ and our team. The phone was running hot after the programme, which made us all feel good that we had so many people supporting Thomas in his first NZ championships...at 8! Warm fuzzies all round! To view the Close Up interviews with Team Boniface Racing click here.

Friday was a good day, with Thomas posting some pretty good lap times, which placed him in a good position. The best time he achieved was 46.410, which was 2 tenths slower than his tuning run time. This was a good time, placing him 11th, however, even though we set the same time in Heat 2...the rest of the field found half a second more which then bumped us down to 17th on the grid for finals on Saturday. A bit disappointing, as we had plenty of speed and Thomas was driving really well. He didn’t seem to be overwhelmed by the occasion and was taking it all in his stride.

The finals day started well for Thomas. He was quick in the tuning run, and was about 12th fastest, so we grew in confidence and were looking forward to the heats. Thomas started well in both heats and managed to avoid a bit of carnage in H1, when Jackson Rooney nearly lost his head as a flying kart drove completely over top of him. Following the two heats, we found ourselves sitting at 15th on the grid for the Pre-Final. The kart looked sluggish, so we tried to sort out the lack of speed by changing gearing and tuning, with the help of a number of people (thanks to Murray Podjursky, Maurice Frost, Stu Park and Robbie Ngatoa). Even though Thomas drifted from 15th down to 20th, he still managed to set the 9th fastest time on the track at the start of the Pre-Final. The kart seemed to get slower and slower. This left us scratching our heads as to the sudden lack of power, and we assumed it was tuning? We started the Final (18 lap race) from grid 20 and were just hoping for a good finish. This was not to be as the kart was a pig and started making weird popping and fluttering noises. It was agonising to watch Thomas slip so far back during the race that he eventually got lapped by the front-runners. Thomas was very upset….a feeling shared by all the team members. After a fairly solid effort for two days, it come down to what we suspect was a major engine or ignition failure. We officially finished in 18th position, although we couldn’t help speculating on what “could have been”.

We collected our new engine from Jared Lawson and are looking forward to testing it out at Whakatane in two weeks time. Congratulations to Matthew Payne, the new 1NZ. These kids are a class act and NZ motorsport has some real talent developing in this feeder class!

April 21 & 22, 2012 - Round Two, Top Half Series - KartSport Eastern Bay of Plenty, Edgecumbe

After a really long drive to Kawerau on Friday night, we arrived at 10pm. Quick showers and into bed for a good nights rest. Had breakfast in the motel and drove to the Edgecumbe track for 9am. Thomas and Barney checked out the track while Robert prepped the kart and fitted our new engine, ”AJ”. Thomas was itching to get onto the track and keen to learn the tight and twisty Eastern Bay of Plenty circuit. The kart was pretty fast so we only experimented with minor set-up and gearing changes. After 5 runs, we were happy with everything and we were clearly fastest in session 5 which was awesome.

Thomas drew grids of 6, 13, 9 and 2. H1 saw him drive really well and get through to 5th. Initially he got up to 3rd, but a couple of minor driving errors meant he slipped a couple of places. A good run in H2 enabled him to get to 8th, although he got caught up in a pack of karts who couldn’t get past a slower driver. In H3 the traffic flowed a lot better and Thomas finished in 3rd place after another excellent drive. He backed this up with a 2nd in H4 after a brilliant battle with Joseph Terry from the EBoP club. The lead changed hands at least twice per lap, making for a thrilling race to watch. Both drivers were committed to win and Terry came out on top after Thomas left the “gate slightly open” and he wasn’t able to close it quick enough! This gave Thomas 143 points and put him in 3rd equal for the day with Hayden Knight from EBoP. His points tally put him on 4th place on the grid for the final. Another thrilling race ensued and the lead changed too many times to count. Thomas brought the kart home in 4th behind the 3 local drivers. “AJ” performed fantastically well, with some expert help from Murray Podjursky and Andrew Cranston in tuning the engine for the conditions, cheers guys! Thomas drove a brilliant series of races and got to grips with the EBoP track very quickly, which was impressive. He was fast enough (31.792s) in the final to lap the track faster than the existing track record...a feat eventually bettered by Sam Wright from EBoP who went on to set a new lap record of 31.466s. We are looking forward to another great weekend of karting at Waitara this coming weekend and seeing how much more speed we can squeeze out of “AJ”. Thomas has now moved from 10th to 4th equal for the Top Half Series with one round remaining.

March 17, 2012 - Stratford International Speedway meeting

The opportunity to drive brother Brett’s 44s superstock, following the sale of superstock 67s to Paul Ewing in Nelson, was too hard to turn down. After giving the car a once-over and changing a few things around, we took both cars to the track. I must admit to being a bit nervous heading out the gate, not having driven the car before (and not really being able to reach the pedals properly!) due to the fact it wasn’t my car. I started on grid 14 in H1 and managed to get through to 6th. I was really impressed with the power in the car, although the handling wasn’t as good as it could be. The car started from grid 7 in H2 and was going well until another driver decided I needed to eat some concrete wall in turn 2...still not sure why. The car suffered a broken Jacobs Ladder and bent RR rim during the contact with the wall (which made the car a handful to drive) but was able to carry on racing. A few more laps on in the race the opportunity to return the favour presented itself….so I took it! I kept the wood in and hit him “full noise” in turn 1. Unfortunately, I didn’t hit him in the ideal place with the front bumper and ended up putting us both into the concrete. It still felt good and even though I split the radiator and bent the front bumper around…..it left a big smile on my face. The damage was easily fixed and the car is ready to run again, so I might get another run in it, unless it sells before the next opportunity? Thanks to Brett and Sharin for the chance to try it out….it was nice to have a crack with some genuine horsepower.

March 24, 2012 - KartSport Taranaki March Twilight Club Day

The weather was atrocious for club day...true to the predictions from the weather men! Thomas had grid draws of 3, 2 and 1 (the racing was cut short due to weather and the evening setting in) and was keen to see how fast he could go in the rain. He drove well and came away with 3 wins from 3. In H1 Thomas was leading by a good margin, but gave us all heart failure by spinning around all by himself. Luckily he was fast enough to catch Zane Riddick and pass him for the win. Heat 2 was almost a repeat of H1, with Thomas turning it around and then having to catch and pass the field, which he did to take the win. He started on pole position for H3 and lead from start to finish. Despite the weather and the amount of cleaning to be done on the kart, we were rapt for Thomas to be on the top step of the podium. We are remaining positive for the Nationals in Hamilton at Easter.

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November 27, 2011 - KartSport Taranaki November Club Day

Time pressure to get to Supreme Kart Supplies and out to the track prevented us from spending any time with the new Kiwi Kart chassis. After some fairly rushed corner-weighing at home on some scales borrowed from Warren Riddick (cheers Warren!), we got the weight distribution about right and up to the minimum of 88kg. A trip to the track on Saturday proved a little pointless, as the wind was blowing about 40knots sideways, so we couldn’t get good feedback about the performance of the new kart. Following some help from Murray and Matt Podjursky in developing a “baseline” setup, we loaded up and went home.

The weather was fine, hot and calm for Sunday...so we were not quite sure what to expect? Thomas was pretty quick straight out of the trailer and would improve during the day. He drew grids 3-2-1-2-2 and started on 2 for the GP. As he got more used to the new chassis, we found the lap times dropping significantly. In H4, he almost pulled off a race win, albeit that Zane Riddick had more straight-line speed and pipped him into the sweeper to retake the lead on the last lap. We really need to find some more horsepower to help us win the drag-races that we lose down the straights. The best time of the day for Thomas was 33.094 which is only 0.081s outside his personal best. There is a lot more speed in the new chassis yet, so we are optimistic that Thomas will be in the 32 second bracket before too long? He finished 2nd for the day and 2nd in the GP, so he had a solid day. He was paired up with Scott Williams (Yamaha Lights) and they took overall honours in the “Best Pairs” part of the event, landing a huge box of chocolates each. The grin on Thomas’s face was hard to wipe off….even with cheeks full of chocolate!! Thanks also to Scott and Paul Williams.

Jessica had a reasonable day, with a couple of 3rd placings, a 4th and two 5ths. She is struggling with the 7.5kg of extra weight over the minimum of 117kg, so we may have to look at moving her to the Junior class in order to be a little more competitive. Jess battled hard in the GP, but could only manage 4th place. A really good effort by her, she is trying her best, but the weight penalty is starting to hurt the kart performance now. She is entered in the Goldstar Round 2 event at Taranaki on December 3 & 4 for another run in the Tony Kart. The team is hoping the new bodywork and graphics will be ready by this weekend in order to make the karts look nice and tidy.

December 3 & 4, 2011 - WPKA Goldstar 2011/12 Round 2 - KartSport Taranaki

This week has shaped up to be as busy as ever, with the awesome new graphics from Graphic Creation arriving on Friday night for the Kiwi Kart and the brand new bodywork for Jessica’s Tony Kart. These were fitted to the karts on Friday and Saturday morning just in time to get to the track for some practice and to show-off the new look! The track was dry, the weather was great and the karts and drivers looked brilliant. Thanks to Barney for sponsoring and collecting the bodywork in Auckland to make the team look a million dollars! The new ORG overalls arrived mid-week, so the drivers and karts are now looking fantastic.

Practice was good, with Thomas collecting a fresh “rub” on the front of his new bodywork….nice! Karts were good and Jessica in particular was keen to practice as long as she could. The predicted atrocious weather did not arrive, even though there was some rain on Sunday morning. The track was wet for the first two races, and then everyone was on slicks for the rest of the meeting. Thomas drew grids 9, 16, 8, 1 and 4 and started on 6 for the GP. The rain suited Thomas for the first two races and helped with the lack of horsepower. He finished 6, 6, 4, 6 & 6. This gave him 22 points overall and 6th for the event...a fantastic result. He drove really well and even with a lack of power, still managed to compete with the faster racers. The serious hunt for a quick engine is on!!! Well done Thomas, you did the team very proud with your result. It was great to see him on the podium delivering his speech. Special thanks to Barney for his help with the team. Donna baked him a cake to celebrate his 71st birthday and Pete Baylis announced to all at prize-giving that it was his birthday the previous day. He was completely surprised and overwhelmed. Cheers Barney….we are very grateful for all your assistance!

Jessica drew grids 4, 3, 10, 5, 10 and started on 10 for the GP. She battled all day with an extra 10kg over the other competitors and drove well. Had a DNF in Race 1 following a spin at the pits corner, then retired in Race 3 thinking her engine mount had fallen off...only to discover the mount she hit was already on the track and had fallen off Ryan Jury’s kart. A couple of solid drives followed and she ended with 34 points overall and 9th for the event. The pace was fairly fast and furious in the Junior Restricted class, and was dominated by the Palmerston North and Hawkes Bay drivers. A very pleasing weekend for the team, both drivers doing a great job. Thomas got his photo on page 17 of The Daily News on Tuesday following the event.

January 20, 2012 - Stratford International Speedway meeting

Robert finally got the 67s Superstock back in one piece and ready for competition. The engine seems to run sweet, albeit down about 150hp on everybody else due to the fact it is a standard engine (with 200,000km plus) from a Jap-imported Soarer (or something as naff!) that has been fitted to the car to get it “out there”. Over the past wee while, a new Walford bellhousing, rebuilt clutch, ZF gearbox (to replace the horrid Doug Nash) has been added and the re-engineered power steering has enabled the car to get back to getting dirty! Expectations of leading the field were not very high, but the “fun element” was the main priority. The car looks and sounds good and drives just as good as ever. It didn’t end up being the gutless wonder Robert had expected. In race 1, he started in 10th and ended up 8th. In race 2, he started in 2nd and ended up 3rd and in race 3, he started in 13th and ended up 9th. The field was reasonably strong, with the likes of Roydon Collingwood, Phil Ogle, Neville Nolly, Paul Johnson, Barry Podjursky, Tony “Bones” Zhender, Mike Kiser and other good racers there so Robert was very happy with the results. The next meeting is set for February 18, so Robert is hoping the rain stays away so he can go and have some more fun. Thanks to Thomas, Jacob, Hamish, Liam, Hannah and Zane for being the pit-crew...the car sparkled all night! Any sponsors reading this page that are keen to have their business promoted on the Superstock need to get in touch with Robert to secure their place somewhere on the car. Thanks to brother Brett and Sharin for their encouragement and help in getting the car back to the track, as well as Steve Boyde (Energy Hydraulics Ltd - Enzed) for the power steering bits and Paul Williams (Mercer Stainless) for his help with the “bling” and the fuel tank repairs.

January 28, 2012 - KartSport Taranaki Twilight January Club Day

With a couple of trips to the track over the Christmas break to try and get some more speed, and some testing with Jessica in the Junior Yamaha configuration...the team turned up to race at the twilight meeting hoping for success. However, due to an oversight with Jessica’s license not being upgraded for the Junior Yamaha class, she decided to run in the Junior Restricted class for the meeting. She drove excellent all day and put in some committed drives. Thomas also had a good day, but without the straight-line speed he lacks, he had to settle for second place all day. He is very keen to get to the front and stay there, especially with the club champs coming up on 26 February. He would love his name on the trophy this year! We will be spending every available minute out at the track practicing to find the elusive 0.1s we are looking for.

The track was dry and the weather was clear, but a bit windy. Robert was collared to run the pit gates for the day as a few officials did not show up as anticipated. Thanks to Barney for running the karts and to Donna for being an “apprentice flag marshal”. The team had a great day and looked fantastic. Thomas finished 2, 2, 2, 2 & 2. This gave him 8 points overall and 2nd for the day...a solid result. He put in some spirited drives and some excellent passing manoeuvres. Thomas also finished 2nd in the GP and set a new personal best lap time of 33.010s (the 32 second times are getting closer!).

Jessica drove hard against the Jury boys and ended up with 3, 3, 3, 3 & 3. She then came out in the GP and finished a very credible 2nd.

A very pleasing weekend, both drivers doing a great job and we’re all looking forward to the Club Champs to see how things end up.

February 9 to 12, 2012 - Club Champs, KartSport Canterbury

A decision was made to have our engine rebuilt and then take the kart to Christchurch and run Thomas in the club champs while down there. This would also allow some pre arranged one-on-one driver training with Matthew Hamilton. Robert drove to Christchurch with the kart in the car. It was a long drive and uneventful, while Thomas and Barney jumped on a plane and met him there. The kart was set up by Matthew Hamilton and the engine fitted on Friday. We headed to the tight and challenging Canterbury circuit. The track had suffered some damage from all the recent earthquakes and the facilities are starting to show their 50 year age. Matthew spent a lot of time going over the tricks required to be fast around the circuit. He left Thomas, Barney and Robert to run the engine in and get some practice on the track. Thomas seemed fast and the engine sounded great. We left the track and headed back to meet up with Matthew Hamilton to learn some more about how to race better. Thomas was in awe of the number of trophies and other accolades which adorned the workshop. A nice quiet night to get some sleep prior to practice day at the track was next up.

Another busy day of practice taught us some more tricks about how to be competitive for Sunday. Matthew was very patient with Thomas and excellent in his approach to teaching him how to go faster. Thomas was keen to listen and learn as much as he could so he can race better. A solid day of practice put us all in good spirits for the club champs the following day. We packed up and headed back to the motel to get some rest and to get organised.

The race day was fine and hot, so we were full of anticipation. The tuning run was good with Thomas showing good pace at 5th fastest out of the 9 karts...one of them Jacob Mitchell, the current SI champion. The 1st heat brought a 7th, behind Jayden Ransley and H2 saw Thomas finish in 6th. We made some changes to the chassis for H3 and Thomas ended in 6th again, so more tweaking was required. Heat 4 brought another 6th and the final produced a 7th to round out a good weekend down south. We loaded all the gear into the car on Sunday night and hit the sack, happy with all we had achieved and learned. Robert headed for Picton at 8am on Monday morning and returned to New Plymouth at around 8pm that night. Thomas and Barney flew back to Auckland and Thomas returned to New Plymouth by plane just prior to Robert. Thanks to Matthew Hamilton for his help and patience with our learning and for teaching Thomas so much. We look forward to heading back to Christchurch to race again if possible.

February 25 & 26, 2012 - KartSport Taranaki Club Champs

Following the poor showing at Manawatu last week, we decided to lease a top engine to try and secure the Cadet Club Championships. The engine duly arrived on Friday and was bolted on. A quick run to the track on Saturday proved that the engine was fast and that Thomas could be genuinely competitive. Jessica also tested well on Saturday, so the team was brimming with confidence for race-day. The predicted rubbish weather stayed away and the track looked fast. Thomas was chomping at the bit to test the speed of the new engine. Thomas won races 1 and 3, setting the fastest time of the field and the day in Heat 1. His new personal best now stands at 32.321s (only 0.4s off the track record) and a massive 0.7 seconds faster than his previous personal best...outstanding! He was unlucky to finish second in Heats 2 and 4 meaning Zane Riddick and Thomas were tied on 6 points heading into the final “winner-take-all” heat. Thomas lead the race from the start for 9 & 7/8 of the 10 laps and was looking great to take the win, but he got out-driven by Zane in an excellent clean move which cost Thomas the Club Champs with 3 corners to go!! Thomas was gutted, as was the team for him. To Zane’s credit he drove well and deserved the win, but we were gutted. A really tough lesson which taught Thomas a lot, but still really disappointing. The positive was that he can be genuinely competitive and the fast engine has been purchased and we take delivery of it after the NZ Sprint Champs in Hamilton over Easter this year.

Jessica tried her heart out all day and was constantly frustrated by the lack of ability of one of her fellow competitors, who caused a crash in every single heat. Jess could only manage to finish in 4th place but this didn’t reflect how hard she tried. From the next club-day on, she will be racing in the Junior Yamaha class to allow her to be more competitive. The kart sounds and looks good, her driving is improving each time she hits the track.

March 3 & 4, 2012 Thomas finishes 2nd at WPKA Goldstar 2011/12 Round 3 at KartSport Hawkes Bay!

Even with the poor weather scheduled for the weekend, Thomas and I left for Taupo on Friday night to stay with Darren “Chuck” and his wife Suzanne. The rain was horrendous all the way which made for a slow trip. Barney met us in Taupo and it was great to catch up with the Mansell's and see their cool new house. We left for Hawkes Bay the next morning, arriving at the track at around 11:30am. After getting the kart out and refitting the engine and new slicks, the heavens opened and the wind was blowing at over 100km/hr! We then decided to flag practice and felt it best to just turn up and drive next morning. A nice relaxing afternoon in Hawkes Bay (despite the howling weather!) followed, with dinner and a beer at the Angus Hotel watching the Crusaders get beaten by the Highlanders.

Sunday dawned clear but with a very strong head wind up the front straight at the track. We set the kart up and got ready for the tuning run. Our grid draws for the meeting were 8, 5, 9 and 14. Thomas drove an excellent race in H1, finishing in 3rd. He then backed that up with a 2nd in H2. The engine was showing great pace after a disappointing Manawatu round. H3 gave Thomas a 5th placing, after been slowed mid-race by some karts he had to battle to get by. Kaleb Ngatoa had set the pace to this point, winning the first 3 heats. Unfortunately, Kaleb got turned around in H4, and Thomas was quick enough to get from 14th to 3rd place….after a fantastic drive! This put him on pole position for the Final….his first ever genuine pole position. We knew we didn’t quite have the match of Kaleb, so we chose to sit behind him and get a tow around the track in the Final. Kaleb and Thomas drove away from the pack, with Thomas setting the fastest lap time of all the Cadets, finishing the race in 2nd right on Kaleb’s rear bumper. Thomas’s best time was 37.844s, 1.1s off the official lap record, which was great.

Unfortunately, Thomas was given grid 13 for the GP so had to work hard to get up front. Once again he set a new fastest lap of the race at 37.842s. He was slowed by some slower drivers, but still managed to get to 6th...another brilliant drive. To top off the weekend, the race officials awarded Thomas his ‘A’ rating which will allow him to compete at the NZ Sprint Championships in Hamilton over Easter. He was 2nd overall for the weekend and showed maturity and patience to get on the podium. He deserved his silver medal and won a spot prize of a $50 voucher from Right Karts in Auckland. We left the Bay fizzing in anticipation of a good chance to do well at the first round of the Top Half Series in Hamilton this weekend. 2012 Goldstar series results can be found here.

November 18, 2011 - New chassis for Thomas

After bending the chassis and weighing up the options of straightening it, Barney decided to purchase Thomas a brand new Kiwi Kart rolling chassis. Once again, his incredible generosity has allowed Thomas to take another step toward being at the front of the pack. Thomas is very fortunate to have been given a new chassis and now it is all assembled, we are itching to get it to the track for a practice this Saturday, prior to club day on Sunday 27 November. The new plastic is getting the signs applied as we speak by Graphic Creation in Auckland and should be ready for the Goldstar Round 2 event at Taranaki on December 3 & 4. Jessica is also getting the new livery applied to the new bodywork on her Tony Kart, so the team should be looking really sharp in the coming weeks. Now the hunt is on for a sponsor to assist with supporting the team going forward. Thanks again to Barney, for providing the new chassis and many hours of time and countless money he has spent on the two kids in the sport! Legend! Here are some photos of the new chassis with the old (for now!) bodywork on….and the driver!

March 10 & 11, 2012 - Round One, Top Half Series - KartSport Hamilton

Still excited about the results from last weekend at Hawkes Bay, the team converged in Hamilton on Friday night. The next day was Jessica’s 13th birthday, so the girls went shopping while the boys went racing! Not sure which ended up being cheaper….? The weather was OK and the practice sessions allowed us to get the most out of the chassis. Unfortunately, again we got average grid draws of 16, 21, 8 and 3. This fired Thomas up and he finished 8th in H1 following a good solid drive. However, a serious crash in the Clubsport 120 class meant we only completed one heat on day 1, so we packed up and went for an amazing meal at the Hogs Breath Cafe in Hamilton (wicked!) to help Jessica celebrate her 13th birthday in style! An early start on Sunday morning got us to the track and ready to go by 8am. In H2, Thomas couldn’t get around another driver for the majority of the race. Even though we were faster, Thomas could only manage to get to 16th. He got stuck behind the same person in H3, and his frustration at this resulted in a tangle which involved a “chat” to both boys from the Chief Steward. That was the end of the issue and Thomas retained his 6th position in H3. Robert made a poor judgement call at the start of H4 (weather was wet/dry/wet/dry) resulting in him going against his “gut feel” and removing the slicks and fitting the wets to the chassis on the dummy grid. After one lap had passed the sky cleared and track dried up completely!!! The entire field (apart from the 5 who had opted to stay on slicks) spent most of the race struggling for grip and skating around crashing into each other, Thomas suffering a bent tie-rod in the process. The karts on slicks were 2.5s per lap quicker, so simply drove away from everyone else! In essence, we squandered a front grid position that Thomas could have potentially converted into maximum points, ending up in 15th. The team didn’t feel too bad, as many others with more experience made the same mistake...it was just a real shame. This placed Thomas on G11 for the final and he managed to get through to 8th, meaning he finished 10th overall, out of 23 karts. A bit disappointing as he was probably about 4th or 5th fastest kart on the track, but the planets simply did not align for us?

Positive factors are that the engine is improving with every meeting, and is looking promising for the Nationals in Hamilton at Easter. Thomas should be fast enough to be genuinely competitive at Edgecumbe on 21/22 April for Round 2 of the Top Half series. His driving has improved at a great rate along with his ability to stay focussed. Taking opportunities and decision-making on the track is also improving with each meeting. His second overall in Hawkes Bay and attainment of his “A” license rating on 3 & 4 March has given him a huge confidence boost. We are really keen to now up the ante and get him to as many events in NZ as possible. The racing calendar is shaping up busy with a total of 25 meetings planned this year (that we know of!).

The next outing is Taranaki Club day on 24 March, which will be the final run for the engine prior to the Nationals, so we are hoping for a good result at home?

The 67s Superstock and trailer has been sold to Nelson, so there is an empty bay in the workshop which Robert is keen to fill...watch this space!!!