All photos taken and edited by James Williams
Gearing up ready to race
BUKC is the British University Karting Championship, where university karting teams across the country come together and compete. There are three divisions: rookies, inters and mains. Unfortunately, rookies were cancelled this year so only our inters team for University of Gloucestershire got to compete.
After getting through the qualifiers at Whilton Mill just before Christmas, the first race of the season took place at Buckmore Park Circuit in Kent on the 9th of February. Due to the distance, our team travelled up on Tuesday afternoon and stayed at the Premier Inn, Rochester.
The team we had going to inters for this race consisted of Sam Bishop (Club captain), Blake Checketts (Vice-Captain), Thorsten Wynne and Ben Standring, as well as James Williams for photography and as the minibus driver and myself for support and to cheer the team on.
The day before
The journey up wasn’t as smooth as suspected by the team travelling up by minibus. In fact, the minibus never arrived as it broke down on the way. What they ended up with was a brand-new highway maintenance van – equipped with hot water, a table, a microwave, and a toilet. The best part: there was a light that flashed on the top when they reversed. It wasn’t what was expected, but it definitely put a smile on our faces to start off the trip.
After checking into our rooms, food was our next priority. Everyone was starving after the long trip that they just had – arriving at the hotel an hour and a half later than originally planned. So, of course, Maccies was the next stop on the list. Despite all sitting on the same table, we may have slightly frustrated the workers by not thinking ahead and all got our own table number stands, earning a couple of sharp comments from the team member delivering the food.
And the evening didn’t stop there. Returning to the hotel, of course we had to check out the bar – it would have been rude not to, but only having one due to the races the following day. Crowding round the table of four, we had six chairs as we discussed how uni work was going for us (overall majority was: not great to say the least) and the race the next day. The team discussed the order they would be racing in and who would be doing the practice session and who would be qualifying in which set. Complaints were made about how early the next morning start would be but excitement for the next day was evident, with talk of who had raced on the track and what videos people had watched to get a feel of it. After a while, we decided it was time to retire for the night and get rest, ready for the early morning start.
The morning of the race
Morning track walk – with the coffee
7:15 the next morning, everyone met in the hotel reception, ready for the incredibly healthy breakfast of Maccies (again) and a much-needed coffee. This time, we made sure to use the same table number stand to prevent yet again frustrating the workers. And then the trip to the circuit began, ready to prepare for the day.
Once everyone had checked into the race to confirm their attendance, we moved to a track walk to get to know the track itself, theorising about the best route to take, which corners to take tighter and where to brake and accelerate. Knowledge of the track is extremely valuable when you’re in the race, which is why both Blake and Thorsten decided to take part in the 20-minute practice session.
Both made valuable use of the practice session, testing different ways to take corners and different techniques on the track to help increase their lap speed.
Qualifiers
Ben battling hard maintaining the position he earnt
First up in the qualifiers was Thorsten, going straight from the practice giving him basically 40 minutes back-to-back on the circuit. On his 11th lap of the circuit, he got his best lap time at 49.484 seconds, 2.745 seconds from first place, allowing him to qualify in 32nd out of 36 in his session.
Moving into the next qualifier, we had Sam racing, team captain taking his turn on the track. Since he had no practice session, he had memory to rely on from his previous experiences on the track. But it was clear his previous track knowledge was put to use as he qualified at 31st with a top time of 49.216 seconds on his 8th lap, 2.278 seconds from first. However, Sam decided with withdraw after his race due to an injury in his ankle.
Team Captain Sam making his mark on the track
Next up in the third heat was Ben. Due to the rule of having to have at least 75kg worth of weight in the kart, Ben had to borrow an extra 1kg weight off Thorsten since they both had to have extra lead weight in the kart in order to meet the conditions. Ben qualified at 33rd with a best lap time of 49.937 seconds on his 11th lap and 3.101 seconds from the top qualifier in his grouping.
We had to wait through two more heats in which our team was not racing in as Blake was qualifying in the final heat, number 6. But this was definitely worth waiting for as Blake blew the rest of the team out of the water. The practice session clearly worked for him as he qualified in first with a best lap time of 46.727 after Royal Holloway had three of their best lap times deleted as penalties due to exceeding track limits and cone abuse, meaning they got pushed down to second.
After all congratulating Blake on his pole position qualifier, it was time to start preparing for the actual races to begin.
Races
Thorsten taking to the track first
After the 15-minute break for everyone, Thorsten was back on the track for the first 25-minute race. They went off with running start, doing a few laps of the track whilst in qualifying order. If someone broke formation, a penalty of being taken down those places skipped in the final result: you may finish first but can be taken down to fifth depending on penalties.
Thorsten started in his qualifying position of 32nd but, throughout the race, he gained an amazing 7 places with some skilful overtakes. Once he reached the 25th, he managed to maintain his position by defending, especially on the lower part of the circuit as York B was almost hitting the back of the kart, they were that close. With a fastest lap time of 48.278 on his 25th lap, Thorsten had an average speed of 40.388mph. It was definitely a great start for team UoG with the gain of 7 places.
Next up would have been Sam but, unfortunately, due to his injury, he couldn’t race. We did attempt to send Blake on in his place as our strongest member, but it would have counted as his race instead of the pole position, something none of us were willing to lose.
In race three, Ben took to the track in his 33rd place in qualifying. The start of the race was definitely dramatic as a car spun out in the first half of the circuit on the first lap. Ben managed to avoid colliding and being caught up, skilfully going round the outside of the track. Moving up three places, Ben finished at 30th with a best lap time of 48.859 seconds on his 18th lap, averaging on a speed of 39.436mph, an impressive one second improvement from his laps in qualifiers.
We had a long wait until Blakes race as he was in the final heat, the anticipation making it feel even longer. Sitting round inside in the warmth of the clubhouse, a Thorsten and Ben were keeping a close eye on the time for the launch of the Red Bull car for the next season of F1. Unfortunately, it went live just after Blake went on the track, so he had to wait after the race to see it – although no one was surprised as it was basically the same as it has been for the last few years.
Blake leading in pole position
Blake started by leading the running start in pole position, soaring off ahead when the light went green. He formed a good gap from the start, maintaining his number one position for a good portion of the race. Unfortunately, Royal Holloway pushed forward and just about overtook him and Blake was left to try and defend himself from the karts behind him. He dropped back to third for the remainder of the race, being pushed back to 5th in the penultimate lap, gaining a best lap time of 47.008 seconds in his 25th lap and an average speed of 41.968mph. The rest of us were cheering him on originally from the main viewing stand before moving to the clubhouse balcony for a better view of the majority of the track.
At the end of the trip, all racers came off with a sense of pride in how they had done, all incredibly proud of each other. Despite having one of our racers having to withdraw, we ended up at a respectful 38 out of the 54 teams who raced. It was time to head home for some much-needed and well deserved rest after the busy day and early start, so it was back into the highway maintenance van for the long trip home and time to prepare for the next race.
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By Chloe Hall
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