Oxford on track against Tabs
This year's British University Karting Championship kicked off to a flying start with Oxford beating Cambridge in every race. The up-and-coming series features 43 teams from 30 different universities from around the country. The series is ultra competitive for 2004 with professional drivers (Formula Renault, Formula 3 and TVR Tuscan Challenge and national karting championships) and novices alike competing in standard TKM karts from Club 100. These karts can out-accelerate a Porsche 911 and have the added sensation of being one inch from the ground.
Round One of the six-round, four-event championship was held at Bayford Meadows in Kent on 17th February. Each of Oxford's four drivers (Patrick Nicholls, Adam Craig, Rob Jacobs and James Brown) competed in one half-hour race with one pitstop. James Brown gave a solid and steady performance to come home 27th out of the 35-strong field but crucially beat the Cambridge driver in a race that was unusually incident free.
New boy to the team Adam Craig started his first race with a bang: a collision whilst in sixth place on the first lap. He was later black-flagged for jumping the start in a borderline incident, but he raced back to 20th place from two laps down having a mammoth tussle with 'Be a Grand Prix Driver 2003' winner Mark Johnston, from which he came off best. 20th place was scant conciliation as team leader Patrick Nicholls suspected that a top ten finish was on the cards. Yet again the Cambridge driver was beaten.
In the final race Patrick Nicholls gave a sterling performance, demonstrating that consistency is the key and holding his own out on the track with good overtaking to come home with the team's best slot: 15th place. The team came home 23rd overall. Team Captain Patrick Nicholls commented: "This was a strong performance that we can build on, with a stronger team than 2003. Top Ten individual finishes should be on the cards this year."
The next round is in Hertfordshire later this month where the team are looking to have incident-free races and a team top 20 finish.
26th Feb 2004