After claiming the British University Karting Championship in my first two years whilst at Uni, 2004 and 2005, we at Oxford Brookes University were quietly confident for this year, as our team was unchanged. The team consisted of myself (also acting as Team Captain), Charlie Bruce-White, Dave Robb and Luke Johnson. All of us have raced against each other in various British Championships and so know each other well. Yet again I decided prior to the first event take our worst allocated grid position at each round, as I enjoy slicing through the pack so much, and fortunately, do it quite well.



With the introduction of extra championship rounds we knew consistency was key, which we hoped would be our strong point. Little did we realise how strong. We kicked off with a double victory at Whilton Mill, then a 1st and a 2nd at Warden Law. 



The first 4 rounds had been very successful for the team, and thanks to the inconsistency of other universities, we had a considerable points lead in the championship. I was also very pleased with my own performances, as I had won all my individual races so far, despite starting at the back of the grid.
We then travelled to Buckmore Park, and in round 5, along came yet another victory, however in the 6th round we finished only 4th. We were extremely disappointed with this result, despite the fact that other teams may give their right arm for that result. In our defence, we did gain 2 black flags for offences that we did not actually commit, but we took it all in our stride. Unfortunately, I only finished 2nd in my race, but I suppose we can’t win them all!



For the championship, 6 out of 8 rounds count for the final points tally, and after the 6th round at Buckmore, we at Oxford Brookes University had already mathematically won the championship, barring any black flag points penalties. This was not common knowledge with other teams, and we thought it was best to keep it quiet, so as to not ‘paint a target on our rear bumpers’, as often happens in that situation.

We turned up to the last round at Clay pigeon in good spirits, and were after some good results to finish off the year. Once again, our superior team work gained us a double victory, finishing off the championship in style. This meant that we counted an absolute maximum score in the final championship tally, which has never been achieved, and I doubt ever will again! Also, not only were we the first University to win 2 championships back to back, we had done it 3 times in a row!!! 

Something else which is interesting, is that I won both my races at Clay also, and so had the proposed, but never implemented ‘drivers championship’ taken place, I would have been the victor, as no other driver was able to match my success record.

As a team though, we worked excellently and greatly enjoyed our University karting. We worked far better than any other team in pit stops, often gaining up to 30 seconds in one go. In addition to this, our driver pairing in endurance events were impeccable!