Petrol-powered Varsity

Away from the playing fields on Varsity Day, a two-hour endurance race at the recently-opened Newbridge kart track saw Edinburgh ultimately take the spoils with a comfortable points margin – but only after an almighty scrap.

The competition was stoked by a friendly rivalry which has developed this year in the British Universities Karting Championship. However, Heriot-Watt were at a disadvantage even before a wheel was turned as they could only muster enough drivers to fill three of the stipulated five teams. With the overall result based on points, it was essentially win or bust for Heriot-Watt.

Qualifying saw them stand up to be counted though, as Edinburgh had to fight to keep them at bay. Edinburgh C took pole and somewhat surprisingly Edinburgh A found themselves down in third. Heriot-Watt were poised to strike from second, fourth and sixth.

As the race started, all eight karts got off the line well and picked their way through the opening corners without incident. However, at the end of the first lap Heriot-Watt got the break they were looking for as Edinburgh A’s Calum Hughes, driving a cold kart, dropped to seventh after being hung out to dry in the final corner.

Hughes was soon right back up to speed but unfortunately was stuck behind team-mate Sean Gibson of Edinburgh D. Some extremely stout defensive driving rebuffed Hughes for the better part of ten laps and no amount of elaborate signalling from the pits could alert Gibson to any team strategy. Either through unwillingness or plain ignorance, Edinburgh’s leading team had lost nearly a lap to the leaders, Heriot-Watt A.

An early pit-stop and a hastily re-drawn plan were the beginnings of the fightback. First Yati Durant and then Richard Crozier put in the hot laps to bring Edinburgh A back into contention. At the front, Edinburgh B were keeping Heriot Watt A honest, whilst Heriot-Watt C’s original pace waned with driver changes and they fell behind Edinburgh’s lower order.

The race wore on and was blown wide open in a volatile final fifteen minutes, as Heriot-Watt rolled the dice one final time. With Crozier leading comfortably for Edinburgh A – a lap ahead of the sparring Edinburgh C and Heriot-Watt A teams – Neil Halliwell of last-placed Heriot-Watt C began driving well within his limits. Crozier came round to lap Halliwell but found it impossible to pass; within minutes all eight karts were queueing behind and the tension began to rise.

Halliwell’s canny defence drove Crozier to hopeful punts and his impatience eventually cost him a penalty pit-stop and enforced driver-change. The race was now well and truly on and Halliwell succeeded then in bringing similar punishment to bear on Edinburgh B, promoting his A-team’s chances but also those of his B-team who were now in a position to strike. However, he was becoming increasingly desperate and the illegality of his driving went from debatable to unquestionable as the karts bumped more fiercely and the track-route was clearly altered.

It was left to Nick Roberts of Edinburgh D to emerge from the melee and execute an undeniable manoeuvre to overtake Halliwell and breach the floodgates. The race finished moments later and Heriot-Watt had only managed to secure second and fourth places in the chaos. It was a thrilling end to a tight race and judging from the heated post-race exchanges in the pits, neither side can wait for a rematch.