2023/24 Varsity: Whilton Mill 19/10/2024

By Adam Ormondroyd - Nov 14, 2024

The annual race against Oxford for the 2023/24 academic year was set to take place at Whilton Mill on the 29th of June. Unfortunately, a fire at the circuit overnight meant it was rescheduled to the 19th of October, so with the fading evening sun we had to use the floodlit Zulu section instead of the international layout.

Historic rivals unites by driving in circles

The sun was already low when we arrived

Earlier in the day, Whilton had been using the circuit for cycle racing, so they hadn't been running the new chicane at the end of the lap. This meant that the new tarmac was the only wet surface on the whole layout, with a bog at the end of the braking zone threatening to punish lockups with a race-ending squelch! Mercifully, the Whilton marshals agreed to allow us to run the old layout instead, as they also didn't fancy trying to drag sodden karts and drivers out of the mud...

Unusual to be allowed a track walk at a corporate event!

It was a privilege to experience the old last corner one last time; the monster kerb gone from the final apex evoked memories of the Whilton of old from my early CUAC days. As the Whilton lap records reset every month, and there is no separate record for the old layout, our BUKC captain Oliver Sier currently the corporate lap record! Must remember to not go the wrong way at BUKC qualifiers this coming weekend...

Cheer up Dom!

I (Adam) led from the start, the delay from the kart change meant the tyres were stone cold for the braking zone into Christmas corner (T3), Dom pushed his way past two karts off the start, lunging two more into Christmas. He then whittled away at Ollie's advantage over the next two laps, taking advantage of his superior exit from Christmas to dive for the inside into Inkermans (T5? the hairpin going into Zulu). I spent the rest of the race looking over my shoulder as Dom put in one of his trademark consistent drives, both trying to carve through traffic as efficiently as possible. With only a few laps to go, I caught up with five karts, three of them themselves trying to put a lap on the other two, and for a moment I thought my hard work was about to unravel. Thanks Alex for not fighting me on my way through!

Spot the AI

Despite having one fewer drivers, the result was a conclusive win for Cambridge, 43 points to 13. Oliver lost no enthusiasm in announcing the results for a second time after we realised he'd accidentally used F1-style points! F1 points are very heavily weighted towards the top few positions, which work well for a long championship fought over many races with lots of small teams, but make no sense for a single event with two large teams. This year, we also awarded one point for fastest lap.

Results

For more detail, check out alphatiming.