Varsity 2023 - Daytona Milton Keynes 25/06/2023

By Adam Ormondroyd - Sep 20, 2023

The 2022-23 season ended on a sweltering day in June with a comprehensive victory for Cambridge at the Varsity Race against Oxford (42 points to 13). This was out first outing in the new Arbruzzi race suits, a return to our traditional racing colour with a Cambridge blue twist.

Dom, Fran, Alex and Luke discussing race strategies on the grid

Adam (P1)

"My qualifying session started less than ideal - my brakes didn't work! After nearly crashing at turns 2 and 4 I crawled around to the pits, got yelled at for speeding (I couldn't make the kart slow down!) and eventually convinced the marshal to let me change karts. I then focussed on getting some clear air and put it on pole!

"I had a good reaction and second phase of the start (enough to warm my tyres up into T2) and was happy to see Jack had launched his way up into P2. My strategy from this point was to keep Jack between me and the Oxford driver (Ziyue Shao) in P3, and keep pushing to find more time around the lap as they would only learn and get faster behind me.

"The most dramatic moment was about halfway through the race when the Oxford driver managed to slip past Jack and got a good run at me out of turn 8, and was up the inside going down the straight. I managed to cling on around the outside of 9, and braked just right to park it on the apex of 10. This gave Jack chance to get on the other side of the Oxford driver, and we managed to pincer him away from overtaking us, and I somehow managed to slip back into the lead. I was very relieved to see the chequered flag, it was such a warm day I'd sweated through my race suit!"

Jack (P2)

"Starting from third position, alongside an Oxford enemy and behind the formidable Adam was a brilliant vantage point to witness glory. After a cheeky lap 1 move up the inside, I was locked in a dogfight with my Oxford counterpart for the entire race. Toward the end of the session, tensions rose higher and moves became even riskier. Following a three kart tussle on the penultimate lap, Adam returned home victorious, followed by myself, and finally our dark blue sparring partner."

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