The British Universities Karting Championship (BUKC) is an annual University-based kart racing competition in the United Kingdom.

History

The BUKC, originally called the Inter Universities Karting Championship (IUKC), was formed in 2001 by students Will Tew and Tom Batho from Imperial College London. Prior to 2001 the IUKC was organised by students from

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and then the University of Nottingham and ran using

4-stroke A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...

variety karts. This all changed for the 2001/02 season with the beginning of an association with Club100, who supply a fleet of arrive-and-drive two-stroke TKM karts. The IUKC 2001/02 became the first ever university karting championship to be run on 2-stroke machinery and was contested by 32 teams, over 4 rounds. It was won by

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

. In 2003, the format was altered, with a fifth round added; and the championship renamed to the British Universities Karting Championship. In order to keep the organisation consistent and the relationship with partners Club100 strong, 3T Racing Ltd was founded by Batho and Tew in 2003 as an independent governing body for the championship. In 2018 the BUKC will be contested by 52 teams from universities across the United Kingdom over 8 rounds, with another 48 competing in the Rookies Championship.

Format

The BUKC uses a unique format that uses teams of 4 drivers, and takes place over a number of rounds during the academic year at many top class karting venues throughout the UK. Two different formats are used in the BUKC: The Sprint Format The Sprint Format is where every driver in the team gets to race in their own individual 25-minute race. No fuel stops, no driver changes. Just a 25-minute sprint to the flag. The teams finishing score for the round is determined by adding up the best 3 results from the 4 sprint races. The Endurance Format The Endurance Format is where the team (of 4 drivers) is split into two teams of 2. Each mini-team of 2 drivers races in a one-hour race. 2 fuel stops must be made, and at least one driver change must be made. The teams finishing score for the round is determined by adding up the points from both the 2 one-hour races.

Karts

The BUKC are supplied with Club100Club100.co.uk
/ref> karts for the championship. These are Birel N35 chassis, powered by Rotax 125cc (as of 2019)

2-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being completed in one revolution of t ...

engines that are capable of speeds in excess of 70 mph. The karts use Vega RH8 Slicks in all weather, due to the logistical challenges presented with changing an entire fleet in a short period of time.

Universities taking part

The championship is open to teams from any UK institution of higher education. Each university may be represented by more than one team of four drivers;

fielded three teams in 2008, with many universities following suit ( Sheffield University attempted to qualify 5 teams for the 2015 season). Oxford Brookes is the most successful team in the championship's history, with 6 titles to their name. The series is most popular among universities in the south of England; however, Wales is well represented, with

and Swansea University taking part, and the

University of Wales Trinity Saint David , image = Crest of TSD.png , image_size = 200px , caption = Coat of armsUniversity of Wales Trinity Saint David , established = 2010 ( Saint David's College, Lampeter founded 1822 and opened 1827; royal charter 1828) ...

(formerly Swansea Metropolitan) came 2nd overall in 2009. In 2009 Edinburgh became the first Scottish team to take part in the championships, with Heriot-Watt following in 2010. For the 2015 season, the University of the West of Scotland is the third Scottish University to take part, successfully qualifying for the main championship. In 2014, the Dublin Institute of Technology became the first Irish university to race in the BUKC, taking part in the annual 24-hour race that closes out the end of every season in June, although it is not an official round of the championship. In 2022,

Oxford Brookes Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic) is a public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The university was named ...

became the first university to ever qualify 6 teams for the mains championship, with 5 of the teams qualifying for the premier class. A full list of competing universities can be found on the official BUKC website.

Champions

Drivers Championship

References

External links

Official website
{{Kart racing Engineering education in the United Kingdom Kart racing events

Karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...