Glorious GlazeKart!!

The first ever GlazeKart event, a new karting challenge for companies and organisations serving the window, door, conservatory, glass and curtain wall industries, took place at Daytona Milton Keynes on Friday, 5th May. The event, organised by specialists Walnut Motorsport, was a gruelling 3 hour endurance race for teams of up to 4 drivers on a 1.3 km outdoor circuit using twin-engined racing karts!

The event was supported by Alcoa Custom Extrusions, Swish Window & Doors Systems and Glassex.

Despite some worrying long term forecasts the week before, the weather was glorious and helped to ensure that the on-track action was exciting and competitive, turning the day into a real festival of speed! 14 teams took to the grid representing a wide variety of company sizes and types. After 30 minutes of practice and qualifying it was obvious that there were some serious karting competitors out there!! Sharing the front row of the grid were teams from Ultraframe and from injection moulding specialists Patterson & Rothwell, followed closely by Team Glassman from Glassman (NW). It was also obvious that there would be some evenly matched teams in mid-field and so it proved to be in the race itself.

A 3 hour race is a challenge in any conditions but in the warm bright day it was even more of a test of endurance. Team strategies played a strong part in the outcome, whether to go long per stint and risk a loss of concentration, or whether to change more regularly and keep the drivers relatively fresh! From the outset Team P&R and Ultraframe battled it out at the front but Team Glassman kept in close touch, leading the rest of the pack. As predicted, there were also some close fought battles further down the field, most notably from LMC Metal UK, Swish, Team Super Spacer (Edgetech), Emplas and Team BM (Business Micros), who would ultimately all finish within three laps of each other after 3 hours - that's only a 2% difference between them all!!

Team P & R and Ultraframe made the most of their three man teams and went long on each stint, each stopping just twice for fuel. Team Glassman continued to keep the two honest, showing that teamwork and consistent lap times paid dividends. They were unlucky when a 'minor off' forced a kart change which nearly cost them their third spot but, despite that and a slower best lap time than the two teams ahead and the fourth place finishers, they ultimately secured the final podium place.

There were a few flirtations with the tyre barriers throughout the race bringing out numerous yellow flags, largely the result of the close racing and various battles for position.

Special mention should also go to Alcoa, who were less consistent than Team Glassman and took fourth place, but who set the fastest lap of the race overall in the closing minutes! Further down the field Glassex, `Sapa Nova' and LMC Glass UK had their own private battle, with positions constantly changing, even during the last 10 minutes! Last, and certainly not least (they always got the loudest cheer from the crowd in the pits when mentioned on the commentary), were `Go Girl Power', the team from Glass & Glazing Products.

The 3 hours seemed to fly by. On track stints were punctuated by a splendid barbecue and plenty of water and soft drinks! The intermittent commentary and television screens kept spectators apace on the latest changes in position and everyone agreed that the weather could not have been better!

Team P & R win a choice of first prize (worth around £1,000) from Walnut Motorsport's extensive range of corporate events. There were trophies and medals for the top three teams and some consolation champagne for the most improving team on the grid, `Go Girl Power', who reduced their lap times by no less than 7 seconds over the course of the race.

All in all, and judging by the comments of those that took part, the first GlazeKart proved to be a great day out and the hope is that it will become an annual industry event.

Results:

1. Team P&R - 149 laps
2. Ultraframe - 146 laps
3. Team Glassman - 143 laps
4. Alcoa - 140 laps
5. Profile 22 - 138 laps
6. LMC Metal UK - 133 laps

Fastest Lap = Alcoa (1:09.066)

For a full set of results, team fastest laps and an extensive photo gallery CLICK HERE!