The heart of the BUKC. It's where teams and drivers go to race against and beat the best.
The Premier Class is the BUKC at its most intense. Teams of 4 drivers from each uni come together to battle it out over the course of 4 double header race meetings and a qualifying race day held between November & April the following year.
Every team wishing to take part in the Premier Class must take part in one of two qualifiers.
The top 54 teams from the qualifiers will qualify through to the Premier Class starting in early February. Any teams that don't qualify through to the Premier Class will instead by invited back to compete in the Intermediate Class Championship.
The format of the qualifiers is now the following:
The qualifying sessions will determine the grids for the first 4 races. The grid for last 4 races will be determined by the finishing positions of the first 4 races. The best 6 race results will count towards the day's final scores. The cost is £540 per team (£135 per driver)
The two qualifiers will take place on the weekend of Fri 16th & Sat 17th November 2018 at Whilton Mill.
The 8 round Premier Class Championship takes place over 4 days between the start of February 2019 and the start of April 2019. Please note the dates below may change.
Each race day will consist of 2 rounds. Sprint format in the morning, and Endurance format in the afternoon.
Each team must consist of 4 drivers exactly for each round. Exceptions to this rule are detailed in the BUKC Rules & Regulations.
The price of entry is £257.50 inc VAT per team per round (£515 per race day). Your team can save roughly 10% by paying for all 8 rounds of the championship up front at £230 per round (£460 per race day). Payments for the 10% discount must be made by 16th December.
There are 2 bespoke formats used in the BUKC titled the Sprint Format and the Endurance 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 with 3 to 5 laps practice prior.
The teams finishing score for the round is determined by adding up the best 3 results from the 4 sprint races.
The Endurance Format is where the team (of 4 drivers) is split into 2 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.
A typical race day starts arrving at the track at 7.30am when around 220 student drivers turn up for signing on. Teams travelling a fair distance tend to stay at nearby hotels or campsites the night before. The briefing is generally an hour later at 8.30. Racing usually gets underway at 9.30ish.
The 6 x 25 minute sprint races (each team only does 4 of them), continue until around 2pm after which we have a short break for the triple A team of mechanics to do a once over on the karts and to do the presentations for the morning's racing. Once the lunch break is out of the way, we start the 3 x 1hr endurance races (each team only does 2 of them). After the afternoon's racing, which usually finishes around 6pm, we do the final presentations for the day and everyone heads home knackered and buzzing (it's a peculiar combination).
Something special in the Premier Class Championship is that every race winner will receive a very special Gold race winner medals. These coveted items and only ever collected by race winners in the Premier Class!
At the end of the season, we finish off the BUKC with a huge party and awards ceremony in a marquee at the final race track. It’s the time to celebrate your successes on the race track, let your hair down and get twatted with your team mates.
To take part in the BUKC you need to get in touch with your university's karting team captain.
If your university is not listed above then get in touch with the organisers of the BUKC
