HIGH SPEED ACCESS
Tudor says the student programme runs on around“ a quarter” of the budget that some other universities put into their motorsport projects. However, the expertise the students develop, specifically with the MCR machines, has resulted in around five graduates joining the series to support other teams in the championship – some of whom are direct rivals to Tudor and Iley out on the track!
“ It’ s doing what I set the project out for, which was to give students first-hand experience, to showcase what they can do outside the student environment and to help them sell themselves – because that’ s what they need to do to get good jobs in the competitive environment of motorsport,” says Tudor.“ And I’ m proud that our graduates are now being called on by other competitors and are running them successfully.”
Everyone involved in Sports 2000 says that despite the intense competition on-track, it is one of the friendliest racing environments in UK motorsport and Steeper explains:“ You can’ t blink out on track or people will go by, but in the paddock, if somebody bends their car, a lot of drivers will offer parts or an extra pair of hands. Everybody is willing to help, and the unwritten ethos is‘ I can’ t beat you if you’ re not on the track.’”
Revolution- September 2025
For Gibbins, that friendly atmosphere was a breath of fresh air after the years he spent in the competitive karting – and even he and his closest rival Josh will help each other out if the need arises.“ Josh blew an engine at the start of the year, and we happened to have one in the back of the trailer, so we offered him it,” he recalls.“ Everyone’ s competitive and everyone wants to win, but we don’ t want our rivals not to have a race.
“ There’ s lots of really knowledgeable people in the paddock who you can learn from when it comes to understanding vehicle dynamics and that has really allowed me to get stuck into car set-up and feel more confident in understanding what to do next if something is wrong. We do a lot of the maintenance work ourselves, and we don’ t need a team of 20 people to be at the front.
“ I think the cars look great and go really well for the money you spend, too, and the driving requires a lot of the core skills you need to be a competent driver – including good race craft, tyre management and race management, which all comes with multi-class racing. You can spend far more money on other series, with cars that don’ t go as quickly and, arguably, aren’ t as attractive – so I can’ t really see anywhere else I’ d rather be.”
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