Pedal car racing
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Pedal Car Racing is a circuit racing endurance sport where teams of up to six drivers race single-seater human powered sports cars in races of up to twenty-four hours duration. Four team members share the driving (increasing to six in 24 hour races), with each completing as many laps as he or she can before handing over to the next driver. Therefore the races are very similar in make up and tactics to endurance sports car races.
Racing pedal cars
The cars are mainly sports prototypes built by or for the teams that race them. There are no commercial suppliers of racing pedal cars in the UK, although Karbyk in Italy make racing pedal cars commercially. All cars have to comply with the international pedal car specification, but this is quite an open formula so the cars are as varied as the teams who race them with many different solutions to the same problem.
Classes
There are six classes in pedal car racing all sharing circuit space so the safe lapping of back markers is a skill that the faster drivers must acquire.
PC1: Open class - 4 drivers per car (6 in 24 hour races) All cars automatically qualify for PC1 and it is the cars at the head of this class which usually fight it out for the overall win.
PC2: Under 16s - 4 drivers per car (5 in 10 hour races, 4 in 24 hour races) The cars are usually very similar in appearance to those racing in PC1 but they tend to be built a little bit more robustly to cope with the increased number of driver changes and the less sympathetic treatment that teenage drivers can sometimes dish out to racing machinery. Quite often the lead PC2 outfits will be in amongst the top six overall come the end of the race.
PC3: Under 14s - 6 drivers per car in all races The cars are often lighter and generally have to be somewhat smaller for obvious reasons! Most of the cars in this class do not run aerodynamic bodywork – the drivers change over far more often and do not reach the higher speeds of PC1 and PC2 so a body shell would generally seen as a hindrance.
PC4: Under 12’s - 6 drivers per car in all races These cars are generally very basic, unfaired and as light as possible.
PCD: Pairs - 2 drivers per car only
PCF: Female teams - All drivers must be female. (Number of drivers depends on age range)
British Pedal Car Championship
First run in 1996, the British Pedal Car Championship is a series of endurance pedal car races which runs between April and September every year in the UK. Typically, there are 7 races totalling just over 60 racing hours including the Shenington 24 hour race in June (at which double points are awarded).
The championship is organised and run by the British Federation of Pedal Car Racing
The Shenington 24 hour race
The Shenington 24 hour race takes place at Shenington Kart Track near Banbury, UK at the end of June and is the flagship event of the British Pedal Car Championship. The race comprises a night practice session on Friday and then the race starts at midday Saturday. Six drivers are allowed per car and all cars must carry head and tail lights for night racing.
The 2013 edition was won by BAR racing in a car designed and built by formula 1 engineer, the late Gary "Gadget" North.
In 2014, Apollo Racing took the win just ahead of championship rivals Wing Racers and cycling club Rugby Velo.
So far, a cycling club has not won the Shenington 24 hour race despite entries from Winchcombe Wheelers, Rugby Velo, Treads CC and Simonstrong Media-Velo in recent years.
2015 Racing Calendar
Round 1 - Wombwell Sprints - Sunday, 29 March - 3 * 2 hour races
Round 2 - Bruntingthorpe 6 hour - Saturday 25 April - 12pm - 6pm
Round 3 - Shenington 24 hour - 27 to 28 June - 12pm - 12pm
Round 4 - Solihull Sprints- Sunday 19 July - 3 hour ; 2 hour & 1 hour races
Round 5 - Blackbushe Sprints - Saturday 5 September - 4 * 45minutes + 3 hour races
Round 6 - Blackbushe 100 - Sunday 6 September - 100miles
Round 7 - Curborough 7 hour - Saturday 26 - 7 hour day / night race.
Link to details of pedal car races in the UK