Two boys from the UK introduced to the Euroindy 24 hour race

Wow...Looks just like the F1 with the lap timing, the pits and track organisation with marshals and the atmosphere.

Well that's how two visiting English teenagers viewed the EUROINDY 24 HOUR RACE. Yes, from 13.09 on Saturday the 4th until 13.09 on Sunday the 5th June, yet again the roar of 25 karts throbbed the air on the outskirts of Batalha Portugal. From the moment the first teams started to arrive on Friday until the final departures on Sunday the atmosphere and air of excitement was like a long adrenalin surge. A total of twenty five teams competed for the winners laurels. The teams representing Italy, France and Portugal with one lonely ELECTRIC POWERED KART brought an international flavour to the event which celebrates its 20th Edition. In the weeks prior to the event, Antonio Pragosa and his team of technicians meticulously prepared and tuned the twenty-five identical karts that were to be raced by the teams. As an example I watched all the wheel bearings of the karts being replaced irrespective of their condition. The objective being for Euroindy to provide Karts as near as possible identical in performance and reliability making the final places due to the drivers not the machines. The support team of 40, people 22 of them were marshals on the track, ensured fairness and safety in the control of the event. Team positions and the number of laps completed were on the monitors around the pits and viewing area. And sit-down meals were available in the 260 seat restaurant overlooking the track. Wondering what was the attraction for the teams from outside of Portugal, we asked around. The theme that ran through the comments from the Italian teams through to relatively local teams from Lisbon. The track, the karts provided, the organisation and not least the relatively low cost of the event. As one of the visitors said "we are not professional, but we take our karting very very seriously and this gives us exactly what we are looking for". Of course the Portuguese weather is an added bonus. The warm evening was pleasant for the non-driver as well as the competitors All the teams completed the 24 hours showing the determination of the participants, and their support teams, as well as the professional service of the Euroindy mechanical support staff. The first three teams were 1st BCP, 2nd Racing Aces, 3rd Keystone who completed 1.722, 1,722, and 1719 laps respectively. Between the first 2 karts there was only 4.272 seconds as they crossed the line for the final time The ELECTRIC POWERD CART was an interesting introduction to the race. Whilst not running for the full 24 hours the Kart, the first Electric production Kart from Euroindy, performed remarkably well and gave Euroindy some good benchmarking statistics. Let's see what they do with it next year. I live in hope that a UK team will give it a try soon so that I can wave the flag, isn't that where Lewis Hamilton started? Bob Scott (Batalha resident)