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Formula Student
 
On the 7th to 10th July 2005 Craig competed as part of the Oxford Brookes University team at the European Formula Student Event. The team had their new challenger, the ISIS 05 out for the first time. The car was smaller and lighter than the car that the team used at Formula SAE in May. With just 4 days of testing under the team's belt the competition was going to be an uphill struggle for the team.
 
The car passed technical inspection first time, something that is very rare with very strict rules in force. On the team's return they were greeted by Ross Brawn. It was then onto the static events that make up the competition. These 4 events went fantastically well, and the team was lying 2nd overall going into the dynamic events. We had made the design finals as well, so morale was very high.
 
In the morning of the Saturday the team had the Acceleration and Skid Pan tests. Acceleration went ok, with one of the drivers managing to set a 4.11. Craig was handed the car just before lunch, to attempt the skid pan event, for which he holds the world record. The first run was going well until the driveshaft snapped, and the second was going better until a fuel pressure problem caused the engine to lose power. The afternoon event was the sprint, with James Gornall taking the wheel. James did an awesome lap, but hit 2 cones, so the team ended up 14th. The team's main rivals for the title, Toronto, had won the sprint and were looking really good going into the endurance. We were 26 points down on them overall and there was everything to go for.
 
The Sunday was scorching hot. The track was at 46 degrees when Craig took to the track. Toronto had already finished, with other rivals like Ryerson, ETS, Polytechnic Montreal all failing to finish. Toronto's time was fast so Craig knew we had to go hard. Knowing how much fuel we use, we knew we needed to beat Toronto by 36 seconds to win overall. Things were going really well and with three laps to go on Craig’s stint we were 46 seconds up on them. Then disaster struck - the brake pedal went to the floor due to the failure of a bought-in component. Craig carried on until the halfway point and came in. James was in the car and was ready to go when a scrutineer noticed a puddle of brake fluid on the floor. The car was not returning to the track! The title was gone.
 
The team did pick up several other awards but the victory the team wanted so badly will have to wait until next year.