SPEEDSTER Nigel Moore won a race against time to take a top kart racing podium finish.

The Long Marston teenager had a sparkling maiden outing on a six-speed Super ICC gearbox class kart.

Racing at the first round of the BRDC Stars of Tomorrow in the ABkC Super ICC National Championship at Kimbolton in Huntingdonshire, he had a race against time to be ready for the meeting after gaining a waiver from the Motor Sports Association to be able to compete.

Normally drivers are not permitted to race in the senior gearbox classes until the age of 16, but as 15-year-old Moore (pictured above) already races senior karts internationally a request for a waiver was accepted last Monday.

That meant the race was on to source and build a kart for the weekend.

His father, Simon, flew to Molinetto in Italy on Tuesday evening to collect a kart from the BRM factory where Moore is the official team driver, and returned with the kart as excess baggage.

They borrowed an engine from the AFR TM importer in Cumbria and built the kart on Thursday ready for Friday practice with the help of Rob Dodds, the British BRM team owner.

Despite never having driven a kart with gears before, Moore was immediately on the pace, just missing out by one hundredth of a second on the fastest time of the weekend in his first heat.

"I had some brake problems in the first heats but I'm getting used to the late braking and it's a fair bit faster than the KF2 karts I drive abroad," he said after taking second place in the Saturday Round 1 final, where he also took fastest lap.

The karts have a higher power to weight ratio than most single seater racing cars, and take just over three seconds for 0 - 60 mph, reaching a top speed of 90 mph.

As two of the top drivers from last year diced for the Sunday lead, Moore came home in fourth place, yet again scoring fastest lap in the final, all underlining his future potential in the class.

The 2005 and 2006 Junior Stars Champion races in the Italian and European kart championships for BRM and is set on learning the British motor racing tracks in the Texaco Playstation Junior Ginetta sports car class, with his first race due on tomorrow at Pembrey.