Bermuda’s karting community will break new ground over the next two nights by racing under lights.

The gates at Southside will open at 5pm tonight with practice sessions, qualifying and two heats of eight laps each taking place on Friday, with the third heat and the final taking place at the same time on Saturday.

The event has excited Bermuda’s karters and with a sprinkle of international riders added into the mix, the action is set to be fast and furious. Bermuda Karting Association Chris Smith has worked hard to get the track into shape after negotiations with Skyport to ensure air traffic safety.

“We originally were planning on doing a street race, which everybody gets excited for,” Smith said.

“But unfortunately, the expense was just crazy and we couldn’t pull it off, so we started to look at doing something exciting down at the track and came up with a night race.

“We had to get permission from Skyport and there was plenty of back and forth with them before they finally gave us approval and we’re really looking forward to the nights.”

Plenty of planning has gone into the event and Smith is promising fantastic action on and off the track, with work expected to go on right up until the time the first flag drops.

“We have a couple of great people who have graciously donated the lights to us and we’ve done a test to see where we’re going to place them,” Smith said. “We’re still scrambling around just to make sure everything’s in order and generators in place.

“We have extra fuel and we’ve got some food vendors coming down. We’ve got Gosling’s doing a booth and everybody looks forward to that. It should be a good time and we’re hoping to get a ton of people.”

General admission for the evening is $10, with children under 7 and seniors entering free, and those attending are likely to see some competitive racing with more than 60 drivers in action.

“We have 62 karts signed up for this weekend and that’s 20 more than we usually have,” Smith said.

“We have 22 karts signed up for one of the division and that is going to be exhilarating because it will be bumper to bumper for sure. There are also a couple of internationals racing and we’ve got three females racing as well.”

Owen DeCosta will be competing in the L0206 Seniors category and is excited to get a chance to drive under the lights for the first time.

“I'm definitely looking forward to it and it’s an event that I don’t think anybody really thought it was possible to pull off because of the whole airport situation,” he said.

“My class is definitely going to feature some of the closer racing with some strong competitors, but I’ve proven myself to be a top driver in the ranks this season, so I hope to do all right.

“There’s a couple international drivers and it will be interesting to see how they do on our track. Everyone’s going to need some luck but I feel I have the potential to win this thing.”

Racing under the lights poses a different challenge for a driver and Ryan Burgess, a competitor in the Tag Senior and KZ Shifter class, feels there will be some important decisions to be made in the build-up to the race.

“It’s all about getting the set-up right and adapting to the night because the temperatures and the tyre pressure are going to change,” he said

“Everything's going to change because of grip levels but I’m just eager to get down to the track and test some things out. It’s going to be a lot cooler and there is going to be less grip at night.”

Burgess has been racing in Bermuda for a number of years and is confident he has the skills to pick up a victory or two

“I’m going to be 22 next month, so I’ve been racing for about 15 years,” he said.

“I’m very confident and I think we can get the win in both classes but I have to lock in and just get it done.

“This will be my first time under lights so it’s a bit of an unknown, but we’ll see how it goes and adapt accordingly. Everyone’s going to be in the same boat and not many have raced under lights, so it’s just going to be who copes with it best.”