You’d think that by now there would be a well-worn path from karting all the way to Formula 1.
Yet, as I have touched on in previous columns ‘where to from here?’ remains the third most asked question in racing.
The first?
Ha!
The first is always ‘how much is it going to cost?’ And the second, usually asked immediately afterwards, is ‘where (the hell) are we going to get that sort of money from?
But I digress.
I’ve always held strong views on this subject, and have often stood back when I’ve seen someone make a right mess of the process and thought, ‘what in the name of God/Odin/Bernie Ecclestone made you think THAT move was a good idea?’
So, for the benefit of anyone from ambitious 10-11-year-olds and their Mums/Dad, to bench racers/keyboard warriors everywhere, here’s the first of a number of pathways I’m going to write about over the next four to five weeks.
I don’t care how old you are, or what – if any – previous experience you have in motorsport; if you are at all serious about some sort of pro or semi-pro career, the best place to start, or even spend a couple of years honing skills you might have picked up in Mini or Junior Motocross, ATVs, Quarter Midgets or Mini Stocks, is behind the wheel of a kart.
I kick-started my own – albeit rather brief – ‘serious’ driving ‘career’ in a kart at the ripe old age of 32 and if I were to do it again the only thing I’d do differently is spend at least another two-to-three years in a kart before making the step up to cars.
Karts and karting, obviously, teaches you the basics of ‘car’ control, but it also teaches you 101 other things, many of them as applicable to life away from the track as on it, like; the basics of set up – things like how to FIND as well as how to LOSE grip, how to set tyre pressures depending on when you want your kart to ‘come on’ in a race (early or late), how to drive on slicks on a dry, damp and streaming wet track and when to swap to wets, how to read, understand and react to data, how to communicate what you ‘feel’ through your hands, feet, bum etc to the person setting up your kart, plus a bunch of other things besides.
Karting also teaches you the rudiments of race craft……and – again – I can’t stress just how important a training ground it is. Without mirrors, for instance, you quickly learn to ‘sense’ where a kart is, whether that is to your right, your left, directly behind you or in the ‘blind spot’ space in between. It’s easy to spot a rookie in any class because they will be the one turning their head one way or the other to try and ‘see’ where the next attack is going to come from. Experienced karters, on the other hand, would never think of either turning their head or indeed, moving the steering wheel any more than is absolutely necessary, instead changing direction with a deft use of throttle, brake and almost imperceptible body movement.
Karting also provides plenty of ‘life’ lessons (not just for the young’uns either) like, how to handle crushing defeat (after crushing defeat, usually) interspersed with (the odd) euphoric victory. How to make the most of what you’ve got, how to deal and get on with everyone from your fellow competitors to all the many and varied adult officials, even reporters from the local newspaper or regional TV sports or news show (if you are lucky enough to attract their attention).
If, for instance, you watched Sky Speed’s excellent coverage of the Porter Group KartSport NZ National Sprint Championships held in Hamilton over the Easter weekend, you might have (well I did) noticed how well each of the title winners spoke. Louis Sharp (already a multi-time NZ and Sth Island title holder) was particularly impressive, answering each question fully while at the same time absolutely buzzing with the obvious excitement of the moment. Having spent many a happy Sunday evening reliving the day’s racing at KartSport Mt Wellington’s clubrooms back when I was cutting my own teeth karting, I shouldn’t have been surprised of course. Even at the smallest club and meeting there is always a prizegiving function in the clubrooms afterward and everyone who podiums has to take a turn at the microphone thanking their ‘sponsors/their Mum/their Dad etc’ and ‘the ladies (when lap scoring, time keeping and result tabulating was done manually) in the tower!’
Karting is probably the only branch of our sport, too, where – particularly if you start at age 6 or 7 – there is a well-defined pathway upwards. Granted, this hasn’t always been the case but, fortunately over the past 20 years or so, enlightened management has looked outwards rather than inwards for inspiration, using a single dedicated, Italian-made Vortex kart engine for both stepping stone Junior classes and being one of the first ‘sprint’ markets in the world to adopt the 6-speed/125cc KZ2 class as it de facto premier category.
The result of both moves has been both immediate and spectacular.
At one end of the scale Aucklander Daniel Bray has been able to combine a successful international career in the United States and Europe with building up and running his own kart sales, service and arrive and arrive-and-drive style business here.
On another (level), with Vortex’s help for the past five years, NZ Sprint title winners and the winner of the Vortex Mini ROK class in the NZ ROK Cup series have earned funded trips to compete at the annual ROK Cup International meeting in Italy.
Austrian engine manufacturer Rotax has also provided a ladder of sorts via its long-running NZ Rotax Max Challenge series and annual Grand Finals event. Earl Bamber was the first Kiwi to claim a podium spot at a Grand Final (and look where he is now) and in the 19 years Kiwis have been travelling to Grand Final meetings, Matthew Hamilton and Josh Hart have earned runner-up spots and Ryan Urban has won his class.
Today you start karting aged 6 years in Cadet ROK and move up to Vortex Mini ROK class at 9 years-of-age, then to either (or both) the 125cc Rotax Max Junior or new Vortex ROK DVS Junior classes at 12-years-of age.
By the time they are 15 these kids have done more racing miles than many later-starting Seniors so you can imagine the impact most have on the 125cc Rotax Max Light, the new Vortex ROK DVS Senior, and yes even the KZ2 category (step right up new NZ #1 16-year-old Matthew Payne), when they step up.
You don’t have to limit yourself to racing here either with keen Kiwi karters now using either (or a mix of both) the Australian Kart Championships or Australia’s Rotax Pro Tour, to gain extra mileage and experience bigger fields and a greater depth of competition than at home.
How far you take a career in karts is really up to you as well. Having had his eyes opened to the value of racing the world’s best Rotax category karters at the Grand Final meeting he contested in the US for instance, Marcus Armstrong convinced his Dad Rick that he would be much better off heading to Europe and a drive with the Tony Kart team than selling up his NZ-based karting gear and buying a Formula Ford here.
Marcus was put through the wringer in Europe, but he was quick and ambitious and – largely through the links he forged at Tony Kart – earned a spot of the official Ferrari single-seater development squad as a result.
Don’t – just because I have focused so much on the Junior classes – think that there is only a place at your local kart track for the elite either.
KartSport New Zealand has also addressed the need for a sort of stepping stone class between – say – Indoor karts, and a club-based outdoor ‘series’ class like Rotax Light or Heavy.
That class is LO206, a non-championship one based round a purpose-built (by US small engine specialist Briggs & Stratton) 4-stroke engine.
The idea of the new class is to keep things simple and affordable and not complicate matters too quickly.
The fact that it is an internationally-recognised category shouldn’t really matter if you just want to go out once a month and satisfy your ‘need for speed.’
However, having got an enthusiastic group of drivers together in his own area, Wellington karter Brett Melhop put together a travel package to a big Briggs & Stratton meeting at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last year……
Just for a ‘bit of fun’ but still, as well as getting to see the sights and drive around the full Indy 500 oval they also – thanks to Melhop’s impeccable connections – got to meet the driver who has arguably benefitted most from a start in a kart back ‘home’ in New Zealand…..Scott Dixon.
Talk about pathways colliding!
Next week. Formula First, the role Scott and his Dad Ron played in revitalising it, and why it is still as relevant today as it was 20 years ago.
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