To set the context to this story, we are a lad and Dad team and a semi retired friend provides free mechanical help. We are no where near the top pace but we have made steady progress and enjoy club level racing. We can comfortably afford a budget of around £7,000-£10,000 a year which I know is a fraction of what most seem to spend but don't see the value in spending more. We enjoy learning as we go but never expect to be as competitive as those run by professional teams.
My lad turns 11 this month but in maturity I would put him at 10 and in truth he doesn’t yet display any real competitive aggression at all. We have realistic expectations about his ability but take the view if he’s enjoying it we will fund it and carry on. The good point from our last race is the owner of a top kart team came over to us and said he couldn’t believe how his driving had improved since he saw him 6 months ago. This was after he had just led about 4 laps of a practice with about 20 stars drivers in it!
Now like most people we have had our fair share of problems with over aggressive, pushy karting parents. It used to be to get round the first lap without getting a punt was a relief. We have come to understand the way our boy needs to build his confidence in the early laps is not ideal for avoiding problems but on the other hand races are supposed to be controlled by clerks and the sport a non-contact one. IF ONLY.
One thing I can say with hand on heart is my lad is a kind, intelligent child and has never dunted anyone deliberately. For that matter I have only ever seen him make rear contact with another kart about three times in three years, simply because he got caught out or got his braking wrong. In most cases I have apologised for it. We have the usual black tyre scuff marks on our front pod but I have never had to buy a new front nose pod and unlike SOME we don’t use a specially FLATTENED ZIP NOSE CONES on practice day so that their future Lewis H can practice lifting people’s rear wheels only to be replaced with a (more) legal one on Sunday.
We have had a black flag once, when he was a novice and was racing at the back with two other novices. He came round a fast corner that leads into a hairpin way too fast, and got on the grass, recovered the slide but ended up shooting out across his competitors in the middle of the hairpin. The Deputy Clerk thought this was a way too aggressive OVERTAKING move and pulled him in. God how I wish that was true because three years later I am still waiting for his first aggressive move. Afterwards we had a polite chat with the Clerk and he saw our point and apologised for the actions of his deputy and the ruining of our day.
My boy is not one to make friends easily but when he has got in with a group of other boy’s at a race track he has loved the companionship, but the time when the leader of the pack slammed their caravan door in his face did upset him a bit.
|
|
The unbelievable world of cadet karting ...Part 1 by 'SteveG98' << You are here!
