Start Your Engines

I don't think I've blogged much about my brother's hobby, have I? He races go-karts competitively. I know...cool, huh? He bought a kart (which I always describe as a chassis with a lawn mower engine and a steering wheel) and all the associated gear. He looks kind of impressive when he's all suited up, doesn't he? Funny story: the place where he ordered his shoes turned out to not have the ones he wanted, so they gave him a pair of better shoes for the same price. They're flame retardant. I asked him what the odds are that he would need flame retardant shoes, and he said very small. But in the event that there is some kind of spectacular accident, every part of his body will go up in flames, except for his feet.

This is his first year, so he's "the Rookie". Today was his fourth race. Usually, his friend Calin goes with him when he races, but he's in Romania for two months, so I've been recruited to help him out in the pit. I've already helped him once on Canada Day. While it may sound glamourous (or not), all it really involves is some heavy lifting, and a lot of sitting and waiting. Each weight and engine class (novice, junior light, junior heavy, senior light, senior heavy, junior rotax, senior rotax, and masters) goes through four rounds: practice, qualifying, pre-final, and final. So, you can imagine how uneventful it can be. But today was kind of exciting. I almost got run over by a junior heavy kart. Apparently his brakes malfunctioned during the practice and he came off the track with no way of stopping. He somehow managed to steer his way around everyone standing in the pit before being pulled to a stop by some of the fathers.

It was also "picture day". They had a professional photographer on the track taking pictures of the racers. I told Steve that he probably has some of the best shots in the group because, as opposed to the more experienced drivers who were always going around in a group, he was always by himself at the back of the pack.

But it's all in good fun. He had a good practice, but his qualifying round was pretty poor. Turns out his rear axle had become loose and was shifting around. We didn't realize this until just a few minutes before the pre-final. One of the fathers (also named Steve) helped him out and we were able to get him onto the grid just as they were about to start. That improved his performance drastically, and by the end of the final, he had beaten his previous race's best time by a second. And nobody lapped him. So now he's pretty confident that he'll be able to finish second-last next time. Hopefully he'll be able to race against his new nemesis, #7. He probably would have passed #7 this time if the other guy didn't suffer a setback in the first lap of the race and had to pull out.

Until we meet again...

"He's going the distance, he's going for speed"