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But while it is impressive to see the ultra-fast
DD2 karts being hustled around the Zwartkops
kart circuit in a nose-to-tail pack, the most impressive class for me is the so-called Maxterino series. This sees youngsters aged between
eight and 13-years-old – junior school kids –
racing karts that are very fast for their size.
This weekend past I attended the final round
of the 2015 South African Rotax Max Challenge karting series. I’ve been involved on
a peripheral level with the series since soon
after its inception as my childhood friend
Ed Murray is the man behind this incredibly
successful racing nursery for youngsters (and
adults) who want to live out a motor-sporting dream on a budget that will strain but
shouldn’t actually break the bank balance.
There are a number of karting classes for drivers starting off at the age of around six years
old and ranging through to the powerful DD2
Gearbox class for Master drivers aged 32
and over. Indeed, South African racer Cristiano Morgado has won three DD2 Masters
titles in the annual Rotax Grand Finals, and
this year he will be competing again in Portugal, come November against close to 300
drivers from 60 countries.
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The series this year went down to the final
few corners of the final lap in the final race
of the final round of the championship, with
the winner taking the title by one and a half
points. For the record he is Cameron O'Connor of Benoni, and he beat out Aidan Strydom of Cape Town, just, but only just.
The best thing about watching these kids race
is that, in a field of up to 20 karts, there are five
or six of them exchanging the lead not only
on each lap, but on a couple of corners on
each and every lap. And the best thing is that
they give each other room to pass, for there
are hardly ever any huge comings together
as you get in so many other forms of motorsport when a challenge for the lead is made
and defended.
They all race karts which are pretty much
identical as far as the chassis are concerned,
and the engines are 60 cc units with no modifications allowed, which means that rich
dads (or moms!) can’t employ specialists to
give their little darlings too much of an edge
over their opposition. Of course, some parents do employ specialists as drive coaches
and chassis set-up experts, but that is something that can’t be written into the rule book.
It’s such a contrast watching these youngsters having fun and yet driving with consideration for their opposition, as opposed
to watching kids not much older than these
karters, now driving Formula One cars. Max
Verstappen, for instance, is just 17 years-old,
and yet when you see him interviewed, you’d
swear he has the financial future of Europe
resting on his shoulders.
Formula One, as an entity, is just too darned important for its own good, it takes itself far too seriously and it is turning fans away by the droves.
So, for all of us who are disillusioned with the
dreary doggerel that dogs F1 these days,
here’s a solution. Come and watch a good
kart race or a motorcycle event to see proper racing where fun is still the main objective.
How F1 is going to get back to a state of being where it becomes fun again, is a question
that is difficult to answer.
By Stuart Johnston