Go-kart racing good foundation for rallying... if made affordable!
FILE PHOTO | SULEIMAN MBATIAH Drivers go through their paces during the second round of Go Kart Championship that was held at the Rift Valley Motors and Sports Club in Nakuru on February 23, 2014. Dadhley brothers Jaivir and Zorravar dominated the third round of the national go-karting championships, easily winning their races at the Rift Valley Motors and Sports Club in Nakuru yesterday.
What you need to know:
- A session of 15 minutes costs between Sh2,500 to Sh3,000 which most parents say is too costly.
- Some say this can only come down through economies of scale by having more circuits away from prime land locations. All in all, it is one branch of motorsport that can be enjoyed by all irrespective of age or family background.
We had a long refreshing Saturday mid-morning catch-up outing in the company of young Nicky Wanjohi and his friends, all bubbling with end-of-term boyhood enthusiasm at the Mad Max Go Kart racing track at Waterfront Mall in Karen.
Wanjohi, 13, son of celebrated athlete and philanthropist Isaac Macharia, is madly in love with go-kart racing, the now preferred entry point for young boys and girls who love speed or nurse a long-term goal of becoming rally drivers.
Some are inspired by Jeremiah Wahome, the fast-rising rally FIA Rally Star programme driver who has won one Kenya National Rally Championship and was third in the Eldoret round recently.
Wahome honed his rallying career at go-kart level, in an inexpensive machine which can be powered by a lawn mower engine.
He was already oozing talent at the age of nine before proceeding to the UK for higher education where he continued racing at Formula level there and in Malaysia.
Another top gun before him, Tejas Hirani, went as far as doing Formula racing, winning the 2015 Formula Gulf 1000 in Dubai at 16 before he disappeared from the scene. Go-kart racing is now the in-thing for the youth, especially those whose parents can afford to spare no less than 8,000 every weekend.
The young people are ready to trade anything, including family outings, for go-kart racing. The little ones are always accompanied by their parents, and irrespective of gender, attack racing with the enthusiasm and commitment of adults.
And as Wanjohi told us, they delve deep into F1 racing discussions, their pastime at home ahead of everything else on TV or smartphones. They also know all drivers and history which would make a journalist not averse to F1 racing lost in discussion.
From the great Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian superstar who was killed at the Monza F1 circuit in 1993, to legendary Italian Alberto Ascari, the two-time world champion who also lost his life on the same circuit in 1955.
These young people will trade the Premier League for F1, at any time. They also travel far and wide seeking action.
The Waterfront circuit is the brainchild of Neel Vadagama — a former G-kart racer like Wahome — who runs the facility and tapped Sammy Mudembi from GP Karting for direction.
Their ultimate goal is to have the circuit certified by the Kenya Motorsports Federation (KMSF) and to become part of the national championship series.
If nurtured to fruition go-kart racing is work in progression and an ideal entry point to competitive four-wheel driving in Kenya. Even without a recent successful past, go-kart racing, the precursor of circuit racing once thriving at Langa Langa and Gilgil circuits for cars and motorcycles, can re-enact the circle of a glorious past once again.
All great rally drivers of the old Safari Rally, like Rob Collinge, Bill de Garis, Vic Preston Junior and Senior, Dalgit Chager, Ian Duncan and Mike Kirkland, just to mention a few, were also good circuit racing drivers at the defunct Langa Langa, Gilgil and later Embakasi circuits.
The influence of the WRC Safari Rally is already being felt with the marshals and experts pooled from the safety department headed by Norris Ongalo whose influence is enjoyed on go-kart racing circuits.
This branch of motorsport is very sensitive as an age group, family-oriented competition where the presence of mothers is more prominent sometimes influenced by impulsive demand for action from children during weekend shopping runs.
That is why it needs to be nurtured well. GP Karting, Solai, Two Rivers and Whistling Moran are the other locations where young people frequent go-kart racing. But random consultations cite high competition fees as a major drawback.
A session of 15 minutes costs between Sh2,500 to Sh3,000 which most parents say is too costly.
Some say this can only come down through economies of scale by having more circuits away from prime land locations. All in all, it is one branch of motorsport that can be enjoyed by all irrespective of age or family background.
