UK Karting - Karting Kid Article

The Karting Kid
"We're Gonna Make You a Star"

The Kid is back with his second article showing that the line between talent and money can be a thin one. If you can't get yourself onto the National Lottery's list of good causes then it's time to buy an extra ticket...

"We're Gonna Make You a Star"

It's every Father's dream to see the 'light of their life' reach Formula 1 and share the acclaim of the likes of Coulthard, Herbert and Franchitti, but beware it's not all as it seems!

Many Daddy's have stars in their eyes throughout their Kid's Karting career, assuming that their little pilot is the chosen one, with talent, the likes of which hasn't been seen since Coulthard graced the scene a few moons ago. Thank goodness that, that this is their belief, as it's often what keeps Dad shelling out on a sport that he never really realised was that expensive, but he too, is now bitten by the bug and the ego of it all.

This 'rising star' ego is almost always encouraged by the teams, especially at Cadet level, where engines are purported to change hands for many thousands of pounds and mostly to find that it's not actually any quicker than the one you've been using, but the driving ability of it's previous pilot made it look worth the money. Of course the Dad's stop watch always twitches a bit faster, just to justify the spending , whilst the 'tuner' mutters words of encouragement, just within ear shot. It takes some time to realise and often it is after the little pilot has grown into another class, that the engines can only be 'blue printed' anyway, not tuned and therefore there's only so far an engine can be played with legally and often it's the experience of the driver aged 11, that makes it look quicker to the eye of the Father of the 8 year old.

This spending lark is then encouraged throughout Junior TKM, even the sprockets have to be stamped TKM and are inflated for the privilege, as with many other non performance enhancing TKM parts, so that by the time the 'talented' youth reaches the heady heights of JICA, Dad is so used to forking out, he hardly notices the money spent, that would keep some small Nations afloat.

But don't worry this is all training you up for the big day, Karting's very own Brain Drain, Car Racing! Now this is big league and whilst it's not been heard of for Karters to re-mortgage their house to go Karting (although I believe one's just recently done so for his kid to race on the Continent), even Nigel Mansell did so to fund his way to the top and Damon Hill, used his Motorcycle messenger job to knock on doors, bandying around his Dad's name liberally to raise funds to race, while Herbert's, was lucky enough to have Sisley's help in securing the 'Racing for Britain' sponsorship that helped drivers with talent and no money, to reach the top!

You've probably got the hint by now, it's not your talented boy they're after, it's your money and if your boy has talent that's just a bit of a bonus really, because the vital steps through the lower Formulae take considerable money, with figures like Ł100k+ for a drive in a top Formula Ford, Vauxhall team etc being bandied around and Formula 3 needing at least a minimum budget of Ł250k and around a million for the move too F3000, but don't despair too much, maybe the lads Mum can actually fit in an extra job to the 3 she already has, to make the family dream come true! The car teams have woken up to the fact that 'there's money in them there Karters' and with Jackie Stewart uttering phrases like "You won't get anywhere in car racing, unless you started in Karting", fuels the fire for the Car Teams to hunt out our richest drivers and wouldn't it be nice, if just one Karter was approached by Jackie Stewart or his like and told that he would pay for his racing through cars because he has talent!!!

The good news however is that, sometime down line you are going to know some one who has made it to F1, you may have even spoken to that person or admired their massive motorhome close up, but you'll be able to relay to your pals in the pub one night, that you once lent the new superstar a spark plug or your Dad once pushed him whilst you were in Cadets together and even better news is that you might have even been a better driver, but just didn't have the money to go forth. Never mind you will join the ranks of Kartings best ever in Mike Wilson, Francois Goldstein (who), Terry Fullerton, Mickey Allen, Bobby Game, all extremely talented drivers, who were true Karting greats and like the majority of us should be proud that we have stayed within a much better sport!

The Kid.

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