It’s been a long time since I’ve gone go karting and after being very ill and stuck at home for nearly a full week, I really needed to get out of the house as a serious case of cabin fever was beginning to set in. I still wasn’t feeling 100% but the need to get out (of what was beginning to feel like a prison of a home) over-ruled my still upset stomach and I needed a distraction. So…I went to Formula Kartways in Brampton to clear my head and challenge myself.

To motivate myself, I put out an open challenge…anyone who beats my fastest lap time, will get some free bonus laps on the house. Since the management staff knows me well (I’m a former employee, race director and instructor) they know that I’m always good for business when I race there so they were quick to honour such a challenge at their expense. Customers are more  likely to buy extra laps to try and beat me (especially when I race with them head-to-head) and even if someone beats me and gets some free laps, it guarantees that they will return to buy more. It’s a win-win for everyone and as usual, I get to race for free and put on a show.

Since I wasn’t feeling even close to perfect, I didn’t push myself too hard and although I’m rather rusty (haven’t raced there in nearly 9mths), I set a respectable benchmark lap time of 29.77 seconds for other drivers to strive to beat (this was about 1 second faster than most of the skilled drivers that evening). Eventually, half way through the night, two guys did beat me and were awarded with some free passes. The faster of the two guys beat me with a time of 29.53 and the other fellow beat me with a time of 29.73…talk about close! The track generally gets faster as the night wears on as more karts running means more heat in the karts & tires, as well as the track surface, which means more grip and therefore more potential for faster lap times. I felt compelled to push harder and set a faster time. Okay okay…my pride was a tad hurt and I felt a need to redeem myself. I cleared my head and got into the proverbial “zone” as I donned my helmet and gloves once more. I was determined to set a faster time and I did with a time of 28.93! Wow…nearly a full second faster than my previous benchmark time and more than half a second faster than the guy who beat me earlier by a hair over 2/10ths of a second. It may not seem like much but on a track that is less than a quarter mile long, half a second is a big deal.

To get an idea of what it’s like racing these rather fast and well tuned karts, click on this image to watch a promo video that I made for them a few years ago. Yes…that’s actually me driving.