RSRRacer

Yesterday, my 10 year old son and I participated in a 2 hour indoor kart enduro race at our local track. He has only been in the kart for 3-4 hours total and has never raced.

Even though we ended up last (all the local 15-20 year old hot shoes were there) I am so proud of him!

Observations:

1) Wow, these kart drivers are FAST. I outweigh the leaders by probably 75 lbs (225 vs 150) but they were turning consistent high 37 low 38 second laps and i was struggling to get to 39 flat with most in high 39s.

2) My son is faster than me - at 10 years old - with no racing experience. He weights 120 lbs less, so sure this means something, but now I am not hearing the end of it! His best time was a 38.018, about a full second faster than me.

It is amazing to watch a child with no experience control the kart, making all kinds of small corrections per second, as it slides around the track.

He even gave me some humbling feedback - as follows:
- Dad, you need to stop sliding the kart so much you look silly doing that
- Dad, you are way too far off the wall going into turn 1 and that makes you hit the other wall when you go around the corner.
- Dad, your engine sounds slower than the other guys

So, I am giving everyone fair warning that in 7.5 years we will have another PCA racer with alot of skill and NO FEAR.

BrianKeithSmith

That's cool man.

multi21

1. He is right. Don't slide the karts so much.

2. He is right, use the whole track.

3. Get ready to open up the checkbook because it's coming....... real outdoor kart...

chopperzz

You are very lucky. As a very good friend of mine says, who also has a son into Karting; there is no other sport that a Father/Son can do together without each getting bored of it/each other.
As with your son, this other boy is extremely fast although he's been involved for over 2 years now. A special "arrangement" , has had this little guy into the adult karts for 1 year so far......
I make a point of flying out to be a member in his 4 man charity enduro, (2nd year coming up), just to watch him drive.
Good luck to you and your son, keep him behind the wheel and you can predict a very level headed teenager when its time to give him the responsibility of being on the road.

Astroman

DanR

give yourself some comfort in that weight makes a HUGE difference to times

Circuit Motorsports

I'm going to assume that you were at VLK. That place will be a HUGE benefit for your son if he stays there. Those hotshoes are some of the best indoor karters in the world (no exaggeration either, they go to the world championships and are right up at the top) and if he gets himself into the leagues with them down the road he'll be learning lots of good racecraft and how to put up with constant pressure for hours at a time, especially if you start getting into the long enduros. As for weight, most of those guys are reasonably close to 170-80 IIRC. They never had to carry much weight if any for the enduros I believe.

Sam N

Awesome. Analysis skills are starting off strong. Impressed with his comment about engine (RPM) sound. Our local place just added RPM as a data point on our printouts. Wait until he gets in a cup car!

TheOtherEric

Sounds like he enjoyed it and did a good job. So you should introduce him to REAL karting; i.e. outdoor racing karts. The difference is about the same as the difference between a Ford Excursion and a Formula Ford. It's seriously that different.

ltc

please explain ...

93 FireHawk 968

Love indoor karting, had my son doing indoor and outdoor karting for a long time before he got his license. Use to love listen to him brag about how bad he was kicking my butt! Don't under estimate the weight difference in karting, it's huge.

Enjoy the karting time with your son, before you know it he'll be driving your Cup.

ajcjr

get him going, i started my son when he was 5 and he loves it, he did very good his first year wining races, won tires, and made major improvements in his driving from beginning to end. Its a blast watching them drive and racing with your kids. I run a tag kart and just spending time at the track and watching him made my summer amazing!! Im glad you two enjoyed the racing!!

multi21

I highly recommend gettings him an outdoor kart and yourself one to. It's the only time you can truly do something together until he possibly reaches 16 or so. Best time of my life was when my daughter and I were both racing karts together.

JimmiLew

Um, have you ever gone skiing with your kid? We ski for days on end racing each other down the hill and bonding on the lift. Try it some time!

Chris: Congrats! That is very cool! Glad the young stud is hooked already. Hide the keys to the cup!

JL

RSRRacer

These things dont even have a key - just flip the master and press the button! And yes, he already knows that!