Wednesday 6 July 2011:


Birthday present

Hannu turned 11 on 11 June 2011. Marketa got him a new, approved karting outfit and a new neck brace from Sparco and a ribcage protector to complete his Sparco gloves and balaclava, Prospeed shoes and helmet.

He's now fully kitted out and we approached a local team in France to investigate whether he'd be able to participate in karting race. We're being told that he should do a day of testing ideally.
Given that the Sonicracingkart-team of Sébastien Caranta managed to get 3 of its youngsters into the World Championship, I take him up on the offer and get Hannu a birthday present which is a bit more creative than a new Lego ;)


The big day

We arrive at the karting track of Le Luc in the Var in Southern France.

Sébastien Caranta gives a friendly welcome to Hannu and his "fanclub", mamy Marie-Jo, Jean-Marc, Mak and daddy.

A brand new kart awaits Hannu after he got into his outfit.






First task: "Fitting"

Here, no "I'll put a pillow under your bottom if you can't see over the steering wheel". Pedals, steering column and seat are adjusted to get the perfect driving position.

Next is a quick brief on how to operate the starter.

Hannu remains unphased when he's being told this beast has well over 18 bhp compared to the much heavier 6 bhp rental karts he's driven before around this track.





"Can you drive a kart?", asks a sceptical instructor before he goes up. In his usual style, Hannu shrugs his shoulders...

Sébastian will know the answer soon as Hannu comes in from a first stint where he was supposed to warm up the kart and understand its behaviour while Sébastien could get a first feel for the task ahead.






Without any briefing up front, he sets a time just over 1m00. Sébastien compares this to the 1m01 which is the fastest time realistically possible with the local rental karts.


We're off to a good start !


Meanwhile Hannu's normal "cool" has made place for a big grin !

After getting some pointers, often translated and / or reconfirmed by your servant, he gets out for a next series of heats (literally given the temperature well over 30°C).






Some driver feedback and technical debates...





... and the attentive eye of Sébastien who spots everything and gives constant feedback to Hannu.






Laptimes comes down fast...

... and Hannu is thought how to perfect his driving skills: better management of the acceleration, smoother through corners, heavier braking and left foot braking in long "flat out" curves.











Result:

  Laptimes constantly around 55.5 seconds -  as reference, the boys driving in the World Championship get laptimes around 54s.
 
  So for a first out on a competition kart, this is excellent.

  Sébastien was clearly pleased with his pupil. His advice was to now drive a lot to get into the routine and work a bit on his physical condition.
 
   The latter might sound "weird" when you talk about a healthy 11 year old boy who plays football twice a week and is very energetic.

   But put it in context:

   When we go for a bit of karting, we potter around on a 6 bhp "lawnmower" at max 70-75km/h for about 10 kms and we come off sweating, bruised and with muscles aching for the rest of the week. But with a big grin on our face thinking we're ready to fill the void left by the illustrious Ayrton Senna... :D

   On this (hot) afternoon, Hannu drove more than 100 kms with a pocket rocket that can reach more than 100km/h ... Who said motorsports isn't a sport ?