Little wheels, big thrills
By Steve Waldon | theage.com.au | 02 June
They hit the straight, hit the accelerator and try not to hit each other. Then they start weaving, trying to heat up their tyres, and you wonder whether this mechanical ballet could end in tears.
We have come to the May club meeting of the Go Kart Club of Victoria, the state's oldest established club and affiliate of the Australian Karting Association.
Why? Because on every city-bound crossing of the West Gate Bridge since the club moved from Brooklyn in 1995, the sight of the club's Port Melbourne track has teased our curiosity: who are these people in tiny vehicles, and how much fun are they having?
And why aren't they at the footy, at a cafe, at a gallery, or at home on the couch?
Because Melbourne is a sizeable city, where some people allocate parts of their weekends to pursuits that are neither mainstream nor trendy.
According to club president John Wall, karting enthusiasts are a community. The racing is serious, but no more important than the family cohesion, camaraderie and life lessons that racing and club membership develop.
They start as young as seven, little tyros in the Midgets class. They are on "baby karts", with restricted power and a wheelbase more suited to them, but they tear up the Port Melbourne track, their nascent skills developing with each lap.
In the Junior National class, would-be Brabhams aged 11 to 13 produce a more intense brand of racing. Wall says we should watch Jake in kart No. 6 and an opponent in No. 17. Sure enough, after two laps they have left the field behind, and the duel is truly on.
In karting, and on a looping track such as this, there are few opportunities to overtake. No. 6 sits in 17's slipstream and pulls out sharply at the top of the straight. He draws level, but turn one is upon them, and 17 throws his kart in, refusing to yield the lead.
Alas, on a subsequent lap, 17 hits the same turn, but looks impeded by a slower driver. He has nowhere to go. He brakes, spins and comes to a stop facing the wrong way.
No. 6 flies past and cruises to an easy victory. Wall says many races come down to a minor miscalculation.
He got involved when son Matthew was 13. They went to a karting fun day at Epping and raced each other.
"When my son lapped me, I thought, hang on — what's this all about?" he says.
Matthew became a leading Australian karter, and had a name-making win in Japan in 2006.
Now John Wall stays involved because he sees karting as a valuable chance for young revheads to learn to drive, and channel their aggression, in a controlled environment.
"And if your bum's sitting a few centimetres off the bitumen and you're doing 80, it's a different experience," Wall says.
Older drivers abound. There were 22 entrants in yesterday's over-40s race, and Wall says the average age would be 46 or 47.
Some are lifelong adherents, others have come to karting late and found a way to have fun without buying a red sports car and indulging in a midlife crisis.
Luke Burt, 45, is such an enthusiast. He has a cleaning business, and came to yesterday's races after finishing work at 6am.
"Our motto is 'born to race, forced to work'," Burt says, with the broadest of unshaven grins.
For John Wall, there is great satisfaction in the egalitarian nature of the membership.
"We've got plumbers, accountants, gynaecologists, cleaners and bloody lawyers mingling here — it's a fantastic networking opportunity," he says.
Wall hands us official yellow vests and takes us to vantage points inside the track, where the wap-wap-wap of rubber pumping the bitumen is loudest.
FIRST we have to get past grid marshal Anita Lowerson, but she's in a good mood today. Our vests are yellow, and Wall jokes that we need to bow to anyone in a red vest.
See that viewing box? The stewards are in there. Racing incidents such as rubbing tyres or brushing other karts are accepted as an inevitability, but pity help you if you are deemed to have deliberately nudged an opponent, or driven negligently.
In some of the races we watch, there are drivers who quickly fall behind the field. These are novices, with P plates.
They start at the back of the field and remain there, but the idea is to expose them to real racing. How else will they learn? The stewards monitor them closely, and they will be licensed when they are thought to be competitive.
Were I to succumb to the desire to fill my nostrils with two-stroke emissions, Wall says, it might cost me about $4000 to get involved. That would give me a decent second-hand kart, the gear, a licence, and tyres compliant with Australian standards.
He strongly recommends attending club days such as this, and seeking expertise. Many novice karters do not know how to set up their machines, instantly placing themselves at a disadvantage.
"There's the chassis, ride height, correct axle, right fuel mix, tyre pressure …" OK, if you say so, John.
The club is excited by the endorsement of the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce, which kicks in sponsorship dollars but nominally targets the next generation of motor mechanics.
The club expects more than 350 entrants, from all over Australia, at August's City of Melbourne titles.
"You have to hear a lot of 100cc motors revving at 22,000 rpm: there is no better sound," he says, and you know he means it.
First published by TheAge.com.au on June 02 2008
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