Thursday, July 10, 2008 Sportswriters learn finer points of karting
TAKING a minute to cover a 600-meter track maybe fast but onboard a kart at Kartzone, taking more than 60 seconds to cover the straightaway and a series of bends is as slow as slow can be.
Members of the Sportswriters Association of Cebu City Inc. (Sacci), who are more used to racing deadlines than racing itself, got a chance to be a racer for a few minutes as they tried their expertise—or lack of it—at the go karts in kart zone.
“According to Ayrton Senna (the late Brazilian F1 world champion), karting is the purest form of racing,” Kartzone’s Jess Garcia told the assembled members of Sacci before they took their turn at the karts.
After a short briefing on the basics of karting, and more importantly, what to do in case of a crash, the members, led by president John Z. Pages and Rico Navarro, had their first of two eight-lap heats on rental karts and learned the sport isn’t as easy as it looks.
Unlike the street cars, steering a go kart can sap one’s strength.
“That’s why we also do weights, while the younger kids also train to develop their upper body strength,” said veteran karter and national champion Blake Go.
Navarro, Jonas Panerio, and Raffy Osumo were the speed demons among the sportswriters as they weaved in and out of traffic in the initial heat, while the lone female member present, Caecent No-ot Magsumbol, was the first casualty, with her kart conking out in the first turn.
Rest
The sportswriters took a rest after their first go around and in the brief lull, Go and the young Jette Calderon showed the scribes what karting is really all about as they took their race karts and scorched the track at blinding speed, with Go initially ahead and Calderon so tantalizingly close that the front of his kart seemed to touch Go’s rear.
Calderon then showed his skills as he used the slipstream to push his kart to overtake Go on the inside of the curve to grab the lead.
“That’s the best way to overtake. He used the slipstream to get past me on the inside,” Blake said afterwards.
After the demonstration, the sportswriters had their turn with an eight-lap mock race, a far cry from the racers who do a
series of 25, 25, and 30 laps and Superbalita’s Erwin Lirazan learned how tricky steering a kart is as a momentary slip caused him to hit the barrier in the first lap, while Panerio, Osumo and Navarro had their way in and out of past the slower members of the scribes, who seemed they were on a joyride.
After his initial slip, Lirazan slashed some 40 seconds of his lap time, while Panerio finished first, averaging some 45 seconds per lap.
In contrast, the current time zone record is 24.8 second.
The Kartzone experience was the second Sacci-initiated activity and the members are next planning to take up target shooting or dancesport later this month. (Pooled report)
