As part of his prize for winning the 2009 Formula Kart Stars championship, Jack Barlow had been invited to contest a round of the Florida Winter Tour, held at Palm Beach International Raceway last weekend (20/21 February). Already billed as something of a star ahead of his arrival, he duly delivered a performance worthy of his hosts’ pre-race hype. The event had also attracted IRL star and former Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon, who commented on Jack’s quality. The spectators and a world-wide audience watching via the internet were treated to a superb battle in the Junior Rotax class, in which the Dan Holland Racing driver was competing.

The pre-race buzz was all about the massive field of 55 drivers, combined with the arrival of Jack and his compatriot, Matt Parry, also making his Florida Winter Tour debut. Their pedigrees were substantiated by the end of the first lap, as Parry led Barlow in a UK one-two. By the third lap, Jack held the upper hand. On the seventh lap, the tension was ramped up as the English pair touched. Matt slipped to 12th with Jack also losing places and dropping to 4th. As the American commentator noted, "the party’s just starting." Jack made short work of the two American drivers in second and third places on consecutive laps, and now began reeling in the leader. With eight laps to go they were nose to tail, with the American Nick Neri’s pace "barely keeping him out front", as the commentator excitedly noted. As he pushed hard, Barlow almost ran off the circuit but demonstrated great kart control to keep his nose pointing forward. Which he was especially relieved about after hearing that alligators live in the lake bordering the circuit!

On the penultimate lap, Jack put matters beyond dispute and after again closing in on Neri, made a successful bid for the lead and crossed the finishing line a clear winner. "That was fantastic," he gasped in the Floridian heat. "It’s a very different style of racing over here, not as aggressive as Europe - and I’ve had to work with completely different equipment to what I race at home. To win on my first time out here is just fantastic!” Sunday’s final saw drama right from the start. A tangle in the first turn saw pole-sitter Neri get a clean getaway, with Jack held up in the melee.

Having dropped to 7th he quickly began to fight back, picking his way up the order, whilst Neri tried to nail home his early advantage. By lap 6, Jack was into second and chipping away at the substantial gap to the leader. Despite a sterling effort, a second victory was not to be - but he was delighted to seal his second podium in as many days.

“To be honest, the race was a lot harder than I thought it would be,” he said afterwards. “Nick (Neri) gave me something to aim for, but today was his day. There are a lot of fast drivers in this series and it’s every bit as hard as racing in Europe. I must thank everyone who made this trip possible and made me so welcome – especially Mike Ferrucci (Maranello North America) who generously provided all my race equipment; Bill Wright (FWT) and Carolynn Hoy (FKS) who put the deal together for me to come out and race. I hope I made a good impression because I’d love to do this again."

Almost every Formula 1 driver started as a wee lad behind the wheel of a kart, and they still love to return to the machines that gave them their first injection of automotive adrenaline. That’s why three of them — including the legendary Michael Schumacher — are competing in Vegas today.

The seven-time world champion joins former Renault driver Nelson “Crashgate” Piquet Jr. and Sebastien Buemi of Scuderia Toro Rosso in the SuperPro class at the Superkarts! USA SuperNationals XIII. They’re all running in 125-cc water-cooled two-stroke engines with 6-speed gearboxes. These things are quick and put down about 41 horsepower. SuperPro is the top class in international karting.

Having Schumi on the bill — that’s him in the pic above — has been a boon for organizers, and SuperKart v.p. Patti Kutscher says the phone’s been ringing off the hook with people trying to snag tickets. There are 42 spots on the SuperPro grid, but Kutscher wouldn’t say who wanted to race.

“Overall for that class, we have turned away many high-profile drivers who have been very disappointed that we cannot fit them into this years’ top class,” she said.

SuperKarts spokesman Chris Ortenburger said the race promises to be one of the biggest of its kind. “This show is so big it’s the karting equivalent of the Monaco Grand Prix.” Let’s hope the winner doesn’t get lost on the way to the podium.

Karting kids turned F1 drivers never get over the thrill of the Lilliputian cars.

You can find kart tracks all over Germany, so it’s no surprise Michael and Ralf Schumacher got the bug on a track owned by their parents in Sindorf. It’s about 10 minutes from Cologne and named, of course, the Michael Schumacher Kart & Event Center. It’s probably the most well-known kart rental spot in Germany.

Piquet Jr. is the son of three-time F1 champ Nelson Piquet and says he started racing karts when he was 8. “I have broken record after record. I won every championship I raced in go-karts,” he said of his eight years in the Brazilian karting scene. His tenure in F1 was much less spectacular, and after being unceremoniously dumped by Renault earlier this year he recently competed in an endurance karting event at the Monaco Kart Cup and has returned home to Brazil for the famous Granja Viana 500 (where Felipe Massa stole the show during practice).

As for Buemi, it was the go-kart he got for Christmas in 1993 that launched his racing career, and he’s got a couple of Swiss and European karting titles under this belt.

By Wired