My first gokart lesson

I don't know if I'm the only one who, after watching motorsports, felt like sitting behind the wheel themselves. I suspect I'm not, because even just after a few months of being an F1 fan, the thought of trying out a racing car, or a go-kart, or anything like that, started to infiltrate my thoughts. This happened despite the fact that, I used to be afraid of driving, I'm still not the most confident.

If I'm really not the only one, and others have similar desires, fears, and perhaps uncertainties about how to try this out, then I'm here to tell you about how I signed up for a go-kart lesson and how it went.

Those who know me are aware that I like to go down rabbit holes and quickly develop obsessions (see F1, from complete disinterest to now writing about it), so it wouldn't be me if I stopped after one or two go-kart sessions. This is where expressing your enthusiasm comes into play because, firstly, sharing enthusiasm is the best thing in the world, and secondly, it's how you meet like-minded people and get opportunities in your fandom.

After my second go-karting experience, I posted a story and a post on Instagram about how much fun I had and that I found a go-kart camp where they teach the basics, only to realize that go-kart camps are organized for kids, not for 32-year-old women, which I am.

I tagged the go-kart track in these posts, just to give them credit, and not long after, I received a message from them saying that they also offer training sessions, so if I'm interested, I am welcome to go. Even if I'm a 32-year-old woman with mixed feelings about driving (they didn't say this, I'm just adding it because that's how I felt).

In this account, I want to share what my first go-kart lesson was like, in case others with similar fears or uncertainties about where to start with driving might get inspired. And if not, this article still serves as a tribute to how open fangirling can open up opportunities for people.

After this long and substantial introduction, I'll get to the main topic: what my first go-kart lesson was like! I arrived a bit early, and there was still a group on the track, so I had to wait for 15 minutes—just enough time to overthink everything and start getting nervous.

When my turn finally came, I only got the instruction to drive however I would like and be able to, so we could see how it went and what needed improvement. In my head, I had an extremely confident response to this, essentially that we could start anywhere because I had no idea what I was doing.

I drove around the track for 8 minutes, happily living in the moment, which, as it turned out later, resulted in a lap time 3 seconds better than my best lap the last time. This was both shocking and completely understandable. During my first gokarting experience (at the Carlos Sainz Karting Center), my goal was not to crash into the wall and to enjoy myself (done). The second time, I wanted to do something that at least resembled speed (I came 3rd out of 5 racers, so let's say done), and this was the third time. By now, I had a concept of what I was doing and a vague idea of how it should be done.

After demonstrating what I knew (not), I received some feedback—this was very useful because, for example, I had a revelation about hairpin turns, which I certainly couldn't have figured out from behind the wheel. Afterward, we walked the track, looking at all the turns to see the racing line. (In my mind, this is a relatively new concept, as I have only been involved in anything related to racing since last September, and the existence of a racing line came into my awareness relatively late, let alone its practical application.)

Of course, I couldn't memorize everything discussed because I was in a euphoric state from the whole situation, and I was partly thinking about how I was doing a track walk like the real racers. Additionally, I had only slept about 4 hours the night before.

 

After discussing the track, we focused on the first turn as a development area, so a few cones were placed there to help me follow the racing line. By the time I got back into the go-kart, the lack of sleep probably caught up to me, and my brain got overloaded—or I just got a bit stressed out about it, because I did everything we talked about not doing. I bumped into the tyre (sorry, I speak American, but I cannot bring myself to spell tyre with an i) wall several times and felt much slower than before. At one point, I gave up trying to show any improvement and just aimed to enjoy myself regardless of everything. In the end, I even got a demonstration of how it should have been done correctly, which, unfortunately, I am still far from achieving, but doesn't matter.

I had a great time, receiving such a boost of adrenaline and dopamine and who knows what else, that I was grinning like a Cheshire cat all the way home, feeling invincible. At one point, I even caught a whiff of my own gasoline scent, but even that filled me with confidence. I absolutely consider the first lesson a success, and I'm sure there will be another one, so now I'm browsing for pink helmets from my balcony, still smelling of gasoline.