F1 Boston - Week 1 - January 9, 2010

This was Jack's first week back at F1 Boston.  Jack moved up from the 3B class, which is the first entry level class they offer, to the 2A class.  Jack appeared to be the youngest, definitely the smallest driver in this class.  As is customary your first week in a division, they need to weigh you to see how much weight they need to add to your kart.  Needless to say Jack being the smallest in the class needed to add FULL Weight.  The weight in these rental karts is not like the weight in your own personal kart because, for obvious reasons, it needs to be removable.  Basically there is a "weight box" on the left side of the kart next to the drivers seat which holds various sizes of weight bars, 5, 10, or 20 lb's up to a maximum of 30 lb's.  The weight rattles around in the weight box and can make the kart "hop" once it builds up enough grip, if there is enough weight in the kart.

The day started off with a round of practice - without weight.  Jack did great.  Considering he's the smallest in the classs he kept up with the field and searched for the line on the track until he found where the kart wanted to drive.  Races and starting positions are chosen "at random", meaning you don't race for your starting position, everyone starts one race up front, one in the middle, and one in the back. You alos don't race for which races you drive in.  There are 5 races in Jack's division based on the number of drivers in the division.  They randomly place you in 3 races for the day.  Jack was scheduled to drive in races 2, 3, and 4 with starting positions of 2, 6, and 3.

Jack started his first race in second spot and did very well keeping up with the leader and driving away from the field behind him  But then the kart started to gain some grip and then started hopping making it increasingly difficult to drive.  Jack has never driven a kart in these conditions before and, in addition to getting tired trying to muscle the bouncing kart around the track, he was unsure that there was nothing wrong with the kart and began slowing down.  Jack fell to sixth spot but continued to drive his line and stayed on the lead lap.  Because he's driving in the very next race there is very little time for coaching between races.  Jack's Dad ran down to make sure he knew that it was ok to drive the kart hard even though it was bouncing.  He wanted to make sure he knew that the bounce didn't mean the kart was going to fall apart on him.  With no time to rest Jack started the next race in sixth place and again started to fade around lap 9.  He managed to hold off the kart behind him and maintained his sixth position for the remainder of the race.  Jack started his third race right away and held on to the third position again until around lap 9 when you could see him physically getting tired.  He faded to sixth but again managed to stay on the lead lap.  Jack came off the track completely breathless and sweating like crazy!!
Two weeks off until the next race.  Just enough time to get a workout program in place to build up a little bit of strength and stamina to go out there and race for wins.