Special Feature: Kid Kart Racing - Part Two

As winter broke in Southwestern Ontario, it became clear that year two would hold in store new challenges and surprises.

The energy required to sail a straight course was significantly more difficult than I could have imagined for this age category.

In my town I have several empty parking lots where I can lap a kart without much trouble. As such, getting out for even an hour on the first slightly warm day in March is good to awaken the spirits (and demons).

Run a little shake down, make sure everything is running as expected, check all the bolts and getting ready for the start of the season. 2025 began with a 52-kart entry list with a near 100% program renewal for all eligible kids.

On day one at the track, 50% of the kids are already blinding fast. My son is slow, deep in the pack maybe 35th quick, completely lost on track. He’s having fun, just doing so very excruciatingly slowly.

And a lot of it. Thousands of laps. If it was 0 degrees, we went to practice. If it was raining, we went to practice, if it was 40 degrees, we went to practice. There was no excuse to not go to practice multiple times a week.

Three different kart facilities allowed lapping for kid karts, we rotated through circuits as much as we could. We lapped from morning until sunset at times. Communities grew. The slow kids fed off the fast kids, the fast kids just kept pushing to faster lap times.

In our case, it was Arlen O’Brien (who went on to win the Kid Kart Championship), Mateo Ono (2nd place championship finisher) and the Ivanov Brothers, Martin and Simeon (clip all these names for the future!) that helped take my son Alvaro from the back and pushed him towards the frontrunners.

It was during these relentless practice days which the Ivanov brothers told my son to go faster. They spoke to him in a language I cannot. They’re kids, they’re friends, and this would be the light switch my son needed to push to faster lap times.

The sight of watching them battle each other is remarkable. They don’t have a reference, there aren’t many kids watching racing as an instructional manual, they’re learning it for themselves on the fly. Watching them cross each other up, set up passes, and understand efficiencies in their driving is a remarkable sight, it’s an amazing experience to watch in real life.

We didn’t get far into the season before a pecking order formed. By now, the majority of kids have a target lap time, and it has become imperative not to have qualifying laps spoiled by poor decision making.

It begins with kart prep, topping the fuel tank, and tyre pressures have got to be correct. The engines are sensitive to weather, so ensuring the correct spark plug is in the motor, checking to make sure the chain isn’t too loose or too tight, and then the sprint down trying to be the first of 40 karts to begin the qualifying session for clear air.

The fast kids are too fast to be reeled back in after qualifying. A poor qualifying position will devastate the remainder of the day. There’s a magical moment before sending them out on track. It’s what I call “helmet-on, kart-on” and it’s a window directly into their minds that lasts only 15 seconds where they sit and accept their orders before heading on track.

They won’t look at you; they won’t respond to you; they just sit there and absorb. This is a fascinating moment because the normal messaging to a five-year-old is to be nice, share, have fun, don’t be silly, stop fighting with your siblings, etc.

Yet, in this 15-second window they are being told to not wait on passing, do not let anyone by, go fast, do not drive slowly, use the kerbs and above all Attack! Attack! Attack! We speak to them like they are drivers and completely forget that they are children.

Road racers perpetually get lost in the delusion of the incessant need of a strong engine, this is something I’m guilty of myself. I want the best engine; I want my son to have the best engine, chassis comes second. Even though I know this is a backwards mentality to have, I cannot escape it.

By the time we were looking for tenths, everything began to matter, from engine prep, carb prep, tyre pressure, tyre size, kart width, cutting unnecessary weight, swapping to steel rear bumpers rather than plastic for better airflow, anything we could do to go faster we did it.

I rebuilt my own motors, I had three of them, one of which, just by chance happened to be a rocket. I’d lose sleep at night trying to figure out how to make more power. A couple of the dads nearly succeeded in converting a two-stroke carburetor into a four-stroke, when it worked it was awesome, when it didn’t, it was miserable.

“You lift, you lose”, A great quote by Kyle, father of Arlen O’Brien. This was a great reminder to the advanced kids. The karts are such that all of the leaders got to the point where it became a competition to not lift, ever.

With 40 karts on circuit, it was inevitable that fielding lap traffic could change the outcome of a race. One of the lessons during training with Daniel Di Leo at Goodwood Kartways was he’d place plastic barriers on the circuit as a lesson to the kids to look ahead.

Every lap Dan would reorganize the barriers to add difficulty and emphasize the importance of looking forward. In some cases, the barriers would block the entire circuit, and the kids would need to take to the grass as a crash avoidance measure.

This one lesson became one of the core principles in battling at the front, picking the correct location on track to pass, choosing the correct side, all while not lifting from the throttle any more than the minimum required.

This is perhaps my favorite topic, deliberate contact. Deliberate contact is not part of the program with the youngsters, but as the racing progressed, bump drafting, blocking, and deliberate contact became more and more prevalent.

I was on circuit doing laps with Martin Ivanov in his much faster cadet kart during some open lapping. I was in a senior kart when on one lap we approached his brother Simeon who was also in a cadet kart. As I went around him, Simeon deliberately moved over to initiate contact, coating my left side pod in his Vega blue tire rubber. Simeon was five years old at the time.

This sort of aggressive behaviour is a feature in racing, it isn’t taught, it’s learned through instinct. Next time you see a driver blocking on track, I assure you, this is naturally born instinct, so basic in fact, it’s built into five-year-olds by grace of our racing Gods.

Standing trackside, any time this type of aggression would escalate, parents would snap their heads looking at each other in disbelief. Six-year-old Aria Dennahower was the most advanced in terms of understanding the value of aggressive driving. She was a constant forward force, and she did not wait on a pass under any circumstances.

It’s become normalized that by the time a karter is seven years old, they have at least two karts, but it’s more like three or four. By the time a karter is seven, they’ve already sampled cadet level four-cycle karts and a two-stroke kart.

The sooner a driver is ready to tackle a cadet spec kart meant for 7–12-year-olds, the better. The core principles of kid kart of not lifting off the throttle is significantly different in a cadet kart where braking input becomes required due to the higher speeds.

The kids immediately struggle in both karts as they try to separate the driving needs in a kid kart from the driving needs in a cadet kart. What has happened in nearly all instances is the kids return to the slower kid kart and begin braking for corners instead of pinning the throttle all the way around. They do eventually separate both karts and drive them properly respectively, but the transition can take some time. As soon as this separation is made, many kids then immediately sample two-stroke karts.

For perspective, an average adult person who doesn’t have racing experience will not be able to keep up to a six-year-old in a cadet kart. Not only will they not be able to keep up but their brains will have bricked feeling for themselves firsthand how fast they’re really going.

These four-cycle cadet karts qualify at the same lap time as the master’s four-cycle class meant for people aged 35+, these are incredibly fast for the youngsters. Witnessing a six-year-old hustle a two-stroke kart is mind-numbing.

My son’s top speed to date during two-stroke kart sampling was 93km/h, and while this all seems crazy, it’s the natural progression starting from kid karting at four years old which is allowing this progression to occur in a safe and controlled manner.

“Show me your wallet. Ok now take your wallet and throw it into the ocean” – Matthew Ono.

A sense of community, a sense of friendship, a sense of camaraderie, a sense of rivalry, these are all great things, but obviously winning is the greatest of the great moments.

The shockwave of good vibes watching kids get their first wins is a feeling money can’t buy. For me it is being able to interact with the kids from a driving perspective which I love. It amazes me that they have the finesse to modulate the throttle and manage mid corner slides, operate the brake and deliver karts down the straightaway at over 90km/h, yet they lack the precise motor skills required for their fingers to feed the chin strap through to tighten their own helmets. Something as simple as to hold their gloves so they can get their fingers and hands comfortably fitted and ready to go is not only a privilege, but an honor for me as I perceive them all as warriors.

As such, this is also a time preceding secrets, hatred, jealousy amongst the kids and parents. The encouragement is of great value, instead of holding them back so my kid can win over yours, the attitude that prevails is the encouragement of all kids.

The championship battle came down to three drivers, Arlen O’Brien, Mateo Ono & Aria Dennahower and it was decided on the final lap and won by Arlen O’Brien on final run to the finish line, the intensity absolutely incredible.

By mid-season it would appear Aria was in control of the championship, but outrageous bad luck with engines on race days towards the end of the season cost her many points in the end. Mateo looked in control in the final stages, but it was season-long resilience from Arlen who managed to score valuable points constantly along the way coupled with a late season performance improvement that helped Arlen secure the championship.

Natalie Hilliard won the biggest race to date. 2025 KartStars Provincials Night Race at Goodwood Kartways, which was livestreamed on Kart Chasers YouTube feed.

Here’s a quote from her father Gord Hilliard. It was directed at the mayor of Uxbridge immediately following the race, and it sums up the excitement I’ve been up to. This is the most appropriate close out to this experience I’ve gotten to share with so many great people in this amazing community.

He said: “It's really hard for us both to put into words what the program has meant and done for us.

"Natalie has been car obsessed since she was born. Her first word was 'Car', her favorite toys have always been RC cars and Hot Wheels. When she demanded that she wanted to race my wife and I had no idea what to do. Internet searches and reputation led us to Goodwood Kartways. We were completely out of our depth; we have no racing experience in our family at all.

"When we attended the spring class session anxiety switched to excitement. We were surrounded by people in the exact same position and knew that you and the team would be there to help. Natalie slept in her race suit that night.

"From that very first session, the transformation was incredible. Natalie gained not only driving skills but also confidence, discipline, and a sense of belonging. Every instructor took the time to make the kids feel welcome and capable — celebrating small victories and turning mistakes into learning moments. We've been lucky to meet an amazing group of parents - many of whom would go out of their way to help any child in the paddock.

"Like any competitive environment, personalities vary, but the kindness and support shown by so many families truly stood out. The balance between safety, structure, and fun is something truly special about the Kid Kart Racing program. As parents, we always felt that she was in good hands, learning proper technique and sportsmanship, not just how to go fast.

"Watching Natalie line up on the grid with a huge smile, surrounded by new friends who share her passion, has been one of the most rewarding experiences we’ve ever had as a family. Goodwood Kartways has given Natalie a lifelong love of racing and given us countless memories together.

"Thank you to you and the entire team for creating such a supportive and inspiring environment for the next generation of racers. We can’t wait to see where this journey takes her next," he concluded.