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The thing about motorsport is that most, if not quite all, of the people working in it wish they were drivers.
Perhaps they karted as a kid before dad ran out of money or maybe they just sat in front of the TV dreaming that one day they would be out there on the grid.
Whatever the reason was for them not making it, every now and again they get the chance to prove they coulda been a contender, as Terry reminds Charley in On the Waterfront.
These occasions are karting events, especially those compromised solely of motorsport industry folk.
For the past four years, Mahindra Formula E star Karun Chandhok has been organising a charity karting event at his local track of Whilton Mill. It raises money to help under-privileged children in India receive an education, and is a cause very close to his mother’s heart.
For this year’s running, a whopping 40 teams, each with three drivers, entered, making for a packed field that required two heats and a final to decide who had the ultimate bragging rights.
One of the 40 was a team representing Formula E. As the rules state that no professional drivers were allowed, the three intrepid volunteers were garnered from the communications team and sent on their way to uphold the honour of all-electric racing.
Our friends at Current E ensured we weren’t alone in our fight against the Internal Combustion hoards, but in truth neither of us ever really stood a chance of securing the top 10 finish required to make the final due to a combination of bad luck (being T-boned at the second hairpin on the first lap), a lack of racecraft (naming no names, but you know who you are) and a profound and ultimately insurmountable lack of talent.
Still, we beat Current E (good luck with the new magazine guys) and had a great time. But most importantly, a lot of money was raised for a very worthy charity.
Having sat around in the cold, Karun and works Aston Martin GT racer Darren Turner (who was ‘coaching’ a team of AMR staff) decided to join in at the back of the field in the final.
Within just a handful of laps they had raced their way to the front, leaving the deluded wannabes in no doubt that they were better off pursuing a career away from the cockpit.
See you next year guys!