Challenge to drive
In Sharm El-Sheikh, the first International Karting Race to be held in Egypt gives Reem Nafie the adrenaline rush she has always coveted
Standing alongside the neatly paved track watching 100 drivers speed by, going round and round with unwavering confidence, you might wonder why the cart you have been cheering has momentarily slowed down as it embarks on the final lap. What you fail to realise is that every move -- down to this moment of apparent relapse -- is precisely calculated. Turn away for a split second and things will have moved irrevocably ahead -- here is your cart of choice triumphantly crossing the finishing line. And before you know it the commentator's voice is ringing through the loudspeakers, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have a Rotax-Max Challenge winner!"
This sense of excitement was the defining characteristic of the fourth Rotax-Max Challenge, the four-day, internationally celebrated karting race -- held at Sharm El-Sheikh's Ghibli Racetrack for the first time -- which ended on a festive note last Saturday. It is the world's fastest growing racing event of its kind. Since its first round, held in Puerto Rico three years ago, the number of countries represented in the Challenge has risen from 17 to 38 -- with 100 individual contenders, Egypt had the honour of hosting the largest karting event in the history of the sport. "The Ghibli karting facility is the first of its kind to be established in Egypt," Hani Soufrakis, chairman and executive director of the racetrack, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Designed to the highest standards possible by an architectural multinational, he said, the complex meets the specifications of the Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK), that division of the Federation International d'Automobile (FIA) authorised to supervise karting. Officially accredited in December 2003 by Franz Schreiner, a CIK consultant -- thereby becoming the Middle East's only A-grade karting facility, making it one of four in the world -- the track was built three years ago following Hani and Helmi Soufrakis' decision to make an investment in "something different" -- hence karting.
"When I was 15 I used to spend all my money on go- karts," Hani explains, "so it was only natural that, when I got older, I would want to spend my money on karts -- if only to set an example for other young men like myself, to encourage them to pursue their passion." The two brothers had no guarantees of financial success, but as Helmi points out, "Motor sports are a passion, and when you love something you're willing to spend as much as you can on that thing." Four million US dollars is much indeed. Nor has the racetrack proved a flop. Attendance may have been slightly lower than expected, but the Soufrakis brothers believe that the event has helped "expose Egypt globally, proving that our economy is healthy and hopefully acting as a catalyst for many other events to be hosted in the country".
Drivers who were seeded first in national competitions are the ones who made it to the finals. Competitors were divided into seniors and juniors, depending on their place within a team; to ensure they would be competing on an equal footing, they were provided with engines by Rotax. Although the engines are virtually identical, each team is free to adjust the braking system, accelerator and rear axis to suit its driving style. "It's all about feeling comfortable in your kart -- being able to have a firm grip on it," Adrian Ostazy, a 21-year-old member of the Australian team, explains. Ostazy was particularly excited about the present Challenge because his father is Egyptian. Karting came to him naturally, he says, after he tried out a high-circuit go-kart on his seventh birthday, when he realised it was the only sport at which he could excel. The action sport remains Ostazy's obsession.
Excitement set in the moment the competitors arrived at Ghibli, though the first two days of the race were spent largely on adjusting the vehicles according to performance on practice races, which helped each driver decide which changes could improve his performance. On the third day, the preliminary "heat races" -- during which the average time of each competitor is calculated according to positions on a grid -- gave only the 32 competitors who achieved the fastest times headway in the final, placing them ahead of the others at the start of that 20-lap race. It was Tristam Oman, England's 22-year-old representative, who came out first on the grid, followed closely by Ostazy. "It was easy," Oman supplies with confidence. "Before going to the finals, you have to be sure that no one can compete with you." Ostazy agrees with Oman on the importance of confidence: "If you go into the track thinking you can't be first then you're unlikely to win, you have to be sure of yourself. Never look back, if you do then the person behind you will know you are intimidated and gain confidence at your expense..."
Many participants were not as fortunate as Oman and Ostazy, however. Scott Campbell, a 25-year-old Canadian, had won several US and Canadian championships before coming to Sharm El-Sheikh with much confidence and hope -- only to be disqualified from headway in the final. Prior to the heat races, Campbell told the Weekly that he had been forced to save up for a long time in order to afford to participate. "My father was a racer, so his dream was that I become a racer too. If I win this race I will want to go to the fifth Rotax Challenge and hopefully I will have more sponsors to fund me," he said. One can only imagine his subsequent disappointment. Shady Osama and Ahmed Ghanem, two Egyptian participants -- sponsored by Ghibli -- were delayed on entering one heat race due to technical complications; and therefore likewise disqualified. Both have a long history in motor sports, Osama having started as an Autocross time-keeping marshal.
All senior participants agreed on that karting is one of the most expensive games on earth -- and it is particularly prohibitive for Egyptians. An average kart costs LE30,000-LE40,000 excluding customs, which can raise that figure to LE60,000 -- and this is not to mention the cost of other equipment and paraphernalia. All have full-time jobs, training only on weekends in order to afford the necessary expense. "The problem is that the Ministry of Youth pays little attention to motor sports," Osama complains. "If the ministry sponsored us we'd have more time to train and perform better." By their own testimony, the Egyptian team was the only one that does not own a kart in which to place Rotax's engine. It was Ghibli that came to the rescue this time, providing them with a cart with which to participate in the Challenge.
Unlike Osama and Ghanem, Mohamed Abu Ghazala, a 14-year-old junior participant, is independently well endowed -- something that enabled him to hire a professional English coach. Abu Ghazala started racing when Ghibli was constructed, which makes him the least experienced of the participants. Yet he managed to make it to the final in high spirits. "I'm gradually getting better," he says, "and every time I race I learn more and get more used to the track. My hope is to go to the fifth Rotax Challenge next year as Egypt's junior representative." Facing the English champion Adam Christadoulou, Abu Ghazala had not expected to win. Considering his late start, only constant training could improve his performance sufficiently.
For his part Christadoulou -- labelled "the next Michael Schumacher" -- was achieving faster heat times than senior participants. He comes from a racing family who started training him when he was seven, he told the Weekly. As he races, he says, he can only think of "going faster" -- and despite his being so young he stresses not only speed but control, the two aspects of karting he says enjoys the most. Christadoulou and the 25-year-old South African participant Bjorn Roos have one thing in common: they are easily bored. And it is this quality that makes karting their ideal pursuit. "When the adrenaline surges," as Roos says, "nothing compares to that feeling..."
It is typical of such an unpredictable and exciting sport that the final winners should defy all expectations -- part of what answers to this propensity for boredom. Although he had maintained the lead through to the final, Oman lost his headway within minutes of setting off. And it was the South African Christiano Morgado -- a relatively subdued presence during the heat races -- who managed to cross the finishing line first. After Morgado, Ricardo Van Berende, a Dutchman, and Ostazy achieved second and third places, respectively, arriving at the end within seconds of each other. Oman came out fourth in the end. Nor was the junior race any different. Encountering a technical problem almost as soon as he started, Christadoulou could only return to the race after fixing his kart, a lap late; he finished 13th. The winner was the Spaniard Omar Martin, followed by Portugal's Bruno Serra and another South African, Wiamn Swart, in second and third places respectively. Boding ill for his future, for no apparent reason Abu Ghazala was soon overlapped and thus disqualified from the race.
