For the past few weeks, Matt Farah and the crew at Garage419 have been hard at work promoting the first ever Garage419 Invitational, an indoor karting extravaganza pitting teams of pros and peons against one another. Of course the pros are questionable given that they largely consist of us writer types. At least auto writers think they can drive and certainly know how to have a good time, so one can be certain that fun was on the agenda.

The rapidly growing team at Team Polizei has put together a fun vid of Der Attack on Der Opponents. Certainly the highlight must be watching Team Polizei head Piloto Alex Roy, complete with scarf and balaclava, spin in front of the entire field. Fortunately, no Lambo was damaged in the filming of this video! Sorry Alex…just had to poke!

Watch the Polizei Army after the break
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It has been a long hard winter here in Ontario, but it looks like the snow cover is finally beginning to recede somewhat and most racers are thinking about that first race weekend. One of the best ways to get the juices flowing is to visit with some old friends and make new ones at a local swap meet. Tomorrow marks the first annual Canadian Karting Expo at the Pickering Markets in Toronto’s east end. Whether you are an old pro looking to hook up with friends, or are racing for the first time in 08, this event should be just the thing to get your blood pumping on a cold but sunny Easter weekend.

For all the details, visit Mosport International Karting

This is what I came home to tonight. Kart boy playing LA Rush.

I’m surprised he wasn’t wearing his suit & gloves too!

Come to think of it, it’s been a long time since I’ve worn my helmet & gloves while watching racing on tv.

Last night, we finally got out to the track with both kids. Our 8 year old, Duncan was out for his second time practicing, and 13 year old Shelby was out for the first time this season. We’ve decided that both of them should run in the Canadian Rookie Karting Championship at Mosport International Karting. This is an arrive and drive series, that is fully sanctioned by ASN Canada. Essentially the thought here is to remove Dad’s bungling from the equation and see what our young drivers have going for them. From last night’s results, it looks like it’s going to be an interesting summer!
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The last few days have been a bit challenging, as Mamma G has been quite sick. We spent today at the hospital, only to receive a diagnosis that involved a pair of shrugged shoulders. I wanted to write when we got home, but didn’t really know what to write about. I thought it might help if I found some cool photos to look at. One of the first places I looked was Positive Ape Index, the house of Coop. He always has something cool going on. What I found was this driveway full of Coop’s toys.

It seems that Coop had a rough day a few days ago too and he found some solace in the enjoyment of his cars. Lately, I’ve spent a fair bit of time envying other people’s rides. Whether it’s the work of our west coast guy Aaron Von Minden, or Coop or any of the many other fine characters I come across in my work here in The Garage. Maybe it has something to do with my impending 40th birthday and some of the identity issues that I’ve had lately.
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We’ve got some big news here in The Garage. Occasional contributer and part of The Garage family, Petri Ranta has joined the Cameron Motorsports team as Operations Manager at Mosport. Petri will be joining Wrex Roth, who will continue on as the guru of all things technical.

Petri brings close to 30 years of karting experience as a driver, tuner and data acquisition specialist, not to mention 3 Canadian national karting championship wins.
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Canadian racing enthusiasts will all recognize Russ Bond. This guy has been a fixture in the motorsports scene here in Ontario for years. You might have seen him on TV, in all sorts of print sources, on the radio or online at one of his motorsports sites. Russ has even spent his fair share of time behind the wheel of a mini stock car.

Russ has decided to put together a pre spring enduro event for all the local racers to blow out the cobwebs. The first Canadian Karting News.com 200 aims to pit 40 teams of 4 against each other at the new Grand Prix Kartways in Downsview.

This event looks so fun that The Garage may just have to put together a team. We might be able to put together a few ringers to offset the power to weight problems that yours truly creates.

Read the full details from Russ after the break
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Whenever a show about someone’s hobby is created, the die hard fans will criticize the little details. Get over it, the show isn’t aimed at you, it’s aimed at Joe Public. Sometimes though, what is done for Joe Public can be more damaging to that hobby or sport than the little details.

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Tonight, Discovery Channel will air the second episode of the new reality series Star Racer. More real than most reality shows, Star Racer pits racers against one another with the prize being a chance to begin a dream career.

Take a look at pretty much any open wheel racer world wide and you’ll see that they’ve gotten their start in Karting. With this in mind, producers have chosen to pit 8 top Karters against 8 racers from other disciplines. Of course the selection process is filled with trash talking, especially from The Others. As can be expected, bike and drag racers seem to think that karts are toys. Unfortunately, some of the karters exhibited some typical, spoiled kid attitudes and their parents weren’t much better.

The show is a slick package that is kilometers miles better than the usual Canadian docucrap. The overall winner scores a fully sponsored ride in the 2007 Star Mazda series after being judged by the likes of Paul Tracy, Derek Daly and Katherine Legge. Any bets on PT dropping the gloves with a smart mouthed contestant?

Finally the warm weather has arrived and along with it comes the first lapping day of the season. On Sunday, Shelby and I packed the kart and all the associated gear into the back of the Xterra and headed up to Mosport. This was our first visit to the new Mosport International Karting Academy track and we were excited. We had heard a lot about the layout of the track, along with the healthy elevation changes. We did not race last year, so this was Shelby’s first time driving in a year & a half so the plan was to just get out and run as many laps as possible before having to head home for Easter dinner.

The first session saw it’s share of spins, due to a rusty driver and old, hard tires. Then she was gone. I could just see her head bobbing around over the hump of the esses leading into a left hand Monza curve. The chain had come off & she was moving the kart off to the side of the track. Dad was in trouble. After damn near killing myself pushing the kart back across the infield, I readjusted the chain and out she went for the next session.

Overall, the kart ran well all day and Shelby’s driving steadily improved as the day went on. The track looks great and Shelby had a blast driving it. She says she likes it better than the other tracks over at the Mosport Driver Development Track and she really likes those.

We are waiting for Glen Arnold over at Arnold Racing Engines to complete our new engine for the season and then we’ll be ready to roll. It’s looking like we’ll miss the first few races of the season, but then the points chase will be on.