The world’s best racing driver is about to race 100 karts at once - Ars Technica

Overview

The world’s best racing driver is about to race 100 karts at oncevar abtest_2172163 = new ABTest(2172163, 'click');

Red Bull, Disney+, and ESPN are streaming the race at noon Eastern today.

Details

Later today, Max Verstappen will strap on his helmet and take to the track at the Silverstone circuit in England for a rather unusual race. The four-time Formula 1 world champion is recognized as the leading talent of his generation, but unlike some of the legends that have preceded him, Verstappen’s passion for motorsport extends beyond just the rarified world of F1. With apologies to Midweek Motorsport, but if it has wheels and they keep score, odds are good Verstappen’s down to race it. So at noon Eastern Time (5 pm BST) today, September 16, Verstappen will slip into something a little more basic: a kart.

It’s one of 101 identical karts that have been sourced from Eastern Europe for the event—the other 100 will be driven by a mix of content creators and Red Bull athletes, all of whom fancy their chances at beating one of the world’s greatest drivers at his own game. They get a bit of an advantage, all starting ahead of Verstappen. Once he passes another karter, they’re out of the race, and Verstappen has 30 laps of a purpose-designed layout at Silverstone to get through them all and win.

Other F1 drivers have attempted slightly similar challenges in the past—Alex Albon raced 25 kids last year, and last month Oliver Bearman raced 50 amateurs. But neither is as high-profile as Verstappen, and neither is facing as much competition.

It might have been many years since Verstappen traded his kart for things larger and faster, but that’s no reason to doubt his abilities.

When you’re Max Verstappen, you can get your F1 contract to allow you to do other races you find interesting, like the Nürburgring 24h.

“Max is pretty unique in comparison to the other Grand Prix drivers in that he’s already done the Nürburgring 24 hours in his GT3. He’s out testing those cars often. I saw his quote saying that it’s been a while since he did karting; do we honestly think that he hasn’t gone and done a little test? It’s Max Verstappen! He’s a serial winner, and therefore he’s not turning up here to shine a spotlight on some other individual. He’s going to go for it, and he’s going to try and achieve this target,” said David Coulthard, a Grand Prix winner and one of Red Bull Racing’s first factory drivers.

“Physically, he’ll be in top shape, of course, but it all depends on just how finely tuned the talents are of the other competitors,” Coulthard told me. “Some of the Red Bull athletes I know from my time involved with the company, most of the other sports really love Formula 1. So finding guys and girls that are prepared to jump in a kart and have a go is not difficult. …Formula 1 is the peak, and then karting is where all of those guys have honed their skills. And even the late great Senna, asked about his happiest memories in racing, returned to competing against a British guy called Terry Fullerton and karting when he came over from Brazil to race in Italy. It’s like a first love. There’s a real connection between the highest level of the sport and let’s say the lowest level of the sport,” Coulthard said.

Yesterday, those other competitors got some practice time on a shortened version of the layout they’ll use today. And they had some help on hand in the form of another Red Bull racing driver, Arvid Lindblad, who has made his F1 debut this season in the Racing Bulls junior team. Half the field got a taste of today’s race when 50 of them tried to beat Lindblad to the checkered flag. Starting from 51st, he managed to overtake all but one.

Arvid Lindblad on track during the practice sessions.

“The drivers were trying hard, and that was really cool to see,” says Arvid. “They weren’t scared or intimidated or anything, with even some of them who aren’t very used to karting. The general level, it wasn’t easy for me. Some of the good guys are fast, and they’re only going to get better,” Lindblad said.

Anyone who has ever gone racing in a rental kart knows that the equipment can be highly variable. Not here.

“All of the carts are going to be ballasted to make a complete level playing field weight-wise,” said Simon Corney, senior executive producer with Whisper, which is producing the event. “So everyone has identical equipment, and this was one of the stipulations that Max had as well. He didn’t want any advantage, he didn’t want them to have any advantage. For him, whilst the race is going to be fun and we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve in terms of broadcast to make it racing, in terms of the actual racing itself, Max and Red Bull wanted it to feel to be a legitimate racing challenge because he wants to win by right,” Corney told me.

If the other karters work together, Verstappen’s day could be quite difficult. “If they all went line to stern or side by side, then he’s going to have to get creative. But the one fun thing that I’ve been made aware of is that he’ll be able to talk to all other competitors. So in terms of making this a bigger insight into the minds of the drivers, then I’m curious to know just what spare capacity he has to actually either psych the guys out in front of them or how,” Coulthard said.

Max vs 100 will air live on Disney+ and ESPN at 12:00 EST today.

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Key Takeaways

• The world’s best racing driver is about to race 100 karts at oncevar abtest_2172163 = new ABTest(2172163, 'click');

• Red Bull, Disney+, and ESPN are streaming the race at noon Eastern today

• Later today, Max Verstappen will strap on his helmet and take to the track at the Silverstone circuit in England for a rather unusual race

• It’s one of 101 identical karts that have been sourced from Eastern Europe for the event—the other 100 will be driven by a mix of content creators and Red Bull athletes, all of whom fancy their chances at beating one of the world’s greatest drivers at his own game

• Other F1 drivers have attempted slightly similar challenges in the past—Alex Albon raced 25 kids last year, and last month Oliver Bearman raced 50 amateurs