- Sep 13, 2002
- 98,387
- 205,692
- 113
This shit is insane! And a pretty sad reflection on modern society in this grumpy old man's opinion.
By Kevin Sieff
,
Claudia Gori
and
Zoeann Murphy
December 11, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EST
Julian and Alessandro were walking to the starting line, trying their best not to look at each other. They wore child-size racing uniforms and tiny driving gloves. Behind them, mechanics pushed their 160-pound cars with a list of corporate sponsors on the hood. The team’s name was emblazoned on the side: Baby Race.
The two boys were Baby Race’s star drivers, among the favorites to win the World Series of Karting championship that was minutes away. In theory, they could work together to secure a team victory. But Alessandro Truchot and Julian Frasnelli had been fierce competitors since they were 9 and 10. Now they were 11 and 12, respectively, and the rivalry had grown violent, culminating in high-speed crashes that caused a roaring crowd to hold its breath.
As its popularity has boomed, Formula One has faced a problem: how to identify future champions who can’t yet drive a car. Karting is the sport’s best approximation, a birthday party diversion that has been bankrolled and professionalized into a series of miniature Grand Prix races. Every current F1 driver started in a go-kart.
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Julian and Alessandro’s race in Sarno was a battle for childhood pride, but it was also leverage in dueling quests to reach Formula One. The boys’ parents and sponsors had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in their careers. Julian and Alessandro had stopped attending school full-time to focus on racing. They were too light for the karts, so mechanics added weights to the chassis to keep them from flipping over. Scouts representing Mercedes and Ferrari, who are now tracking drivers as young as 6, know their names.
Before they got to the pit, Julian removed his SpongeBob sandals, took off his helmet, vomited and cried. Alessandro, who wore only gray and black Nike apparel, repeated over the grunts of go-kart engines what he had said to himself many times before: “I’m not here to make friends.”
Unmute the videos below to meet Alessandro and Julian.
Julian
Alessandro
Elite go-karting has become both maniacally competitive and wildly expensive. To become one of Formula One’s 20 drivers — the sport has only 10 teams with two cars each — now requires an absolute commitment years before a child is eligible for a driver’s license.
By the time a driver makes it to Formula One, his parents and sponsors will have invested several million dollars in his career. Go-karting has become a magnet for the money and power flowing through motorsports. Baby Race charges its drivers $7,500 for a four-day race event (plus a $600 entrance fee).
The team motto: “The First Step to F1”.
Julian, who is Italian, and Alessandro, a French American citizen, represent different marks on the spectrum of go-karting wealth. Julian’s father owns a karting track in northern Italy, where he had finagled sponsors to finance his son’s career. Alessandro’s father started a string of technology companies that brought him enough wealth to bankroll the soaring costs of racing. The two families, who spend weekends under the same Baby Race tent, do not speak to each other.
TOP: Drivers prepare for race in Brescia, Italy, on Sept. 8. Every current F1 driver got their start in racing in a go-kart.
BOTTOM: Racing fans gather for a look at the podium in Brescia, Italy, following a race in early September.
When the Sarno race started, with the karts quickly nearing their top speed of 50 mph, even a casual fan could tell that Julian and Alessandro appeared to be in their own class.
“There goes Frasnelli,” the Australian commentator bellowed over the loudspeaker at the racing facility south of Naples. “There goes Truchot.”
The boys’ parents watched from opposite ends of the track, screaming, “Pass! Pass!” in French and Italian when their sons drove by in a blur. Julian and Alessandro had freakish control over their lawnmower-size vehicles, weaving expertly through a mass of other drivers. Julian had just won the Italian championships. Alessandro was the second-ranked driver on the karting tour. Either could be the next Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton, F1’s current superstars. But the chances that both boys will make it to Formula One are almost zero.
As they neared the end of the fourth lap, Julian was in second place and Alessandro was a few feet behind him. The two cars rocketed toward the front. But Julian and another driver made contact coming around a turn. Julian lost control. His kart went airborne.
“Huge crash!” the announcer exclaimed.
Julian’s father gripped the metal fence at the edge of the track and then put his hands on his face, almost covering his eyes.
“No, NO, NO!”
Formula One scouts swear they can predict future greatness in the way a child handles a tight turn or avoids a crash. They’ve identified talent that way before.
At 6, Michael Schumacher, one of Formula One’s all-time greats, won a karting race with a vehicle his father put together with spare parts. In the early ’90s, Hamilton started racing in a secondhand kart while his father washed dishes to pay for races.
But the sport is now unrecognizable. The surge in global interest in Formula One has transformed karting into a kind of oligarchy. It is now crowded with the sons and daughters of multimillionaires (and actual oligarchs) who crisscross Europe every weekend for mini-Grand Prix. The circuit is a traveling carnival for the global elite, a series of racetrack parking lots colonized by parents in luxury athleisure wear.
There is effectively no way for young American drivers to aspire to Formula One without relocating across the Atlantic. Alessandro flies from Miami, where he lives, to Italy once a week during peak karting season. That’s where the F1 scouts spend their time.
The races are dominated by prestigious teams, like Baby Race, which supply personal mechanics to each child. Some kids arrive with their own bodyguards. Some arrive in helicopters. Many parents seek sports psychologists for their preteens. A number of Baby Race’s 25 drivers — it’s obvious which ones — are extremely wealthy and extremely average.
“I’m paying 50,000 euros a year for you to race like this?!” one of the lesser drivers’ fathers screamed at him one morning in Sarno.
The first step to F1
The preteen go-kart drivers spending millions on a shot at professional motorsports
By Kevin Sieff
,
Claudia Gori
and
Zoeann Murphy
December 11, 2024 at 5:00 a.m. EST
Julian and Alessandro were walking to the starting line, trying their best not to look at each other. They wore child-size racing uniforms and tiny driving gloves. Behind them, mechanics pushed their 160-pound cars with a list of corporate sponsors on the hood. The team’s name was emblazoned on the side: Baby Race.
The two boys were Baby Race’s star drivers, among the favorites to win the World Series of Karting championship that was minutes away. In theory, they could work together to secure a team victory. But Alessandro Truchot and Julian Frasnelli had been fierce competitors since they were 9 and 10. Now they were 11 and 12, respectively, and the rivalry had grown violent, culminating in high-speed crashes that caused a roaring crowd to hold its breath.
As its popularity has boomed, Formula One has faced a problem: how to identify future champions who can’t yet drive a car. Karting is the sport’s best approximation, a birthday party diversion that has been bankrolled and professionalized into a series of miniature Grand Prix races. Every current F1 driver started in a go-kart.
Story continues below advertisement
Julian and Alessandro’s race in Sarno was a battle for childhood pride, but it was also leverage in dueling quests to reach Formula One. The boys’ parents and sponsors had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in their careers. Julian and Alessandro had stopped attending school full-time to focus on racing. They were too light for the karts, so mechanics added weights to the chassis to keep them from flipping over. Scouts representing Mercedes and Ferrari, who are now tracking drivers as young as 6, know their names.
Before they got to the pit, Julian removed his SpongeBob sandals, took off his helmet, vomited and cried. Alessandro, who wore only gray and black Nike apparel, repeated over the grunts of go-kart engines what he had said to himself many times before: “I’m not here to make friends.”
Unmute the videos below to meet Alessandro and Julian.
Julian
Alessandro
Elite go-karting has become both maniacally competitive and wildly expensive. To become one of Formula One’s 20 drivers — the sport has only 10 teams with two cars each — now requires an absolute commitment years before a child is eligible for a driver’s license.
By the time a driver makes it to Formula One, his parents and sponsors will have invested several million dollars in his career. Go-karting has become a magnet for the money and power flowing through motorsports. Baby Race charges its drivers $7,500 for a four-day race event (plus a $600 entrance fee).
The team motto: “The First Step to F1”.
Julian, who is Italian, and Alessandro, a French American citizen, represent different marks on the spectrum of go-karting wealth. Julian’s father owns a karting track in northern Italy, where he had finagled sponsors to finance his son’s career. Alessandro’s father started a string of technology companies that brought him enough wealth to bankroll the soaring costs of racing. The two families, who spend weekends under the same Baby Race tent, do not speak to each other.
BOTTOM: Racing fans gather for a look at the podium in Brescia, Italy, following a race in early September.
When the Sarno race started, with the karts quickly nearing their top speed of 50 mph, even a casual fan could tell that Julian and Alessandro appeared to be in their own class.
“There goes Frasnelli,” the Australian commentator bellowed over the loudspeaker at the racing facility south of Naples. “There goes Truchot.”
The boys’ parents watched from opposite ends of the track, screaming, “Pass! Pass!” in French and Italian when their sons drove by in a blur. Julian and Alessandro had freakish control over their lawnmower-size vehicles, weaving expertly through a mass of other drivers. Julian had just won the Italian championships. Alessandro was the second-ranked driver on the karting tour. Either could be the next Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton, F1’s current superstars. But the chances that both boys will make it to Formula One are almost zero.
As they neared the end of the fourth lap, Julian was in second place and Alessandro was a few feet behind him. The two cars rocketed toward the front. But Julian and another driver made contact coming around a turn. Julian lost control. His kart went airborne.
“Huge crash!” the announcer exclaimed.
Julian’s father gripped the metal fence at the edge of the track and then put his hands on his face, almost covering his eyes.
“No, NO, NO!”
Formula One scouts swear they can predict future greatness in the way a child handles a tight turn or avoids a crash. They’ve identified talent that way before.
At 6, Michael Schumacher, one of Formula One’s all-time greats, won a karting race with a vehicle his father put together with spare parts. In the early ’90s, Hamilton started racing in a secondhand kart while his father washed dishes to pay for races.
But the sport is now unrecognizable. The surge in global interest in Formula One has transformed karting into a kind of oligarchy. It is now crowded with the sons and daughters of multimillionaires (and actual oligarchs) who crisscross Europe every weekend for mini-Grand Prix. The circuit is a traveling carnival for the global elite, a series of racetrack parking lots colonized by parents in luxury athleisure wear.
There is effectively no way for young American drivers to aspire to Formula One without relocating across the Atlantic. Alessandro flies from Miami, where he lives, to Italy once a week during peak karting season. That’s where the F1 scouts spend their time.
The races are dominated by prestigious teams, like Baby Race, which supply personal mechanics to each child. Some kids arrive with their own bodyguards. Some arrive in helicopters. Many parents seek sports psychologists for their preteens. A number of Baby Race’s 25 drivers — it’s obvious which ones — are extremely wealthy and extremely average.
“I’m paying 50,000 euros a year for you to race like this?!” one of the lesser drivers’ fathers screamed at him one morning in Sarno.