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| June 07, 2011 News |
| Factory Pilot: Gary Carlton - An American in Europe - Life in Italy |
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For 2011, American karting star Gary Carlton will be the lead driver for the Chiesa Corse operation in the KZ1 category aboard factory-prepared Zanardi/IAME package. eKartingNews.com has partnered with Gary to help produce segments over the course of his time as a new factory driver. Working with him on forum blogs, race-event journals, photos, video footage and more, viewers will be able to see first-hand what it is to be a factory driver for one of the top European teams in karting.
To follow his progress throughout the season, visit the official EKN Gary Carlton Page in the Features section.
With some time off between races, Carlton took the time to write about his life away from the track and some behind the scenes look into testing for the upcoming event in Wackersdorf, Germany.
 | Gary's home inside the CRG factory
(Photo: garycarlton.us) |
It has been a long break in the season and being it has been over a month since the last race, I have been itching to get back out there. But with the long break it has given me a lot of time to do some really neat experiences and even try out a few new things. The biggest thing that is different here in Italy is the lifestyle and the way they look at life compared to America. I have been coming back and forth to Europe since 2007 but never have stayed more than two or three weeks and then would come home. Now that I have lived here as of the first of March (with a five day trip back home in between), I have a much different prospective on what it is really like. I do not think it is better than an American lifestyle or no worse. It’s just a very different way of living life and I could go on and list every detail but in reality you have to experience it first hand to understand what makes living here so different. This diary is a log of the things I have done on and mostly off the track during this long break and took some photos along the way.
Work and Apartment Life
Being that we do not have races every weekend and we do not test everyday there is quite a lot of down time for a driver. Back when I live in California, I would fill this time by working at the Jim Russell Racing School and working with various drivers around the country as a coach/mechanic. Being that there is so many professional mechanics here in Europe, it can be some what difficult to find work being a driver so I have had to find different ways to spend my time. I had the chance to work inside the CRG Racing Team helping prepping karts and doing the normal things a racing team does just like I had done before, but I decided to try something new. CRG has started producing rental karts in the past year and they also needed a hand building those and being I had never even really looked at a rental kart before, I decided working there. I always have been one to try and look at all aspects of karting and always want to learn different sides of the business. I have been working in karting for many years and have been able to work in almost every field there is; from designing and developing chassis at Trackmagic, building engines at Swedetech, working as a mechanic for various race teams, instructing schools at Jim Russell, private driver coaching, and many others areas. The one thing I had never done is work with rental karts so it was a natural fit.
 | To pass the time, Gary is working inside the factory, seen here assembling a CRG rental kart
(Photo: garycarlton.us) |
Now I know most racers out there think rental karts are somewhat of a joke but I was even surprised myself how much thought and effort it takes to build one. There are so many different parts and pieces that go into making one its more like building a small car than a kart. It’s a whole different way of thinking than racing karts that are only built for speed where as these karts need to be built to last forever and take some massive hits. We all know the first thing that comes to mind when people go out in rentals karts and it is wanting to crash into your buddies. And with that come the safety and the design work to have the ability of taking that abuse and still work properly for the next customer that comes walking through the door. To most, it is the boring side of CRG but to me its something new and my opinion is, the more you can learn in any field of work that you take part in, it will make you a more valuable person in the long run.
The CRG factory is really something to see and the Tinini family was nice enough to put two beautiful spacious apartments inside the factory itself. They are used for mechanics and drivers that are part of the Tinini Group that can come from all over and need a place to stay for short or in my case, long periods of time. Being this is the second time living inside a kart factory, this apartment is a huge step up from the air mattress placed on the floor of an office, in the most dangerous parts of San Francisco, when I was working with Trackmagic. Don’t get me wrong, living at Trackmagic was one of the best times of my life, but having an actual apartment complex that is as nice as the one I live in now is a real treat. Each apartment has three rooms, each with two beds per room. Each room has its own bathroom with shower along with a huge flat screen television. Both apartments have their own kitchen with all the proper things to cook yourself a meal and having a huge living room for everyone to sit and hang out. People are always coming and going, which makes it fun because you never know who might be showing up for dinner or staying for a week of testing. It is a very international feel with people from all over the world and there is always nights spent bench racing and telling lies.
 | Gary aboard Mattia Madami's sailboat
(Photo: garycarlton.us) |
Sailing
Living in Desenzano, there is the luxury of having Garda Lake that comes right up to the docks of the town’s center and has one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. With the docks, the access, and a scenic view of many sail boats along with a constant evening breeze that come from the Northern mountains, Garda Lake is a huge hot spot for sailing. Before I ever came to Italy, I had never even stepped onto a sail boat and to be honest, the racer in me always thought it was a bit stupid not having an engine to get where you wanted to go. But being that one of my closest and best friends Mattia Madami owns a sail boat that is parked in the port right in front of Desenzano's main square, it was only a matter of time before the weather was good enough to go sailing on the lake. Like I said before, I had no idea what sailing really was but after just five minutes of being on the boat I realized you really have to know what you are doing to pilot one of these boats properly. Mattia and his family have been into sailing for many years and you can tell it is almost in their blood when they are working the sails to try and get the maximum pull from the wind and keep it going in the direction you want. It was a great time and the best part about it was I got to learn about something I knew absolutely nothing about.
Once we got out on the lake the wind was not as strong as usual so it was a really calm ride. Mattia's girlfriend, Maddi, along with Mattia's brother, Ale, and his girlfriend, Valentina, had a nice lunch on the boat and once we finished up we decided to head back to port. Before we entered the port, we took down all the sails and tried firing up the small engine to navigate ourselves back to our spot. Mattia turned the key and the engine turned over just once and it turned very very slowly. Everyone knows that sound. We had a dead battery. I could see it on Mattia's face, the situation of having a great day on the lake just turned into a boat that could be stuck out on the water with no way of getting it back due to the wind being non existent. Of course, we tried a few things like seeing if the cables on the battery were on tight but it was dead. I know now the true meaning of "dead in the water". With a few phone calls, Mattia took charge and stated we were going to sail into the port, so back up went the sails and we headed in. Powering a boat by wind into a very narrow port and then having to park into its slot is no easy task but for the Madami brothers, it looked like they have done it for years and they got it into its slot just as if we had the power of the engine. It might not sound impressive but seeing it done first hand and really not knowing anything about boating, I thought it was really cool and it took a good amount of skill to make it look so easy. I will be the first one to say I can wait for the summer time to get back out on the boat and maybe learn a few things and hopefully have a good enough understanding to be able to do a little sailing myself one day.
 | Two-wheel training for Carlton
(Photo: garycarlton.us) |
Mountain Bike
One of the first things I had noticed when living in Italy was how many people where riding bicycles. From road bikes to mountain bikes, there are people everywhere riding them. Myself, I have never really been on two wheels very much. Of course, when I was a kid I had a bicycle and rode it from time to time but after I picked up skateboarding many years ago I have really not been on two wheels. Last winter, I started riding a road bike that was given to me by one of my life heroes, Fausto Vitello, to try and keep my fitness the best I could but then after my collar bone injury, I really had not been on one since. But after talking with many of the people that work in CRG, I came to find out there where many bike trails all over the Brescia area and it sounded really interesting. Soon I had found a new mountain bike at a price that I could not resist and I was off riding with my friends from work. It is funny to think but maybe only a couple months ago, I would poke fun at the people that wore the tight bicycle pants and shirts and all the other stuff that a normal cyclist would wear and just after my second time out on the mountain I was wearing all the same stuff.
Like I said, I have never been a two wheeled kind of person so to put it bluntly, I am not very talented at riding a bicycle. My biggest problem is the shoes you wear that clip into the pedals. First, I have the problem of getting them clicked in and then keeping myself from falling over when going up or down steep grades. Sometimes, I get a bit frustrated because all my friends are so much better than me but with more practice, I hope to get a bit more stable and be able to go on some of the more advanced trails my friends go on. I have to say, doing a very extremely small amount of rides on a road bike; the mountain bike seems to really work your body a lot more. Now that I have a lot of free time here in Italy, I have been trying to go almost every day and have been able to see some awesome sights. I would not say I am a proper cyclist as of now but it is a great way to keep in shape when you can’t be at the track and it is always nice to be outside and go exploring. Besides all that, it is a great thing to do with friends. Being all my friends are a lot more experienced and more cycle fit than I am, they're always there to push me to make me stronger. If you would have told me a year ago mountain biking is something I would be doing 3-4 times a week, I would have told you “you’re crazy”; but it has been great for my fitness and a whole new experience for me that I have really enjoyed.
A look into Gary's experience with his new mountain bike can be seen HERE.
1000 Miglia
The 1000 Miglia is a rally race that is very famous in Italy and I was able to witness this really cool event after a day of work. The race starts in Brescia and goes 1000 kilometers down South to Rome. Once in Rome they turn around and come back finishing the race where they started. Hence the name, “1000 Miglia” (Miglia translated is thousand). What makes this race so special is that they have to do the entire race using only normal roads. So no highways, or as they call them autostrada's, can be used the entire trip. The race only consists of old historic cars and you have to have yourself either a very rare or unique car to be able to enter. It was great fun being able to sit street side and watch all the different classes of cars run through. It had a huge international field of cars that came from all over Europe that brought much excitement in every city that they ran through. When we had left our viewing spot where we had sat for hours, cars continued blasting through the city and throughout the night, and all I could think about before going to bed was I needed to do a race like this at least once in my lifetime.
 | Gary with newly-married Alex Speed
(Photo: garycarlton.us) |
A trip back Home
As of now I can only get a visa that will let me stay 90 days over seas until I have to make a visit to the States. With the way my race schedule worked out and with my great friend Alex Speed's wedding happening, I made a five day visit back home to California. I was really excited that I was going to get to see a lot of my family and friends all in one trip and was also going to my first ever wedding. Well, technically, it was my second but I was really little when I went to the first and to be honest my memory is a bit blank past the 8-9 year old mark. It was funny, a week before the wedding, I emailed Alex to get the address and what not and then quickly thought, what in the hell do you wear to a wedding? I did some asking around and I was quick to see it would be a good idea to get a suit. To many this might not seem like a big deal, but for me it was a little different being I have never worn a suit, or knew what to look for. The worst thing I did was look on the internet and like anything else on the glorious world wide web, you get way too much info that you know what to do with and are more confused than when you started. The last thing I wanted to do was show up at my best friends wedding looking like a disaster so I called Mattia's girlfriend that studied fashion in Milan and got hooked up. With all the info I needed, I was able to go to a store here in Desenzano and pick up a nice fitted suit that was Italian made and packed it in my bag and headed for California.
Once in California I was able to spend time with my parents, which was a real moral boost for me. My parents are the best a kid could have and I cannot thank them enough for all the love and support they have given me over the years. They have always been there to help me push through all the stressful moments in my racing career and have supported any decision I have made. Seeing them again was exactly what I needed. After two days of getting all my paperwork and my business side of things done, it was time to get dressed up and see Alex and Jackie get married. It was a day filled with firsts. The day of the wedding I was helping my dad George in the garage with his Harley motorcycle. Once we were finished he looked up and asked if I wanted to ride it. Know I have never ridden any type of a motorcycle other than a dirt bike maybe once or twice, so I was a bit surprised he asked me to hop on his beautiful bike and take it for a spin. It was really cool and I have to say, you do feel really cool when you’re riding a Harley. Later on, I was joking with friends that I was going to show up to the grid Days Of Thunder styling on a Harley like Tom Cruise. Hey, I am from California right?
Once I was all suited up and found out how to tie a tie a million different ways off the internet, I headed off to the wedding. On the way there I picked up two of my old roommates, Frankie and Traci that seemed just as excited as me on seeing everyone. The drive was long enough to get all caught up on what everyone has been up too and it was great having company on the ride up. The first person we saw when we arrived was Alex's brother Scott. I had not seen Scott in over a year so it was great to catch up with him. He said my suit looked very good on me, which made me feel good but then I started to think of some of the stuff he has worn in the past and wondered if it was a wrong choice (only joking Scott). It was a great wedding and both Alex and his bride Jackie looked amazing. It was staged at a beautiful golf course and everyone there seemed to be having a great time. The whole Speed family has been a huge part of my life and I felt extremely fortunate that I could be able to see Alex get married and get to spend a little time with them during my short stay. I wish Alex and Jackie all the best in their new journey together.
After the wedding, I was able to spend a great Mothers Day with my Mom before I had to pack up my bags and head back to my new home in Desenzano. It was a great trip and gave me an added boost to work even harder on keeping my fitness and mental health at its peak.
 | More two-wheel training, this time with more horsepower
(Photo: garycarlton.us) |
Testing
Since the last race in Portimao, there has been a big break that allowed us to be able to do some testing. When you’re a factory driver, a day of testing can be a lot of work and takes a whole different skill than racing. When testing and developing new products for a manufacturer, a driver has to be extremely sensitive to the changes made to the kart and has to have the ability to give the correct feedback on what the changes did. A day of testing does not consist of just trying to go out and put in a fast lap or tune the kart perfectly to the current conditions but in trying new things to see what affect it has on the kart. There are always the data logger systems there to help, but a driver that can give the requested amount of feedback correctly is better than any data system out there. Also, the test days can be a good physical test for your body. Most days of testing will see a driver putting upwards of 200 laps in the day with sometimes no breaks in between sessions. I have always loved days of testing at the kart track. It has always been a passion of mine to go out and try new things and learn about every aspect of the kart and engine. And with my new team Chiesa Corse using the new IAME Shifter engine, there are many things to work on and try due to the program only coming into its second year of development. It has been a real treat to be able to work with the IAME engineers and be at the fore front of developing the new engine.
During one of the couple days of testing this month, we had two special guests take part being Ex-Formula 1 driver, Giorgio Pantano and current Moto GP rider, Andrea Dovisiozo. They both had their hands on a Zanardi chassis equipped with IAME KF2 engines and made a good amount of laps during the day. There was quite a lot of press around and it was cool seeing them have a good time with the karts. I was impressed with Giorgio's speed for the length of time he had been out of a kart but not surprised due to Dino's (owner of Chiesa Corse) opinion of him being one of the fastest drivers he had ever worked with. On thing that caught me a little off guard was how quickly Andrea got tired. I would have thought trying to hold onto the beast of a motorcycle like a Grand Prix bike would have been more challenging than a kart, but after his second session he looked whipped. It was a neat day getting to meet new people and made it a nice change of pace to have them take part in the test.
To see some clips of the testing session, check out the following video: Here
Time to Race
I have been able to do a lot of neat things during this break but I will be honest, I am tired of waiting. I am so glad that the race in Wackersdorf, Germany is close and I'm excited to visit a new country and track. This year’s CIK-FIA European Championship race has one of the best driver line-ups in the history of the KZ1 class and I'm ready to do battle and see if we have made improvements from our last race. I hope you all enjoyed my dairies, pictures, and videos. I would like to give a huge shout out to my friend Mattia Madami at Niro Productions for taking on my video series and really taking it to the next level. The videos for all the races forward will be put together by Niro Productions and I can’t thank Mattia enough for all his hard work. Also, a big thank you to my Mom for editing these reports. I know they are stupid long and take a lot of time to do so thanks Mom!
A preview video of this coming weekend's race can be viewed HERE.
Do you have a question to ask Gary about his experience thus far in Europe, then post your question in the forums section HERE where Gary will select a few and answer them through a video blog to be released at a later time. If you want Gary to answer your question directly, don't waste any time and publish you question. |
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