Payton Westcott (Photo: F1 Academy)

The EKN Driver Diary returns for 2024 with a focus of international competition for a driver from the United States of America. California driver Payton Westcott is taking part in the new Champions of the Future Academy Program. The six event series is based around the ‘arrive and drive’ concept, promoted and hosted by RGMMC. The OK-N Senior and OK-N Junior categories competing on Kart Republic / IAME entries with the Mini 60 all aboard Parolin / TM machines.

Payton is among the rising stars in the Junior ranks here in the USA, earning her first victories at the California ProKart Challenge this season while finishing third in the championship standings for Challenge of the Americas.

Westcott is providing EKN with a look into her travel and weekend competing at the Champions of the Future Academy Program. The first event was held on March 27-31 at the Kartodromo Cremona Circuit in Italy, with her first entry available HERE. Her second trip was to the Lucas Guerrero Karting Circuit in Valencia, Spain over the May 10-12 weekend, with the second entry available HERE. The third event of the series took her to the Franciacorta Karting Track outside Brescia, Italy, with her day-by-day activities highlighted in this entry.

Pre-Race Test

Great view from the Airbnb

This is entry three of my European Blog following my Champions of the Future Karting Academy journey through Europe and the Middle East.

As mentioned in my last post, we changed things up a bit this time with the addition of a three-day test in Franciacorta and the addition of a driver coach. We worked with Kart Republic to rent a kart, engine, and mechanic for the test. My dad and I flew to Italy July 5, landed late on July 6, and had a free day the seventh, which allowed us to head to the track to watch the races that were concluding that day. I was then on track for July 8–10 and headed back home on the 11th.

The plan worked great in terms of learning the track, learning from the driver coach, and getting accustomed to the heat. What didn’t work well was the fact that I was on cast number three from an on-track incident that occurred at Motorsports Country Club of Cincinnati for the SKUSA Pro Tour SpringNationals in mid-June. Unfortunately, my wrist was broken in two places, and dislocated, requiring surgery and a pin that would stay in for four weeks, and the cast on for six weeks.

Pre-Race Travel

Desenzano was enjoyed each night during the trip

I liked the track quite a bit, but the right-hand turns proved to be a lot for my left wrist. Nevertheless, we had a successful three days, and we were able to explore the nearby area of Desenzano and Lake Garda. The days were very warm, and the nights were not much cooler. The first night we had a huge thunderstorm that rolled through which was pretty cool to see on the lake.

I returned two weeks later, this time with my mom and my brother. We met my dad in Desenzano because he was flying in from Tokyo. We stayed at an Airbnb, which we’d never done before, and it was great. We had a house on Lake Garda with a front row view of the lake, a dock, and a swimming pool. All incredible amenities if my arm wasn’t in a cast. I had my fourth cast fitted prior to the trip and made sure to bring my SIM steering wheel to the appointment, just like I’d done for the prior cast.

The first 3 days we spent walking. A lot. We explored Desenzano and we ate a lot of pasta. We had an amazing bakery across from the house and every morning my brother would get pastries and coffees. My mom and dad also went to the market and bought every kind of prosciutto, melon, and cheese for breakfast. The food was incredible.

We explored Sirmione as well, which was my favorite. It is a tiny peninsula with shops, restaurants, a castle, hotels, and a lot of tourists. It is exactly what you think about when you think of Italy.  We also rented a boat to explore Lake Garda. That was a lot of fun, but the swimming was a challenge with a cast, but I jumped in anyway.

Thursday, July 25, 2024

We headed to the track to pick up my registration packet, provide my FIA license, and get a pit spot. This was the last weekend with the kart I’d raced the prior two weekends as we will have a new chassis for the final three rounds. We played the engine lottery and got our pit spot situated.

Friday, July 26, 2024

A glove adjustment for the cast

Friday was all practice. The OK Senior category was full this particular weekend and because the series has gained in popularity, there is now a waiting list to get one of the 36 spaces. If a driver elects not to race, that spot opens for the first driver on the waiting list. This weekend, we had 2 additional Americans join the grid in Senior, which was great to see. The practice sessions went well but I found myself much slower than I had been during my three days of practice. The other drivers that were there with me during the practice weekend were also slower than they had been, but I was struggling with pace.

The F1 Academy had two speakers speak with the F1 Scholarship recipients about the series, our future, and our performance profiles. The performance profiles were provided to us to assess various aspects of our karting, physical fitness, nutrition, mental fitness, social media presence, goals, and more. Once completed, the profile maps where we need to improve and how we can make that happen. In the UAE, the F1 Academy representatives will review the profiles with us to develop a plan progress.

Friday, we had six total sessions on track. The first was our engine run in. I had learned from my test weekend that the Europeans take their engine run in very seriously. This was a slow session that was meant to ensure the engine was in good shape. There is no going all out in this session and most of the drivers did not run the entire session. I ran the session at 50%-70% pace and all worked accordingly.

The next five sessions on track ran smoothly as well. There is not a lot to change on the karts because of the materials provided. In the States, we will change the axle, sprocket, tire pressures, the front-end, and perhaps seat, among others but with this series, there are no axle changes and for the most part the seat and front-end stay standard. We are also provided with a new set of tires on Thursday for sessions 2 – 6. Because I had raced the prior race, I had scrubs to run the engine run-in on but if this was a driver’s first-time in the series, they had to drive the run-in on new tires, whereas the rest of us used them for session 2. We don’t have the option to wait until session 3 as all that is regulated.

Because I still had the cast on, I was able to cover it utilizing two gloves my mom sewed together. It looked horrible, though she tried her best, but it worked. I waited to cut the arm of the suit until we got to the track Friday, perhaps hoping for some miracle that the cast would come off. No such luck for me though so my mom was able to cut the suit arm but leave a portion of the cuff between my forefinger and thumb to keep the suit arm from flapping in the wind.

My pit-mate this time were from Australia, and they found the cast to be pretty funny. They suggested I use brake clean to soften the cast as it was causing a blister between my thumb and forefinger. This did not work, and I would not advise spraying any into your arm under a cast. I did end up sawing a piece of the cast off there to make it a little easier to hold onto the steering wheel; however, my orthopedic doctor was not impressed with my work when I returned home.

Saturday, July 27, 2024

The trip included working with a new driver coach from Europe

The Formula Medicine crew was on-site to teach us about physical fitness. The presentation was quick and then we went straight into a series of exercises; however, they were not really possible with one arm, so my session was a bit short. Still, the staff provided us with great exercises to do when in a hotel, on the road, in a confined space, or just short on time. The Formula Medicine staff is very knowledgeable, and I find the time with them to be very beneficial and educational.

On track, I qualified 19th on Saturday while finishing 21st in Heat #1 and 28th for Heat #2, having been in an accident and receiving a penalty. You’ve got to find humor in the description of the penalties in Europe. I received a five-second penalty for an ‘incorrectly installed front fairing.’ It was, in fact, correctly installed; however, became incorrectly installed after I was hit. This put me starting 25th for the main.

During the heats, we had a red flag for an on-track incident where the driver did not return for the remainder of the weekend. I was up to 19 in that heat making great progress. Much like the US, we stopped single file on the main straight and gathered under any shade we could find while the medics attended to the driver. The restart was interesting because we require our mechanics to push start our karts. Once we were on our way, we did restart in our last lap position in a single file start, just like we do in the US.

The main proved to be tough with me getting jostled back and eventually finishing 28th. My pace seemed to be lacking and the kart was pulling to the left and I just did not make forward progress. It is interesting because there is a lot of blocking, even at the back of the race.

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Sunday proved to be more successful than Saturday for me. I qualified 23rd, however, my heat races were not one for improving. I finished Heat #1 29th and Heat #2 in 26th, putting me in a starting position of 29th for the main event. In the Final, I was able to improve 10 spots, finishing 19th.

I found good pace in the final and, starting so far back, was able to make a lot of passes. The configuration we ran at Franciacorta had us taking two right turns after the start so being on the inside, even from that far back, meant drivers were diving down to be on the inside of those corners. My start was great but after coming out of the second right turn, I was on the outside. I tried to hold the line but was pushed off track going into the fourth turn. I was able to push hard and gain quite a few positions and at the end felt I had more than the 10-spot gain.

While this was an improvement, it was not where I’d hoped to be at the end of the weekend.

Amazing scenes in Italy

Every night after the sessions were done, we drove back to the Airbnb, which was about 40 minutes away. We showered, and then walked to dinner. My absolute favorite was Esplanade, which was next door to our Airbnb. It was incredible. I’ve never had food like it in my life. We were supposed to go there the first night we got in, but we had to cancel because our flight into Munich was rerouted to Frankfurt for weather and then our connecting flight was delayed. My mom tried to rebook but it was impossible.

We also went to Piccolo Villa, a hotel about three blocks away. There, we sat outside by the pool and the food was fantastic. My other favorites were walking into Desenzano and finding a little Italian restaurant. The pasta and fish were amazing, and of course the prosciutto and melon was always perfect.

Rounds 7 and 8 will be in Dubai, likely at the Dubai Kartodrome Circuit, the first weekend in October. I’ve never been to Dubai, but we plan to have the same driver coach with us as I will not test prior to that weekend. The series has been well organized, and the competition level is high. I’m hoping to show improvement in the next rounds but with a lot of the drivers having driven these tracks, it is challenging. Nevertheless, I’m up for the challenge and I’m excited to continue learning.

Payton Westcott Social Media

Instagram: @paytonwestcott

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