From left: Carlos Batista, Edward Lei, Maxi Manhão and Ethan Chang
A new batch of Macau racers is ready to start racing and challenge themselves against other competitors in their categories.
Starting from square one, which in motorsports is to say from kart racing, these young boys and girls are keen to move from training sessions to racing sessions as soon as racing events, which were halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic, resume.
To learn more about the first steps to becoming a race driver, the Times went to the Coloane Karting Track to get to know these youngsters aiming to carry the Macau flag to the top of the podium and follow in the footsteps of names such as André Couto, Rodolfo Ávila, and Charles Leong, just to mention a few that have achieved stardom.
Among the older teenage boys on the track, one young girl draws your attention. Her name is Vernice Lao. She is 10 years old and she is fast; this could well be her short biographical presentation.
After a training session where she accurately executed the instructions of her coach Cheong Chi Hou, one of the current top racers in Macau, Lao explained to the Times that she started karting in 2019 at 9 years old. Her passion for racing was triggered by her father, who took her to the Coloane Track to see the races.
Helped by her mother, Lao explained that she had tried playing with karts at the time, but she was too short to reach the accelerator and brake pedals. But after she grew a little, Lao’s father decided to invest in making a kart suitable for her age and height, and she could not have been happier.
Vernice Lao
“I started driving karts last year. It’s very exciting and very interesting. I always want to come back to the track to drive the kart,” Lao said. “I want to join races as soon as possible and I think I have a good chance of winning.”
Not only does Lao think she has a good chance, everyone in the karting paddock agrees. Her steady pace, lap times and almost flawless driving around the Coloane track foreshadow the many trophies that may come to decorate Lao’s shelves.
When asked what about karting interests her, the adrenaline running through her veins prompts a fast answer. “I like it because it’s fast,” she said with a smile on her face.
16-year-old racer Edward Lei has also been racing for about a year. For Lei, karting is a way to have fun with friends and to challenge himself mentally and physically for the moment.
Lei said, “I started to drive karts through an introduction from a friend [Maximiano Manhão] who introduced me to karting. I decided to join together with him and other friends.”
Sharing Lao’s passion for speed and excitement, Lei said, “Motorsports is so exciting, the speed but also the technology behind it is very captivating. Besides, it is such a physical sport [which people have no idea of until they try it].” He added that fun is the most important element for him at the moment, though he also thinks about joining racing events soon.
Ethan Chang is one of the less experienced racers in the group, and started to drive karts about a month ago. Chang told the Times about his first impression of karting and his goals in the sport.
“I thought it would be slower. I got too excited in my first run, going at full speed, and I ended up in the grass,” he recalls. “After that, I got used to the feeling. It is really fun and intense at the same time.”
Analyzing his current performance, Chang noted that he feels that he is not yet going fast enough, “but I will continue to try to improve that and try to catch up to the other boys on the track.”
Questioned as to whether he had previous experience in driving from computer simulators and how that experience compares to the reality on the track, Chang said, “Reality is very different [from computer simulations] and is a lot more exciting.”
Recalling what led him to start driving karts, Chang said that he loves the idea and the feeling of driving. Since he is not old enough to have a driving license and to drive a car on the road, he started engaging in this sport when he was in the U.S..
“I started in these go-karts. They were electric powered and they were also very slow when compared to the kart that I am driving here. This kart is really fast and also it relaxes me in a way, as it gets my mind off everything else. I focus only on the driving and during that time I can free my mind from homework, exams, and all the school-related things. It takes my stress away completely. For the whole week, I look forward to karting,” Chang explained.
Carlos Batista has been racing since July this year. The young racer said that driving a kart is a great experience and a great opportunity for the petrol head since a young age.
“I remember liking cars and racing since I was a baby. My father would hold me in his lap so we could watch the Formula One races together,” Batista said, adding that he decided to try karting after a conversation with his father earlier this year.
“Apart from the [pure] speed and the driving, I am a quite competitive person and I like to race others,” he noted, saying that he looks forward to being able to join races and to be awarded trophies.
Maximiano Manhão is also new to karting, but demonstrating great progress. Manhão is the son of a former local racer and a current Macau Grand Prix Rescue Car driver. His karting skills evolved very quickly, and in just a few training sessions, he climbed the leader of the karting categories from the Rotax Max category (125cc engine without gearbox) to a KZ (top category karting with a 125cc engine equipped with a six-speed gearbox).
To the Times, Manhão simply explained, “I love karts, I love the adrenaline of going fast.” He noted that besides that, being involved with kart racing is also a very good opportunity to learn more about the mechanics and other aspects of racing besides driving.
“It’s all a very good learning process and for me, it’s perfect as I learn better when I’m working. I prefer that to sitting in class and learning from reading only. I like hands-on learning,” Manhão said.
His fast evolution on the track has made the youngster think about more than just racing for fun, and he admits that he is aiming to race and perform well.
“I will of course try to improve and be better than all the others. I like the competition and I will fight for the best position possible,” he said, anticipating upcoming opportunities to finally move from practicing to racing.
“I hope I can do some races next year [since this year that was not possible due to the cancellation of all the race events]. I am a bit nervous about the first race and about not knowing what to expect, but it’s a good nervous,” Manhão remarked.
Team owner Daniel Tam
Talent exists, realization depends on support from Macau and families
Local youngsters have enough talent and can be trained to be successful at racing, but these achievements ultimately dependent on support from their families and Macau, says Solar Racing Team owner Daniel Tam.
Tam, who has been working in this field for many years, thinks that without such support, namely at the financial level, talent will be lost because motorsport is an expensive sport and requires investment to achieve higher goals.
“These kids are all very new to the sport and they are all very talented. If they were not, I would not accept them [in my team]. It’s as simple as that because I don’t want to waste time for them, for the parents and myself,” Tam said, adding, “If they are good – which they are – I am willing to teach them and support with all my [resources].”
To start karting, the first step is always to become a member of the Macau motorsports governing body – the Automobile General Association Macao China, explains Tam. “Nowadays you cannot just come to the track and say to the staff that you want to drive as if you want to drive rental go-karts [which is possible during some hours]. You must be 18 years old and have a driving license. But this is different from driving racing karts,” he said.
“Besides joining the [motorsports] association, if you are underage you need to get an authorization from your parents. From then on we follow the CIK (Commission Internationale de Karting) procedures for sports licensing and to start driving.”
Questioned as to what the right age for learning to drive racing karts is, Tam said that recruits should be around eight years old. “It is possible to start younger than that in a Cadet car, but that’s mostly to have fun and understand the basics, and above all, to ensure that the young racer won’t fear the car when he or she needs to go out on track for the first time. Some young kids are very enthusiastic at first but as soon as they sit in the car and the engine starts, they get scared and they want to jump out, as reality is completely different from what they play in the videogames,” he said.
As Tam explained, the first sessions are done at the trackside in a small kart that the instructor can control at all times through a rope that he can pull, making the back wheels of the kart lift from the floor and stop immediately if necessary. This is done until the young trainee driver earns the ability to autonomously control their car.
“After that, they start to go on the track. The first sessions are led by a coach in a kart that will teach them where to turn, where to brake, to get familiar with the track. Only after those stages are passed do we provide a better and quicker kart for them,” Tam said.
“Manhão and Lei started just like that, in Rotax karts, very slowly and carefully. I told them, as I always do to new drivers: the kart is not a toy, it is a piece of sports equipment with which you need to be very careful, otherwise you risk hurting yourself and other drivers and causing damage,” he explained, adding that racing is a remarkable sport for learning how to be responsible and respectful, as these aspects also form part of the training.
“It’s also our responsibility to teach sportsmanship,” Tam concluded.
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