Balclutha kart racer Brian Jacobs clocked up his seventh title win at the 2023 New Zealand Grass Kart Championship Finals last month.
About 200 karts took part in the the competition, hosted by the South Otago Kart Club near Milton over Easter.
Mr Jacobs, an engineer at Finegand freezing works, won the 200cc Lifan engine class.
‘‘You stay focused on the present and never look behind,’’ he said.
‘‘In traffic you’re protecting a line, but if you get ahead you can choose your own.
‘‘The karts and driver skill levels are pretty tight so it’s pretty much down to reading the terrain, choosing lines and making no mistakes.
‘‘If you leave the race line you can hit the piles of soil and get bellied and thrown around.’’
Start-grid positions are randomised in grass-kart racing.
The racing machines range from ‘‘a couple of grand second-hand’’ to $20,000 for the top of the line.
They have no suspension so fatigue and breakage is common during the seven-to-10-minute races, where the big karts reach up to 130kmh just centimetres off the ground.
The comparatively low-cost sport is well know to attract whole families of competitors like the Jacobs, and has classes for children as young as 5.
‘‘I understand an event like the Easter championships costs $20,000 to $30,000 to run,’’ Mrs Jacobs said.
‘‘So everybody’s really grateful to the sponsors and organisers for making it happen, especially the landowners.
