RITS, karting and Karol's dream

Karol Kalisz is 14 years old, and since the age of six his passion has been kart racing. He has recently become a competitor for Team Blue Racing. He has already had his first successes, but next year he wants to compete in the junior category and reach for more. He dreams of a career as a rally driver. RITS Professional Services is helping him make this dream come true.

When I was 6 years old, my dad took me to an indoor go-kart track to ride. I liked it so much that after a while I moved to an outdoor track and entered my first competitions – Karol Kalisz recalls.

However, the road to a professional career is neither quick nor easy. Although go-karts can be driven by children as young as a few years old, this is usually done indoors and is very different from driving on an outdoor track. At the age of a few, it’s easiest to become accustomed to speed – several-year-old drivers can already reach up to 60 km/h – to train reflexes and focus, which comes in handy at later stages of their careers. However, in order to compete you need to get a license. Interestingly, there is no gender division in karting, with girls racing against boys.

In this year’s season, Karol Kalisz competed in the CEE Rotax Max Challange in Italy, where he finished 11th out of about 40 competitors. In Rotax Max Chalenge Poland, he placed 9th in the completed season. He finished the first stage of the Polish Championships in Bydgoszcz just behind the podium, and in the Polish Championships in Poznań in August Karol eventually took seventh place, but as he promises – next year he will return on new and bigger equipment to fight for more.

The kart racing season runs from April to October. During this period, the most training takes place on the track, but physical fitness must be taken care of all year round.

– I regularly go to the gym and train according to an individual program. This is mainly arm and leg training, but also games of skill, such as juggling balls to develop reflexes –  explains Karol Kalisz.

As he stresses, he is still working on his driving technique, adding gas, proper braking and cornering. Stress accompanies him only shortly before the start, and during the race he concentrates on driving as well as possible. Konrad Wróbel, Karol’s coach, is satisfied with the young rider’s results.

– Karol is making good progress, he still has a lot of learning ahead of him, but I think he has worked intensively this season. He has already won top places in competitions and there is an appetite to appear on the podium next season. In motorsport you have to keep overcoming your fears, every next race is another lesson. But karting is a very rewarding sport. It is very contagious and it is hard to stop competing – says Konrad Wróbel.

Karting is an expensive sport. The biggest cost is, of course, the go-kart – it costs from a dozen to tens of thousands of zlotys. To this you need to add the cost of tires, service, transportation, outfit, helmet, etc. One training session costs up to 2 thousand zlotys, and even more cost trips to training at tracks in the Czech Republic or Italy. It is estimated that about 80 thousand a year must be spent on the needs of a young rider.

Karol’s career can be followed on Facebook (Karting Driver Karol Kalisz), as well as supported by donating 1% of tax: KRS: 0000270261, note: Karol Kalisz 10106.