New Zealand’s Chris van der Drift is a lucky boy – though he may have cause to think otherwise. At the beginning of August while racing in the Superleague Formula at Brands Hatch, Chris had an enormous accident which left him with a dislocated and a broken ankle, a broken wrist, broken finger, two broken ribs and a cracked shoulder blade. It also left him with a large medical bill.Through no fault of his own Chris’s insurance wasn’t what it should have been. And so in an effort to get Chris fit to resume his career, a special karting fundraiser was held at Milton Keynes’ Daytona go-kart circuit – and Red Bull Racing’s Down Under Mafia were there to lend their support.
Mark Webber – no stranger to broken bones himself – was on hand as poacher-turned-gamekeeper, waving off a very competitive field in the MIS and Gullwing Karting Challenge. It included Red Bull Racing third driver Daniel Ricciardo, partnering his World Series team-mate and Red Bull Junior Jean-Eric Vergne. F1 driver Karun Chandhok, still feeling the jet-lag from his Red Bull showcar run in Korea, also put in a team, as did a host of stars from GP2, touring cars, rally and Formula 3.
“We're like one big family in motor racing and if one of us finds ourselves in times of hardship then the rest of us rally round," Webber said.
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Racing in teams of four, Ricciardo and Vergne – respectively the 2009 and 2010 British F3 Champions, auctioned-off their remaining two seats on Ebay, with the proceeds going to the appeal. They finished a mighty 23rd from 30 – though Daniel refuses to apportion blame.“No way was it our guests' fault – we got completely shafted with a dud kart!" Ricciardo groaned. "In qualifying we complained that the one we had was a joke. They gave us another for the race that was even worse – so I guess the joke was on us! But with about 120 people racing and loads of spectators, it was a great evening out. But, as I say, we were robbed."
More than one F1 driver confesses to considering F1 insufferably dull in comparison to the exhilaration of a day at the kart track. Daniel hasn’t had quite enough time in an F1 car yet to see it as anything other than the Holy Grail of motorsport, …but I see where they’re coming from!
"The thing with karting is that it’s always going to be fun, whether it’s competitive or in rentals," Ricciardo explained. "You’re sitting in that tiny seat, feeling like your arse is scraping the ground. That already is good fun because there’s nothing else like it where you can go at those speeds. It feels extreme. And from our field of 120 at Chris’s benefit, we had at least 60 professional drivers, so the standard was really high… and the fact you can bump them off and get away with being a little bit aggressive was quite cool too."
The event was won by the Palmersport One team of Bradley Philpot, Oli Brown and Karl Hackston as Chris watched from behind the barriers. He’ll be the first racing driver to attend the Bisham Abbey sports medicine facility, better known for coaxing a long list of football and rugby stars back to fitness.
To make a donation, go to http://www.chrisvddrift.com/
Source: RedBull
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