KartSport New Zealand's Driver Development Academy Kartsport added another high tech weapon to its training arsenal at the recent Hotshots training weekend at Royshill ZM Raceway Hawke's Bay.
Over the weekend 17 budding future champions were put under the lens as ex motocross champion and Academy development manager Niki Urwin partnered with Anthony Sproull’s innovative video analysis to take the Kartsport Driver Development Program to a new level.
"Students' on track action was filmed on the most important sections of the circuit and then through the specialised software we overlay a ghost image of the coach driving the same section," Urwin explains."This allows drivers to see for themselves how their corner entry style seriously affects the exit speed with a two-three kart length improvement easy to achieve."
"We were also fortunate to use national champion Mathew Kinsman to actually drive each participant's kart and this provided an added bonus for participants of a real time appraisal of their individual kart performance from an 'in the seat' perspective."
Six coaches provided an unprecedented level of training; with Gary Wilson’s set up skills fine-tuning everyone’s chassis knowledge before senior national champions Karl Wilson and Ryan Urban conducted in-depth on-track training.
An indication of how popular and well regarded the Academy courses are came in young Christchurch driver Tom Alexander's attendance at the Hastings event. Drivers and their parents will travel that far to benefit from the on and off-track coaching, something which no doubt will show up at the upcoming National School Championships event being held at the Hawke's Bay track over the July 11-12 weekend.
Along with this new video analysis enhancement the Kartsport Hotshots courses covered nutrition, fitness, mental preparation, driving techniques, qualifying, chassis set up as well as practice time trials.
More Explore and Learn courses are scheduled throughout the year and a South Island Hotshots program including the video analysis system is scheduled for Blenheim in Sep 12-13.
KartSport New Zealand is proudly supported by The Lion Foundation who have invested in the future for young New Zealand sports men and woman with an innovative new academy-style coaching program with two key aims:
"One," says KartSport Academy Director Graeme Moore, "is to strengthen and grow the sport in this country. The other is to identify and nurture our next World Champion."
Auckland’s Wade Cunningham put KartSport New Zealand on the world motorsport map when he won the World Karting Championship in 2003. But like the vast majority of Kiwi sportsmen and women before him he had to forge his own path.
Under a charter developed by Moore and Academy Coordinator Niki Urwin the Academy has developed a suite of professional programs and support material to attract and retain new entrants to the sport and provide a development program that supports these members to whatever success level they aspire to, from consistent Junior or international success.
The levels are;
* 'Explore and Learn' for new entrants and juniors
* 'Hot Shots' performance enhancement for advanced drivers
The courses are open to club racers (of all ages), and junior competitors (from the age of six-years) and their parents/supporters.
