…and honestly will get more eyes on a race kart than all of us put together right now. 
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That is a really nice track. Great video.
Jimmy is living the dream!
The pre-bridge version of it is nuts. T1 is a huge, fast 180.
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It’s also a good opportunity as Jimmy’s main audience is sim racing, and F1 fans. Having karting content as secondary content on a channel like that, provides some greater opportunity to increase exposure to the sport in a small way.
Also, since most of his fans come from sim, him going karting and showing that it can be done (and well, without a giant learning curve) by a guy in a shed, is encouraging. The car stuff he gets to do might be out of reach for his younger viewers financially, but the karting league races he does really shows the accessible side of comp. karting. I wouldn’t be surprised if it helps grow karting by introducing new racers from sim.
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Great to see the British lads getting him out there. Goes to show how accessible karting is that we can just throw a guy out there and not worry too much.
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Broadbent just said to me he isn’t interested in racing a kart, loves driving them but says he feels that when you start owning one & racing everyone seems super serious. Would rather stick racing his MX5. And that right there is the crux of the issue.
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I can’t disagree with that, either. For years, one of the things that I’ve struggled to find were a group of people who just went to practice to have fun, or went to big races and didn’t treat them like Grand Prix.
I’ve found that you find that relaxed atmosphere more in drifting communities and other club racing enviroments. Probably because people know when you’re drifting or at Gridlife that Mclaren isn’t going to call you.
Also, car culture celebrates more self-expression than karting seems to. They want you to have the funky wheels, anime paint job and flashing lights.
I can’t even remember the last time that I’ve seen a karter even make a funny racing suit design or something expressive like that. (I’m guilty of that too.)
Granted, when I want to go RACING, karting is where it’s at, but when I want to do a track day, I think of cars. Even “track days” in karts are called “practice days”… Huh.
I don’t know if there is much fixing that… (Speaking of, I’ve got an MX5. I need to do something with that car… lol.)
I can’t even remember the last time that I’ve seen a karter even make a funny racing suit design or something expressive like that. (I’m guilty of that too.)
the microwave boys used to race with us and brought an actual bus. Right laugh. Miss those days
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There it is! I was thinking about this yesterday, when I was watching the live-stream of Gridlife at Gingerman. Even the commentary of the sessions seemed more relaxed, rather than in karting that can seem ultra competitive at time.
I mean, I definitely understand the appeal. That’s one of the reasons that I enjoy going racing. But Jimmy’s comment also makes me realize one of the challenges that I’ve also seen trying to build up a proper community in karting. That ultra-competitiveness can get in the way.
That’s one of the reasons that I enjoy the KP Forums. I’m not racing the majority of you here, so we can just relax and talk about karting.
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I think this is something that has kinda happened over the last 10 years or so.
There weird thing is, Fulbeck, which is literally 1000m away from PFi, would have given Jimmer a totally different impression of the sport. I think people’s first look at karting is often one which isn’t wholly representative of the sport. I’ll email him about it anyway.
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That’s strange. When I worked for a Mazda Team that ran MX-5 Cup and World Challenge, they were always serious. Seemed the only time someone cracked a smile was at Dinner time over beers. Even at the Club level with Spec Miata everyone always seemed to be scrambling to get the last few hundredths and beat out the next guy. Sort of like Briggs, the cars are so equally matched, it usually came down to setup. I think the biggest difference with cars is the larger gap between sessions. With so many groups and longer sessions, it does not feel as rushed. It is much easier to change your setup on a Kart than a Car however, so there is that too.
Yeah, keep on it. I’d love to see him in a kart way more regularly. The sport needs people like him.
Global MX5 Cup is a semi-professional series. That’s a totally different environment than just a guy doing a track day, or someone who builds a Nurburgring track car to fool around with his mates.
This
vs this.
That’s what Jimmy is comparing karting too.
Oh I get it. I’m just saying the difference in Level of Seriousness only varies with the seriousness of what you are doing with them. A track day or practice day is not the same as a Club Race event or Pro Kart event. There are levels of intensity in both realms.
Like he said in his video, PFi was a “Premier League” compared to his last experience. Looked like several other Pro Teams were out there too. Lots of large trailers and tents in the background as the walk through the paddock area. Hopefully Alan can convince him to not judge the rest of karting by his experience at PFi.
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I need to do this. 
I’m going to use our own critique on this statement and ask what the value prop for Jimmy would be.
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He gets more real world seat-time, which supplements the other racing things that he’s doing.
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He can show other people how to enter motorsport in different ways, in addition to sim-racing, so broadness his Youtube content portfolio.
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It augments the Club 100 content that he’s making.
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