Driving Schumi's kart, a dream came true, at Kerpen: here's how it went

DRIVING SCHUMI’S KART

Yanek Sterzel

10 March 2016

Driving the kart one of the best drivers of all times, on “his” track in Kerpen. A dream... come true!

This story dates back a while, but still gives me chills. It began as far back as late 2006, when I saw Michael Schumacher’s kart tests in Lonato. Michael had just retired from F1 and had committed to spending a day on track to help with Tony Kart and Vortex product development. I couldn’t believe that a seven-time world champion could still be so deeply in love with karting. I remember thinking: “Alright, with an F1 there’s no arguing, I’d slam it into the pit wall. But on a kart, how would I do against Michael Schumacher?”. In other words: here is your average Sunday karter, potentially bald, about 1 meter and 80 tall, who trains on karts something like 10-15 times a year, right? How much dust would he have to bite in a challenge against the strongest driver of all times? Some time went by, but I had made my mind up - I wanted to make it happen. So, one day I decided to ring up Mister Peter Kaiser.

TKART director Yanek Sterzel in the shop with Peter Kaiser, Michael Schumacher’s dear friend. The company they founded with Thomas Muchow is called KSM, from their initials

In KSM, the company founded by Kaiser, Schumacher and Muchow, traces of the seven-time F1 world champion are everywhere: from his olf karts to his Ferrari F1

“TAKE YOUR AVERAGE KARTER, WHO TRAINS HERE AND THERE: HOW MUCH OF A GAP COULD HE GET FROM THE BEST DRIVER OF ALL TIMES ?”

The engine marked with the intials “MS”... Everything reminds us we are on Michael Schumacher’s home-turf

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Kaiser is a close friend of Schumacher’s: together with thier buddy Thomas Muchow they founded KSM (Kaiser-Schumacher-Muchow). Besides, Kaiser has been in karting forever: he used to manage the shop at the Kerpen track (the one where Michael Schumacher was “born and raised”, competitively speaking), he has a real team that is at the forefront of major races, and he is the importer for Germany of Tony Kart, Vortex, ROK, Ibea and Vega products.
Unexpectedly, Peter welcomed my wild proposal with unmotivated kindness and enthusiasm... something I still can’t explain to this day! What matters is that we agreed on the date and place: 15 April 2009, Kerpen. There was just a small detail that threw me off: the kart was going to be a Tony Kart/Vortex KZ. I shyly tried to plead my case: “I’ve always used non-shifters...”; but Peter wouldn’t budge: “Michael has never raced a KF in Kerpen, only KZs...”. End of story. The only concession I got was the possibility to do two stints: the first one “cold turkey”, without time to train; the second, six months later, after following a prep program suggested by Kaiser and Muchow. After my initial burst of elation passed, I was inevitably, assailed by doubts: I had driven a 125 shifter maybe twice in my life and now I was going to try Schumi’s kart - his very own. And backed not by “Joe, the mechanic”, but by Peter Kaiser and Thomas Muchow. Was I f’n crazy?!