thanks for all the info! we're heading for formula cars. he's a small 11 year old, only 4'7". i was concerned about him being big enough, but visited SB at road atlanta, and the instructor told me he will be fine. he told me they would make him a seat. also, he told me i could bring angus up there before the school to give him some shifting experience beforehand.
angus comes from motocross and has a working knowledge of shifting, clutching, etc on motocross bikes. he totally gets downshifting, etc in theory coming from that, and i was assuming that would transfer readily. am i thinking correctly? he was really good at shifting, feathering the clutch, etc, and it took him about 30 minutes to master it on a motorcycle at age 8. that is my biggest worry entering the class.
i know he's young, and some have not been supportive of his progress, but the ones who've worked with him have been very supportive. he started racing when he was 4 in mx, factory sponsored at 8, switched to karting at 9 due to so many injuries, and added bandoleros last year. won in everything. i had parents that pushed me in sports, and i can assure you, though, that angus' drive in racing comes totally from him, not me as i don't want to be one of those parents. our deal is i will work only as hard as he does. he's been totally focused on getting to SB, and preparing himself to enter the karting shootout.
i got some really good advice recently from this board to stay out of the way and to even stay at home and send my wife with him to the school. i don't think i can remove myself that much from it, but i will totally stay out of the way at SB, and i appreciated the reminder to back off and let the instructors handle angus. we've been fortunate to have had alot of individual coaching over the years, and so both of us are used to that.
whoever angus meets, he questions them if they are aware of the new USF1 team. he's convinced that's his future.
