-
Home
- TV Shows
- TV Schedule
- NASCAR
-
Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
-
Latest Headlines: Moto-Racing
-
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Games
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
- Home
- TV Shows
-
TV Schedule
-
SPEED Showcase
-
- NASCAR
- Formula 1
- Auto Racing
- Moto Racing
- Cars
- Bikes
- Store
- Social
- Mobile
- Deals
- Videos
- Photos
IndyCar
KARTING: Efrain’s Excellent Granja Viana Adventure
What happens when journalist Efrain Olivares faces off against top IndyCar, F1 and sports car drivers in the famous Brazilian karting event? Pure comedy gold.
F1's Felipe Massa leads IndyCar's Vitor Meira in the fun-but-grueling 500 Milhas Granja Viana karting event. (Photo: Carsten Horst / HYSET Ag)
Story by Efrain Olivares
You wouldn’t believe me, unless you were there...in the deep end...karting with the Brazilians at the 2011 500 Milhas Granja Viana at Beto Carrero World
In a previous life, I worked with former SPEED.com reporter Cassio Cortes at a publishing company that produced several motorsports titles. I believe our first conversation was about going to the local indoor kart track after work.
While that company was full of wonderful people who put together great magazines, our publisher (read: boss) was not one of those wonderful people, and we both left our positions to move on to greener pastures. Cassio ultimately returned to his native Sao Paulo, and we continued to stay in touch, sharing our exploits of local indoor karting adventures.
A few weeks ago, I received a call from Cassio – which is rare in this modern day of e-mail, Facebook and twitter. It was a short conversation in which he basically said “Hey Punk. You can race on our team at this year’s Granja Viana. It’s at a new track in the south of Brazil that was designed by Herman Tilke. Just get down here.”
Then, he hung up on me.
So that is how I would up touching down at Florianopolis airport last Thursday, packing into a rented Fiat Uno, and venturing to the brand new kart track at Beto Carrero World in Penha, Brazil. If you aren’t familiar with the 500 Milhas Granja Viana, it is a 500-mile endurance kart race held annually at the Granja Viana circuit. Promoted by former IndyCar driver Felipe Giaffone, the event has grown throughout its 14 year history to attract some of the largest names in motorsports – although, obviously, the vast majority of the drivers hail from Brazil.
But for the first time, the Granja Viana would not be held at the track in Sao Paulo that lent its name to the event – but at a new circuit built adjacent to the Beto Carrero amusement park in Penha. Built at a cost of $4 million (not a typo: they spent $4 million United States greenbacks building the place) the circuit was designed by Herman Tilke with large grandstands, and a three-story pit tower featuring pit garages, two bars, a store, a restaurant, multiple hospitality areas and a bowling alley. Glass frontage allows viewing of the entire circuit. The track itself features two different challenging configurations – although curiously, the organizers picked the slower, less interesting version for this year’s Granja Vianna.
Tilke – in attendance to race as well – told me he preferred the configuration that we did not use. And later in the weekend, it was announced that Beto Carrero World had also commissioned Tilke to design a brand new road course directly adjacent to the kart rack.
My team would be made up primarily of journalists and photographers from Brazil, who I found, compete regularly in these same karts at the Granja Viana circuit in Sao Paulo. “We will not win,” Cassio assured me.
I didn’t need him telling me that to understand the magnitude of the competition. Rubens Barrichello and Tony Kanaan were on a team together. Felipe Massa had two teams. IndyCar drivers Rafael Matos and James Hinchliffe were sharing two karts as well. There were two Fittipaldi teams entered, with Christian Fittipaldi and Vitor Meira sharing a kart.
I was eager to practice, and there wasn’t much practice time available. Our unofficial team captain, Rodrigo Franca, told me I would have ten minutes in the first 60 minute open session of the day. I sat suited up, ready to go while Cassio took his first laps of the 12 turn, .75-mile circuit – but then Cassio blew the critical exit of turn 11 and blasted the tire wall. Body deranged, he returned to the pits, and our crew assessed the damage and put me in the kart. It took me a couple of laps to realize not all was well with the kart, and when I brought it back in it was obvious that the kart had a flat tire.
Thanks, Cassio.
Plans were then made to put me in the kart for a few laps during the night session. Cool-looking yellow visor installed, I jumped in the kart and set out for a few laps – but the kart was not handling well again. I then realized it was raining, and I was on slicks. No problem, I thought, I have done this before! However, the team brought me in and put rain tires on the kart as it really was starting to rain hard. I was set to get in, but then Cassio jumped in the kart and drove away.
Thanks again, Cassio.
This is how I found myself on Saturday afternoon, around 3 in the afternoon – 5 ½ hours into the Granja Viana – chewing my fingernails off as I waited for my turn in the #17 Bee Racing machine. Luckily for me, I befriended Hinchcliffe who gave me good advice about where and when I should be letting faster traffic past. Ordinarily, I might have been offended at his assumption that I would be passed, and passed repeatedly, but he’s a perceptive guy, that mayor of Hinchtown. And, just to set the mood a little bit more, there was upwards of 10,000 fans in attendance, all clamoring for their chance to take a photo of their national heroes – which best as I could tell, were Barrichello, Massa, and Kanaan.
PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view KARTING: 500 Milhas Granja Viana 2011
As my kart was signaled in, Cassio left me with one last bit of advice: “Dude, don’t crash it. You can’t crash.”
So, after flying 7,000 miles, and boning me out of my two practice sessions, Cassio now demanded that I not crash the kart – probably only because he was due to drive after I was.
You wouldn’t believe me, unless you were there...in the deep end...karting with the Brazilians at the 2011 500 Milhas Granja Viana at Beto Carrero World
In a previous life, I worked with former SPEED.com reporter Cassio Cortes at a publishing company that produced several motorsports titles. I believe our first conversation was about going to the local indoor kart track after work.
While that company was full of wonderful people who put together great magazines, our publisher (read: boss) was not one of those wonderful people, and we both left our positions to move on to greener pastures. Cassio ultimately returned to his native Sao Paulo, and we continued to stay in touch, sharing our exploits of local indoor karting adventures.
A few weeks ago, I received a call from Cassio – which is rare in this modern day of e-mail, Facebook and twitter. It was a short conversation in which he basically said “Hey Punk. You can race on our team at this year’s Granja Viana. It’s at a new track in the south of Brazil that was designed by Herman Tilke. Just get down here.”
Then, he hung up on me.
So that is how I would up touching down at Florianopolis airport last Thursday, packing into a rented Fiat Uno, and venturing to the brand new kart track at Beto Carrero World in Penha, Brazil. If you aren’t familiar with the 500 Milhas Granja Viana, it is a 500-mile endurance kart race held annually at the Granja Viana circuit. Promoted by former IndyCar driver Felipe Giaffone, the event has grown throughout its 14 year history to attract some of the largest names in motorsports – although, obviously, the vast majority of the drivers hail from Brazil.
But for the first time, the Granja Viana would not be held at the track in Sao Paulo that lent its name to the event – but at a new circuit built adjacent to the Beto Carrero amusement park in Penha. Built at a cost of $4 million (not a typo: they spent $4 million United States greenbacks building the place) the circuit was designed by Herman Tilke with large grandstands, and a three-story pit tower featuring pit garages, two bars, a store, a restaurant, multiple hospitality areas and a bowling alley. Glass frontage allows viewing of the entire circuit. The track itself features two different challenging configurations – although curiously, the organizers picked the slower, less interesting version for this year’s Granja Vianna.
Tilke – in attendance to race as well – told me he preferred the configuration that we did not use. And later in the weekend, it was announced that Beto Carrero World had also commissioned Tilke to design a brand new road course directly adjacent to the kart rack.
My team would be made up primarily of journalists and photographers from Brazil, who I found, compete regularly in these same karts at the Granja Viana circuit in Sao Paulo. “We will not win,” Cassio assured me.
I didn’t need him telling me that to understand the magnitude of the competition. Rubens Barrichello and Tony Kanaan were on a team together. Felipe Massa had two teams. IndyCar drivers Rafael Matos and James Hinchliffe were sharing two karts as well. There were two Fittipaldi teams entered, with Christian Fittipaldi and Vitor Meira sharing a kart.
I was eager to practice, and there wasn’t much practice time available. Our unofficial team captain, Rodrigo Franca, told me I would have ten minutes in the first 60 minute open session of the day. I sat suited up, ready to go while Cassio took his first laps of the 12 turn, .75-mile circuit – but then Cassio blew the critical exit of turn 11 and blasted the tire wall. Body deranged, he returned to the pits, and our crew assessed the damage and put me in the kart. It took me a couple of laps to realize not all was well with the kart, and when I brought it back in it was obvious that the kart had a flat tire.
Thanks, Cassio.
Plans were then made to put me in the kart for a few laps during the night session. Cool-looking yellow visor installed, I jumped in the kart and set out for a few laps – but the kart was not handling well again. I then realized it was raining, and I was on slicks. No problem, I thought, I have done this before! However, the team brought me in and put rain tires on the kart as it really was starting to rain hard. I was set to get in, but then Cassio jumped in the kart and drove away.
Thanks again, Cassio.
This is how I found myself on Saturday afternoon, around 3 in the afternoon – 5 ½ hours into the Granja Viana – chewing my fingernails off as I waited for my turn in the #17 Bee Racing machine. Luckily for me, I befriended Hinchcliffe who gave me good advice about where and when I should be letting faster traffic past. Ordinarily, I might have been offended at his assumption that I would be passed, and passed repeatedly, but he’s a perceptive guy, that mayor of Hinchtown. And, just to set the mood a little bit more, there was upwards of 10,000 fans in attendance, all clamoring for their chance to take a photo of their national heroes – which best as I could tell, were Barrichello, Massa, and Kanaan.
PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view KARTING: 500 Milhas Granja Viana 2011
As my kart was signaled in, Cassio left me with one last bit of advice: “Dude, don’t crash it. You can’t crash.”
So, after flying 7,000 miles, and boning me out of my two practice sessions, Cassio now demanded that I not crash the kart – probably only because he was due to drive after I was.
INDYCAR BRAZIL
LATEST HEADLINES: AUTO-RACING
-
V8: Coulthard, Whincup On Top In Qualifying At COTA
Brad Jones Racing and Red Bull Racing Australia end up on top for… -
PHOTOS: V8 Supercars COTA Gallery
UPDATED: View more than 90 photos from Austin as V8 Supercar drivers… -
V8: COTA Friday Notebook
John Dagys explores some of the storylines from the first… -
V8: Lowndes Quickest On Friday At COTA
Red Bull Racing driver tops time charts in opening day of practice… -
INDYCAR: Viso Hits 229.537 On Wet Friday At Indy
Fast Friday's activities turned into Wet Friday just past 3 p.m.… -
MILLER: Indy Needs To Become The Week Of May
Despite decent to great weather, the Speedway has been empty the… -
INDYCAR: 230 MPH Pole Speeds At Indy Possible On Saturday
If the conditions are right on Saturday’s run for the pole,… - More News
