Shooting around a track at 120kmph only inches from the ground may sound intense, but for Year 10 Go Kart racer Louise Gridley, it’s second nature.

Go Kart racing has taken Louise all around New Zealand, from Auckland down to Invercargill. She recently competed in the Gold Star round two event at Kartsport Wellington, where she placed thirteenth. This follows on from Louise winning the Twilight Junior Rotax event in Blenheim.

Coming from a family of race enthusiasts, the 14 year old first rode a cart when she was six, and started racing when she was nine.

“I’ve been brought up around it, then I had friends who started racing so I had a go and I liked it. Now dad isn’t racing as much but he’s running people [coaching and supporting racers] and owns a karting company,” Louise said.

Races involve strategy and teamwork as the racers negotiate a varied track over eight to twelve laps to get to the finish line first. Despite being so close to the ground and reaching speeds in excess of 120kmph, Louise remains unfazed.

“I don’t feel it,” she said.

Racing is certainly a family affair, with Louise’s dad heavily involved in making her go kart.

“My Dad builds the go kart,” Louise said. “Dad orders the carts in from Australia. Dad’s mate up in Auckland, Ryan Urban, builds the motors to make them fresher for big meets like the nationals or South Islands. And then dad just puts [on] the pedals, steering wheel and does the body work, and adds the sticker kit and the numbers.”

Louise enjoys the social side of the sport and also sees it as a stepping stone towards furthering her driving aspirations.

“I want to move onto racing V8 cars. Bathurst is what I want to win!”

With so much speed involved, Louise does admit to having the odd accident, but again seems to have taken it all in her stride.

“Last year I ended up in the ambulance, at the Wellington track. I was coming down the front straight, [I was doing] 90 km. We had just started the race. A kart got the curb and got me and I was airborne and then I landed and I just about hit a tree…they thought I’d broken my neck because of the landing.”

“That was mum’s first time watching me ever get hurt in a kart, and she came sprinting trying to find me in the ambulance.”

“I wasn’t too injured at all though, I only had a few bruises!”

Despite that close brush with a tree, Louise recommends go karting as a sport, and states that there are hidden depths to it that may not be apparent to those watching the racers whiz along the track.

“Some people don’t think of it as a sport because they don’t think it is that physical when it actually is. The long races are mental on your brain because you must have strategies. My dad owns a team and in my class there are two of us and when we race we help each other through teamwork.”