Bearman reveals three-day karting quest in Sweden

You can’t keep Haas Formula 1 rookie Oliver Bearman from a race track for very long.

In the three-week break between the British and Belgian grands prix, Bearman lit up the Goodwood Festival of Speed and then disappeared for a revitalising getaway in Sweden. Until the 20-year-old discovered a corporate kart track right on his doorstep, and his indomitable competitive spirit altered his and his girlfriend’s holiday plans.

“I was on vacation in Sweden and there was a kart track very close to where I was staying that week,” Bearman explained.

“It was a coincidence. Of course, I was excited to go to Sweden for a while. My girlfriend’s family said: ‘Look, you have to beat the lap record’. And I was like, yeah, come on, it will be easy. Then on the first day I was three or four tenths off.

“The track was really cool. It was a short lap, only 29 seconds, so you had to be super precise and I was trying every trick in the book to do it because the guy was quick.”

Bearman really took his holiday side quest seriously, and when he says he tried every trick in the book, he means it. After struggling to beat the record for hours, he took fuel out of the car, treated the engine with a leaf blower to try and cool it down, and enlisted his girlfriend’s help to take care of the tyres. Defeat was not an option.

“It was a serious, serious quest. On the final day we put new tyres and did it properly, dropping the pressures after every run,” he added.

“I was at it for almost two hours. You had to really put the perfect lap together and move some of the walls a little bit and finally, I managed to beat the lap time by just like half a tenth. I did like 15 laps where I was 0.03 or 0.04 away from it. And when you’re that close, you can’t quit until you win!

“I have photos of me, the guy with me and my girlfriend taking fuel out of the car to try and make it lighter. I was cooling down the engine between runs with, like, a leaf blower.

“My girlfriend was fixing the tyres. It was just a corporate kart but because it was quite hot out there the engine was running very hot. So, we had to take away some of the bodywork, because the power really drops when the engine gets hot. It was a high tech operation.

“Someone was slipstreaming me on the straights and then moving out of the way at the last minute so I could do the lap. I went with normal clothes, but I made sure to have shorts and a thin t-shirt on to keep the weight down. And even on the straights, I was head down. I wasn’t messing around.”

For Bearman, his outing was not just a way to take his mind off his day job and recharge the batteries after a busy first half of his rookie campaign, but also to reconnect with the grassroots level that made him fall in love with motorsports in the first place.

Oliver Bearman, Haas F1 Team

Photo by: Erik Junius

“I always loved karting so much. There, it was incredible and such a beautiful country as well. It was really the perfect way to spend the time off,” he said. “I didn’t plan to go karting pretty much every day, but it’s not a bad thing, you know?

“It’s in the blood and really takes you back to where you started and love the sport so much. It was really nice to do that, but also nice to take a week off and not think about racing while still being competitive and enjoying the driving as well. And reflect on the difficult weekend that was Silverstone. But now, since the race week, Spa couldn’t have come fast enough.”

For Bearman, one question remains after his successful mission. How did Sweden’s local karting phenomenon pull off a lap that drove Bearman to the edge?

“I don’t know. He should be in F1!,” he laughed. “Or he’s 20 kilos, which is my only other thought.

“I think the problem was that it was too hot. I told them if I wasn’t going to beat the lap record that I would come back the next morning at like six or seven when it’s really cold.

“Apparently, this guy did the lap record in like April or May, when it’s like minus 20 there. That’s how he did it, I think. That’s my excuse!”