YORKTON – A Yorkton teen recently competed at the Rotax Winter Trophy kart racing competition held in Orlando, Fla.
Mannix Donelly spent two weeks south of the border in late January and early February where he competed in 13 races in the 12-14-years age group over two weekends, with open practice days in between.
Donnelly raced against 44 people in the first weekend of competition, and 36 people the second weekend, where he placed 15th in the final race of the tournament against competitors from all over the world.
In an interview with SaskToday.ca, Donnelly said that aside from a day at Disney World, he was in Florida to learn and to race.
Donnelly said his love for kart racing came about at a birthday party several years ago, where the venue the party was being held at had go-karts for entertainment.
"I really liked those rental karts," said Donnelly, adding, "I'd been watching F1 too and I thought, 'this would be really cool to get into.'"
With the help of his father, Donnelly was able to find the right people to get him into the niche sport and set him off on the right track.
When he started out in 2020 he raced for SSKC (South Sask Karting Club) based out of Regina where in his first season of kart-racing, Donnelly was the Rookie of the Year and won the championship in his class, as well as setting a track record in Junior 1, which is quite the accomplishment when the advice he received at the beginning of the season was "try not to get lapped and try not to finish last."
That same year Donnelly began racing with with a Briggs series kart and moved up to Junior 2 to face older drivers and be more competitive, placing third overall that season. However, in order to race Rotax he had to join SKR (Saskatoon Kart Racing), a club with members from all over the province.
Donnelly's first national event was two years ago in Saskatoon where he competed for Scott Campell Racing. Last year, for both Western and Canadian events, he was with Campbell, but had the opportunity to join BBR (Build Better Racers) Motorsports, an international team out of Vancouver.
The training is thorough and includes a full-time mechanic — whom Donnelly discusses with what the kart needs and how it's responding — a mindset coach, a workout regime, a driving coach and a video coach — the team principal has competitors wear go-pros of their races where they go over the footage to see where improvements can be made.
"Right now it's basic techniques and consistency," said Donnelly, noting hitting his apexes and not making mistakes on the track are the focus.
And that's especially important as, according to Donnelly, the fastest he's ever gone while driving a kart is 130 km/h.
Being from Saskatchewan, Donnelly is at a disadvantage because he doesn't get the practice time that other competitors do. The solution? A racing simulator.
"You pick the type of car you want to race with and you race with people from around the world," said Donnelly of the benefits of the racing simulator.
But when it came to the Rotax Winter Trophy, Donnelly said it took a little bit to warm up because he hadn't raced since September.
"I slowly got faster," said Donnelly.
Donnelly is no stranger to competitive sports, having played competitive hockey for much of his youth and noted the similarities and differences between the two sports.
"I always try keeping my pre-game and my pre-race — I always try keeping my same mind set," which is to "stay calm" according to Donnelly.
"Hockey — I think it's a little bit easier for me to have a better performance because it's a slower game on the ice ... I have more time to think," said Donnelly.
"When I get ready [for a race] I'm just thinking about a million different things — like my start passing and all that stuff," said Donnelly.
It's that mindset that helped Donnelly make a come-back performance in one race, fighting his way back from the 30th position all the way up to the 15th.
"It was a dry track but nobody knew if it was going to be wet or dry so everybody was on different tires," said Donnelly, adding, "corner one we were all lined up and about to go and I got hit from behind."
"I spun but luckily I missed the accident — there was a big one in front of me — and then I passed a few people and fought my way back up to 16th," said Donnelly, adding, "the guy in front of me had a push back from the bumper and he had a five-second penalty from that and I got 15th out of 36 other drivers in that race," said Donnelly.
Donnelly said his ultimate goal is to compete in F1 Racing, noting his idol and inspiration is seven-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, Lewis Hamilton.
"He's the greatest — the best person that's ever raced," said Donnelly.
And though Hamilton might be his idol, Donnelly thanks his mom, dad and the whole family for their support.
To stay up to date on Donnelly's races, visit his Instagram.
