“That not everything that seems invisible is actually invisible. Sometimes something can be dangerous even if you don’t know what it looks like. But, with a little attention, we can avoid stomach aches,” her dad replies.
Lola and Peter look puzzled and look at each other to see if at least one of them has understood the meaning of those strange words.
“At the right time I’ll explain what I mean,” Steve teases them.
“What a lot of mysteries today,” says Lola.
“Dad, can you tell us what’s happening this weekend? Where are we going… to an invisible place?”
“You’re right Lola, don’t worry, I’ll explain everything.”
Steve is a journalist, and he has been given a new assignment: to go to a kart track, which is smaller than a Formula 1 circuit, where an important children’s race is scheduled.
The young champions will drive karts, small vehicles that are a first step for anyone who wants to become a
professional driver.
Steve will have to interview the protagonists of the competition and find out about their dreams for the future.
The competition is spread out over three days: Friday is for testing, when the young talents can go to the track
to study the circuit and understand how to do the laps in the shortest time possible. The qualifying rounds take place on Saturday, when each driver has to try to be faster than the others in order to start from the front. Sunday is race day.
“Peter, check the Internet for a photo of a karp, so I can see what they’re like,” orders Lola, who had no idea that
kids could race on a track.
“Not karp, but kart!” her father corrects her.
In a few seconds Peter finds a photo online: “Here they are, look at how the drivers are sitting: their bottoms are practically on the tarmac!” he explains, incredibly excited at the idea of going to visit a real circuit.
He always watches the car racing on TV.
After answering a number of questions and setting out a long series of things to do and not to do in order not to be a nuisance to the people working at the track, Steve looked in the rear-view mirror and noticed that his
passengers had fallen asleep.
No sooner had Steve entered the track area with the car, than Lola, Peter and Midori Kuma opened their eyes, almost as if they had heard an alarm go off.
In fact, the noise from the track was very loud.
The three friends kept their faces glued to the car window.
They were bursting to get out of the car and rush to find out what the funny little cars could do.
But what fascinated them most was the whole environment, the kids dressed like the Formula 1 champions, with helmets that made them look more like aliens: giant heads on small bodies.
And then the circuit itself, with all its curves, the tyres along the edges of the track and, above all, the sensation of witnessing something different and extraordinary.
“Do you have to take an exam to drive the gart?” Lola asks.
“They are called karts!” This time it’s Peter who corrects her, laughing.
“You need a license for the races, which is a kind of driving license. Otherwise, all you need is the necessary
protection, and you can rent the karts for a few laps,” Steve explained.
Curious as always, Lola starts firing off a series of questions: “What are all those tyres doing on the edge of the track? Do you have to wear a helmet? How do you go fast? Aren’t they afraid? Daddy can you buy me a pilot suit to go to Mars?”
Steve and Peter burst out laughing while Midori Kuma scratches his belly.
Lola just can’t get the word “kart” right.
But they are all convinced of two things: the first is that by Sunday she will have learnt this new term.
And the second is that, as well as the mobile phone, she will want to be able to drive a kart too.
And she is not the only one.
