After racing go karts for 39 years straight, seven-time Australian champion Remo Luciani knows exactly how to prepare himself for an upcoming race.
Luciani aims to walk 10 kilometres a day to maintain aerobic fitness, but he eschews gym work for something more simple – mileage on the track.
And so the 59-year-old Horsham-based driver was at the Warrnambool Kart Club on Monday to complete 200 practice laps ahead of the Victorian Country Series, which is expected to draw more than 250 competitors.
“It’s quite a physically demanding sport,” he said.
“You get sore neck muscles, sore arms, and a sore body. But if you want to play a young person's sport, you've got to feel young.”
The Victorian Country Series’ opening round, held at the Allansford track, held over February 9 and 10, only features a 12-lap heat and a 16-lap final, but Luciani said he needed to go above and beyond that distance while training.
Luciani, who started at 8.30am and knocked off at 5pm, said the training day was a great opportunity to familiarise himself with the track and put in some serious hours away from the punishing heat in Horsham.
“It’s quite an interesting and technical track…you’ve got to have a fair bit of discipline,” he said.
Luciani won the first race he competed in at Hopetoun in 1980 and went on to win his first of seven Australian championships in 1992.
His latest, in 2010, at 50-years-old, saw him become the oldest ever national champion.
“I just bought a go kart as a toy when I was a 20-year-old apprentice,” he said.
“But I won my first race and the rest is history.”
