Youth Saloons

Master Jay and Miss Livee both race Youth Saloons at the Riverside Speedway in Invercargill.  There are 15 kids between the age of 12-16 years that race in this grade in Invercargill (Miss Livee is the youngest this season) and their cars have to be 1600cc or less.
We travelled to Dunedin yesterday for the Otago Youth Saloons champs.  Master Jay got 2nd overall which is awesome and the best he could have done because the boy who won it has a faster car and there is only so much that skill can do.
Miss Livee got a trophy for "Driver of the Night" - I think it was for the safest driver, keeping her driving lines etc.
With a lot of help from Uncle Barry, Master Jay got into Youth Saloons 2 years ago at the age of 13.  It doesnt sound like a sport you would want your children to be participating in but it is just the perfect sport for a teenage boy that has hemiplegia. 
Jay has gathered quite a collection of trophies over the 2 and 1/2 seasons he has been racing and it has been a huge morale booster for a young man that has struggled to keep up in any sport all his life.
 Aside from that, the other huge advantages are that he is now pretty much a self taught mechanic (mostly via google and some from soaking up any info he can from actual mechanics) to the extent that with the help of another 15 year old friend they have replaced 3 vehicle motors in 2 different cars by themselves.  Which is so impressive at the age of 15.  He does all the repairs and maintenance on the 2 race cars with very little assistance from anyone which also makes it a reasonably inexpensive sport for us - bonus.  And another huge bonus is I wont have to go grey(er) teaching my kids how to drive a car because they already know!!

 

I am so proud of my boy and his mechanical abilities.

If is so easy to keep this teenager occupied and busy - just give him a car to tinker with and hes happy!!!