Zac Dufty battles on despite the coronavirus outbreak

WITH the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus pandemic changing society everywhere, athletes have been seriously affected.

Zimbabwean karting ace, Zac Dufty (16), who usually races every six weeks in the South African Rok championship, has found the situation frustrating, but appreciates the bigger picture and the need to keep safe.

Zac started racing karts when he was sixyears-old at Donnybrook Raceway in Harare and in 2013. At just nine-years-old, he became the youngest karter to represent Zimbabwe at the Rok World Karting Finals in Italy.

The following year, he again competed in the World Finals and remains the only Zimbabwean to have competed there.

For the past eight years, he has been the sole Zimbabwean kart racer competing in the South African national kart championship.

As he has reached the required age and experience levels, he has competed in six different classes: Cadets, Mini Rok, JuniorMax,

MSA Academy, Rok DVS and this year KZ2 gearbox karts.

Although he misses competing hugely, he is determined to remain on top of his school work and be fit enough to race as soon as the race season starts.

This year Zac moved up a class to the international KZ gearbox karts, which is the pinnacle of karting worldwide, with many of the current Formula 1 drivers having raced this class on their way to the top.

The karts raced in South Africa are the same as those used in the FIA World Championships and the driver’s fitness levels have to be exceptional to cope with challenges of racing machines that can reach 150Kph and pull very high G forces.

Before the current coronavirus lockdown, Zac used a personal gym trainer at a local gym who put him through a demanding tailormade programme for an hour every day.

‘’You need to practise and practise to stay sharp and putting in seat time also helps you develop the ‘right’ muscles for karting, but of course gym is where you have to put in the really hard work,’’ he said yesterday.

‘’You have to be extremely fit to ensure you can cope with a full race weekend and there’s no getting away from the fact that it needs a huge effort and commitment”. Currently, Zac is having to do his exercise programme at home and while it’s certainly not as good as having his trainer, it does help him keep fit.

“My dad (Kevin) pushes me a lot which is difficult sometimes but does help to motivate me! His favourite saying to me is: ‘Input equals output’.” For many years Zac has been privately tutored when it comes to school work.

He has been able to continue schooling using WhatsApp or Zoom to do lessons with his tutor. Zac has taken advantage of the time out to design his new helmet paint-job, which is currently being completed by a company in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The paint scheme has given him the chance to incorporate the Zimbabwe flag into the overall helmet design, which looks stunning, and will make him easy to spot on the track.