Meet Jeremy and Tracey Jowett, both 27 and both avid grass kart enthusiasts.
The couple competed in the South Island Grass Kart Championships held in a tyre-lined paddock just north of Milton on Saturday and yesterday. The event attracted around 100 competitors from all over the South Island, with the fastest clocking up an impressive 104kmh.
''It feels three times faster than a car going the same speed,'' Mr Jowett said.
While the motorsport was safety conscious, he had been involved in a crash on a tarsealed track which left him with a split sternum.
Tracey also used to race the tarsealed version of karts, but switched to the grass-based sport several years ago.
''It is more of a relaxed atmosphere and is a lot of fun.''
Mrs Jowett was competing in six championship races, and had already chalked up five wins out of five in the female class when she spoke to the Otago Daily Times yesterday morning.
She would have competed in the open class - against the male competitors - but the mother of a new baby daughter said she had other priorities.
''Maybe next time.''
Mr Jowett was blunt when asked the secret to his wife's kart driver prowess: ''She is just a bloody good driver, and I have built her a bloody good kart.''
He had not fared quite so well, but still chalked up two wins, a second and a fourth.
''We race at club level and Tracey beats me, but as I built her kart, I feel like I get a victory anyway.''
The couple, who belong to the Green Island club, said entry-level karts could start from $1000 but their karts cost upwards of $4000 each.
Geoff and Gaynor Finch, of Milton, are also avid grass kart enthusiasts and it is their paddock which had to be rolled and watered before the championship.
The Finch couple said they used to race their karts around paddocks when they first bought them but now drove them just for race days.
The South Otago Club now boasted 30 members, and the attraction was simple, Mr Finch said.
''It is just a cheap, fun motorsport.''
