Autoblog

So, exactly a week ago, I was in Mt. Kisco at Grand Prix New York for the first annual (hopefully) Garage419 Invitational. Put simply, it was great. Big props to Matt Farah and the crew at Next New Networks for organizing the whole shindig, which put a big, fun group of guys (and one gal) together for an afternoon of karting and comraderie for a good cause -- Racing 4 Research and the Children's Tumor Foundation. The event raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $9,000. If you missed out on donating, and want to add to the tally, you can still do so by clicking here. Just because the event's over doesn't mean the fundraising's stopped.

Farah had some fun with the field, making sure the course was nice and wet during qualifying to ensure that slippery fun would be had by all. After qualifying, we all lined up for a Le Mans-style start and proceeded to race for the next hour and ten minutes. I was paired up David Noto, an all-around good guy who's also fast in a go-kart. Together, we finished 15th out of the 26-kart grid, thanks in large part to David ripping off very fast laps (in the 1:01 range) during the final leg, in which he picked up two positions all by himself. (Your humble correspondent's fastest lap was around 1:06.) You can see the final rankings over at Garage 419.com, and if you follow the jump , you can watch G419's 2-part extravaganza along with a third video produced by Team Polizei's Alex Roy and co.

Thanks again to Garage419 for having us, and thanks to all who donated to the cause!