Starting back in 2018, Rocco and his son Santiago were together with Chris and Daniel pretty much every weekend at one race track or another. As teammates at Professional Racing Ontario, competing at Mosport and Goodwood Kartways from April until October. In the winter off-season, both families would meet up at K1 Speed where Daniel (1st), Santiago (2nd) and Chris (3rd) took the top points positions at the indoor track in 2019. Later joining New Speed Motorsports in 2020, the boys cheered each other to big wins in TRAK and KartStars Canada races.
The pandemic took its toll on many relationships. The Ramirez family and Demaras family have not seen each other in over a year. However, this weekend at HIP Motorsports in Ajax, old friends were re-united.
Sim studios like HIP can really help to develop skill through practice and training. Motorsports Director John V. could already see there was that ‘something special’ in young Santiago. The kid just has natural talent and ability. Chris smiled knowingly, having watched Santiago triumph over often older opponents for several years.
Daniel was “plugged into” the CR-401 Continuous Rotation simulator, not quite able to recognize the familiar voices that joined him in the private sim studio. Once the session was over, it was bro-hug and back-slapping with old friends. HIP Motorsports has become a hug in the racing community, drawing people together.
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