Kartsim: interview with Arkady Tsaregradtsev and our difficult experience

This rule works in life in general and in competitions in particular. A striking illustration was the performance of the team with the participation of Motor in the next real-virtual Race of Stars. I have already competed twice in Kartsim team phygital competitions – and both times I stood on the podium with my teammates. This time our team did not even make it into the top five, although the preparation was as thorough as at the previous stages. And this experience became even more valuable than previous triumphant episodes. And among the star participants of this Kartsim was the country’s most media drifter – RDS GP 2022 champion Arkady Tsaregradtsev.

I rode with Arkasha, as numerous fans affectionately call him, in the same “wave” – this was the most difficult starting segment of the kart race. And every time I noticed him on a lap, I wondered why the pilot, who was clearly uncomfortable on the track, stayed on it for so long and steadfastly. After all, according to the regulations, you can skate the “minimum” of 15 minutes and go wait your turn on the simulator. But Arkady kept going, improving, and even seemed to be enjoying himself. Therefore, after the end of the race, it was not without difficulty that I caught him after a long autograph session and discussed his impressions.

MIKS Karting

Dmitry Laskov (Motor): Arkady, I rode with you in the same race from the very start of the race and saw that it was not easy for you on the track. But at the same time, you didn’t change, having skated the minimum according to the regulations, but sat almost all the way – what was the point of suffering, but continuing to be on the track?

Arkady Tsaregradtsev: You don’t need to think that the manager kept me in the race for so long. I myself decided that with my stability and the best speed in our team, I would bring some result, it could help us. So I didn’t get out from behind the wheel for the maximum duration of the stint. I rode a good time there, and the most important result for me was that I raced non-stop for 40 minutes at an even pace.

Drifting instincts do not leave Arkady even when driving a go-kart – he is used to looking at the track with his head turned to the side
MIKS Karting

D.L. You have already participated in Kartsim in 2022 – can you compare the level of the Race of Stars then and now?

A.Ts. In 22, we, with our RDS (performing in the RDS drift championship – editor’s note) team, “combed” our opponents with one goal. And now everything happened exactly the opposite – the SMP and karting teams left us no chance. This is a natural outcome – professional circuit racers and karting drivers are faster, more accurate and more resilient at the same time. In general, I go to rental karting once a year, when I’m invited to participate somewhere. Now I only had one training session for three races and an hour on the simulator.

D.L. Have you tried sports karting? (This refers to racing equipment of the Rotax class and above – ed.)

A.Ts. I don’t ride “sport” at all – I take care of my ribs and back. I try to train according to my specifics – drifting. Well, sometimes I ride in the ring in the back. And here I am also because I am a Yuki athlete and participate in their activities. (Yuka ADV Pro Racing is a comprehensive motorsport brand that develops Russian motorsport through various projects, including gymkhana competitions – editor’s note) Well, it’s also an interesting experience for me, I like to throw myself into some unusual story – useful for brain

MIKS Karting

D.L. How do you feel about your social mission when you participate in such non-core activities?

A.Ts. Young guys of 8 years old come up to me, and at the same time they are racers in full professional equipment – and thank me for being here. I am glad that, by my example, I can support them and further motivate their desire for motorsport. Well, how long can my personal motorsport last? I have more than a hundred cups in my box for achievements in various racing disciplines – will I be happier if there are two hundred of them? And if I can motivate at least 10, 20, 50 guys to get involved in motorsports, that will be a great development of my auto racing mission.

MIKS Karting As part of the physical racing festival Moscow Sports Kartsim Fest 2024, in addition to the star, student and absolute classifications, the Kartsim Junior race was also held. Unlike the participants in the Race of Stars, the little pilots drove on the virtual track a more complex vehicle to handle – a Formula 4 car, and not a sports prototype BR03. And they dealt with it successfully!
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D.L. I heard that you have a cockpit installed at home – do you only drive your favorite drift in the Sims or sometimes the ring too?

A.Ts. I do more ring skating and rally racing because they seem more natural to me. Especially the rally: the car feels very cool: the way the car rotates on the screen is reflected in the sensations on the steering wheel, very realistic. In drifting, for me it’s generally unconvincing in the sims, and the ring is about 50 to 50. Now, for example, it was a little difficult to drive along the Moscow Raceway track on the BR03 prototype – unlike the real one, in the virtual part of Kartsim my teammates were already faster than me.

Anton Shiryaev, commentator of the RSKG and RDRC championships, as well as the Kartsim festival: “If you want to grow in motorsport, your training should include karting (rental, winter, “sport”, whatever), practice on a body car and definitely a sim. I know that now many professional pilots already have simulators at home on which they train.”
MIKS Karting

D.L. Next time I’m ready to fly into such competitions, but try to prepare better and show better results? Or will you go again just “for fun” or not go at all?

A.Ts. Unfortunately, I simply don’t have time to train, because I’m completely immersed in drifting. And mainly from a management point of view: now team administration is 98 percent of my drift work and only 2 percent is racing. That’s why I’m all there, but if there is an opportunity not to think about drifting for at least three days like now, I gladly take this chance.

I agree with Arkady that there are questions about the simulator. And on the sidelines of the competition, there was an opinion among star pilots that the virtual BR03 did not drive exactly as you expected from it – being personally familiar with the real BR03, or at least with equipment of this class in general. But I’ll repeat my thought expressed in the previous article about phygital racing: a simulator is not about absolute realism, but about the ability to adapt to the physical model at your disposal. This is a very valuable quality for a racer, and training on a simulator helps develop it.

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The race didn’t go well for my team this time. Despite the fact that, just like before, we had a good workout several times both on karts and on simulators at the MIKS Karting racing academy. Thorough preparation is practically our only trump card, which previously worked well, against famous pilots who most often go to the Race of Stars with almost no training.

Firstly, because they can – that’s why they are stars, motorsport professionals. And secondly, because they often do not even have the opportunity to physically attend training. After all, many of them are always at training camps or teach racing themselves throughout Russia and abroad. And some of the guests – for example, Alexey Savin (RSKG) and Alexey Shendyukov (gymkhana) – generally came to Kartsim from their native Republic of Belarus.

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My colleagues and I came up with the name “Let’s Go Media” for our journalistic team and off we went. But at the start of the karting, I failed to be aggressive enough in the fight for the first five turns and ended up being pushed into the wall. After that, I realized that the starting kart was also sluggish by lot and it would not be possible to make up for lost time on it – at most, keep the average pace of the peloton.

Meanwhile, colleague Mikhail Kononchuk, representing our friendly Quto.ru, did something weird at the virtual Moscow Raceway, so Vadim Gagarin from Auto Mail.Ru and Kirill Larin (AvtoPlus) could only carry this heavy burden of the lag until the end of the race. The final result was 7th out of 12 teams, there was no sign of a podium this time.

And the main thing is that there were no major mistakes, and no one noticed a failed pace. We just didn’t shine anywhere, we weren’t blessed with fortune, and our opponents were fast, lucky and accurate. The average level of teams in the Race of Stars also increased – it was nice to see that the list of professional participants was replenished with such names as Kirill Smal, Kirill Kirakozov, Andrey Gromov and Maxim Soldatov.

The winners of the Kartsim Star Race are the G-Drive SMP Racing team. From left to right on the top step of the podium: Alexander Smolyar, Maria Tyrina, Konstantin Sugrobov, Kirill Smal
MIKS Karting

Therefore, I would like to wish the organizers to attract even more stars from a variety of motorsport disciplines and further expand the geography of guests. This time, among the “non-core” pilots, drifters and gymkhana athletes took part, and next time you can invite rally drivers. At the same time, the real race will be held on electric karts, and the virtual part will be done, for example, in a rally sim.

This will equalize (or at least average) the chances of representatives of different racing disciplines for the final victory based on the sum of real and virtual. And bloggers who know a little bit of everything will benefit from journalists. You can even add physical training – reaction tests and other exercises for pilots. The potential of phygital racing is huge, the scale of Kartsim is growing – I expect the format to expand too! /m

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