Buggyra Racing is an established motorsport team with over 50 years of history in different racing categories, mainly truck racing, and more recently GT endurance racing and rally raids, including the famous Dakar Rally.
| In 2019, Martin Koloc, Buggyra’s dynamic team principal, launched Buggyra Academy, as part of the Buggyra racing program and a stepping stone for young racers. The Academy offers four poles: GT endurance racing, rally raids including the famous Dakar Rally, truck racing, and karting as its latest edition. Young talented racers are given the opportunity to train their motor racing skills in these categories to prepare them for a career in motor racing. |
In 2023, five promising young talents, between 10 and 16 years old, are competing in various karting championships, representing Buggyra Academy.
Ruda Sieben, their 50-year-old coach, has a lot of experience when it comes to preparing racing drivers for the track by using simulators. Initially, he was responsible for building up a quality facility for SIM racing at Buggyra which quickly led him to train Buggyra Racing and Buggyra Academy drivers on simulators.
He explains: „Once we have found a new talent, the first step is the same for everyone. They need to show us what they can do. And the best way to do that is by driving on a simulator. Once we have established their level and abilities, the program gets finetuned individually, to work on their particular needs.“
The next generation of kart drivers
Nicolas Lacko is only 10 years old but has already shown a lot of talent. He is the son of Adam Lacko, an experienced racer and Buggyra Academy coach. Ruda Sieben explains: „Nicolas is still very young but very motivated, and he wants to become as good as his dad which is not an easy task. But Nicolas learns fast. His dad, who is also his race mechanic at events, inspires him a lot.“
Another talent at the Academy is Filip Nedoma, a 16-year-old Czech. Since he started with Buggyra Academy this year, he has already made a lot of progress on the track which is due to a large extent to the time he spends practicing on the simulator. And when asked about his goal in motorsport he says ‚improve‘. „He is tenacious and very fair-play on the track but he is also consistent and quick, he likes driving on a wet track,” says Ruda Sieben about him. “He has a lot of talents that will make sure he goes a long way in racing,” his coach confirms.
But it is not only talent and tenaciousness that counts. Also, physical preparation and a high fitness level are very important. „Even the youngest member of Buggyra Academy knows that they have to improve their physical fitness and their on-track fitness regularly, to become successful in racing, and then at some point when we think they are ready, we help them take the next step to another category to move up the motorsport ladder,“ Ruda concludes.
