Teen brothers are taking on the world of go-kart racing

Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Brothers on the fast track racing toward their future
Laura Behnke has the latest details.

CUDDEBACKVILLE, New York (WABC) -- Brothers, on the fast track, are racing toward their future.

They're fast, they're skilled, they're winners, and they're only 13 and 14 years old. Meet the D'Orlando brothers, Michael and Nicholas, the future of racing.

"I like going fast," Nicholas said.

"When I first started racing, I knew this is what really wanted to do," Michael said.

The brothers from Hartsdale, New York started early at ages 5 and 6, too young to even remember their first time in a cart.

"They did a five-hour race school with other kids and they had smiles on their face from ear to ear, you could see it through their helmets," said Mike D'Orlando, their father.

The rest, as they say, is history with the duo making a name for themselves in junior go-kart circuits around North America and now Europe, and doing it as a family.

"We're just very competitive but at the end of the day, we're brothers and whoever won we don't care," Michael said.

They know the dangers are real.

"You don't really know what's going to happen, you hope for the best and go from there," Nicholas said.

But with a goal of one day racing in Formula One, there's nothing else they'd rather do.

"The amount of danger some kids wouldn't like, but this is my sport, want to go all the way," Michael said.

The brothers have been racing for eight years, and they are still a few years away from getting their driver's licences.

"This is the most adrenaline for me and I get used to it and when do something else, doesn't feel like as much fun as doing this."

The two brothers are really going places.