On Sept. 16, Max Verstappen will attempt to overtake 100 other drivers in a unique go-karting challenge at Silverstone, live on Disney+. Ahead of the event, ESPN caught up with the four-time world champion to discuss his long history of go-karting and the years he spent honing his skills at tracks across Europe.

Between the ages of four and 15, Max Verstappen's life revolved around go-kart tracks. Weekends would be spent racing all around Europe, initially close to home in Belgium and the Netherlands and then further afield in Italy, Spain and the U.K. in his early teens. His father, Jos Verstappen, a former Formula 1 driver, would load Max's kart into the back of their van ahead of every race weekend and drive his son across the length and breadth of Europe to the next event. During the height of Max's karting career, Jos calculated they were clocking up more than 60,000 motorway miles per year as the father-and-son team hoovered up trophies on a path destined for F1.

"It was a really nice period in my life," Max recalls. "All different kinds of conditions, tracks, travels. Sometimes it wasn't even the race weekend I loved the most, but just the travel experience together with my dad; in the van, talking a lot about life, talking a lot about the current, but also, of course, where we were trying to head to." For sure, go-karting has been a massive part of my life."

On weekdays, Jos would pick Max up after school and take him directly to his workshop to work on his kart engines. Max was encouraged to get his hands dirty from an early age, and the hours of tinkering after school would only come to an end when it was time to head home for dinner. The local kart circuit in Genk, Belgium became the Verstappens' second home, where Max would test new parts and continue developing his skills even through harsh winter conditions.