One Test. A Car Kaeden Had Never Driven. A Track He Had Never Seen. And Everything On The Line.
That is what Kaeden was walking into when he flew out of Charlotte and headed to Chicago for his F3 test drive at Autobahn Country Club with Havoc Motorsport. He did not know exactly what to expect. What he found out over those two days is something he is still processing.
Day One: Building the Foundation
Before any wheels turned, Kaeden had work to do.
The first day was all about getting everything dialed in. Seat fit. Pedal fit. Making sure the car felt like an extension of Kaeden before he ever hit the track. After that, the team took him out to lunch, and they sat down to talk through the plan for the following day.
That time with the Havoc Motorsport crew meant a lot. These are serious, experienced people who know exactly what they are doing with open-wheel cars. Walking into day two knowing the team had his back made a real difference.
Day Two: On Track
Two runs. Twenty minutes each. That was it.
Kaeden rolled out of the pits for the first time in an F3 car and posted a 1:30. From there, it was about finding more with every single lap. Each run, he picked up roughly two and a half seconds, chipping away and building on what the team was feeding me in between sessions.
By the end of the day, they had found 10 seconds overall. Kaeden’s best lap came in at a 1:20.40. The South Course track record sits at a 1:19.10.
One second off the track record. In an F3 car. On a track he had never seen before this test.
The Feeling He Was Not Expecting
Here is the thing Kaeden keeps coming back to.
The moment he got in that car, it felt natural. No adjustment period. No white-knuckling it through corners trying to figure things out. Just comfort and clarity from the first lap.
That is not something Kaeden takes for granted. Road course racing has not been the focus of his career up to this point. But this test made it impossible to ignore. He genuinely sees a future in road course racing, and this experience is a big reason why.
The People Who Made It Happen
None of this happens without the right people in your corner.
Huge thank you to John Harkenrider and the entire Havoc Motorsport team for treating Kaeden like one of their own from the moment he arrived and for providing the full footage from both runs.
Special thanks to Ralph Hansen at Pegasus Marketing Group for the support. And a massive thank you to Kaeden’s grandparents, Linda and Tom, and to the Wings and Wheels Foundation for helping make this test possible. That kind of belief means everything.
What Comes Next
This test confirmed something Kaeden has been feeling for a while now.
Open wheel. Road course. This is a direction he is serious about. The times speak for themselves, but more than that, the way it felt behind the wheel told him everything he needed to know. For now, he’ll be back in his late model at Tri-County Speedway.
Stay tuned. This is just the beginning. 
This post was written and submitted by TeamWWF Ambassador Driver Kaeden Ballos and edited as a third-person post. Shared by permission. Read the original post at KaedenBallosMotorsports.com/one-second-off-the-track-record-heres-what-happened-at-my-f3-test — June 1, 2026
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