Karting People
Interview
17/11/23
Some time has passed from the World Championship in Wackersdorf, then we exclusively interviewed the two exceptional protagonists of the KZ Master, who gave life to an epic race finale. Ask which is the World Championship everyone remembers this year, any fan will answer: Forè Vs Manetti. (fm)
First of all, tell us about the pre-world championship in Wackersdorf, which you faced in the aftermath of an injury as peculiar as it was disabling for a kart driver: the attack of a wild boar and...
Interview
17/11/23
Some time has passed from the World Championship in Wackersdorf, then we exclusively interviewed the two exceptional protagonists of the KZ Master, who gave life to an epic race finale. Ask which is the World Championship everyone remembers this year, any fan will answer: Forè Vs Manetti. (mb)
KZ Master World Champion after countless successes in the past in wholly other categories! Does a title like this still excite you, move you, as it once did?
«Yes, I have to tell you that it...
Interview
08/11/23
Giancarlo Tinini granted us a bombshell interview, from which his integrity as a man and entrepreneur emerges, as well as his being a great connoisseur of karting. What arose was a profound critical analysis full of human, technical, and sporting insights, often beyond his own economic interests. (p. mancini)
Chapeau is a French expression with which, by miming the gesture of taking off your hat, you show your respect towards a person. Today the world of karting should unite in a similar gesture in...
Interview
18/09/23
Alessandro Pier Guidi, together with James Calado and Antonio Giovinazzi, drove the Ferrari 499P number 51 to win the Centenary edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. However, Alessandro is not a new face for us at Vroom, given that we were writing in the 90’s about his "stockpile" of victories on the legendary Parma track. (mb)
Alessandro Pier Guidi (1983), with a degree in mechanical engineering, was a kart driver at the time of Hamilton and Alonso, winning the 1995 Trofeo delle Industrie with the 60 Minikart and in 1996-...
Interview
15/09/23
In Wackersdorf Paolo Ippolito became KZ World Champion after winning the European Championship last year. The Tuscan KR driver spoke with us about this success and how it was possible. (mb)
Paolo tell us about this super weekend in Wackersdorf. You've been strong since qualifying, do you have a special feeling with the track or did you feel particularly comfortable with the material...
Interview
24/08/23
Karting icon Alessandro Manetti, born in 1972, in addition to a couple of World titles won in Formula A and Super A and a long, victorious career in practically every category, with and without gearbox, is back on track to compete in the World Championship in Wackersdorf in the KZ Master with Team Crg. He won't go to make an appearance, told us, but to win that race (fm)
«I got back on a go kart for the first time in almost ten years, in October 2022 - Alessandro tells us, who in fact, after the 2013 season, in which he had competed with Praga Kart, quit racing...
Interview
20/07/23
The 18-year-old scored his first double win in Super Formula Lights at Fuji last weekend. Stable presence in the Top 5, Enzo has found an excellent feeling with the Dallara 320 and aims to become a professional in Japan: he told us about his experience so far from home in this exclusive interview. (fm)
First, tell us about the last weekend, how was it at Fuji?
«The first qualifying went very well, we only have 2 at most 3 laps available to set the time in 10 minutes but as soon as I entered I...
Interview
11/07/23
We interviewed one of the toughest and purest drivers in professional motorsport, the German André Lotterer, a driver born in 1981 who currently races with Porsche in the WEC and with Andretti in Formula E. (mb/fm)
Lotterer has won three Le Mans (2011-2012-2014) and a World Endurance Championship in 2012. We also remember his Junior Karting World Championship won in front of a certain Alonso, in addition to his...
Stories
10/03/23
Met at a vintage karting event in the USA, in 2011, Jack Spitler, (died October 12, 2017, aged 83) recalled his trip to Europe in September 1961 as a member of the Grand Prix Kart team Club of America run by "Red" Crise, then president of the now defunct GPKCA. Then races in England, Italy and Nassau made up the 1961 World Championship for single and twin engine karts. (by Frank Weir-Photos: Jack Spitler Collection
Jack recalled how he was awarded one of the two all expenses paid GPKCA European tour team positions by winning the Hoffco Kart Prix at Tipp Raceway, a one quarter mile banked road course near Tipp...
Focus
06/03/23
Father and Son: a relationship that is often the heart of track activity, but that has changed over the past 30 years. Fathers who are less and less "mechanics" and increasingly more "managers", when they're not a pain in the neck of Racing Departments. How has the relationship between father and son on the track changed? (fm)
Urban legends tell of kids locked in the van in the dark in the midst of their dad's chassis, as a punishment when returning from a race gone bad. Older tales tell of big fights in the paddock...
Zoom
03/02/23
The recent full haul of the English team at the Rotax Finals, a race that - especially in the RMCGFF - rewards the driver with equal machines, once again underlines the quality of the British karting nursery. (fm)
A country where the Rotax movement is highly developed, but which in recent years has expressed a large number of talents who have landed in FIA competitions and, several of them, in the coveted goal...
Interview
05/01/23
Mirko Sguerzoni needs no introduction: founder of Intrepid, chassis manufacturer and talent scout of many drivers who have landed in Formula 1 and professional motorsport in general, he talked to us about how high-level karting should be rethought from the ground up. The starting point in a concept that generates discussions even in the topmost board rooms: budget cap and a clear distinction between titled and non-titled races. (f.m.)
What do you think is the state of health of karting today, 2023?
«Let's start in order: the health status of karting is the health status of competition, primarily. I personally think that...
Interview
22/12/22
At the end of the season that has just ended, as per tradition, Giancarlo Tinini draws up a sporting balance for the CRG brand, also facing the main technical and commercial issues affecting the karting world on a larger scale.
From a sporting point of view, 2022 has seen the CRG colors conquering a new World title with Viktor Gustafsson in the KZ category, as well as obtaining success in the KZ2 World Cup with Arthur...
Focus
07/12/22
Snell is a not-for-profit foundation founded in the USA in 1957 and named after William ‘Pete’ Snell, an amateur racing car driver who tragically passed away the year before in an accident in which the race car rolled and his helmet proved sadly inadequate. His name is inside any helmet, on a label that certifies your own helmet, or ….the helmet you’re going to buy. (f.m.)
The Foundation born in the name of Pete Snell has always maintained neutrality with respect to manufacturers according to the purpose that its standards pursue to measure and certify: the safety...
Interview
29/11/22
Claudio Pagliarani, a very experienced driver who spent a good part of his twenty-year career in the Rotax Trophy, has finally brought the Italian colors back to the podium. Today the owner of a team (Squadra Corse 54), he raced his eighth Grand Final in the DD2 Masters in Portimao, bringing home a result that he often missed in the past by a whisker. (f.m.)
Tell us a little about your Portimao
Since I've managed my Team, having made my passion my job, I race less. This year I staked everything on this race, I came here with the aim of winning it, I...
Zoom
20/10/22
Rotax-powered karting races have existed in Portugal for over 20 years, but 2022 marks a new era for the brand in the country: instead of having trophy status, the bar is raised to another level by transforming into the Portuguese Rotax Championship.
With or without championship status, fans of the Rotax format are well established in Portugal. In any case, in 2022, the Portuguese Automobile and Karting Federation (FPAK) instead of promoting the...
Interview
11/10/22
On the occasion of the penultimate round of the Italian Formula 4 Championship held in Monza we had the opportunity to speak with the English driver Arvid Lindblad, in his second race in formula 4 and who chatted with us remembering the “old days” of karting.
A rainy day this Sunday in Monza, with even a race canceled due to adverse weather conditions. Arvid Lindblad (Team VAR), a former kart driver with team KR, shone on this occasion, managing to finish...
Interview
14/09/22
We spoke with Ricard Ferrando, who puts his experience as a pilot and his knowledge in data acquisition at the service of the official Birel Art Spain team to achieve the best results.
Hi Ricard, we've seen that the number of karting teams that include a coach in their ranks is increasing; what advantage do you think they have over those that do not have one?
I think it's...
Interview
14/09/22
Antti Ollikainen (FIN) started karting at the age of six and is now 42 years old racing in Rotax DD2 Masters. At the end of the nineties, he competed around the world in the Formula A and Formula Super A classes.
Then the best achievement was fourth place in the FIA World Cup in Suzuka, Japan. Antti started competing again at the beginning of 2010. He has participated nine times at the Rotax MAX Challenge...
Focus
19/07/22
On the circuit of Franciacorta, a fortnight ago, closed perhaps the most uncertain and exciting edition of the last FIA European Karting OK and OKJ Championships.
It was an endless fight that took place on the Italian track, a worthy showcase to put the spotlight on yet another fight for the continental crown. If in Junior it was the constancy of Nakamura-...
