Electrifying trends and new discoveries. 

Those of you who have been with us for a long time can but acknowledge that we have a certain predisposition in following up innovations that concern our world of karting. And among these tendencies there’s the electric kart is the latest ones that are being documented in these pages for some time now (in this issue, you will find part five), as this solution, quite futuristic, but also a current one stimulates us quite a bit, and the Fia Press Release the one that communicates their intention to set up a championship for electric karts has been rather gratifying for us. Almost to say that we at Vroom were already aware of this from times gone by, and although there is a bit of scepticism for this racing innovation, we are just as sure that once the validity of this project has been verified, several people will have to change idea. Respecting our editorial philosophy where we do try to give some thorough answers to our readers, well, while International Vroom is yet to be printed, the team led by Maurizio Voltini with OiP collaboration is on the track testing a kart powered by an electric engine. In May’s issue of Vroom you will see the results.
In the meanwhile, back to the present and waiting for the first round of the European Championship at the end of April, we don’t want to lose track of the racing season that is getting more and more to the heart of racing. Starting with the two WSK meetings, held in Italy at Castelletto di Branduzzo and in Sarno, not to mention the Margutti hosted at the South Garda in Lonato.
Taking a wider view around the world: in the USA the Florida Winter Tour has just ended, with the last two weeks of racing divided between Rotax and RoK. In UK, the first round of the Super One series has been hosted at Rowrah, in the county of Cumbria. As usual Vroom also keeps an eye on what is going on in Asia; Sepang has hosted the Rotax MAX Asia Challenge. With this issue we have gone as far as Australia where they have had the second round of the Australian Karting Championship, and then again in New Zealand, where drivers competed in the National Sprint Series.
Obviously you don’t only have races here, but also technical actuality. In April the CIK should decide if the weight for the new OK class is really OK, and we have gathered the opinions of those who live international karting every day.
While awaiting some updating, last but not least, we advise our readers to go and read the exclusive report on page 66. This time we didn’t settle for just trying the chassis a given engine, but we decided to look into one of the most important aspects felt during a race, i.e. “braking”. You see, up till now no one had looked into what actually happens when you brake, nor the difference there is really (for a direct drive) between braking with just a rear disc or also with a front braking system with manual control, the use of which has been forbidden on an international level. So, you can find out lots of interesting things, but this is all we are telling you, the rest you can read for yourself page after page of this sensational issue of Vroom.