Vroom International January 2017 out now!

 

 
Expectations are very important also in the karting world. With the advent of the new “original carting” engine they have created the premises for launching a positive note on the world market. An occasion that just can’t be missed if you want to do away with the abstract policy of these last ten years on behalf of the CIK.

As usual at the start of the new year we try to interpret expectations on which all the movement of karters refer to and then we decide what decisions to take, The problem is that to start a certain interest in karting a karting fam should have a chance of getting to know the necessary information that determine this choice.
This important condition for spreading karting certainly isn’t the success story of those who govern this motor racing discipline. There’s a big institutional snd promotional gap that unfortunately is noticed in othe motor racing activities. For example, also F1, and that is the maximum expression of motor racing and an ambitious aim for many young skilled drivers who start off their career from karting, isn’t so exciting  lately and therefore doesn’t satisfy the fans’ expectations and gradually loses credibility. The last shock was when the new world champion, Niko Rosberg surprise retirement. Something that has registered several doubts that has touched this enormous caravan which is the emblematic image of the heart of motor racing. In fact, it’s the first time that a F1 champion decides to quit like this at the height of his career. Regardless the 31 year-old Gernman’s decision, it’s also true that F!, prototype of automobile technological evolution, has registered over these past few years less interest, because it’s not as exciting as it used to be, and not just this also the drivers are less motivated.

Differently to F!, karting is a sports discipline and above all a hobby, therefore it’s subject to configurations that allow the user to practice it, but at the same time they think about the motivation behind their sport, the same motivation that has catapulted this choice to the top of motoring sport, Anyone who decides to choose this hobby wants to experience strong emotions, excitement like the excitement experienced in extreme sports. For hobby drivers, karting is a challenge for them, they can try out their racing instinct. The first steps, the approach to the sport is different and well distributed.

Nowadays there are some ideal solutions that allow anyone to step into a kart. Rotax is the most impressive format promoted in 1997, when kart racing in Buser’s days was very successful. And that project was a winning one, keeping alive a racing field that with the advent of KF (2007) together with the world economic crises has risked falling apart.

In 2003 Vortex decided to launch the Rok TaG engine in Italy, which filled in a promotional gap for the Italian ASN that wasn’t really used to manage such a critical situation and leaving manufacturers free to stop making the 100cc at the same time as the KF came on the scene, while the national economic situation loomed over us.

Those were days when there seemed to be no future. And although ten years have passed since then we are still paying the consequences. A miserable period that we are gradually getting through, and here we are now.

With the new OK engine that was intensely desired by CIK vice president van de Grint, who thought well to involve the biggest Italian motoring manufacturing industries in the project, we are now once again more optimistic, because the “Original Karting” philosophy has been an immediate success. Going back to the bare essential, giving back a more “wicked” configuration making the most of the latest technology in the motoring field could only get the approval of those concerned and give positive signals on the market. Is this the solution, the positive signal that the karting movement was waiting for? The general perception is that it’s the right one because the OK seems to respond to expectations, the expectations that the federation should guarantee making the promotion more credible. The karting people can therefore go back to usig various solutions; for those who would like to take up karting and those who hope to succeed in racing benefitting from the new Ok engine that has been a success from the start. The world championship in Bahrain has consecrated the OK as the most suitable engine for filling in the propaedeutic gap like the ICA used to be.  

This innovation has been developed not only to confirm the credibility of the direct drive class in a CIK-FIA context but, and above all to re-launch national driver breeding situations. Yes the CIK has done a good job, but there is still a lot more to do. There are still lots of things that need to be revisited and there are other things missing. For example investment in various promotions necessary for increasing offers as much as possible and try to expand the market. The funds are there, but willpower from the policy is lacking. Also the national ASNs are responsible for promoting the sport and if they don’t accept this solution “Original Karting” it would make this solution almost pointless.  

2017 is the year during which one mustn’t be afraid to press hard on the gas pedal, because after such a positive signal the Local Karting Associations have got no excuse at all for not promoting OK karting in their supply chain. Policy and technology have determined important evolutions in the karting world and this engine is the result. Doubts have been brushed aside and in  2017 and karts start roaring again, at last! And anyone who doesn’t want to ear the noise can shut their ears, they ought to change job because they aren’t capable of guaranteeing expectations, but only dangerous uncertainties.

IN THIS NUMBER
 

PAG. 24 - MONDOKART 



PAG. 26 - CIK-FIA PRIZE GIVING CEREMONY



PAG. 28 - SURVEY: WHO'S THE BEST?



PAG. 30 - CRG: THE CHAMPIONS' ENTERPRISE



PAG. 32 - MAN OF THE MONTH: TOINE HEZEMANS



PAG. 36 - ESCOLERA BRASILIERA DE KART



PAG. 42 - CLOSE UP: ROTAX 2017



PAG. 62 - FOCUS: FFSA ACADEMY