Pantano's CRG Kalifornia relives once again at the KFA Nations Cup

Written by Alessandro Roca.
 
The new KFA 100cc event that will be held in Lonato on May 21st is creating huge expectations and all the 100cc-lovers are getting ready for this event. One of those, well known by all Vroom readers, is the restorer Neil Mckernan who is working on a CRG Kalifornia – S20/T1, which he is building for Giorgio. The kart will be with an original engine from, and tuned by Peter de Bruijn. Not only the kart will be as back in the days, but also the suit will be like the one Giorgio used back in the days.
 
But what’s Giorgio Pantano’s opinion on this event and on the 100cc vintage kart trend in general?
 
“It’s a great event and a great initiavite, and myself will be on the track already from thursday testing my CRG! Seeing that someone is rebuilding my kart it’s so cool…it’s a strange emotion that I cannot really explain! This throwback with all former drivers from that era is really amazing.”
 
Recently the trend of kart replica from Nineties is growing more and more, in your opinion it’s just a passing fad or it’s a symptom of a pure nostalgia of those times?
 
“Second option, no doubts. The only problem is to find the right period during which organize this kind of event since the racing calendar is full of events. It would be nice to have 4 or 5 events like this one per year.”
 
In Italy this trend has been recognised by the ASN, Aci Sport, who launched this year the new category 100cc Amateur. Do you think that some engine manufacturer will start producing again a 100cc engine for this renewed market?
 
“No, I don’t think so. This is a niche market only for those who are really karting enthusiasts.”
 
Beside the technical aspect, what’s missing in the modern karting?
 
“We were a family, we were friend. Now it’s a sort of stupid war between each team: they want to ‘steal’ drivers from other teams only to earn more money.”
 
Ok, let’s change topic: how is your season going?
 
“Quite good honestly: we have a good speed but we needed some luck in the previous races. We are optimistic for the CIK-FIA European Championship.”

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