Jarno Trulli: authentic atmosphere at the historic Karting trackdays

“By the end of the day, I was completely wiped out, a bit sore, but it was a fantastic day,” says the enthusiastic Italian, class of 1974, two-time Kart World Champion (1991 and 1994), in addition to an impressive series of Italian and International championships during the golden years of karting, before making his Formula 1 debut in 1997 with Minardi and a long F1 career.

“The kart I drove at Pomposa is one of many in my collection. My love for this sport has led me to collect around 20 chassis and 40 engines in my garage, including those with which I raced in various direct-drive and shifter categories, plus other special karts. I love working in the workshop, tuning them, and whenever I can, spending a great day on track. At Pomposa, I drove my ‘87 100cc Cadetti kart, the same year my racing career should have ended because I ran out of money. Fortunately, an opportunity came up to race with Allkart in 1988 in the 100 National Italian class, and we continued that incredible adventure that, one win after another, brought us to heights I could never have imagined in just a few years.”

 

The kart seen on track at Pomposa is a Birel powered by a Parilla TG14 rotary valve engine, equipped with a common 22mm carburetor, which Jarno tuned in over three or four warm-up laps before fully exploiting it. “I don’t want to sound nostalgic just to complain, but the world has changed: today, if you ask a kid in OK Junior to tune the carburetor on his own, see what happens (laughs). The fact is, karting has become less selective—there’s no technical know-how among the drivers, just a lot of team work and a big focus on driving, but that’s not enough. You know why drivers from our generation made the difference, and why some who had the chance went on to succeed in cars? — Trulli continues — because we were technicians in some way, we loved setting up the kart and we had the skills. We asked mechanics for specific tweaks, knew how to work on the muffler length, which cones to use, how to handle the axles and which ones to pick, and every single time we went out on track, we used to adjust the carburetion ourselves: if you broke your engine, you were done for the day because often you raced with only one engine especially in the ‘lad and dad’ days. That kind of training doesn’t exist anymore: standardized parameters, too many drivers under one big tent, limited practice sessions on race weekends that are already very long due to many categories. Think about it: 200 to 300 entries in Italian Championship races today... and that’s thanks to all those categories racing the same weekend! Back in the day, there was only the 100 National Italian Championship, period, just one category at the time. That was the category, and you practiced, you learned. You could get 200 entries even in regional or street races. Today, what do you learn with so few sessions available? On race days, you barely get to drive because of too many categories in the event. There are tons of races but very little track time, and again: you don’t have the veterans of the category to learn the racecraft from. When I moved up to international categories, I found people like Beggio, Orsini, Manetti, Munkholm and surely I’m forgetting some and apologize to them. Karting had meaning then and was genuinely formative. When I switched to cars in 1995, while still karting, I had a technical background that allowed me to adapt quickly to Formula 3 and within about a year and a half, to Formula 1. Nowadays, the regulations for lower formulas regarding points and Super License... well, let’s not get into that: the point is, today there’s no way to tell if a driver is really good or talented or if they’ve just done way more testing in single-seaters. Until a driver reaches F1—something very few manage—you can’t truly know if they have the qualities, and often there’s some doubt. I’m sorry to say that karting, while essential for a driver’s career (that’s undeniable), is no longer technically useful for a driver’s growth like it used to be.”

 

Jarno’s reflections on today’s karting are certainly relevant and thought-provoking, especially considering the huge investments now required to compete at so-called top-level karting. Returning to historic karts and when inevitably asked about making a comeback in racing, the multiple champion dampens the enthusiasm: “For me, these days are carefree opportunities to see old friends, without worrying about lap times. I spent my whole life battling those, now I prefer to have fun whenever I can carve out some free time among my many commitments.”

Events like the one at Pomposa, where fans had the chance to get on track alongside Trulli, or the Coppa dei Campioni in Jesolo—regular fixtures on the calendar increasingly joined by historic kart track days across Europe and USA — prove that the passion for authentic grassroots karting remains alive for many. The hope is that through these reenactments, interest can be sparked in karting as a hobby and amateur sport, not just as a pathway to racing careers in motorsport, supporting an entire sector (tracks, workshops, used market and related businesses) that could benefit from it.