Merry Christmas Everyone,
Feliz Navidad, buon Natale, joyeux Noël. It doesn’t matter whether its Spanish, Italian, French or just plain Aussie, its almost Christmas, so I’m pretty sure that you have other things on your mind and don’t want to hear too much about what is going on at karting HQ this week
The New Year is not far away so it won’t be too long before we’re all back revving at full noise in 2020.
There is not much competition karting in January so enjoy the rest. Our Clubs, Officials, volunteers, industry, teams, mums and dads all deserve a bit of a break at the end of what has been a very big year.
If you’re having a drive at your club over the holidays – just for fun, keep it safe and enjoy yourself.
A few important things.
New Web Site
We have a whole new web site in 2020. It’s got a fresh new look, is simple to
navigate and works equally well on all platforms – phone, tablet and computer.
In fact, it’s live now.
2020 Rules
The 2020 Manual will be available on the new web site later today. There is
also a summary of the major changes to the rules that we have prepared that is
also online.
2021 Tyre Tenders
For the past 6 months, the world’s best kart tyre manufacturers have been
developing and testing tyres that they have now put forward as part of our
current tyre tender process.
The tendered tyres will now be put through their paces in the first few months of 2020 with a decision by the Board on the 2021 tyres in the middle of next year.
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State Championship Dates and
Venues
All of the Dates and Venues for the 2020 State Championship events have now
been finalised and have been published on the new website.
Reflections on 2019
Looking back at the year, it has been another big one for karting in Australia.
When I reflect on some of the highlights, I’m very proud of what has been achieved by everyone involved in Karting Australia over the past 12 months.
Some of the highlights of 2019 for me include:
- The way that some clubs have taken on board
many of the ideas presented at our Building Better Kart Clubs Conferences and
started to make their kart club a ‘better kart club’ for their members.
- The amazing growth of 4SS and the positive
impact that our newest and most affordable karting Class is having on the
sport.
- The performance of our Member State
Associations in working tirelessly for the good of the sport – both within
their state and nationally.
- The way that KA NSW and our NSW member clubs –
Classic, Grafton, Newcastle, North Shore and Sapphire Coast have worked so hard
in a fractured state to achieve real growth in both membership and event entry
numbers in the most challenging of circumstances. Well Done!
- Developing and launching the Respect Karting
program and the overwhelmingly positive reaction that we received from our
members, our Clubs all across Australia and in many foreign countries.
- The adoption of our new Constitution and
Strategic Plan.
- Seeing more and more female competitors
feature on the track. It’s great to see and we look forward to more Clubs
continuing to spread the word that ‘Girls Race Too’ by starting their own
Ladies trophy at their Clubs in 2020.
- The establishment and launch of our
promotional partnership with Supercars.
- The continuation of our partnership with The
Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix and the appearance of our young karters
on the F1 starting grid immediately before Australia’s biggest motor race.
- The inaugural Ultimate Club Racer at The Bend
Motorsport Park in South Australia. It was an incredible experience for
Club Racers who converged from across the Country. I can’t wait to do it again
in 2020!
- The continued growth of the SP Tools
Australian Kart Championship presented by Castrol Edge. 36% growth in
entries over the last five years is amazing. That is matched by the phenomenal
performance of all our competitors, Officials, host clubs and industry members
whose combined efforts have made the AKC the best national karting championship
in the southern hemisphere.
- Rotax Pro Tour continuing to provide the
opportunity to the best Rotax drivers to battle it out before 12 of them headed
to Italy to represent Australia with pride in the Rotax World Finals during
October.
- The incredible action at Race of Stars, which
continues to provide sensational racing on one of the fastest kart tracks in
the world year on year.
- Our State Championship events all across the
country supported by state series and zonal competitions in most states.
- The Aussie karters who decided to take it to
the world during 2019 and who represented not only our sport but our country
with pride and dignity.
- The SP Tools Junior Sprockets program continues to go from strength to strength. We had more than 200 young drivers experiencing the program throughout 2019. One of our first Sprocketeer graduates from 2015 – Cadel Ambrose was named Victorian Cadet 12 karter of the year and a graduate from 2018 Corey Carson was victorious at the Ultimate Club Racer I.
Thanks and Compliments of
the Season
To all of our Officials, Licence Holders, Volunteers, Club Members, Industry
Members, Karting Families, Mums, Dads, Brothers, Sisters and Grandparents who
dedicate so much time and effort to ensure the sport continues to succeed –
thank you.
On behalf of the karting community, I’d like to say a special thank you to Karting Australia’s partners – SP Tools, Castrol EDGE, Australian Grand Prix Corporation, and Supercars along with our suppliers Bridgestone, Briggs and Stratton, Dunlop, IAME, MG Tyres, Mojo, Rotax, Torini, Vega and Vortex.
For now, it’s time to take some time out and spend some quality summer time with loved ones before we head into 2020 at full speed.
On behalf of the Karting Australia Board, Staff and Officials, I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas and hope that you have a great start to the New Year.
New Year’s Resolution
Let’s make 2020 the year of fun in karting. It doesn’t all have to be about competition, sometimes it’s enough to be just rolling around the kart track with some family, friends and mates. Encourage your club to start to run some KART FUN SESSIONS – just for the fun of it in 2020. Most New Year’s Resolutions get broken – let’s keep this one shall we.
Merry Christmas and Best Regards
Kelvin
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