MEMBERS HEARD – The Mackay & District and Rockhampton kart clubs ran a survey for members in October regarding tyres for the Yamaha ‘J classes in 2024. “The objective was to gather valuable feedback regarding the optimum tyre choice for Yamaha J and Senior Racer classes” the Mackay club posted. “This follows testing conducted at Mackay and positive feedback following the use of this tyre in the 2023 Dunlop Kartsport J Enduro.” Given the two choices, there was a clear preference for the harder and longer wearing Dunlop SL1A. “As such both Mackay and Rockhampton can confirm the Dunlop SL1A tyre will be the tyre used at Mackay and Rockhampton in 2024 for the Yamaha J and Senior Racer classes.”
2024 ROTAX WORLDS – As part of the closing ceremony at the Rotax MAX Challenge Grand Finals in Bahrain recently, Rotax announced the 2024 edition will take place on the Sarno circuit in Italy (Circuito Internazionale Napoli). This is the track where Aussie Lee Mitchener won the DD2 Masters world final in 2016. The 2024 RMCGF will take place from October 19 to 26.
PROMO – Taking karting to the people! Gippsland Go Kart Club did a promo with some karts and kids in a street parade in Traralgon recently. Part of the Traralgon Community Christmas Parade and Market, the club show-cased some of its younger members and their karts to the community.
EURO HIGHLIGHTS – Here are the two highlights videos from each of the WSK Final Cup rounds:
AFFILIATION MOVE – Sapphire Coast Kart Club has reaffiliated with Karting NSW, as a result of a vote of its members. “SCKC have recently completed repairs to their track surface and will be racing again in 2024 so make sure to check it out!” KNSW posted as part of the welcome back.
TOURISM BOOST – Organisers have confirmed the date for the 2024 Rock Island Grand Prix street race is August 31/September 1st. The event is coming off its biggest spectator turnout ever. According to a local tourism organisation, the Grand Prix attracted more than 17,000 spectators over the two-day event in 2023, more than 4,000 up on the previous year. “There are few places here, or overseas, where kart racers can experience racing in front of 17,000 people” GP President Roger Ruthhart said. The full class structure has yet to be announced, but will include two and four-stroke categories, shifters and vintage races.
SCHOOL FOR NEWBIES – Karting Australia will run two Junior Sprockets programs in the New Year. Taking place in Melbourne on January 15 and Newcastle on January 24, these would make a great Christmas present for any budding new karters. Register via these links:
RENTERS – CRG will manage three major rental karting events in 2024. The season will open with the classic 24 Hours Karting of Italy on March 16-17, followed by the Endurance Kart Cup (June 15), a mixed sprint and endurance format on the Ala track. The Rental Kart World Contest (sprint format) closes the season on the Cremona track on October 5-6. All karts are CRG Centurion with Honda 390cc engines. Drivers will be divided into Pro and Silver (amateur) categories.
NEW DISTRIBUTION – Tyler Greenbury Racing has gained the exclusive distribution rights in Australia for the Haase brand of karts. “We have been working with HAASE over the last few months and are very happy with the results so far” TGR posted. “Looking forward to working hard over the break and showing what the brand can do in 2024!” For existing Haase owners, the team now has a range of part available. It will be competing Australia wide next year with parts onboard the TGR truck.
KCL NEWS – Karting Champions League (announced earlier this month, HERE), has confirmed the one-make series will use Vega tyres across all classes. It has also filled in the blank on the missing circuit in the initial schedule to be Marienbourg (Belgium) from 25 to 27 October.
A GOOD INVESTMENT? – The Gold Arrow become a collectable just two hours after orders opened! Limited to just 50 units, the 50th Anniversary Arrow sold out soon after it was announced. If you still want one, you’re going to have to convince one of the successful buyers to sell theirs – which means the price has gone up already! The kart looks fantastic with never-to-be-reproduced graphics. It will be interesting to see how many turn a wheel on a race track, never mind be used in competition. Some of the new owners have purchased purely as a collectable to have as a show piece.
FOSTER’S 4-PACK – Rob Howden of ekartingnews fame posted this image of the four-time winners of the SKUSA SuperNats, which includes Australia’s Kip Foster. “Legend. Truly, a four-time. It’s been a privilege to call your race wins, my friend” event commentator Howden wrote on social media. Now, for full context, Kip has actually crossed the line first on SIX occasions, but lost his first two victories post race on minor technicalities.
CLUB NEWS – The Go Kart Club of South Australia recently held its AGM, awarding three Life Memberships. Brandon Stillwell, Warren Nietz and Emilio Colantuono received the honour after many years of contribution to the club. Nathan Dunn was the recipient of the Emilio Colantuono Memorial Club Person of the Year Award. The new Executive:
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- Chairman: John Pengelly
- President: Warren Nietz
- Vice President: Andrew Gunn
- Secretary: Tracy Ross
- Race Secretary: Brandon Stillwell
- Membership Secretary: TBA
- Treasurer: Andy Ritter
- KSA Delegate: David Harrison
- KSA Co-Delegates: Warren Nietz and Brock Harrison
- Grounds/Maintenance Manager: Luke Turner
- Track Safety Officer: David Dowson
- Club Chief Scrutineer: Brandon Stillwell
CLUB NEWS – Mackay & District Kart Club has welcomed its 2024 office bearers. “Our club is run on the dedication of our volunteers and we couldn’t do it without you. All the best for 2024.”
- President: Peter Clarke
- Senior Vice President: Chris Pendry
- Junior Vice President: Matt Smith
- Secretary: Nic Garioch
- Treasurer: Angela Head
SIX TRACKS! – The event is now over, but how much fun does this look! The Christmas Six Track Meeting is run by Dubbo and Orange kart clubs over two days. Day 1 saw racing on three variations of the Dubbo circuit, then everyone moved to Orange for day 2 and contested another three configurations. No doubt a good mechanic who can change gearing quickly would have been an asset! The 2023 results are on Speedhive – Dubbo HERE, Orange HERE.
LIGHTS CAMERA ACTION – Kartsport New Zealand has been offering volunteers training in how to use the organisation’s judicial camera system. “Full in-depth training will be offered beyond our current pool of users at a later date, once all operating protocols have been trialled and dialled in” KSNZ posted. “One of the goals of the camera system is to get new people into officiating roles for the sport.”
SUMMER PRIZES – Unique race formats and heaps of giveaways rounded out the season for those who attended Karting Australia’s Summer Series events. Competitors who finished inside the top three (see below) will receive details on how to collect their prizes (where applicable) from the Australian distributors of IAME, Rotax and Vortex engines respectively. The full results are available HERE.
KIMI’s KID – It looks like Kimi Raikkonen is getting serious with his young sons racing. According to reports, the Raikkonen’s have bought property and moved to Italy to be closer to the karting action. Eight-year-old Robin runs with the CRG team and has already taken wins in Micro MAX.
MAKING TRACKS – The Ipswich Kart Club says there’s always a lot of talk about pathways FROM karting, but that it is giving its members pathways TO karting. Works are well underway on new pit paths, though the club is requesting people stay clear of the work areas until complete. The new concrete “will not only frame our pits and make it easy to locate your spot, but will also mean no more struggling to push your trolley across the gravel.” Last open practice for the year is this Friday the 22nd. The circuit will reopen on Wednesday afternoon, January 3rd.
SPLIT TIRES – A split situation has arisen regarding the distribution of Vega tyres in the United States. Following the recent acquisition of Vega Tires by the OTK Kart Group, ekartingnews is reporting that from January 1st, OTK Kart USA will be the sole importer of 5” Vega kart tires for the US market. However the distribution of Vega 6″ tyres will remain with long standing distributor, TS Racing. “TS Racing is legendary in the US kart road racing market and experts in both dirt and asphalt oval karting” a press release stated. “TS Racing has established an unrivaled commitment to these markets and are in the best position to serve the needs of the road racing and oval markets.”
WSK TYRES – Vega has also picked up the contract to supply many of the classes in WSK events next year. Vega will provide rubber for the MINI, OKJ, OKN and OKNJ categories. Le Cont will supply tyres for the OK category. For KZ2, Vega will be used in the first part of the year, then Le Cont in the later part. Panta Racing Fuel is the single allowed type all season. An agreement has been reached for Tillotson carburetors to be used in the WSK races and Tillotson will provide technicians for at-track support.
2024 FEES – Some of the fees that AIDKA charges will change in 2024. The new fee structure below will come into effect for dirt karters on 1 Feb 2024.
RESTRUCTURE – There has been a re-shuffle of personnel in the CRG Racing Department. Team Manager from the last two years, Andrea Todisco, has exited the organisation. He has been replaced by a new duo recruited from inside the company – Brandon Nilsson and Natalia Balbo. Nilsson has been working in the racing department for several years and will take on the logistical responsibility of the team. Balbo, also a former CRG driver who last season worked as technical support, will be more concentrated on sports management and relationships with the drivers.
EVENT – Entries are now open for the season opening Junior Top Guns event at Oakleigh on January 19 and 20. The club has also scheduled a race meeting for January 13 for those who want extra track time prior.
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