from FIA Karting
The FIA is deeply saddened by the death of former World Karting Champion Wade Nelson, who passed away on July 10, 2025 at the age of 67 in his native country, South Africa.
One of the most memorable stories in the annals of international Karting Championships is that of South African Wade Nelson. Although he had never raced in Europe before and had jumped on the 1986 Formula E World Championship bandwagon (the name given to 250cc Superkarts at the time), missing the first round at Le Mans, Wade Morris Nelson went on to win the two remaining races, held in the rain at Silverstone and the Nürburgring.
Created in 1983, the CIK-FIA Formula E World Championship was at its peak at the time and included such formidable specialists as Martin Hines, Lennart Bohlin, Poul V. Petersen, Tim Parrott and Torgjer Kleppe.
Little known to the other 50 drivers on the grid, arriving from South Africa, Wade Nelson managed to surprise everyone at the wheel of a hired Dino chassis, powered by a twin-cylinder Rotax engine passed through the expert hands of Russell Anderson.
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His two victories at Silverstone and the Nürburgring (in the prologue to a Group C World Championship event) meant that he finished the Championship level on points with Sweden’s Lennart Bohlin (World Champion in 1984), but the title went to Wade Nelson on the basis of two wins to one. He was the second non-European driver ever to win a world title in Karting, and the first from the African continent, after the success of the American Lake Speed at the 1978 World Championship.
He only returned sporadically to Europe to race in Superkart over the next few years, but he remained very active in the South African karting scene, making a significant contribution to the development of the discipline and inspiring a whole generation of drivers who admired his achievements.
The CIK-FIA extends its most sincere condolences to his family and friends.
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