2021 INTERNATIONAL SPORTING CALENDAR

THE IMPORTANCE OF KARTING CLUBS

They come in handy when they serve to fund the area’s basic activity, but just when the KC’s succeed, they are opposed because they acquire too much importance and too much power: we are talking about Karting Clubs

FAREWELL FIAMMETTA

Our memory of our colleague Fiammetta La Guidara

TILLOTSON T4 GERMANY SERIES LAUNCHED

The Tillotson T4 Germany Series will run at the RMC

F1 KARTING STARS CONTEST ON INSTAGRAM

It’s already been a few months since Vroom’s followers

ROK CUP THAILAND 2021

Everything is ready for the start of the 2021 racing

RUBBER ODDITIES

The FIA has assigned the supply of tires for its championships entirely to Bridgestone, after the latter had proclaimed its withdrawal from karting. A novelty and an apparent contradiction that deserve some further study

BRIDGESTONE REPLY

We have consulted Annemiek van de Grint - Bonenkamp she is the racing service manager. Since 1992 she looked after the European activities of Bridgestone in Karting, F3, DTM and Le Mans 24

Cartoon Bubble

copyright: Paul Dorin by Vroom

NEW FORMAT FOR THE ABKC

The Association of British Kart Clubs has made major changes to its format and activities, to align with changes in the structure of karting introduced by the governing body, Motorsport UK. The ABkC has reached an agreement with Motorsport UK which sets out new lines of responsibility for both organisations which have been approved by the Annual General Meeting. But us romantics didn’t like this re-think and we’ll explain our point of view

Massa weighs in

The FIA Karting president spoke exclusively to our microphones about the past and present moment of our sport, the pandemic and more…

EIKO CELEBRATES 25 YEARS AS A PIONEER IN JAPANESE KARTING

Japan is a country with an incredibly astounding contrast within its culture, where strong tradition lives together with modernism in what appears to be organised chaos. It is old-school, yet so advanced. Long working hours, high expectations, personal pride and rituals remain embedded in their daily life, while the normality of convenience and leading new-age technology is evident in everything from their transport systems and ergonomically designed cars, futuristic electronics, 24/7 vending machines everywhere and the abundance of animated characters - led by the cat with no mouth on the stock exchange called ‘Hello Kitty’. This decade, they face many challenges where Covid-19 has played a strong role in exposing some cracks, the unavoidable postponement of the 2020 Olympics and ongoing decisions supporting the population’s wellbeing continue to be in the news

The tracks don’t stop…

… or, at least, not entirely: many kart tracks have

The best circuit in South Africa

Two brothers Phillip & Marius Swanepoel of Formula-K SA have been involved in karting since the 90’s and in 2008 they had a vision to build a circuit and have basically been working on it ever since. They started pursuing their dream in 2009 by securing land and it took more than 8 years to establish this property. It was previously a farmland to a fully serviced township and only after making sure that all the requirements from the local and national authorities were met, did the actual construction of this impressive circuit start. Officially opened November 2019, the first regional round of the South African Rotax MAX Challenge was the initial 2-stroke kart race on February 29, 2020. Weatherpermitting the circuit will be open every day of the year

Russia’s oldest kart track renews itself

Karting in Russia, of course, is less popular than football, for example, but many people love Formula 1 races. Especially when Sochi has its own formula track. Not surprisingly, the interest in karting has rather increased. There are plenty of karting tracks in Russia, but some tracks are so ancient that they require a complete renovation. But it’s not easy to do when the track is overloaded with training. And since last winter we have problems with COVID-19. This unexpected pause was good to start a complete renovation of one of the oldest karting track in Zelenograd - the north of Moscow

New Portuguese track in Castelo Branco

Despite Portugal being a small European country, with only 10 million habitants - including the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores -, it has more than a dozen karting tracks nationwide

Lap times will improve one or 2 sec per lap

The Circuito International Kart Center Campillos, in Malaga, is the longest circuit in all of southern Spain: it extends over 1,580 meters and is the largest as it extends over 120,000 square meters. It is located in the center of Andalusia in southern Spain. Inaugurated in 2005, it has obtained CIK-FIA homologation and for all its characteristics and strategic position it hosts many competitions of the Spanish Championship as well as many international karting events. In this tragic period for sport, the management of the Kart Center Campillos took advantage of the stop to activities to make numerous improvements to the structure, such as the paddock area, together with the addition of a terrace overlooking the entire circuit, as well as to the track asphalt, which has recently received a new layer without changing its shape or length

The new Sarno track at 1.6 km

The most interesting novelty at an international level is the complete makeover of the Naples International Circuit in Sarno. The circuit is not new to “re-thinks” as regards the layout, but this is one of the biggest seen so far and will take the development to 1.6 km. Only the old starting straight has remained, but the finish line was moved to the previous one. In this regard, however, we asked for more information directly to Rosario Sorrentino, son of “Peppe”, who has taken over the management “in the field”

How to deal with the pandemic

Like all kart circuits in the United Kingdom, Shenington Kart Racing Club had to carry out lots of preparation for the easing of the first lockdown in July 2020. PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) had to be sourced and purchased, Perspex screens put up on the counters and scrutineering benches, and lots of signs and sanitiser stations installed. One way systems had to be designed and signed, routes in and out of buildings and toilet blocks. And new procedures had to be drafted ready to be sent out to competitors and officials

THE TIGER OF LANGKAWI

Thirty-three-year-old Claudio Piazza-Musso is Gavin

CLAUDIO PIAZZA MUSSO

Born March 20, 1968 in Nairobi and now lives in Cape Town, South Africa

HAVE A SEAT

When Niki Lauda provocatively said that the most important part of a driver’s body was his “butt” (“God gave me an ok mind, but a really good ass which can feel everything in a car”) he was not wrong. It is primarily what transmits the feeling to the driver and, as the ‘protagonist’ of the drive, the parts of the vehicle that help “create” the message that goes straight to the brain that acquire fundamental importance. In this issue, we begin a journey that will lead us to the discovery of those parts of the vehicle that we tend to take for granted but which affect the overall performance as much as a prepared engine or a set of ultra-performing tires

First of all, the instrument

We begin a series of articles with the goal of making those who are starting from scratch understand something more in the fascinating but not very simple world of data acquisition

An insight into electric karting

Although they are not very different from other karts

Karts made in Iowa

Rod & Custom was the auto magazine that

FOOD IN THE WORLD OF RACING

A fair and balanced diet is absolutely essential to be in 100% shape from a physical and mental point of view during sporting events. Of course, a good nutritional diet will not be enough to win but it will surely guarantee drivers the right amount and quality of energy to perform at their best when training and help obtain results during the many tests, heats, qualifications and races, without, for starters, having the body risk dehydration

FOOD GROUPS

The human body is considered a real engine, perfectly

ZHOU IS THE F3 ASIA CHAMPION

Four Formula 2 drivers stormed F3 Asia in search of points for the F1 Super license

TRULLI WINS THE F4 UAE ON HIS DEBUT

Enzo Trulli won the title in the Winter Series, held between the Dubai and Abu Dhabi circuits, defeating Dilano Van’t Hoff

McLaren F.1

Starting this issue, we’ll focus on the karting stories of the 2021’ s Formula 1 World Championship driver line-up. First up, one of the more iconic (and winning) teams ever: McLaren