If they really want drama, they should cast it as youth hockey on wheels.
Imagine a 10 year old boy, on my son’s team, is laying on the ice after getting hurt, the rink is silent as the coaches and officials check on him. And then, from the “Mom” of a player on the other team, “Leave him on the ice to cry!” rings out in a cold shrill voice. UFB! 
IMO… even though the series might be over hyped drama… it might be a good thing to get people interested in karting. Look at what DTS has done for F1 in the US…
Let’s wait and see how the series is.
This is a fair point, and maybe the climate is different now with the success of DtS being some proof that the concept can work to draw people into the sport. I think part of the problem is, here in the States we already had a reality show several years ago about karting and most people agreed it only hurt the image of the sport, promoted drama and showcased all the wrong aspects of the sport.
Also, I think DtS’s goals are quite different from a perspective of growing the sport. DtS mainly is to attract fans to F1. So casual viewers may love the dramatization that DtS provides. It isn’t trying to attract participants, just fans.
A karting show is more likely to attract participants, if done correctly. I can’t imagine it creating a fanbase for kart racing. Hell, most of the karting population doesn’t even pay attention to national-level karting. Not sure how we can convince the general public to.
It likely to attract is more of the same kind of demo that’s portrayed while probably dissuading folks that are on the fence from taking part.
That said, I hope im 100% incorrect.
There’s no comparison to DTS or F1 IMO here.
A huge problem is the spending expectations. When a show says “people spend $10k a weekend”, it immediately turns off 90% of the potential new karters. It’s great for drama to the average uninformed viewer, to see people spend six-figures on tiny cars with plastic seats racing in the woods for a plastic trophy, but the complete opposite for people who don’t have that kind of budget. Which is most.
I think we’ve seen so many of these shows over the years (they come about every few years) we tend to know what to expect and the effect.
These shows aren’t about bringing people into the sport, never have been. With it being young drivers too the potential for a DTS spike in interest is almost zero. People don’t follow junior sport all that closely, especially with regard to motorsport which has no identity based involvement (like you get with clubs, colleges etc…)
Every time I get upset with something I am going to say “I don’t wanna hear about foooood.” Even in a non karting context.
I could see a super-dramatic UK Club 100 drama. You could manufacture a good strory about rival university teams, treachery, intrigue, romance, castor oil… etc.
It’s just niche enough that done correctly, it could be a hit. I’m thinking along the lines of “The Guild” which sends up WoW in a relatable, funny way. Not a reality show, a comedy.
The boat race has taken up most of that real estate. 
We talking about Oxford crew kind of stuff? Think Rob Lowe in Oxford Blues.
Speaking of which…
Motorsport Fiction… it must exist… there has gotta be a murder mystery series that uses motorsports as it’s medium, like Dick Francis and horse-racing.
Anyone know of any racing “fiction”?
If Mr. Nunley were still with us, he would say, “and this is why you need to have an EGT sensor and learn to tune your carb on the fly”. 
If Al were with us I’m sure he’d be like “What is this nonsense” and then get back to his charts.
Maybe instead of karting we do a reality series on high school soap box derby racing.
I can’t imagine a series that would tolerate it anymore. I’d just boot them
I think we need to have @XanderClements create a True Karting documentary and interview some kart guys (including some in KartPulse) to explain what the sport is all about. You could have some entry level episodes (club racing) all the way up to the Nationals. I think some big teams and shops could sponsor this to have it on Netflix. If it attracts more people to the sport, the return on investment will be well worth it.
It’s crazy how cyclical these things tend to be. Seeing Kart life actually encouraged me to reach out to @DavinRS after I saw this video.
Figured we’d be a good team to bring a different narrative to the sport and how it’s portrayed.
IMO karting doesn’t have a coverage or exposure problem.
Karting is a confusing “product” and the customer experience is broken. Although engine packages like the 206 have helped a lot, there’s still no funnel or workflow in place anywhere. At least not that I have observed.
Coverage needs to be tied to a process and system of some sort to move people into the sport, otherwise any money spent on coverage is just for vanity.
I’ve been beating this drum for over a decade now, so why stop today I guess
I’m kinda amazed nobody has taken the ball and run with it yet.
I am not sure this is the best route to go. That’s all a bit formal a dated for me unless it’s done in a unique and fun way. We should we way past this kind of thing. it’s also incredibly expensive to make these kind of series. For my ‘budget kart challenge’ (my ‘fun’ take on getting people into karting, tho even that’s dated now) I am down maybe $1000-1500. That’s a nice budget if you’re trying to start karting, but if you’re trying to make a video series that encourages people into karting I know I am not seeing any of that back (unless I sell the kart which will give me some of it back), then you realise how expensive ‘karting promotion’ is. Episode 1 attracted 3k views, my latest 1.3ish. It’s not great form a financial perspective. You really have to get it right to make it worthwhile. I know someone has sunk a good 30k+ collecting footage and stuff for a documentary type thing last year… which they won’t be seeing back.
In terms of investment the problem is ROI. It’s very hard to quantify the value in sponsoring these kinds of things for teams/shop.
sorta have something like that we just launched with Paddock Pass – hoping to continue to tailor it. Episode 2 dropping in the next few minutes – I’ll update this reply with the link!
Edit: here it is!
