https://www.vroomkart.com/news/45130/does-this-fia-kz-still-make-sense
“The FIA, at every event where I’ve been awarded as a driver, keeps emphasizing the value of karting as a stepping stone to Formula and GT racing — and for them, evidently, that’s all karting is”
Important words from the defending KZ European Champion and 2x FIA World Champ.
Hobby karters have been pushed out because going fast is expensive and physical and requires seat time to stay quick. Lo206 and similar is cheaper because it’s slower. Hobby karters chose Rotax because it was marketed to club drivers. The big money spenders chose it because it was as fast as 100A with bigger national grids. Once the hobby karters are in with the crowd that race 48 weekends a year, they leave. We’ve seen this in the UK where the major clubs are just full of the same teams/drivers from the national championships, and the smaller clubs have a small grid of Rotax/X30. We then have, strangely, “budget” classes (GX-UK for example) that are only available as national championships and are therefore not “budget”.
If you make the top level run X30 or a similar spec engine you may as well not have an FIA Karting World Championship. If you don’t make things relevant for manufacturers, the ecosystem slowly dies. Costs may need to be controlled, but you don’t do that by making things spec, or requiring a hard tyre (they’ll still use 20 sets a weekend anyway). Just make it two engines per weekend without penalty, one chassis and X sets of tyres (maybe two). Manufacturer of chassis, engine and tyres chosen on entry. Possibly make it KZ instead of OK. And make it so you have to have finished in the top X in a recognised national championship (recognised championships decided by the ASN’s).
Then think about how you can make it international, although that’s more of a challenge. Possibly multi-round.
Lastly, stop actively encouraging drivers to leave and then wondering where all the drivers have gone.
That wouldnt change people going through dozens of engines and chassis in order to prepare for the events. The FIA should provide the engine through a lottery at the beginning of the weekend.
Let it die. I honestly dont think having an engine only for CIK-FIA champs is a good idea, at least for OK/OKJ. KZ is relevant on so many levels, it makes sense to have multiple manufacturers.
That I would support 100%
One caveat I should add.
The top flight shouldn’t cost the drivers anything. They should be paid. This comes from exposure for the manufacturers and the promotional side of things. That should be the over-arching philosophy. Top-flight karting should be ‘cheap’. Alas, without the energy and marketing, we are where we are.
We shouldn’t be letting 60 years of heritage die so easily. It is dead, because without the F1-dream, there would be no grids, but I think we still should philosophically at least, support the concept.
My view is that we are not in the same place, economically and environmentally. Things need to change for something more sustainable, if we want to keep it accessible.
Refusing to let go of a past era is how karting is dying.
KF was an attempt to make karting more sustainable and accessible and it was an unmitigated disaster of enormous proportions. OK is a direct relation to KF which as all about ‘accessibility and sustainability’. . Making karting about ‘stepping stone’ has been an unmitigated disaster for senior karting. Moving ‘with the times’ has been karting’s biggest error because it forgot its fundamentals. Since 1997 (when the MAX was introduced) karting licenses in he UK have halved.
It is in the act of ‘letting go’ of the past era.. when the sport had numbers, culturally strong and a robust media, that was/is the mistake.
I thought it was more about making karting more inline with the technological improvements, with 125cc and electrical starts, compared to the archaism of the old 100cc. At least it is what I have heard back then.
No doubts it was a disaster, the engines were trash.
But now we are in a situation that, while karting enjoyers would love to go back to 100cc, aircooled engines, I don’t see how you can sell that to manufacturers
Point 1 of the launch document
The manufactures are gone. We are left with 5% of what we used to have.
But it’s not about 100s so much, but I think it’s worth understanding why we had a more accessible and vibrant sport in 1975 than we do now. it’s beyond question the sport was more accessible back then too.
If we removed the F1-dream from karting tomorrow. All the aspirants and parents. The sport would be almost gone and unsustainable. Moving with he times has created a terribly vulnerable sport. We get worse of both worlds. This is why looking back is vital.
One more thing. All karting is archaic.
Maybe? I think the issues are more due to how it was implemented vs a problem with the concept itself.
A lack of parity between brands and or batches I can get behind for drivers. That sucks.
A lack of grip? Get outta here, these drivers are meant to be the best in the world 
I think it’s more to do with the fact they are lapping similar pace as the juniors and a second and a bit off the OKs. KZ is Group 1. It should be easily quicker than the junior classes. I think that’s a fair assessment. Lorenzo is calling for open tyres, which I can get behind as well.
It’s a little bit of a chicken-or-egg situation, but modern karts just are simply designed to work on a softer tire. So tossing KZ onto a hard compound makes almost zero sense. Especially at an international level. And when the juniors and OKs are faster with a softer tire. What’s the point of KZ if they are going to be slower than the “junior” level classes?
I actually would agree with Alan that international level KZ is probably where open tires makes the most sense in sprint karting from my perspective. I am not a fan for most other levels and series, but let the pro guys bring in some jeopardy with tires.
I’m generally not a fan of open tires, but the good thing for the market is open tire would force the tire companies to really work on their product which would benefit even the spec tire users. In the top tier I find it acceptable to be open tire.
The more openness the more chance for drivers getting paid/subsidised. It does have to be matched by marketing effort however and that right now is non existant.
One can’t do much if the material you have to use hinders you.
But then the team wouldn’t be able to absorb the costs involved regarding engines.
Less reliance on setup and (potentially) less
reliance team and factory level resources sounds great to me.
Again, best drivers in the world should be able to drive around a lack of grip. They might not like it because their ego gets hurt due to lap times, but that’s just too bad. If you want to call yourself a professional driver, act accordingly.
Reliance on factory gear is what incentivises hiring drivees. Group 1 is suposed to be the most prestigious
Is that reliance a good thing though? Seems at odds with the position that many of us hold that CIK karting is too expensive and not accessible to “dad and lad” types.
I don’t think there’s a conflict.
I think the pinnacle of karting should be a professional enterprise for drivers and teams, and be something that generates an audience. If there’s no difference in equipment there is no incentive for manufacturers to compete and/or hire drivers. One of my most successful videos in recent times was KR’s aero stuff from the world championship. Technical intrigue (of relatable consequence) drives interest enormously. Intrigue = engagement = money. No one cares, for example, who won the Rotax Grand Finals 5 years ago, yet we all still remember Orsini (those of us who are old enough anyway). Of course the technical formula has to be right.
If the incentive is to hire the best drivers, then teams, who are smart, don’t look purely at results, they can look beyond them. They can see Driver X might not have the best gear, but still do well. This used to be how the incentive structure worked in kart, kinda. This is harder to do in the modern era when everyone is driving OTK/Rotax. We’re all just, and forever more, customers. The paradox is that the more you try and make karting ‘driver focused’ the less valuable the driver becomes.
But all this requires a functioning media where big races get coverage and reverence. Like I say it’s an ecosystem with many alchemic factors (expectation management is a big factor lost in the modern scene). That doesn’t happen now. We’ve just had one of the most extraordinary boycotts in motorsport history, yet it’s not caused an earthquake throughout the sport.
So according to Kartcom, we might have a year without an European KZ Champion. Less than 20 drivers are registered due to the drivers protest.