Do you think karting will be a huge spectator sport again like the 70s. And is the sport on a uprise or a decline with the increase of costs. / Karts / Engines and entry fees & Race Day & Practices ???
Typical turnout at my local club is 40-ish just for Briggs Sr. It seems to be doing fine. Even the cadet class is around 30. I wasnāt around in the 70s, but neither was my local track. Locally, at least then, it has grown tremendously since then
As a spectator sport, probably not. Karting never really was āhugeā in that sense either.
If we look at how karting has drawn spectators over the years, we need to understand the context.
In the early days it was a new, exciting sport. In Scotland, there were even claims it might overtake football (there was an article about it, probably exaggerated, but still). It was a fad that grew quickly, helped by the lack of competition in the late ā50s and ā60s. That novelty factor pulled in crowds.
Big turnouts also came from street events. Closed roads created instant visibility and curiosity within the community, so people naturally showed up. The Heysham World Cup is a bit of an outlier, as it was a dedicated circuit with genuine spectators, but that had the backing of John Player once upon a time. But that ended as an event in 1984. Thatās over 40 years ago. Silverstone GP took the mantle but that had faded out by the late 80s. Superkarts are an āeasierā sell though. but now they are no longer generating any spectators at all either.
The key issue today is perception. If karting is seen as just a kidsā activity or a stepping stone, it will not attract more than a small, dedicated audience. Look at Formula 2: its following is tiny, even though it has TV coverage and runs alongside F1. Itās the junior category, thus only a few people care.
For a sport to pull in spectators, it needs to be the peak of its discipline, something that carries real stakes. In 1966, being the ābest karter in the worldsā meant something as karting wasnāt as closely associated with F1 or whatever. Today most people would dismiss it as ākidsā racing,ā and that ends the conversation. Even back then it was very difficult
Karting organisers also do not rely on ticket revenue. Building a model around spectators would be a huge gamble. Other sports, like motocross, can at least fall back on their own participants as consumers. Karters generally do not consume their own sport, partly due to demographics and partly because the sport itself is fragmented (and not associated with any other form of so-called higher racing)
That is not to say it is impossible to get spectators. Some events do draw crowds. But calling karting a true āspectator sportā implies consistent, long-term viewership, and right now that does not exist. The only place I could see it developing is in America, but once drivers inevitably move into cars, the momentum disappears. there are hints of course it could happen, but weāll have to see.
Even other major championships struggle. Look at World Superbikes: many of their races are run in front of empty grandstands, and that is a world-level series. Once a sport loses its individuality and has to compete on a global stage, it is incredibly hard to break out from under that shadow. FIA Karting is designed as a proper fully-fledged motorsport, but in effect treated as Formula 5. When itās treated as Formula 5 all hopes of real spectators are extinguished.
On whether karting is growing or declining. Karting in the UK has been on a consistent decline for decades. Last year it stabilised, but my own data I have collected for this year doesnāt look great to be honest. Itās very region specific.
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99.9% of sports arenāt spectator sports at all. For those that are, very few get year round interest. Spectators donāt make a sport, competitors do.
Iāve said it before, the problem with costs comes from the fact that the big spenders are in the same classes as the hobbyist and the gap between the two is vast. Even if youāre in a class where thereās little performance to be gained spending on equipment, the track time they can afford makes all the difference.
The US seems to be in a reasonable place, albeit location makes a big difference. The UK should be so strong given that thereās 10-20 tracks within 5 hours drive (I have at least 8 within 2 hours), but we essentially have some small clubs, then the big four clubs filled with all the same drivers/teams. Outside of national series, you basically race Rotax, X30 or nothing.
The FIA stuff is basically itās own silo that is largely irrelevant with ridiculously high costs that Iāve yet to hear a solid justification for.
Spectators make a sport viable from a professional perspective though. Whether that be self-consumption by competitors or general outside interest. Considering kartingās popularity, if we take in almost all aspects of it (i.e rental), it is strange the lack of real professional opportunity.
Either way, I think itās a valid aspiration to seek wider audiences.
Thatās the breakdown in sporting structure into a more āhobbyā structure.
It should be strong but we have national level circuits like GYG, Warden Law, Three Sisters that afaik donāt hold any club meetings now. Llandow, Ellough and a few others donāt run club races now either. Itās really quite a stark situation all things considered.
Association with F1, simply put.
@Tom_Hoff has some cool footage of a race in PA when he was a kid. It struck me how much more of an event it was than most of the racing Iām familiar with.
There was an announcer, local sponsors, a crowd, etc. it was also outdoors on a street course and seemed to have a more special āpartyā atmosphere.
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Do you think more street races would help the sport ??? And all the new K1 Speeds help to introduce more people to karting . I know alot of people who start at K1 Speed go to gas . We have 9 from our K1 Speed go to gas or higher levels of car racing ā¦ Would love to hear from TJ and owner of forum opinions too they always have a great opinion on stuff to ??
ā¦ and thatās the problem.
You canāt have āhigher levels of car racingā then believe in spectator based karting. Those things canāt co-exist. The former extinguishes all stakes from the latter.
Street races are great, more the better, but they are also complex to arrange and risky. Thereās isnāt a huge appetite for that out there bar what already exists.
Street races (when done right and in the right markets) are great for getting the sport in front of the general public. But as Alan said, there is a lot of red tape to deal with getting insurance and approvals for them. And what weāve got already (Rock Island, Quincy, Elkhart, could even count the Vegas races), are hanging on by a string, except for SuperNats and Rok the Rio.
Growing the sport of karting does NOT involve encouraging people to leave to move āupā to cars.
Iām very hesitant on K1ās involvement in our sport. Huge sums of corporate money coming in to buy up all the tracks feels very dystopian to me. Iāve heard from some stories from people who have worked with K1 at the track in California and at Whiteland that make me nervous for what implications could arise.
When corporations start taking over more of our tracks, entry fees and prices will go up and the sense of community will go down.
Kart Chaser is providing what weāve all wanted for so long; extremely well-produced video and audio coverage of major karting events. I donāt think youāll get a big increase of in-person spectators going forward, but KC is getting a lot of eyes on the sport online. The Stars finals had 4,000 views on the livestream. I wasnāt around in the 70s, but Iād imagine thatās more than the in-person spectator numbers from back then.
Itās hard to verify but in 60s the world level stuff, which happened on the streets of Vevey would garner several thousand.
Dusseldorf in 1967 was estimated over 10k. Plenty of street races too with 5k+ in US. Lots were reported on. The Bottomless Lakes GP had over 5000 in 1960. Barcelona had a big street race too, as did Berlin. All in the central areas. This wasnāt considered abnormal either.
These are relatively āfreshā eyes too, in terms of ākart promotionā, whereas as online youāre looking at a global already bought-in viewership (mostly karters).
itās always tricky to measure. The Heysham World Cup in the UK estimated 20k plus at its height over the event. Hard to verify, but these were genuine spectators.
There used to be shops in London with karts in their display. Phantom was based out of Trafalgar Square in London in '60s. Mainstream is too strong a word, but karting really did have a special heyday.
but weāre not going back sadly.
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Unfortunately, karting (as well as most other sports) has to contend with the invention of the PC, Xbox, Playstation, and now Sim, competitors. Iāll always be a firm believer that āreal is better,ā but there has to be a marketable product to generate views. For karting to succeed beyond mere āparticipant drivenā (which I donāt use derogatorily) then it has to have drama and personality. The netflix karting series was good insofar as it increased awareness, but it was coverage of the āstepping stoneā aspect of karting ā anathema to growing the sport as an adult pursuit.
So, to my mind, we need to create a āfranchiseā that has a limited number of classes, and has cross-country comparison ā compete weekly / daily for best time on the same layout in Georgia vs. Utahā¦ Layouts could change yearly, but would effectively the same everywhere. Same/Different allows for variety and fights boredom in a region, but also allows comparison and us/them rivalries.
Like anything, inviting 1 buddy doubles participation immediatelyā¦ Got a $500 old chassis? GIVE it away and get someone started for sub-$1k. ($800 used LO206 and your old free chassis, plus free trackside support under your family tent.) Move away from āfactory tentsā. Move away from stepping stone mentality.
Before the sport has spectators, we must first ensure itsā survival. Clubs and adult hobbyists are the answer, not rich racing dadsā¦ (to be clear, I have nothing aginst tents or well-funded familiesā¦but the good of the sport demands wider access and lifelong participants ā think AFFORDABLE and FAMILY.)
Once the sport has healthy participation levels, form a true PRO division, and treat it as the ENDS not means to some other full-size option. Karts are harder than cars to drive well. See: Will Power finishing 11th in KZā¦ Karts are plenty entertaining as the DESTINATIONā¦
As far as affordability goes, the Margay Ignite! karts are the model ā fixed front endsā¦ go back to CIK02 bodywork on the sides, no noses, steel rear bumpers, and a reliable engine model. Iād also spec a 16k rev limiter on all 2 cycles, and HARD tires for all classes except PRO divisions. IMO, the baseline cost for an entry level kart should be $2500 COMPLETE w/ engine. Spec the engine and seal it and tech it OFTEN, Spec the chassis dims, and leave as many options OPEN as possible to allow freedom of use for used items of any sortā¦
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I believe what Ted says. Need to make classes for older chassis and engines. I think there is a place for the tents and high price karters. I think there needs to be more grass roots racing at alot of tracks.. I think K1 Speeds are good for the sport a way of starting out in karting. And then step up to other gas forms of racing especially Karting. As far as K1 Buying up tracks alot of them would go out of business or go away if it wasnt for some of these corporate guys keeping them going !!!
We can go round in circles inventing new classes and ideas, but costs are often more a function of expectations than of the material itself. You can run an OK-spec kart for less money than a Briggs L206 if you set your expectations accordingly. Iāve seen countless āsolutionsā come and go, along with endless ideas about rev-limiting or price-setting. At the end of the day, most people buy their first kart second-hand. Setting official prices for new equipment rarely does more than create downward pressure on quality, as profit margins get squeezed to nearly nothing.
The real issue is that expectations are shaped by culture and by how the sport is structured. Itās opaque, and it requires a long-term perspective. Owner-driver karting is now incredibly weak from a market perspective, which makes injecting any sort of long-term strategic plan almost impossible - thereās no one with both the authority and the will to think that way.
We are also seeing a big sell-off too. Genk has been sold to MP. OTK has sold out to Capital and BIC Capital. There are rumours swirling as well about other deals. The sport will no longer be owned by karters nor governed by karters soon. This sport is changing very fast. I sound negative, but I am just describing what I consider the direction of travel.
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I do think corporate companies will be stepping in to save karting and some of the tracks. I think karting will always be a great way to learn driving skills to step up to other motorsport programs. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe corporate will use karting as that.. And use there money to promote the sport.. Its a thought and a hope they will do that. If they keep getting involved more..
I donāt see that as āsavingā the sport if the context is to allow drivers to āstep upā to other motorsport programs. Thatās the destruction and death of the āsportā of karting to be swapped out for something else. If you are implying that in effect karting is a stepping stone, then itās relegated to a Formula 5 in all but name and thus loses its singular sporting status.
To some extent this has already happened. Certain aspects hold on to some level of true sporting heritage, but it gets weaker by the day.
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Then what do people think will help karting . If corporate companies donāt get involved and interject there money ?? I think it will help alot and help other forms of motorsports. Dont think karting will ever be a full time sport for people money not there.. I think it should be promoted as a steeping stone.. That would help it growā¦
Itās been marketed as a stepping stone since the late 90ās. It hasnāt grown.
If you set karting up as a stepping stone rather than a destination in its own right, people will look at what the next steps are and conclude itās not for them. Why would I bother to take the first step when the next step will cost me Ā£250k, the next Ā£1m, the next Ā£3m etc etc? Further, drivers that do enter the sport will soon move on; youāve essentially told them to.
Now imagine a narrative focussed on how great karting is as a hobby where the peak of the sport is factory teams with pro drivers; drivers that are known by followers of the sport because theyāve stuck around in the top classes for longer than 2s. Itāll still be a small sport but at least you wouldnāt be pushing away the very people that you need for the sport to thrive.
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The data suggests otherwise. Since 1996, when Lewis Hamilton appeared on Champions of the Future as a child racing cadets, cementing the view karting is where the āfuture driversā are found in the UK, karting has reduced by around 50% here. In terms of adult participation, I think weāre nearer a 70% decline in my estimation. With that the media has gone too for the most part.
By 1960 over 100,000 karts had been sold in the USA alone. It grew as an adult-oriented pursuit. Associating with F1 and stepping stone hasnāt done much other than lower the demographics. Naturally if some regions are under developed growth can be had, but as a general trend itās been awful and destructive.
This thinking is partly why karting has become a stigmatized pursuit for anyone over the age of 16. In my view itās been the single most damaging cultural shift in karting. itās has devalued kating enormously as well as increasing perceived costs for major championships. The worse of both words.
Maybe it was probably always written this is how karting would go. Who wants to market karting, when the dominant players only really care about F1 and milking gullible rich people.
Iāve had some success over the years with various projects and promotions, but I think in 2025, the tide is too strong.
Also, I may say you spoke about karting being a spectator sport. You canāt have karting being a āstepping stoneā and a truly spectator sport. They are incompatible. You canāt have a fanbase when champions donāt defend their titles (like Ethan Jeff-Hall at this yearās world championship)
Also, Karting shouldnāt be āhelpingā other forms of motorsport either. I donāt recall any other motorsport helping karting, ever.
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This is always a tough one to unpack. Karting is a lot of thing to a lot of people, so you almost need to segment it, see what that segment needs and then look for the overlap. Affordability is hard to measure and a bit of a race to the bottom if it keeps being chased. I prefer value for money, itās easier to measure and easy to compare.
Stepping stone is prettymuch the primary way the sport is promoted right now. Itās a shame that itās promoted as being subservient and thereās a perception of moving āupā to cars. Karting is a competitive motorsport in itās own right and it amazes me that national level karting gets compared to local or regional level cars.
Spectator sport only works with star power IMO. The truth is the only people that want to watch karting are kart racers, their friends and family and a handful of others that appreciate the craft. To everyone else it looks like kid toys and mario kart. I donāt know how that perception can be changed in a meaningful way.
Not sure where the idea of karting and tracks need to be saved by corporate or private equity comes from?
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I agree with TJ on corporate money taking over individual tracks. In my experience, they begin to push out the kart owners in favor of rental karts. Rental karts are more profitable than owner karts and club racing, so they are always going to favor that business model.
Road America is a great example. BEAUTIFUL FACILITY, but their club racing is Tuesday nights, and the few Saturdays that they donāt run their rental karts. Club racing is a very small percentage of their revenue. Also, they have very limited practice available.
Itās a challenge to keep an independent track club open with no rentals, but itās NOT impossible. (Badger Kart Club)
Donāt get me wrong, rental karts play a role in growing the karting industry, but only if there is a place for that rental karter to race/practice once they become a kart owner.
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