I think and hope you are right, no one can be this stupid, but then again its the FIA we speaking about, so you really never know.
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Boots and Gloves now have to homologated for FIA stuff.
Why do you think this wonât come to the USA?
Tj can tell you better than I can but our organizations, which are less âsafety focusedâ and more old school karters, do not run under FIA jurisdiction, licenses, or rules. We just take the ones we like.
Most run karts built to CIK specs though, and include bodywork? For the most part. I know about the idiosyncratic stuff is different, but traditional sprint karting, for the most part whatever the CIK do is largely adopted.
If adoption of JICA, FA, KF and OK in the US is anything to go by⌠The market does seem to pick and choose.
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So basically if US kart organizations were run by true old school karters Pro X30 would be ran at least without the front spoiler and be direct drive?
Engine side os different. No one runs them here in Europe either. The FIAâs power is chassis, bodywork and attire.
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You made the right choice.
To your absolute dismay, I think i got hired by a company that you may hate even MORE than the FIA 
Hint: It starts with an R and ends with âBullsâ
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USA sanctioning bodies do not require homologated suits and attire. There is no official, sanctioned licensing process. Chassis also do not need to be homologated.
Many of the series did not require push back front bumpers until recently. Some still do not. CIK rear bumper is not required in some series.
I could be wrong but I would bet USA race organizations will not adopt the wheel covers.
I understand that, but I didnât say homologated. I said built to CIK regs. My point is that on the chassis side, things do go towards whatever the FIA is doing by and large. I see most people running karts that are for all intents and purposes âFIA specâ. In time, if they are implemented, itâs only matter of time as is the case for everything else.
No issue with the drink company, I like what they do. Their ex-aero designer 
supported my campaign to get karts at Goodwood. Nice to see him happy at Aston though.
Seeing these FIA horror covers makes me relieved my two attempts to get karts at Goodwood failed because seeing anything like this go up the hill would have been an immense embarrassment.
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Because we pick and choose what we adopt over here as noted. We donât HAVE to run these if we donât want to. No one here runs the FIA mandated chest protectors, we held off on push-back bumpers, karts donât have to have any chassis homologation⌠The US is pretty impervious to stupid FIA rulings.
If someone asked Tom Kutscher what he thought of these wheel covers, I can literally picture his answer and I imagine it would be similar to your sentiment but with more expletives. I know the promoters of the main national series here and I obviously canât speak for them, but I have a feeling they would all echo a lot of the comments here.
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Actually some of them do, they just donât police it at all. Its a bit wishy washy in its wordsmithing (at least in SKUSAâs rulebook). It could be interpreted as not requiring homologation:
â106.4 Driving Suits: Must be manufactured for kart racing and meet current CIK Level 2.â
CIK is littered all over the place in US sanctioning bodies rule books but usually with the caveat âor blah approvedâ. Like chassis in SKUSA, is âMust be CIK or SKUSA approvedâ.
I think its unlikely something like this would be mandated, but it would be probably be allowed unless the sanctioning bodies outlaw it. Its ugly but its likely to be faster (given the wheels are rubbish aerodynamically), and if its not outlawed everyone will feel like they must run it to be competitive, just like weâve seen with aero nassau panels.
I think we have a name for them, now. 
Perhaps some truck nuts to complete the aesthetic? (American thing you probably donât have in UK, thankfully).
Take this for what itâs worth. In a Facebook conversation a gentlemen from New Zealand alluded that these covers are a reaction fatal incidents? Three in fact.
Thoughts? Deaths are (fortunately) not very common in karting, so Iâm surprised that it hasnât come up before.
If safety is this big of an issue letâs just get it over with and fully enclose the driver.
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I guess thatâs the big question. At what point does karting draw a line and say âthis is a kart, this is not. Choose accordinglyâ
The FiA will naturally continue to contort the formula to appease drivers navigating the racing pyramid. Or rather, appease the parents of the drivers.
Itâs racing. Unfortunately Iâve lost friends in fully enclosed cars. There is an assumed risk every time we hit the track. Iâm all for safety, I buy the best gear I can, but I donât see this making a big difference. Just look at the Indycar rear bumpers. That was a short lived experiment.
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