The revival of karting
Credit to Author: MIKE POTENCIANO| Date: Sat, 18 May 2019 16:19:46 +0000
While I was looking at the results of the just concluded IAME Series Asia Leg 2 in Bira, Thailand, I was sad to see so few Filipinos attending this great, international event that would test driver’s skills in different tracks across Southeast Asia. We had less than a handful that competed, and even our local and national karting events have dwindled to almost nil in some classes.
I have dug up an old article of mine on how to help revive the sport that I love, and bring it back to its feet. I believe that karting is still the best venue for getting your racing skills honed, and it’s a matter of doing it right, both in terms of the drivers and organizers.
So below is a part of my article “Karting — Filipino Style” (The Manila Times, Aug. 13, 2016) and hope my new friends would help me fix the sport that made me a truly good driver.
Good news
Let’s start with the good news. The Filipinos have the right built and stature to excel in karting. We don’t need height and heft to win. Our petite frame is just right and in fact, is a big advantage. There are also good kart tracks around that were established since 1991 with very good instructors to help the newbies.
The sport is also complemented by rental kart venues where people can share their passion for fun around a kart track. Some people have also said that karting is already mainstream and is known by the majority of people that like cars.
With all of these positive factors, why is karting not as big as it should be? I believe that these steps should be done to help bring back the golden age of karting.
Kart clinics
One of the best ways to bring back karting is to get new and old blood back into the sport. We would have to invite them to kart clinics and do it on a regular basis, even in non-permanent tracks. This would entail a lot more work, especially with safety barriers and a bigger team to marshal the event but I believe this would be worth it.
These non-permanent locations would not be ideal for cadet drivers 12 years old and below, but the young professionals and veteran drivers would be happy with a new track that no one has previous knowledge of. This would remove the factor of drivers getting an extra advantage by practicing day in and day out on the same track. The good drivers would also shine in these tracks as the natural talent would be seen right away.
Affordable costs
As in any form of racing, the one who has the deeper pocket can almost be assured of winning the event. We should try to keep costs down, and make it affordable and available to a bigger number of enthusiasts.
One way of making it more affordable is to use one-make karts in an arrive-and-drive format. This means that all the karts have the same chassis, same engine and same tires, and are taken care of by one team. There would be tight regulations as to what you can fix or change on the kart and there would be drawing of lots as to what engine you would be able to use for that day.
The karts for beginners would be rental karts with Honda 4-stroke engines. This would be the cheapest and most durable kart to start on. The next level would be direct-drive, Yamaha KT100S, 2-stroke engines on race karts, which are more powerful and lighter than the 4- stroke engines.
Race series/venues
Permanent tracks like Carmona (Cavite), Clark (Pampanga) and Batangas are great and safe tracks for the fast machines. However, fans have a hard time going all the way to these tracks to watch and cheer.
So, we would have to organize events in commercial establishments, parking lots and places with high public traffic to make the sport visually appealing and to showcase the exciting racing action that karting can offer. Having 20 karts all funneling into one turn and dicing for every little bit of space to overtake would make anyone stand on their feet during the whole race.
The race series would have classes for beginners, ladies, executives and veterans so it would have non-stop action right from the start. There can be special celebrity and media classes also to drum up the event. The best part is the fans and participants would be treated like royalty during the event, and make it worth their time to visit and join the series.
Media blitz
The karting series and its participants would not attain the recognition it deserves without big media promotions tied to it. With the advent of social media, promoting the kart series would be much easier and could be done in real time. Even the more traditional television medium is becoming more flexible in terms of content, thus it’s the proper time for Speed TV to come back and promote karting.
I hope we could all work for karting’s revival because this is where we could draw our next crop of champions in other forms of racing. Will keep you all posted and sorry if we sound like a broken record, but it’s our passion to make karting No. 1 again. Godspeed to all!
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