UK Karting - Notice Board (2-Stroke Karting) : Re: rotax has killed uk karting?

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Re: rotax has killed uk karting?
Posted by 'davidmc' on 15 Mar 2010 @ 18:54

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davidmcJoined: April 2003
Total Posts: 2
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I'm pretty sure overall entries are down across almost all clubs. Some clubs may have seen a small increase, but this will almost exclusively be to the detriment of another club. It would be interesting to know which clubs have the greatest number of novices...

Taking Kimbolton as an example, I remember the days when Senior and Junior TKM had A,B & C finals, or an elite grid and a club grid. Even if they were only running one grid of each, that would still be 35 entries in Junior TKM and 35 entries in Senior TKM. You'd then have 10 or so in 100C/160, and a strong grid of 100A's, Jica etc. Comer would have 35 on the grid, and gearboxes would have a full grid too. This situation was replicated at clubs throughout the country.

Has Rotax killed UK karting? Yes and No. Apart from a few exceptions, it is THE club class of the UK. It certainly fitted the appetite of the market at the time. However, there's no doubt that the cost (real or inferred) of Rotax has deterred some drivers from entering or remaining within the sport. It would be interesting to go back to all those that were running TKM to see what they're doing now. I'd guess the majority left karting, with a selection switching to Rotax or some other class.

Rotax/the MSA made a mistake with the introduction of Minimax. All it seems to do is take some drivers out of Cadets and some drivers out of Junior Max. TKM made the mistake of extreming the engines (or not extreming the Juniors), which meant it wasn't as easy to reuse kit across the age groups. The CIK made the big mistake of introducing the KF classes, which has now given us an even more expensive alternative to the 100cc classes.

Of course, the real problem still stems back to the number of classes. 10-15 years ago, all you really had were the international classes, Junior TKM, Senior TKM, Comer Cadet and Gearbox. Now you have all the international classes, Junior TKM, Senior TKM, Minimax, Junior Max, Senior Max, Senior Max 177, Comer Cadet, Honda Cadet, WTP, Formula Blue and Gearbox. All this does is dilute grids, create regional pockets, and stop some people racing altogether. It also means less value for money owing to less track time.

I'm a supporter of TKM, and think the class is (or maybe was) far superior to Rotax. However, I can still commend the decision HKC took to dump TKM. Now, all they run is the Rotax classes and Cadets and everyone gets plenty of track time.

In summary, no Rotax hasn't killed UK karting, but for the good of the sport, only one budget class can really survive.

Message Thread:

rotax has killed uk karting? by 'Tabikat' (14 Mar 2010 @ 23:16)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'buzzinrussell' (14 Mar 2010 @ 23:56)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'Newshound' (15 Mar 2010 @ 9:38)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'karting' (15 Mar 2010 @ 9:05)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'DavyBoy' (15 Mar 2010 @ 9:51)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'Newshound' (15 Mar 2010 @ 10:04)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'richydehav' (15 Mar 2010 @ 10:27)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'John' (15 Mar 2010 @ 11:38)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'davidmc' << You are here!

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'QuickOldTimer' (15 Mar 2010 @ 19:35)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'rotaxvet' (15 Mar 2010 @ 20:14)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'QuickOldTimer' (15 Mar 2010 @ 22:23)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'DavyBoy' (15 Mar 2010 @ 20:24)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'Traxtar' (15 Mar 2010 @ 19:42)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'davidmc' (15 Mar 2010 @ 19:45)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'John' (15 Mar 2010 @ 20:06)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'bigp' (15 Mar 2010 @ 20:48)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'Moonjump' (16 Mar 2010 @ 1:50)

Re: rotax has killed uk karting? by 'SimonS' (16 Mar 2010 @ 10:55)

Re: SimonS by 'John' (16 Mar 2010 @ 15:51)

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