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

Notice Board (2-Stroke Karting)

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

| View Message Thread | Reply to this message |

SimonSJoined: December 2004
Total Posts: 4
[ View User Profile ]

"10-15 years ago, all you really had were the international classes, Junior TKM, Senior TKM, Comer Cadet and Gearbox"

While taking your drift, there's also the fact that you are, to a degree, wrong.

For example, the biggest grids at Dunkeswell by far some 15 years ago used to be the Classic 89s, a class that came to be known as Formula Blue when the MSA objected to the 89 tag.

This was before Rotax was launched on the scene.

Why was a class so popular in the South not popular elsewhere? That would be politics.

Another big killer for the sport is the Arks test. When I started karting the CoC used the rules in the Blue book. If he didn't know a driver (not just novices) and he wasn't recommended by someone he trusted, then he observed the driver in practice and the first heat and if he wasn't safe, out came the black flag.

All the Arks test has done is formalise the 'recommended by someone trusted" at a very substantial cost and importantly a three week delay during which time the ardour cools off. Why? That would be politics.

There is a regular complaint that the NKRA does most of its business through the clubs, that the various drivers don't get to see (or support) their clubs or reps from one month to the next. Effectively the complaint is that they don't want to be members of a club, but members of a championship that bypasses the clubs. Why? Well again, that's probably politics.

Rotax introduced convenience into the sport, and in doing so some dimension of social necessity was lost. I remember how many Rotax drivers and associates were afflicted with bad backs when one asked for help with a PAG kart, but now I drive a TaG and I really don't miss the breathless exhaustion after an excursion onto the green track. But the concentration on reducing the number of grids, this obsessive 'my class is better than yours and deserves bigger grids' is mistaken policy. The problem is increasing the number of people doing the sport, not the number of people in any grid.

Besides, the difference in the class performance is miniscule, as TKM has recently shown, most of the difference comes from the tyres and the way the engine delivers the power rather than anything else. Upgrading the speed (tyres) as an attractor to a class is perhaps an expensive arms race. Why do it? well, that's probably politics too.

But then we know that it's the graphics,glitz, hype and the number of traders at the track that dictates the numbers in a class, not the quality of the racing, the standard of the other drivers or even the number of grids. Would one really shift class if it meant 4 heats and a final on race day? (I doubt it because the NKRA run a four double-length-heat Grande Final Championship Weekend, and get even less entries in many classes from the entire country than they do for a regional round). But that's possibly politics, too.

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' (15 Mar 2010 @ 18:54)

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' << You are here!

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

Post a Reply:

You may post a direct reply to this message which will appear in this thread.
To post a new or unrelated message use This Form. Top of Page
Notice Board Index

[ UK Karting Main Index ]


News	Karts & Karting	Notice Board	Market Place	Companies Directory	Tracks Directory	Events Calendar	Race Results	Photo Gallery	Links