Most of today’s of formula one drivers started out in karts and progressed to other highly competitive forms of racing — before getting their lucky break into the world’s best motorsport showcase.
Kart racing enjoyed excellent support in South Africa in the early Nineties and boasted just less than 1 000 competitors in those days. Sadly numbers have dwindled over the years and presently there are about 430 competitors.
Concurrently, however, levels of professionalism have increased, resulting in the need for more money by competitors and other parties interested in the sport.
Then, there are the range of vested interests of different groups.
In a nutshell, karting in South Africa is taking a pounding on all fronts.
This is the view of Gavin Orbell chairperson of Motorsport South Africa’s karting commission. Orbell is a successful businessman who has long been involved in off-road, track and bike racing. He is credited with nurturing his son Grant through the ranks of karting until he became a successful race driver.
Orbell was brought in to deal with some of the dilemmas facing local karting. His first task is to restructure the commission, its members and their functions.
Presently the commission comprises 12 individuals, four of whom are directly involved in importing or supplying karting equipment and accessories. As can be expected, they have promoted their products by bolstering numbers in the classes to which they supply goods. This has led to the poaching of racers from other classes, leaving these without sufficient drivers to compete at some events.
At the same time, the importers and suppliers of karting equipment have encouraged the formation of new classes to which they can supply equipment.
In 1994 karting had a mere six classes — excluding the awesome 250cc rocket ships capable of 230kph. These days there are 12.
This proliferation of classes has led to the dilution of the number of competitors in each category — a situation that needs to be addressed urgently.
To qualify as a national category, each class must have at least 30 licensed drivers competing at regional level and at least 15 must line up on the grid at the start of each event.
Orbell and his team will be monitoring each class closely for the remainder of the year and will evaluate the number of entries at each regional and national event, costs, quality of racing and so on. This will see certain categories falling by the wayside in 2005.
Orbell has also proposed that the commission next year comprises technical, marketing and regional representatives, and that importers and suppliers nominate one person to represent them collectively. In this way their influence on the commission will be greatly reduced.
Orbell’s proposal was unanimously approved and has the blessing of Roger Pearce, Motorsport South Africa’s current chairperson.
“What we need in karting right now are people who have a passion for the sport. They need to be impartial, objective, but also experienced. We need consistency and clear direction rather than the wilderness we currently find ourselves in,” says Orbell.
Allocation of race meetings by venue and region has been another problem. It is obvious that the staging of a meeting is a good money-spinner for those involved. If it weren’t, circuit owners wouldn’t be vying to host races, especially national championship dates.
Orbell’s solution is again to have one person representing the regions, who will be nominated by those interested parties. The regions can decide the allocation of races among circuits, saving valuable time around the boardroom table.
Then, there is the question of the money that the competitors and sponsors have to fork out. The majority of karts of a decade ago were direct-drive units that required frequent and costly rebuilding. Today’s units boast centrifugal clutches and electric starters. Although more costly up front, maintenance costs are generally lower, and if a driver spins out, he or she can restart the engine quite easily and rejoin the race. In that way there are more finishers, a higher degree of satisfaction from all those involved and healthier looking results sheets.
“While one cannot ignore the importance of professionalism in karting, I’m still very much in favour of club racing, too. Here, the whole family can get involved and spend a pleasant day at the racetrack. Many a visitor has tried their hand at club events, and immediately shown pace, which invariably has seen them become more active and subsequently, successful drivers.
“Similarly, it paves the way to use slightly older machinery instead of gathering dust in the garage. We need to find a sensible way of bringing these owners and machinery out of retirement in the future without creating track congestion too,” Orbell says.