MESSAGE FROM THE CEO - MAY 2019

Welcome to Australian Karter – Karting Australia’s Official e-Newsletter – that is designed to provide you with the latest information on the sport of karting direct to your inbox.

It’s hard to believe that we’re just about at the halfway mark in 2019, it’s been a very busy start to the year for everyone at Karting Australia to ensure we remain on a positive trajectory.

ULTIMATE CLUB RACER
The launch of the Ultimate Club Racer 1 earlier this year was the culmination of many months of work to provide the opportunity for the best Club drivers from the SP Tools Club Driver Rankings to shine in a great one-off event from 1-3 November (Melbourne Cup weekend)

The Bend Motorsport Park in South Australia is an amazing venue and our Ultimate Club Racers will be the only KA drivers this year to compete there in a large-scale event.

The first two rounds of invitations for the event have already been distributed to the top drivers in each State and Club, with many more to be sent out in the coming months. The more SP Tools Club Driver Rankings events that drivers compete in at their Club, the better chance they have of success at the Ultimate Club Racer event.

SP TOOLS CLUB DRIVER RANKINGS
With more than 3,000 drivers already scoring points towards their rankings, we look forward to having support from licence holders from all across the country for the event. We have some great announcements that we will be making about Ultimate Club Race 1 in the coming weeks so be on the look out for them.

AUSTRALIAN KART CHANPIONSHIP
The SP Tools Australian Kart Championship continues to showcase karting with a 5% increase on the number of entries compared to 2018.

FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX PROMOTION
Speaking of showcasing karting and providing opportunities for our young drivers, to have 60 young drivers on the grid at this year’s Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix was a very special day for the sport. Thanks to our partnership with the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, this opportunity was possible and I’d like to thank Andrew Westacott, Craig Fletcher and the team at the AGPC for their ongoing partnership with Karting Australia.

We’re continually working on providing more opportunities for members and we look forward to launching more programs in conjunction with our great partners in the coming months.

KART FUN AND TEAM RACING
During our Building Better Kart Clubs conference last year, we floated the idea of adding some strictly FUN events into the normal racing activities.

There are now guidelines for TEAMS COMPETITION and KART FUN SESSIONS in the Rules. Club Secretaries, you will find the requirements and guidelines for both activities on pages 276-282 of the 2019 Manual.

They are both in there and available to be used to add to your entertainment at the kart track. We are 6 months into the year – its time to give them a go guys.

I’m pleased to say that despite the upheaval in New South Wales earlier in the year, overall licence numbers for our currently affiliated clubs remain steady year on year. Several State Associations have experienced increases in their overall licence numbers, however, there is still a lot of work to do to ensure that this positive trend continues and is spread across the entire country.

After a successful event in South Australia in April, the SP Tools Junior Sprockets Program is set to embark on another block of events throughout New South Wales and Queensland during June and July. This will then be followed by more events in the following months.

4SS
Our new Club competition class – 4SS (Senior, Junior and now Cadet) continues to go from strength to strength.

Its something that we are very proud of. If you haven’t had a go in a 4SS kart – give it a try – just for fun. Better still encourage a mate or your partner to have a go. It’s the simplest, most affordable way to get started in karting.

Ricciardo Kart’s new control cadet 4SS kart has now arrived in Australia. If you want a new Cadet 4-Stroke chassis – have a look at them. They are great karts at a great price.

ANNUAL REPORT
Recently the 2018 Annual Report was released with the confirmation that Karting Australia has retained a surplus of $2 million for the third consecutive year and exceeding revenue targets for the fifth successive year. It was also outlined that more than $550,000 of KA’s total ordinary expenditure was spent on development of the sport through various events, programs and support.

2020 RULES PROCESS BEGINS
We have now received the 2019 Rule Change requests and the work on putting the 2020 rules together begins now. It involves a lengthy process of review and fine tuning before we get a new set of rules approved by the Board later this year.

All in all, we’re looking at a great year for Karting Australia in 2019 and into the future as we continue to build on the strong structure that is in place.