Australian MotoGP star Casey Stoner swapped his handlebars for a steering wheel when he climbed aboard a racing kart at Australia’s newest kart track near Murray Bridge in South Australia yesterday.
Stoner, the 2007 MotoGP World Champion, adapted to the characteristics of the Australian-made Monaco kart, which was powered by a 125cc Leopard engine, quickly around the 1020-metre circuit…
After having participated and organized for many years karting events, it happens that you stop an instant to reflect and to ask you to what event you would like really to take part in, what it would really excite you…
From that point you begin to ask yourself if you’re the only one to desire what you are thinking and therefore you look for some confirmations: you ask, you call, you send e-mails, and you wait for the answers. If you get the 50% of the results that you already expected you’re already in motion, if you overcome this threshold you are already racing…
Shaun Carter’s third outing in the KF2 Karting Winter Series saw him claim victory at Shenington, near Banbury, last weekend.
The driving ace, from Crowthorne, has recently returned to racing action after a lengthy lay-off following a nasty car crash.
Carter, 21, who is ranked fourth in the country in his class, raced two heats, finishing second and third respectively, before claiming victory in the final…
Multiple kart racing champion Jack Harvey will make the biggest change in his motor-racing career this season, as he moves from kart into car racing. With backing from the Racing Steps Foundation he will launch an assault on the Formula BMW Euroseries - a support package of the FIA Formula One World Championship.
The young Bassingham driver will compete in the one-make championship with the Fortec Motorsport team, who have been chosen by the Racing Steps Foundation to give Jack the best opportunity to aim for the ‘Rookie’ title in his first year in the sport. Alpinestars and Arai will also provide support to Jack throughout the course of the 2009 season.
The 15-year-old reigning Asia-Pacific and former European karting champion is excited about taking the next major step towards Formula One. The first round of the season will take place in Barcelona on May 10.
Jack said: “I’m incredibly happy to be making this move in my career this year but anxious to see how the year goes and to see what happens.
“I’m going to try and maximise the opportunity that the Racing Steps Foundation has given me to compete at such a high level in my first season of car racing.
“I’m looking at 2009 as a learning year. My aim is to make an improvement every time I get into the car, whether it’s testing or over the race weekends.
“The rookie title is definitely a target for me but I’d like to hope that I can be mixing it with the guys with more experience throughout the season.”
Derek Walters, who runs the Racing Steps Foundation, said: “We had seen Jack’s results in karting over the last couple of years and after he had his initial test in the Formula BMW car he continued to impress us with his professionalism and his pace. We agreed that BMW was the right place for him to be and we’re excited about him being part of the programme.”
The fourth round of the 2009 DAMC Kart Championship took place at the Kartdrome on Friday, January 23, a press release said.
Conditions were overcast throughout the day. In a way it was ideal for racing.
It was Rami Azzam, who stole the show with a flawless performance throughout the day in Rotax Max Seniors Class. He dominated proceedings from the word go, earning the pole position. Latham, who is the man to beat in this class, always seemed to be playing catch up, largely due to some below par starts. In touch with the two pace setters and threatening an upset were Howie Cracknell and Mohammed Al Mutawaa, two young up and coming drivers to watch.
Azzam was in absolute command from the start of the final and simply drove away into the distance. Behind him Cracknell, Mutawaa and Latham grappled going in to the first hairpin with the latter forced wide and again inheriting the catch up role. The battle for second was furious between the trio which gave Azzam, who set a blistering early pace, an edge which he capitalised on while Cracknell led the chase. Drama struck around mid-race when Latham and Mutawaa made contact, which ended Mutawaa’s challenge.
In the end Azzam took the chequered flag, scoring a well deserved victory, with Latham three seconds adrift in what was to be a short lived second place. He was penalised 10 seconds by the Race Stewards for his move on Mutawaa thus relegating him to fourth place and promoting Arnaud Bouf to second place ahead of Karan Rallan who had a race long duel among themselves and were both rewarded with their first ever podium finishes at the Kartdrome. Azzam said afterwards, “When I managed pole position I felt that if I could stay ahead of the pack and put in some fast consistent laps in the early stages I was in with a chance. And so it happened as the guys were fighting for second place I managed to pull away. I am very happy with the result.”