KF...? change for the better... or
worse?
You would be forgiven for having a few quiet moments
to yourself to reminisce about the ol' 100s, and the beautiful sound
they produced when they hit the magical 20,000rpm. But those days
are sadly gone, we have to look forward, and according to the CIK,
starter motors and odd bits of red and black lego stuck on the rear
end of an engine is... looking forward.
The dominant Vortex
RAV 125 KF1
In 2006, buzz words like 'long life’, 'reducing
costs', and 'user friendliness' were on the lips of everyone at
the CIK and due to the growing concerns about 100cc costs, KF was
born. I say born, but in terms of engineering these engines are
nothing new, they merely resemble the already hugely successful,
yet un-inspiring Rotax
MAX FR125 engine. For the last several years, competitors have
been attracted away from the elite series (Formula A/ICA/JICA) of
karting towards engines like the Rotax MAX FR125. With rebuild times
on a Rotax around 10 hrs+, it certainly is more friendly on the
wallet for most competitors compared to something like the 100cc.
And now the CIK have decided they want in on some of the action.
Vincent Caro, CIKFIA Secretary last year on KF:
“This is not supposed to be a pure racing engine,
but a user-friendly engine. The aim is to bring on the market, from
the usual kart engine manufacturers (who are mostly focused on racing
only) an engine that will be suitable for hobby drivers too, which
is not the case anymore with the current 100cc engines.”
So, has adding a rev limiter, power valve, balance
gears, on board starter and clutch to elite karting engines made
it cheaper, and more user friendly for the masses? Support for KF
has gradually grown throughout the year, and in terms of engine
reliability and engine life there appears to have been an improvement.
But with engines £2k a go, overall costs are still not what
you would call 'cheap'.
Paddock talk has suggested that some people are
spending phenomenal amounts of money to keep up with the KF development
at the elite level. On the flipside, many competitors have praised
the increased reliability and costs with the new engines, so it's
not all doom and gloom. KF has shown promise that it could possibly
grow throughout the UK and the World, potentially offering a real
alternative to MAX racing. It’s still very early days and
development costs were always expected to be high. We can expect
improvement as the engines develop.
Elliot Burton in KF1
Currently, the KF4 is supposed to be the club/base
version of the KF engine to rival the Rotax MAX. In fact the KF4
is the most similar engine to the Rotax MAX FR125 in terms of specification
compared to the other KF configurations. I am yet to hear of any
in actual existence apart from the ones that the factories had to
produce for the Homologation. And who wants to pay £2k+ for
what is basically an exact copy of the Rotax engine anyway? You
can get a MAX for half the price!
The real success story for the CIK regarding KF
is the junior version - KF3.
Even though they do not ignite the romance you get with a JICA,
the reliability and parity in the class has been very impressive,
and looks promising for the future.
The real test will be how the new KF engines work
within the club system, something we have yet to see, and may appear
during 2008.
Marco Ardigo, TonyKart, and Vortex. The
perfect year?
This year couldn't have gone better for Marco Ardigo
and his team. Winning the European Championship for the third year
running with a 100% final win record, then finally adding the World
Championship to his CV.
The year began with people suggesting that one
manufacturer might be able to dominate 2007 with the new KF engine
regulations being introduced. Their fears were justified when Vortex
delivered the power unit everyone wanted to have. It has been nigh
on unbeatable in KF1.
But has this been a good thing? Everyone wants
to see good racing, and it is never interesting knowing who is going
to win the race before the weekend has even started. In our preview
of the Karting World Championship it was clear who was going to
win - Catt or Ardigo. Of course these two drivers are simply awesome,
and would have been red hot favorites anyway. But during the build-up
to the 2007 World Champs, there wasn't an air of excitement and
nerves that you usually get going in to other World Championships.
We can’t ignore what the TonyKart/Vortex
team have done this year. They really have stepped up a gear to
a level not seen in karting before. It has been stunning. But let's
hope that TonyKart/Vortex have some decent competition in KF1 next
year so that we can have some proper racing between the world’s
best karters in 2008!
Oliver Rowland Junior British Champion...
at last, and we have a new British Karting Champion!
2007 has been an unbelievable year for Rowland.
2005 and 2006 saw him finish runner-up in the Junior British Karting
Championship, and in 2007 he finally nailed it. At the start of
the season he was untouchable, taking the two final wins in each
of the 1st and 2nd rounds of the championship. His efforts had not
gone unnoticed, and in May he was signed up by the McLaren F1 team
to join the Youth Driver Development program. The same program that
brought Lewis Hamilton into F1.
Oliver Rowland
His step up to being a senior hasn't been the luckiest
for Oliver. Mechanical woes in his first two races of the KF2 Winter
Series haven't put him in a competitive position yet, but with more
experience, I’m sure that 2008 will be a massive year for
him.
In the British Kart Championship, Mark Litchfield
had to give the title he has held for three years over to his team
mate Chris Rogers. Rogers signed to the PFi Kart Team earlier this
year and through some extremely consistent driving in 2007 claimed
his second Senior British Karting Championship
Chris Rogers
Lewis Hamilton and the 'Hamilton Effect'
– We weren't surprised!
While the rest of the motorsport world stood in
awe as Lewis
Hamilton drove a superb rookie season in F1, not many people
inside of karting were surprised at all. The boy has been delivering
ever since the age of eight, and even then was being tipped for
F1 success.
But what about the 'Hamilton Effect? Much is made
about the positive effect Hamilton has had on the UK kart scene,
but has it made a real tangible difference?
Lewis Hamilton
Local kart dealers have suggested that there has
been a rise in interest at the race track, and the Karting1 Forum
has seen plenty of posting from people new to karting. It is also
rumored that we may see a rise in new license holders for 2007 -
the first time in yonks.
The karting establishment comes under constant
criticism about the way it goes about publicising karting in the
UK. It seems for now at least, the heat might be off.
Some hire-kart circuits have seen an increased
turnover of over 20% since April of 2007. In fact hire/leisure karting
makes up for most of a circuit’s income. Whether this increase
in numbers will filter to owner/driver karting, we have to wait
and see.
So to 2008 – What new stuff can we
expect?
In the UK we can expect another Cadet class to
fragment the scene further in the form of the MicroMAX. With WTP,
Comer, and Honda Cadet already in existence, do we really need another
class to cater for 8-11 year olds? The other Cadet classes seem
to have all the bases covered, and at a time when karting is so
confusing to the newcomer, it may seem slightly misguided that we
should be introducing more commercial classes for an already over-saturated
market.
It's rumored that the CIK will be banning hand
operated front brakes in the single-gear classes. Though the changes
might not come in place until 2009, it will come as good news to
anyone that enjoys seeing karts actually move under heavy braking
rather than just sitting on rails.
KF2 is going to be a hot class next season. The
new generation of drivers moving up from Juniors – Rowland,
Harvey etc... certainly make this class the one to watch in 2008.
It's going to be mega!
Alan Dove 29/12/07
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