When did you first consider starting
a CIK series, and why did that decision come about?
"I had thought about it for an awfully long
time. It's been one of the championship's ambitions. We had always
planned to do it, just not really sure when. Then, during a conversation
with Colin Hilton (Chief Executive of the MSA) he asked “would
I be interested in running an International series?”. I was
absolutely delighted it was a fantastic idea. I came rushing back
and said to my team “what do you think?” and they all
said “YES YES YES”! So that was the decision made.
KF1/2 will be making their appearance in the new CIK Stars Series!
The classes to run were quite easy to choose. We
can't run the Cadets, and we can't run MiniMax because it's CIK
and you have to be 13. So we are going to run Junior MAX, Senior
MAX, KF1, 2 and 3, which seem to be the natural classes to use.
We have gone for a Northern European series because it will be our
first ever one - we have only gone for 3 rounds because of that.
They will be PFi, Genk, and Angerville."
For the competitors what does CIK accredited
actual mean? Is there going to be any differences in the way the
series is run?
"There are several differences. We have to
run to CIK regulations. To have the series endorsed by the CIK,
it's like a level of competence really
It also means we can have European drivers as well.
We are not expecting to have a great number of European drivers
for the first round. I think there will be a few, but not a huge
number. I know at Genk the Lemons will be entering some drivers.
I think Angerville will probably put in their local drivers as well.
We won't have a great deal in the first year, but we hope from then
on it will grow."
Will the Rotax classes be running hand
operated front brake systems like we see in the Euro challenge?
"We will be following Rotax Euro rules. So
that means the chassis must have a valid 2003 or newer CIK Homologation.
So it is a yes for Senior MAX, but no front brakes being allowed
in Rotax Junior."
CIK Rotax - Front brakes will be a new challenge for some Senior
MAX drivers!
What grid sizes are you expecting?
"We are hoping to get over a hundred competitors
for the first year. I believe we will achieve that judging by the
response we have had. I think it will be about 30 per class. If
we have more drivers we will go to a second grid. I suspect we will
have a second grid in Junior MAX. In Junior MAX the response has
been quite extraordinary."
So what's unique about your championship
- Stars Of Tomorrow?
"We invest very much in our drivers. Maybe
some people are unaware of what we do. We have several scholarships
that we run. I believe our competitors are our customers so we need
to look after them, we need to care of them. We need to make them
feel that they are wanted.
Carolynn with a certain ex-Champions Of the Future
Star and 2008 F1 World Champion
I think I have got the best team of officials in
the country, without a doubt.. The Chief Clerk of the Course - Nigel
- is very well respected. He and his assistants Peter and Pip work
so well together. I think we have a fantastic team of officials.
We have scholarships as you know. We have the
Will Hoy scholarship, which is a season of Ginetta driving, completely
paid for. We have things like the driver exchanges, which this year
went so well. We have test drive for Juniors. They are doing test
drives in Formula Renaults, which is fantastic. They will be proper
tests at Donington where they will have the seat fitting, the whole
lot! Then they will go out and spend the day driving in the car.
Stars Of Tomorrow has a close relationship with Ginetta
It looks like Jake Dennis will also be going out
in a Ginetta Junior for a proper day's test, which will be fun for
him to try.The prize for the Cadet Champion is a complete MiniMax
outfit. The MiniMax Champion gets a complete Junior Max outfit.
So we do tend to invest in the drivers. We try to get them in front
of people, get their face about."
The exchange programme you mention looks
very good. How did it go with the Cadet drivers going to the States,
and do you plan to expand it?
"I had the idea about two or three years ago
and it has taken this long to sort. Someone once described me as
a bit 'tenacious', I think that's probably true, I don't like to
let go of things once I have got an idea. So we decided this year
we'd try it. Three American drivers came over, and three teams very
kindly accommodated them,. Between us we provided them with engines,
a chassis, tyres and fuel. The MSA dealt with their licence differences.
I told the kids at the start of the year that this
was going to happen, so they always knew that they would have these
three drivers at the last round, which could have caused problems
but in fact worked out very well.
I'd very much like to thank the teams that put
them up, they were brilliant. That was the Fusion Team, JKH, and
Kart-Tec. Also John Davies who supplied all the engines for the
boys.
Brett Wykes made the long trip to the States to represent
Stars Of Tomorrow
The American kids found it quite tough, and unfortunately
none of them actually made it into the A-Final. They race very differently
in the states, they definitely have stricter no contact rules. When
one of the kids was asked at driver's briefing “What do you
think of the driving so far?”, he said “It's pretty
rough”.
Now these were the top boys in American karting,
so it was assumed when our three boys went over there – Charlie
Robertson, Brett Wykes, and James Armitage – that they were
pretty much going to show them the way. But when they went out to
the states they realised things weren't quite so easy.
The Americans use an 80cc engine, and different
tyres to us in the UK. They have a lot of grip so our drivers had
a different style of driving to adapt to. Brett was very quick in
practice, but then unfortunately never got his carburetion right
after that. Charlie and James had some very good results in the
heats, but unfortunately none of the boys did well in the final.
It was a steep learning curve for them, and they
were absolutely brilliant ambassadors to the extent that all three
boys have been invited back by their host teams to compete at any
time during the year."
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