TKM Plea To MSA – Don’t Kill UK’s Longest Running Junior Class!
By Karting1 ~ May 12th, 2010. Filed under: Kart Racing News.
Is the new MSA Intermediate Cadet Class destined to decimate the UK’s longest running junior class? Tal-Ko have written an open letter to the MSA asking them not to increase the entry age to Junior TKM.
An open letter from Tal-Ko to the Motor Sports Association – May 11, 2010
As the organisers of Formula TKM, the UK’s most successful and longest standing Junior kart racing class, we at Tal-Ko have thought long and hard about the introduction of your new ‘Mini Kart class’ to the British karting scene.
As we understand it the stated aim of the class is to provide a buffer class between Cadets and Juniors with the main aim of preventing youngsters from driving with excessively heavy karts. One effect of the class is to make entry into Junior categories raise from the existing year of 11th birthday to year of 12th birthday.
We accept that as the ultimate controlling body of motor sport in this country, the MSA has the right to create whatever class it wishes regardless of competitor need or other considerations such as cost. But does it have the right to deliberately damage other classes in doing so?
We – and many current competitors and traders – do not believe it is fair to the UK’s longest running Junior class to damage that class by taking away effectively a year from the entry age into the category.
We, more than any other Junior class, have always done our best to meet the needs of safe racing coupled to driver size, age, etc. We have a spread of five weight and restrictor controlled performance levels aimed at providing drivers of every age and size with equal performance while keeping the weight of lead needed on karts to a safe minimum level.
In recent years we have seen the MSA reduce the entry age into its own prime Junior karting class by a year and also to open up full-size motor racing to drivers from 14 years. These steps themselves have already caused damage to our class but we understand the desire to provide such choice.
As the UK’s only manufacturer of kart racing engines we have a 50-year heritage of supporting and encouraging kart racing in this country. We have a loyalty to drivers, clubs and the karting trade in aiming to provide best value and safe close racing for all.
In Junior TKM we have a class history that amongst others counts the current F1 World Champion as one of its previous winning drivers. We want to protect that class and everything it stands for.
So at a time when budgets are tight, we press the MSA to reconsider the merit of introducing a new class which at best will be ultra expensive and at worst cause more drivers to drop out of kart racing forever.
We ask the MSA to provide Formula TKM with the same loyalty and respect we have shown to our drivers and to the MSA and to not damage the commercial viability of the class we have worked so hard to maintain.
We urge you to NOT increase the entry age into our class.
Alan Turney
Managing Director
Tal-Ko Racing
Grahame Butterworth
Series Co-ordinator
Formula TKM
What do you think on this issue? Have Tal-Ko got a point? Discuss here on the Karting1 Forum
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