Welcome to the 9th edition of the Kartlink Newsletter! To start with we’ve got my opinion on the latest proposal for an intermediate class for 10-14 year olds, then we’ve got the most important news from Kartlink and around the web.
Opinion: New intermediate class proposal
An intermediate class for 10-14 year olds has been proposed again, in the space that Super Cadet was supposed to fill a few years ago. I think the idea is that drivers might be too big for Cadets but not mature enough for the increased power of a Minimax. Drivers also could be small at 13 and a Minimax that weighs twice as much as the driver does is a scary prospect.
The trouble is we tried having an intermediate class (Super Cadet) and there was very little take-up. It certainly wasn’t a perfect formula but if there was a major need for a class in that bracket then there would have been many more of them. If we really do need an intermediate class, I don’t think we should reinvent the wheel, instead we should do something based on Junior TKM. 15 years ago none of this was an issue because drivers moved out of Cadet and into Junior TKM as soon as practical, and the typical TKM chassis was lighter then.
This (and many other issues in karting) could be clarified by phoning or emailing everyone who doesn’t renew their license by June and asking why. If there’s a high proportion who say it’s because there wasn’t a suitable class for them then bring one in. If not then leave well alone. Yes I know that’s a lot of work but do we want this sport to stop shrinking and maybe even grow or don’t we? It would seriously be an afternoon’s work to do an email with several options to click then the non-responders could be phoned if resources allow.
As it is there’s loads of things getting tried (DD2 and Rotax Academy in Super One being other examples) just because someone had some justification for thinking it was a good idea and a few drivers agreed.
Info Kartlink