Championships to be decided next weekend for ProKart Challenge
Championships to be decided next weekend for ProKart Challenge

Championships to be decided next weekend...

Championships to be decided next weekend for ProKart Challenge

Championships to be decided next weekend for ProKart Challenge

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Superkarts! USA regional championship hosted penultimate round at Spring Mountain Karting Complex
Superkarts! USA regional championship hosted penultimate round at Spring Mountain Karting Complex

Superkarts! USA regional championship...

Superkarts! USA regional championship hosted penultimate round at Spring Mountain Karting Complex

Superkarts! USA regional championship hosted penultimate round at Spring Mountain Karting Complex

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Max vs 100: 100 drivers prepare to face Max Verstappen in go-kart race
Max vs 100: 100 drivers prepare to face Max Verstappen in go-kart race

Max vs 100: 100 drivers prepare to face...

Max vs 100: 100 drivers prepare to face Max Verstappen in go-kart race

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ProKart challenge set for return to Spring Mountain Karting Complex
ProKart challenge set for return to Spring Mountain Karting Complex

ProKart challenge set for return to...

ProKart challenge set for return to Spring Mountain Karting Complex

ProKart challenge set for return to Spring Mountain Karting Complex

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Max vs 100: Verstappen to Take on One Hundred Drivers in World's Biggest Go-Kart Race
Max vs 100: Verstappen to Take on One Hundred Drivers in World's Biggest Go-Kart Race

Max vs 100: Verstappen to Take on One...

Max vs 100: Verstappen to Take on One Hundred Drivers in World's Biggest Go-Kart Race

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Second half of 2026 ProKart Challenge begins in Sonoma
Second half of 2026 ProKart Challenge begins in Sonoma

Second half of 2026 ProKart Challenge...

Second half of 2026 ProKart Challenge begins in Sonoma

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RGMMC Mourns the Passing of Co-Founder Lynn Geidel
RGMMC Mourns the Passing of Co-Founder Lynn Geidel

RGMMC Mourns the Passing of Co-Founder...

RGMMC Mourns the Passing of Co-Founder Lynn Geidel

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SuperNationals 2026: Senior MAX and Mini MAX engines from every country are welcome
SuperNationals 2026: Senior MAX and Mini MAX engines from every country are welcome

SuperNationals 2026: Senior MAX and Mini...

SuperNationals 2026: Senior MAX and Mini MAX engines from every country are welcome

SuperNationals 2026: Senior MAX and Mini MAX engines from every country are welcome

Karting Solutions Group, the US distributor for BRP-Rotax karting products and home of the Race Rotax brand, is confirming a key detail for racers ahead of the 2026 SKUSA SuperNationals: Rotax engines...
Tony Kart: “double weekend” with victory and podium
Tony Kart: “double weekend” with victory and podium

Tony Kart: “double weekend” with victory...

Tony Kart: “double weekend” with victory and podium

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The Tony Kart Racer 401 T won the OK-N final and took third place in the MINI Gr.3 class at the fourth round of the ACI Italian Karting Championship. The Tony Kart Racing Team also took to the track...
A second victory in the Italian Championship for Modena Kart with Kolovos
A second victory in the Italian Championship for Modena Kart with Kolovos

A second victory in the Italian...

A second victory in the Italian Championship for Modena Kart with Kolovos

A second victory in the Italian Championship for Modena Kart with Kolovos

The races keep coming, and so do the podium finishes for the Modena Kart Racing Team. Two weeks after Elton Hedfors’ brilliant performance in the WSK Euro Series, Ioannis Kolovos has added a...
Buggyra Academy partners with Citarusus to launch international karting program
Buggyra Academy partners with Citarusus to launch international karting program

Buggyra Academy partners with Citarusus...

Buggyra Academy partners with Citarusus to launch international karting program

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ROK Cup Italia, Round 6 – Race Report from the 7 Laghi Kart circuit
ROK Cup Italia, Round 6 – Race Report from the 7 Laghi Kart circuit

ROK Cup Italia, Round 6 – Race Report...

ROK Cup Italia, Round 6 – Race Report from the 7 Laghi Kart circuit

ROK Cup Italia, Round 6 – Race Report from the 7 Laghi Kart circuit

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Townsville shines as Championship chase...

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Modena Kart: Three drivers in the top 10 of the Italian Championship after Sarno
Modena Kart: Three drivers in the top 10 of the Italian Championship after Sarno

Modena Kart: Three drivers in the top 10...

Modena Kart: Three drivers in the top 10 of the Italian Championship after Sarno

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In the ACI Karting Italian Championship, the Modena Kart Racing Team once again fought hard at the front of the field at Sarno in the OK-N Junior class. Radu Basescu Pricop and Ioannis Kolovos put in...
Unchallenged dominance for Ioannis Kolovos and Modena Kart at La Conca
Unchallenged dominance for Ioannis Kolovos and Modena Kart at La Conca

Unchallenged dominance for Ioannis...

Unchallenged dominance for Ioannis Kolovos and Modena Kart at La Conca

Unchallenged dominance for Ioannis Kolovos and Modena Kart at La Conca

ProKart Challenge opens 2026 season at K1 Circuit
ProKart Challenge opens 2026 season at K1 Circuit

ProKart Challenge opens 2026 season at...

ProKart Challenge opens 2026 season at K1 Circuit

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French Formule 20.000 series for 100cc...

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Rotax South Africa - Reaction to webinar of Kart Working Group presentation by MSA on 17 November 2020
Bas Kaligis
/ Categories: International

Rotax South Africa - Reaction to webinar of Kart Working Group presentation by MSA on 17 November 2020

We have been inundated by calls and WhatsApp’s expressing surprise, disappointment and objections to this presentation.

Rotax South Africa is also not supportive of the strategy presented last night as it does not consider the wishes of the karters in general and more specifically the Rotax owners that represent over 70% of all karting starts this season. The proposals are also Gauteng-centric, where we prefer to factor in the voices of all the regions around the country.

Over the last 20 years, we have always believed in talking to the Rotax karters and building consensus on how best to run the series. For this reason, we had on several occasions asked MSA and the KWG to hear the views of the karters all around the country before making top-down decrees on the future of the sport. We struggle to understand why they insisted on keeping their drafts so secretive and not factoring in any input from the actual karters.

We believe a key factor in the success of the ROTAX series has been stability. People have come to expect and rely on this from the series.  Announcing a wide-ranging and secretive set of changes that do not have popular support just 6 weeks before the start of the new year is not something that we can get behind.  If we were to make big changes, we should be looking to 2022 and more importantly making sure that the karters want these changes. Even Formula 1 has frozen regulations for 2021 due to the current environment.

It is important to add that while Ed Murray served as an elected non-executive board director of MSA from September 2017 until he resigned in October 2020, not once during this period was he present during any discussions on karting.

The success of karting all around the country is the sole aim of Rotax and EMR. We will continue to attempt to engage with MSA to make sure that the karters voices are heard. So we ask you to drop us a note at jennifer@kart.co.za or WhatsApp 082 294 7485 and briefly state your objections as well as approval of positive points of the KWG proposal.  

 

Major concerns we have heard so far seem to include: 

  • Culling two successful Rotax national classes with 15year+ track record of good international, national & regional racing without any notice or rational reason (Junior Max and DD2 masters are well-loved and supported countrywide and many competitors around the country already have equipment and plans for 2021)
  • Killing opportunities for South African youngsters to race at the Rotax World Finals – free of charge
  • Moving away from proven age limits (and Global regulations more broadly)
  • Combined national race weekends (leading to knock-on issues such as days of sitting around doing nothing + extra hotel cost, cancelling successful classes to make time for less successful ones, etc.)
  • Increasing the number of national events to five for the majority of competitors (those who only want to do one series) while pleasing the minority (those who participate in both Rotax and Rok) by reducing the number of Nationals for them from 8 to 5.
  • With COVID and current economic hardships perhaps a three-round National is a better solution? Allow both Series to continue independently and for those that want to do both, it will only be six rounds?

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

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