Karting Clubs across Great Britain

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Davidson: "Karting is the best way to learn"

Lewis Hamilton’s Formula One World Championship victory has thrust karting back in to the spotlight. As the format that Hamilton learnt his trade in, karting has seen increased interest over the past 12 months.

Many British Formula One drivers cut their teeth in karts, including Honda’s Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson. Davidson, who drove for the now defunct Super Aguri team last season, believes karting was a great grounding in his push to become a racing driver.

“There are no better options. You can go straight into single seaters but I would say starting young in karts is always an advantage.”

“It's not vital, but it does really help to develop your mental attitude for when you get to single-seater categories. I still refer back to tests and the things I learnt in karting to this day.”
With Formula One such a technological hotbed, drivers are required to give feedback to help develop different aspects of the car, and Davidson feels he first started to appreciate these aspects in karts:

“The main thing I learnt from karting was understanding tyre technology. Also, by the time I was 18 I was racing against triple World and European Champions in karts, which I think makes a difference to your approach to racing.”

While some see the increase in karting interest as temporary, it seems Davidson’s inspiration to get in to motor racing is not too dissimilar from those taking up the sport today:

“My first kart was a present for my eighth birthday from my dad as I was always a fan of watching F1 on TV. We all enjoyed the karting experience, and started going regularly.”

And Davidson believes that from the new crop of Lewis Hamilton inspired racers could come a future Formula One World Champion:

“By the time I was 13 I knew I wanted to be a professional racing driver, and I already knew I had what it would take, even from such an early age. Also at this time I could see the difference between when we went racing as a family, compared to people that did it just for a hobby and as just something to do with their children.”

“It started as a hobby for me too, but when you start winning you realise there could be a future rather than just racing for fun.”

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(Images courtesy of Nat McBride and Jeff Wunrow)

Karting Increase Expected for 2009

Kart clubs across the United Kingdom are expecting another increase in karting interest next year, in the wake of Lewis Hamilton’s World Championship victory last month.

Hamilton’s career has been well documented since he first approached Ron Dennis at an awards dinner in 1995, on the back of winning his first national karting championship. Now clubs across the country are riding a new wave of interest in the sport, which first started gathering pace when Hamilton emerged in Formula One.

Along with Hamilton, other British Formula One drivers such as Jenson Button, David Coulthard and Anthony Davidson all started their racing careers in karts at a young age.

In the first three months of this season, the Association of British Kart Clubs (ABkC) reported an 80% increase in testing time compared to the same period last year. Graham Smith, Chairman of the ABkC said “At the beginning of October there were 760 new kart licences taken out for 2008 compared with 635 for the whole of 2007.”

“60% were juniors compared with 45% the previous year. So the feeling is that the numbers of new licences this year will be 25% up when we get the figures for the year.”

And Smith fully recognised the centrality of Hamilton’s achievements as a factor for the increase: “The MSA Lets Go Karting scheme is helping and designed to capitalise on the Hamilton effect.”

However, while the figures would indicate a promising future for karting, Honda’s withdrawal from Formula One highlights the effect of the current economic problems on motorsport. Karting continues to be expensive even at the lowest level, and Smith is aware of the potential issues ahead:

“Next year is a bit of an unknown overall because of the recession though; hopefully it won’t affect the kids too much.”

(Images courtesy of Alistair Rickman and Pedro Arroyo)