New ‘affordable’ karting series aims to attract young drivers

A “more affordable” karting series could help “widen the base of the pyramid” for grassroots motorsport, its ex-F1 founder says.

Race engineer Rob Smedley, who worked with Ferrari and Williams, says his Global Karting Series (GKL) could find the next generation of drivers.

GKL aims to cut the cost of aspiring racers’ karting careers by 96%.

Mr Smedley said an “arrive and drive” format meant there was no need to own a kart to compete in the series.

Speaking at the launch of the series at Whilton Mill in Northamptonshire, Mr Smedley said: “Motorsport is not democratised.

“I’ve spent my life at the top of the sport and I’m passionate about it, but I also care about that next generation and where we find it.

“We need a bigger pool [of new drivers] with which to fish. We can’t keep fishing in that pool of privileged families and kids from that [type of] background.

“Although there’s a lot of talent in that demographic, there’s also a lot of talent outside of it.”

Mr Smedley also said women and girls were “massively unrepresented in motorsport” and “not represented at all at the top of the sport”.

He said GKL aimed to address the sport’s diversity problem by “getting more involved at grassroots” and increasing participation “a thousand times”.

Sienna Greene, 15, from Croydon, who is competing in the new series and has aspirations of driving in F1, said: “To my knowledge it [motorsport] is the one sport where a woman and man can be in the same race and it’s fair.

“A guy can beat a girl, and a girl can beat a guy. It’s a level playing field. We should take advantage of that.

“I’m very passionate about it and want to get more girls into the sport. It’s an intimidating sport to get into, it’s sad to think the number of people who have the skill, but just don’t have the money for it.”

GKL said that traditional karting requires an initial investment of at least £20,000 and said grassroots talent was often filtered not by ability but how much families can afford to spend on the hobby.

Vicky Dunleavy, from Norwich, whose 14-year-old son Finley is autistic and began racing two years ago, said karting “is an expensive sport”, but added that the new series “has been worth every penny.”

“It’s roughly £500 [to compete in] each round,” she said. “This is his life and happy place. His confidence has grown not just in karting ability and the friendships he’s made.”

In a further cost and sustainability focussed move, GKL will use 48V electric karts developed by Mr Smedley and other engineers with F1 experience.

GKL said that up to five million children, aged between six and seventeen, have experienced driving a go-kart – but there were only about 2,000 registered outdoor karters in the age group.

Over the next five years it is aiming to get a million children into karting with up to 50 championships worldwide.

It also hopes to deliver an FIA world champion within 10 years.