DRIVERS CALL......

As you will have heard, CIK racing returns to Australia in 2008 in an exciting package of controlled engines, tyres and practice where you wont have to buy an engine at all, just lease it for the year and if you blow it up, a spare will be provided to you until your’s is returned.

 No more buying 2 or more engines to cover breakages, no keeping up with the latest tweaks or pipes, no camping out at a track for a week waiting for the rubber to go down.  But best of all, no $5,000 weekend’s bill to go with it.  In CIK 2008, you arrive Friday for media and promotional purposes; On Saturday, you get your engine and tyres from parc ferme, practice, qualify and race 3 heats then run 2 finals on Sunday.

For those who don’t understand, we estimate the running cost of this for five rounds might be $10,000 to $11,000 depending on your travel and accommodation and other arrangements re chassis and transport organised with your team owner. We assume you understand that you provide your own chassis and those who race Leopard or Rotax would already have an appropriate chassis and can take up the option of using front brakes, so the running cost  estimated for racing is exampled below:   Eg. 

Engine lease - $3000 pa.  This includes maintenance. Repairs are at the competitors expense.  Tyres: $275 x 2sets x 5 rounds + 1 extra set for round 1  = 275 x 11  plus say two sets of wets = total of 13 sets at $275 = $3,575 Entries:  $250 x 5 = $1,250 Fuel: $125   x 6 = $750 (Fuel to be used will be parc ferme issued at all times including non official practice) Oil:  $25 x 6 = $150 Spark Plugs (available from Service Manager)  $15 x 6 = $90 Total:  $8,865

If you’ve heard CIK racing in the past cost that much per round, that’s right and that’s the major reason we have brought in this controlled formula.  It also offers a level playing field and largely stops those with unlimited funds getting an advantage because you can’t use our engines for testing and you can’t buy our tyres.  

Kel Treseder won 7 state titles this year, a hell of an achievement.  He also won the National Rotax Heavy title and Leopard Heavy final.Kel says you couldn’t run a state title class or National title class for as little as we’ve identified for CIK and if he could make weight for CIK: “It’s a no brainer.  We spent a lot more than $10k a year racing CIK 10 years ago so if I could, I’d do it for sure.  I’d love a CIK title for the added prestige and status it gives you in the eyes of professional motorsport teams.”    

In 2008,  the series will be raced at: 

5,6 April             Newcastle, NSW
3, 4 May           Ipswich, Qld
14,15 June        Dubbo,  NSW       
13,14 Sep         Bolivar,  SA  (subject to ratification)
18,19 Oct          Toowoomba Q

The best news of all is that you are guaranteed a start at every round if a team signs you on.  
The format is for 16 teams of 2 karts at all rounds plus overseas wildcard entries at Dubbo, Newcastle and Ipswich where the track density allows 40 karts.  There’s no pre-qualifying or lap time restrictions.  If you are in a team and you turn up, you practice, qualify and race. 

You don’t need to sign with a team for all five rounds;  many of the teams will have one driver competing for the championship and one seat that might be available for one, two, three, four or five drives.  That could accommodate some budgets or some drivers who want to get a taste for CIK but not for a full season. (Well, not the first anyway, after that, we reckon you’ll be hooked)

To compete, you must have, or be eligible for, an A grade Provisional via R13.18.3   or an AKA A or International B or New Zealand A grade licence.We now invite anyone to prepare a brief resume of the following points and send it to the committee and to the teams.
If there’s anything you want to ask, 3 of the committee are available as follows:

John McCleverty            zedtec@bigpond.net.au
Gary Light                      gary@physics.uwa.edu.au
Ian Black                        ian@internationalkarting.com
If you’re interested,  please contact one of the above by 10 January.

International Karting Committee