A Look Back to The Past
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In 2012 the CIK-FIA is celebrating its 50th anniversary, an ideal occasion for looking through the archives and glancing at the evolution of the World Karting Championship as the years went by.
- Videos of the World Karting Championships held 30, 20 and 10 years ago are available on www.cikfia.tv
In 1982 the World Karting Championship visited Sweden and the circuit of Kalmar for the second time. It was the second edition of the World Championship organised for 135cc karts, as well as the last appearance of Ayrton Senna in Karting before his definitive switch to single-seaters. The 1980’s were the decade of the Italian-Briton Mike Wilson as between 1981 and 1989 he landed six world titles, the absolute record, still unmatched to this day. In 1982 Wilson won his second supreme reward on the Swedish homeland of his team-mate and main rival, Lars Forsman.
Ten years later, the World Championship went to Ugento (ITA) and honoured two categories, Formula A on the one hand and Formula K on the other, both using 100cc engines. In those days, Formula K karts were still fitted with 6’’ tyres which differentiated them from Formula A and its 5’’. The Italian Nicola Gianniberti overwhelmingly won in the Formula A category. In the top category, after the small sensation created in the prefinal by the Japanese Takahashi’s victory, the Italian Danilo Rossi easily won the final. 1992 really was the year of Danilo Rossi, who was 18 years old at the time. A few months before, he had prevailed in the World Cup at Suzuka (JPN) and just two weeks prior to this World Formula K Championship he had won conquered the world title in Formula C (125cc gearbox karts) at Mariembourg (BEL).
In 2002, there was again only one category (Formula Super A) in the World Championship but its format comprised five events (Belgium, Finland, Portugal, France and Italy). The big attraction of the 2002 edition undoubtedly was the Finnish event, which was held on a brand-new avant-gardist circuit located half-way between Helsinki and the arctic polar circle! Called “Mika Salo Circuit”, the circuit of Alahärma provided not only an atypical course (with a bridge and tunnel as well as an F1-like pit-lane) but also exceptional infrastructures for a Karting circuit, with huge permanent grandstands, an amusement park to entertain the spectators between races, and a very comfortable hotel by the track side, at the first corner exit! Italy’s Ronnie Quintarelli won both races scheduled for this Finnish event, but for the local spectators the hero of the day was Jussi Kohtala, who achieved a feat in the second part of Race 2, held under pouring rain which had made it necessary for safety reasons to stop the race started with slick tyres on a dry track.
