Australian Kart Racers’ Alliance Comes To The Party
| by Mark Wicks | 12 January 2016 |
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A new governing body for kart racing in Australia has pitched a rock into the pond that is karting in this country, and the ripples are starting to spread.
The Australian Kart Racers’ Alliance (AKRA) was formed at the end of 2015 by Troy Boldy.
AKRA’s first event is set to be a National Kart Championship on the AKA’s ‘traditional’ Nationals Easter weekend (26-27 March 2016) at the undulating Orange circuit in NSW.
Above: Troy Boldy is a former Australian kart champion, team manager and kart shop proprietor, plus World Champion - in slot cars!
The term ‘governing body’ is used a little loosely here. AKRA is not an incorporated association. It is a private venture of Boldy’s, initially established to resurrect his corporate karting business. But things have moved beyond that goal rather quickly.
“(KA karting) is just too biased one way” Boldy told KartSportNews. “They’re catering for just three percent of the karting population.
“I hope they (Karting Australia’s national series) do make the next lot of Mark Winterbottoms, James Courtneys and the like.
“But most karters couldn’t care less about that. They just want to race and have fun. The club karters have been screwed.
“So I thought, f*ck it, I’ll get in and fix it.”
Insurance has been arranged through former AKA insurer, Trans-West.
“The insurance allows any kart club to align with AKRA for a day or weekend with insurance and public liability all covered, just like it was in the AKA days.”
“Basically, we do a private hire of the track from a club and bring along our own insurance to run a corporate day (he has a fleet of J-powered karts for corporate and mid-week events) and racing. Therefore it has nothing to do with KA.
“We have our own race licence which is $100 for the year” (though the early-birds running at Orange will get it for $50).
AKRA has published a set of technical regulations for National-J, Clubman-S, Open (TaGs, Twins etc) and GKL-F100 categories (these can be accessed via AKRA’s Facebook Group HERE. AKRA Facebook Page is HERE. Easter Kart Nationals page HERE).
WA’s Ken Seeber assisted with the writing of these rules. Basically, Yamaha Js and Ss of stock appearance with Walbro WB carburetor, untouched ports and 11cc heads can be used. Other work can be done to the engine and the header and exhaust pipe is open.
“The intention is that competitors will be able to tune things like the exhaust to optimize whatever port timing their individual engine came out of the factory with. We feel this will even up performance of the engines.”
AKRA is quite happy for the IAME KA100 to run in with the Yamahas, but it will carry an additional 15kg for parity.
Boldy confirmed he’s just done a deal with Dunlop Kartsport’s Les May to supply the Dunlop SL1 as the control tyre for Rookie and Junior & Senior National classes, available through AKRA at the discounted price of $198 per set. This price “covers the cost plus some freight to get them to the track, and I'll have staff help fit them at the track for racers” Boldy added.
Regarding Clubman and TaG tyres, Troy said "well we are still in negotiations with Bart Price from DPE about supplying MG Reds at the right price for AKRA Club Karters. Otherwise there are two other options still on the table, one from Dunlop and one from Vega. I'll confirm shortly and keep you posted."
While the Orange Nationals will be AKRA’s first event, the organization already has a planned expansion into Queensland – with a rather ironic twist.
“Brisbane Kart Club will be the first Queensland club to follow AKRA and race meetings will be promoted by legendary and long-time karting experts Ralph Van Doorn and John McCleverty" Boldy revealed.
Apart from a few tech documents, there is so far very little in the way of formal rules. Boldy admits things might need to be tweaked in this department as things progress.
“Part of our motto is to promote karting at grass root level. I’ve always said, you have to ask the customer what they want, then give it to them, where it’s cost effective and profitable.
“And that’s what we’ll do.”
Who Is Troy Boldy?
- Started Karting in 1983, racing Victa powered karts and was the 3rd licensed Rookie driver in NSW.
- Won Bridgestone International (Oran Park, 1984), NSW State Title (1985) and 4th at the ’85 Nationals (Toowoomba), all in Junior National
- Left karting for several years, returning in 1991
- 1992-1994, won 3 Green & 3 Blue Plates, but a major accident at Lithgow in 1995 put him in a coma for a week. “I had to learn how to walk again. Bad times.”
- Formed Vision Racing Team in 1996, coaching kids
- Not long after Vision was formed, organized corporate race days for drivers and sponsors. This grew into a business running race days (mostly mid-week) at Lithgow, Oran Park, Canberra and Butterfly Farm.
- With help from Ben Horstman, created FOX Karts (which were made in Italy) in 1999, then opened the FOX Kart Centre in 2000
Above: Troy Boldy's FOX/Vision Racing Team in 2000
pic - Boldy archive
“I stopped karting again just before Oran Park closed down around 2008/09 and went off doing other things. One was I got back into a childhood hobby of mine, model car racing/slot cars. In 7 years racing, I picked up another 12 National Titles, 23 State Titles and 6 World Titles.
“Now over 40, I have always admired how Remo (Luciani) would travel to and compete in all the State Championships around the country. I wanted to do the same, but now with the changes KA has made to the State Title format, that’s no longer possible. So bugger me, I’ll have to create my own State Title events!
“With AKRA we will all be able to do this - compete at State Title events and catch up with other fellow Karters that we see once a year.”
