New karting league aims to tackle F1’s representation problem

Serious. That’s the word I would use to describe what it’s been like since I decided in 2019 to move away from working directly with Formula 1 teams and discover what it’s like in the outside world.

At that time, I didn’t know what would happen next, I just wanted to stop. Then I decided that no matter what I did, I wanted to give back to the community, do something that was more purposeful.

That was the ambition behind my Global Karting League, as I’ve described previously (21 March) on this page, to make motorsport more accessible and diverse by lowering the price of entry, opening up the market and closing the loop on F1. And now we are taking the next step and moving forward with the launch of the FAT Karting League.

You may recognize the FAT International brand. It was the sponsor of Le Mans-winning Porsche in 1994 and 1997. But what used to be a logistics company is now a culture-driven entity dedicated to making motorsport more accessible, engaging and relevant for the next.
generation.

It is owned by Ferdi Porsche, great-grandson of Ferdinand Porsche. We met through a mutual friend who realized what we were trying to do with each other independently. We clicked immediately, started talking and now we have co-founded FKL.

Next year, along with the relaunch of our UK hub, we are opening two more centers in the US and four more over the next year. The three hubs will operate separately as their own championships in 2025, but competitors will also build points towards a larger event at the end of the year: the FAT World Finals.

From that, the best drivers from the age-appropriate categories – we run racing series for six to 17-year-olds – will graduate through a prize drive to car racing in Formula 4. Our ambition is to push someone through F4, F3, F2 – and then you know what happens next.

This is a potentially game-changing system that is completely sustainable and not dependent on any ultra-high net worth beneficiary. We approach karting from a unique position of understanding motorsport from the top down and are therefore able to create a sustainable and reliable path.

So how do we break down the financial and complexity barriers that have traditionally made motorsport inaccessible? For people of all ages, we have created a Season Pass that includes the nine championship events that make up the racing season. For the youngest children aged five and six, a full fixed cost season is around £3800, rising to £4400 for older classes –
So an average of around £4000.

This is still a significant amount, but if the current system costs around £125,000 a season, it is 96% less than comparable championships. Over time, we hope to achieve some purchase
Get sponsors and reduce the numbers further. But, as a value proposition, I’d say it’s already quite compelling.

“Everyone from all backgrounds is welcome. It’s really open to everyone.” Rob Smedley

As far as our electric carts are concerned, our business has great potential. Our team includes ex-F1 engineers like me, who design and build our karts. This is unique in our offering and has allowed us to design something that feels like a traditional combustion kart.

The EV powertrains are based on our knowledge of the MGU-K systems in F1 cars and we have tuned them in such a way that you have to drive them in a conventional way, using the speed through the corners.

You can’t just use what’s called a fast pedal to get out of trouble. We have designed them to have less jumps to make them compatible with cars and they can be easily tuned
Also different levels of experience. They’re a lot of fun to drive, kids love them and you develop the same skills as traditional karts.

We are completely agnostic as to who we hope to attract – everyone from all backgrounds is welcome. It’s really open to everyone. But the ultimate proof of our plan will be the emergence of a female F1 driver from FKL. Our UK hub already has over 30% female representation. In comparison, most traditional options have ratios in the single digits. There’s nothing stopping a woman from racing in F1, but it’s a pure numbers game: If
With only a single-digit percentage of women racing at the grassroots level, they obviously have a much lower chance of making it into F1 relative to men. In fact, one in 20.

Everyone we’ve spoken to in motorsport is extremely interested in what we’re doing, but I haven’t stressed it too much with my F1 colleagues and friends. We run under the auspices of Motorsport UK here in the UK, it’s the right thing to do for safety and regulation credibility. As a fellow entrepreneur, David Richards has been very supportive. We also have a very good relationship with the FIA ​​in terms of future homologations, and there has been an interest in F1 from the beginning. But I’ve always said let me go and let it run before doing anything else.

This is where I wanted to take it, and now with Ferdi and FKL we have a strong proposal. Greater and genuine access and diversity in motorsport is within our grasp.