At all levels of motor sport, one-design formulas have played a growing role over the last few decades. Understanding why this phenomenon has developed is the key to clarifying their impact and future on the various disciplines.
Everyone can agree on the influence of one-make formulas on the cost of competition. In some cases, it’s a question of survival. It is less expensive to share a common chassis and engine in a category, especially when the market no longer allows several independent manufacturers to make a living from the demands of profitability. When it comes to circuit racing, the word ‘profitability’ even seems irrelevant.
Originally, motor racing involved five distinct elements: a driver, a team, a chassis, an engine and tyres. For a long time, the three technical elements were the subject of fierce competition between the various manufacturers. This led to rapid technical progress, to the benefit of the industry as a whole. Ingenious inventors were able to explore all the possibilities of motor vehicles using internal combustion engines, both in terms of pure speed and endurance. The gradual emergence of a form of technical stabilisation can be dated to around the year 2000, as if all avenues had been explored and the best one was settled on. It’s a shortcut that neglects certain economic aspects in particular, but it gives a picture that’s not so far removed from reality.
From then on, the technical elements began to be standardised within the various regulations. At present, the tyres for each category are produced by the same manufacturer, from karting to Formula 1. Formula 3 and Formula 2 single-seaters have become completely monotypes, with identical chassis and engines for all. All that remains is the driver’s talent and the team’s fine-tuning work to make the difference. In Formula 1, pure equipment development is now only carried out at a high level, with independent teams developing their own chassis, while the number of engine manufacturers is becoming ever smaller. The same is true of WEC hypercars and the WRC, which are still dominated by the manufacturers themselves.
Although karting concerns a specific population where independence and passion can still have their place, it has followed a similar path to car racing. Nowadays, it is only at the highest level that you can choose your make of chassis and engine, provided you have the means. In national events, the engine is very often decided by the regulations and the latitude for preparation is drastically reduced to the point where real engine preparers are an endangered species. At the same time, turnkey packages known as ‘Arrive & Drive’ have emerged with a dual objective. The financial aspect and ease of access are important issues for the basic discipline of motor sport, which must provide an important popular base for all the other disciplines.
One example is the FIA Karting Academy Trophy, which has been offering an international competition with a focus on technical fairness to young drivers aged between 12 and 14 since 2010. The Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals has successfully used this concept once a year for 25 years, with a different commercial logic, while various initiatives by Italian manufacturers have tried their luck in this direction. The rise of RGMMC’s Champions of the Future Academy Program shows that there is considerable potential in this direction, in terms of simplicity of use and budget control. It is possible that the concept of turnkey races will soon be rolled out at national level, following on from what is happening in France with the French Junior Karting Championship run by the FFSA Academy. Pitting drivers against each other on equal terms improves the training aspect and helps their overall level to progress on a sound basis.
Rather than being a foregone conclusion, couldn’t one-make formulas be an opportunity to develop karting alongside the traditional route?
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