• Entries already strong for 2012.• Education Bus proves to be a show-stopper.
Preparations for the 2012 Formula Kart Stars Championship officially began when the Formula One Management backed series took to the floor at the 2011 Kartmania Show in Coventry’s RICOH Arena last weekend.
With registrations already flooding in for the upcoming season, which begins on Easter weekend next April (6th-8th) at Kimbolton, Formula Kart Stars used the UK’s only dedicated karting show to unveil the newly liveried Education Bus and meet with competitors new and old in the hospitality area.
After taking more than a dozen new registrations over the course of the two day show championship director Carolynn Hoy was buoyant about the prospects for next season.
“The MSA British Cadet Championship grid is already well over fifty per cent full,” said Hoy, before leaving the arena to join the 2011 Formula Kart Stars Champions at the Autosport Awards in London. “As usual there is already a strong contingent of returning drivers and plenty of new faces and we’re expecting to reach our maximum grid of 56 before very long. British Cadet karting is the envy of the world and I’m certain that 2012 will see that trend continue.
“I’m also very pleased with our numbers in Mini Max where we are two thirds of the way towards a full grid,” continued Hoy, who is still working on negotiations with Duck and Weave Productions to resume their award-winning television coverage of the championship. “We are over half way towards a full grid of Junior Rotax drivers and interest levels are very high in Cadet Honda and Senior Rotax.”
In addition to the above classes, FKS has also applied to run a KF3 class in 2012 although Hoy conceded that getting the required number of entries to run a competitive season-long championship was proving challenging.
“I would dearly love to see the KF3 class return on a full-time basis,” said Hoy. “There is interest there from the drivers but with such a packed European schedule many of their teams already have very busy schedules.”
Providing the backdrop to the Formula Kart Stars showpiece was Boston College’s Education Bus, now resplendent in full FKS livery courtesy of AST Signs and throughout the weekend many drivers and their parents took the opportunity to take a guided tour of the learning facilities available to all FKS drivers in 2012.
“Perhaps the most satisfying part of the weekend for me was seeing the reactions of the parents when we showed them the interior of the learning bus,” concluded Hoy. “It looks fantastic from the outside thanks to its new graphics kit but it is what happens inside that matters and the response we’ve had from all parents, especially those whose children are entering our championship for the first time was unanimously positive.”
