WHEN A HISTORICAL KART HAS TO BE TUNED

TKART Staff

01 July 2018

It is not uncommon, on go-kart tracks, to come across some amateur darting around on a refurbished vintage kart. It is rarer for karts from the 1980s to be modified and customised, transforming them into an "historical tuning" vehicle that is interesting to know about

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The occasion of this unexpected event was a stage of the CIK-FIA European Championship for KZ and KZ2 some time ago. The track was that of Wackersdorf, in Germany, and, together with the karts of the major teams on the circuit, the weekend was animated by numerous historical vehicles that had arrived from all over Europe for a side event.

Among these, there was a very special vehicle: not so much for its historical value, but for its characteristics and unusual modifications. Historical kart purists will certainly have scoffed at it, but those present in Wackersdorf appreciated and, above all, were intrigued by a certainly unique vehicle.

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The first clue in rebuilding the identity of a kart is quite simple for the fans: "Kali". The words on the platform are clear, showing the name of the company founded by Calogero Vanaria, one of the "founding fathers" of karting.
Kali Kart was one of the companies that wrote the history of karting, reaping successes in the 1970s and 1980s, allowing so many drivers to race who subsequently became the best drivers.
The chassis in question is from 1984, and it is the same one used by Gabriele Tarquini, an Italian driver who subsequently became a Formula 1d river, who became world champion precisely in that year.
A particularly significant title, given that it was the first in the gear classes (precisely, in Formula C) for what is, in the present day, CRG. Tarquini won on the track in Axamo, Sweden, driving a Komet powered Kalì-Kart with Dunlop tires. A curiosity: the first world title for CRG in the direct-drive class dates back to 1984, won by Jorn Haase in Liedolsheim, in Germany, in the Formula K World Championship.

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In this case, the owner of a kart can definitely have numerous options, attaching a series of stickers of some of the brand names that in a certain sense have contributed to making motorsport great.

The exception is the FIAT logo, which does not have much to do with karting ... The only common feature is that even this sticker is a bit retro, reproducing the logo used in the 1980s, not the one currently present on the Italian company’s cars.