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TKART magazine Must Have | The tricks (and crafty moves) seen at the 2025 KZ World Championship – Part 1
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THE TRICKS (AND CRAFTY MOVES) SEEN AT THE 2025 KZ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – PART 1

Giacomo Mantovani
01 December 2025 • 8 min. read

The FIA Karting World Championship is, every year, the key event for the FIA KZ shifter kart classes. The 2025 edition was held at the Franciacorta Karting Track in Northern Italy, awarding in just one weekend the KZ World Title, the KZ2 World Cup and the International Masters’ Super Cup. It is in the paddock of an event of this calibre that you witness the highest level of professionalism, organisation and attention to detail: every adjustment on the kart follows a clear logic and the experience of those who work with karting day in, day out. It might be natural to think that all the solutions adopted by the teams come from advanced research or costly materials. In reality, alongside the more sophisticated operations, there is room for simple and often low-cost tweaks: measures you will not find in manuals, but that only those who handle karts every day know how to apply. Over the weekend we observed, documented and photographed fifteen of the most ingenious ideas circulating in the paddock: content that allowed us to create a three-part Must Have series, each focused on a different aspect of kart management. In this first episode we gather all the solutions designed to protect or smartly manage the kart’s components. You will discover, for example, how a single wrap of electrical tape around the spark plug boot can literally save a track session, or how an ordinary piece of chalk – yes, the same used on school blackboards – can ensure…

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Electrical tape on the spark plug cap

In 2-stroke Racing Kart engines, the spark plug cap is constantly subjected to micro-movements caused by torsional vibrations and oscillations of the top-end assembly during running. These movements, combined with the thermal cycles of the cylinder head and the metal’s temperature variations, can reduce the cap’s retention force on the spark plug, leading to misfires or partial grounding. Another aspect to consider is that, especially in the Shifter classes, the cap may occasionally come loose if it is accidentally hit by the driver’s arm or forearm during gear shifts or sudden actions while driving. This occurrence is less common at the highest levels of karting — such as the FIA World Championship — because drivers generally maintain correct posture and usually have a lean build, which reduces the likelihood of the arm coming into contact with the cylinder head area. In any case, to avoid these issues, we observed a very simple solution: several mechanics wrapped a few turns of electrical tape around the spark plug hex, extending it to include the base of the cap. When applied properly, the tape acts as an elastic stop that limits micro-movements. It is an inexpensive and immediate measure that does not affect electrical insulation, but it does need to be replaced after each track session: the heat produced by combustion and transferred to the spark plug gradually softens the adhesive, reducing the tape’s grip and causing the initial retaining effect to fade quickly.

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