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TKART magazine Must Have | The tricks (and crafty moves) seen at the 2025 KZ World Championship – Part 3
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THE TRICKS (AND CRAFTY MOVES) SEEN AT THE 2025 KZ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP – PART 3

Giacomo Mantovani
10 January 2026 • 5 min. read

Third episode of the "Must Have" miniseries dedicated to the tricks implemented by professional mechanics during the most important event of the year for the Shifter FIA KZ categories: the FIA Karting World Championship (Missed the second? Here it is: "The tricks (and crafty moves) seen at the 2025 KZ World Championship - Part 2"). Over the weekend at the Franciacorta Karting Track (Italy), we observed, documented, and photographed 15 of the most ingenious tricks that emerged in the paddock: a wealth of information that allowed us to create a series of three articles, each dedicated to a different area of kart management. In this third and final instalment, we bring together all the solutions developed to tailor the kart to the driver’s needs: targeted interventions to improve comfort, such as the use of handcrafted pedal padding; enhanced feel and modulation of the controls; and finally the optimisation of the space around the seating position, with targeted seat modifications to allow the right freedom of movement for…

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Handcrafted padding on the pedal body

While driving a kart, the foot is never perfectly stable on the pedals: vibrations, load transfers, and constant fine adjustments of the controls cause the driver to repeatedly brush against or hit the sides of the pedals. As these components are usually made of aluminium, with sharp edges and rigid surfaces, repeated contact with the pedal body can cause discomfort and ultimately compromise precision under braking or acceleration. To address this issue, we observed a driver from the Parolin Motorsport team, the racing division of Italian manufacturer Parolin Racing Kart, covering the upper side area of both the brake and accelerator pedals with handcrafted padding, likely made from sponge, wrapped and tightly secured with standard black electrical tape. The goal is to improve comfort during the most demanding phases of driving. This solution effectively creates a small buffer at the point where the foot most often makes contact during hard braking, aggressive corner entry, or throttle corrections. It is a virtually cost free solution that any driver can adopt and customise to suit their own needs.

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