[Translated with ChatGPT]

Mike Wilson has passed away. The greatest driver of all time is gone. The numbers say it all: six world titles, no one has ever achieved as many. Those who had the privilege of seeing him race say it. Those who raced against him say it. But it is also said by those who – like the writer of these lines – never had the chance to see him compete due to age, yet heard the echo of his achievements in the words of the great figures of the international racing paddock.

The champion of champions leaves us because of a terrible incurable illness, which he fought over the last five years with the utmost discretion. Constantly undergoing treatment, he continued with incredible naturalness and lightness of spirit to attend international races in his role as consultant for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Driver Development programme.

In hindsight, it is astonishing how “Michele” – the name he was given in Italy when he moved here to race professionally – managed in recent years to live life to the fullest, always with a smile on his face, always showing complete availability towards everyone, despite the enormous burden that illness can represent in a human life.

We had the opportunity to speak with him in early May 2025, during the Portimão round of the FIA Karting European Championship. What was meant to be a quick interview turned into an almost one-hour conversation, which you can find in the article “VIP & Kart | Interview with Mike Wilson, the karting record holder” (which you can all read / see by taking advantage of the free tour on TKART Magazine).

Because Mike Wilson, despite having won six World Championships, never put on airs or created distance between himself and those who approached him — quite the opposite.

A humanly generous person, capable of offering advice drawn from an invaluable wealth of experience, both to the drivers he worked with throughout his career as a coach and to anyone who asked him for advice, even if they were complete newcomers.

I say this with full awareness, because back in 2005, one summer evening, I found myself talking with him about a project that was just about to be born: TKART. Bringing me before the greatest driver of all time were our mutual friends Peppino Mioso and Renato Mazza, who knew him well. They told him about this 24-year-old who wanted to launch a new magazine and present the project to him in advance, as well as write articles for the first issues of this new publication. Despite my young age making me hardly credible as a potential editor-in-chief, he did not hesitate to dedicate his time to me. We arranged an interview at his workplace in Zingonia, near Bergamo, opposite the IAME facilities. At the time, he was still producing his own chassis under the Rakama brand, and on the day of our meeting I found him welding a chassis — just like any ordinary worker. But standing in front of me was the very best. I knew it, and everyone else knows it too. Mike Wilson is and will forever remain the greatest of all time. Perhaps the only one who did not give too much importance to the status he earned on track was Mike himself. But that is how true sporting greats are.

On behalf of myself and the entire TKART editorial staff, we extend our deepest condolences to Mike’s wife, Nicoletta, and to his two children.

Yanek Sterzel
Editor-in-Chief, TKART