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Once in a Lifetime... Competing in karts on the snow
TKART Staff
24 April 2016

Three professional drivers. Three top karts. A challenge... completely covered in snow. An exciting event that took place some time ago, but is worthwhile remembering.

Snow, ice, cold: no grip.

Driving high-performance vehicles in these conditions would be insane. Then you watch a Red Bull promo that shows a Formula 1 plowing a track and you think... why not give it try on karts? Done!
So, we went to Riva Valdobbia in the Italian Alps, on the Ice Rosa Ring circuit, home turf of the Ice Series, featuring any kind of car willing to crush through ice.

If we have any hopes of tackling this track we know we have to call on winning drivers on winning karts: 2012 KF World Champion Flavio Camponeschi on Tony Kart/Vortex, multiple World title holder Davide Forè on his CRG/Maxter and two-time KZ1 World Cup winner Bas Lammers on Praga/TM. (At the time, these were the pairings. Now, a short while later, they have all changed teams. However, they’re still competing for international karting’s main trophies).

We barely have time to meet up on track with drivers and technicians that we run into the first problem: the three team vans can’t get over the snow-covered pass that takes to the circuit. So we decide to turn the service area into our race paddock, or better, our base camp.


Racing on ice requires special work on the chassis. The CRG technicians, for example, have worked to cover the front brakes for maximum braking efficiency.

But, with “folks like this,” the situation is bound to degenerate: yes, because when real drivers cross paths with rivals, even if they’re just going from kitchen to bathroom, they can’t resist the impulse to step in front and get there first. Imagine in snow!
Unthinkable overtakes, sinking wheels, one-eighties, pendulum swings: this is the crazy show that shakes up an otherwise calm mountain valley, covering the gurgling of alpine creeks with the rumbling of KZ engines, the melody of full throttle take-offs, and the cheers of on-lookers.

Sure, it takes away from the poetry and the serenity of the snowy scenery, but we’re left breathless by the tricks these gladiators are able to pull on their karts, having the time of their lives despite the freezing cold and the thin soles separating their feet from ice.
To keep an eye on everything that was happening on track we equipped all three karts with a complete telemetry kit by AIM: the MyChron4, plus GPS sensors and the valuable water temperature sensor to monitor engine functions.
The data collected reveals ...(keep reading on the "ONCE IN A LIFETIME" TKART Magazine channel)

 

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