Is KF1 the new Formula Super A?

Formula Super A (FSA) was the top class of karting between 1992 and 2002, between the demise of Formula K and the boycott of FSA for the 2003 season. It was only run at international meetings and for most of its history only included drivers who had finished in the top seven of a FA race. The engines were nominally the same as FA except with slide carbs, and tyres were stickier.

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Photo: [KSP.fr]

It was introduced to replace the 135cc Formula K as the engines were only used in CIK international meetings and it was far from cost-effective. For the 2003 season only Sodikart entered the multi-race World Championship; all other teams boycotted the series in protest at the proposed introduction of four-stroke engines for the following season. The championship was cancelled and FA installed as the pinnacle of karting.

As we now know, four-strokes never happened, the Italians refused to develop them, and CIK president Yvon Leon resigned over the whole mess, and it led to the 125cc KF engines that we now know and love…

But for the FSA years, there were often 50+ elite drivers and 100+ in FSA compared to about 50 in big KF1 meetings these days, even though KF1 is supposed to fill the purpose of both. The drivers at the sharp end, then as now, included Davide Fore (World Champion in 2000) and Sauro Cesetti, while drivers like Max Orsini and Gianluca Beggio have been replaced by Marco Ardigo and Arnaud Kozlinski. Most FSA drivers were professionals and although many F1 wannabees competed in the class (Jenson Button was European Champion in 1997), many others were content to move into cars after FA.

During FA’s time as the top class, entries declined but there was a sharp drop-off at the start of KF1 as many drivers and teams decided that learning a new formula wasn’t worth it. It also wouldn’t have helped that drivers in the early 00s were stopped from moving straight from JICA to FA without some ICA in between, meaning that drivers now had to have another, not cheap, year in karting beyond what the had planned.

Only the UK and Germany have continued to run KF1 in their national championships, attracting entries in the teens so KF1 is becoming an international-only class by default.

In some ways the international scene is healthy – there are a good few more paid drivers than there were three years ago and the racing is entertaining, but many complain that if you do have to pay for it then budgets are likely to be well into six figures. It should be noted though that people occasionally win on a fraction of that, but most of the budget rise is because it’s usually necessary to race in the WSK and a national championship to get enough experience to achieve anything.

This, and the difficulty of winning when you’re not on the equipment of the weekend, is sending ambitious drivers to cars after KF2, and leaving KF1 to the older professionals and the seriously rich. Scott Jenkins went straight from KF2 to Formula Renault for 2008 and Ollie Millroy headed for Formula BMW testing when it became clear early in 2007 that his KF1 situation wasn’t quite right. Others have indicated they will do the same this year in the absence of offers from factory teams.

Drivers who have qualified for a KF1 license are staying in KF2 for another shot at the title, for example Robert Foster-Jones, showing it’s a championship worth winning in it’s own right, not just a stepping stone to the top. Of the 34 drivers in the final of the KF2 Europeans at Salbris last year, only five are now in KF1 and one of those went to cars after a few races. 10 are still in KF2.

Race wins are overwhelmingly going to slightly older drivers; Ardigo, Fore, Kozlinski, Cesetti, Parrott so far with only a few going to Will Stevens and Yannick De Brabander of the younger generation.

So with professionals dominating, budgets rising, and hungry young drivers giving it a miss, are we back where we were in the late 1990s?

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