05.03.2009

 

With the recent approval of the South African ROTAX Max Challenge Series Regulations there is much excitement and anticipation in the air. Northern Regions will be the first to go ahead with their event – taking place on Saturday, 14th March 2009 at Zwartkops International Kart Raceway.

 

The fields are expected to be the largest seen in karting for quite a while which will absolutely bring some nail-biting racing to the scene. There is a remarkable amount of new names in the Max Challenge field and the DD2 field is larger than ever! Junior Max is promising to be even more competitive than before with an influx of the most talented young drivers.

 

Many newcomers are asking the question: Why choose Max?

 

The simple answer – history shows that the Max series is the most successful series worldwide, hosting an annual World Final around November each year for 10 year running, with more than 68 countries now participating. The competitors that qualify for this prestigious event get a fully sponsored drive – karts, engines and accommodation fully paid! No other karting championship offers even a similar package!

 

Add to this that the engines are all sealed – allowing only a few service centres around the country the right to open these engines. This ensures a fair and level playing field with no chance of engines winning races rather than best drivers. The rules are clear, leaving no place for “cheque book” racing.

 

ROTAX has ensured that the quality of their products are so high yet so affordable that this is still the cheapest form of motor racing around to date. The Nikasil cylinders ensure a longer life span between rebuilds, making competitors lives a lot more affordable and easy.

 

The next question on competitors lips is: How will the series be run in South Africa?

 

Each region will have four regionals to choose from – three best pre-finals and three best finals will count towards the series. There will also be three national events to choose from – 2 best pre-finals and 2 best finals will count towards the series. The sum of these 5 pre-finals and 5 finals will be divided by 5 to give you your average best for the year. Each final heat participated in an event will add a bonus point to a competitor’s score – these bonus points will be added to this average and brought forward to the National Final Event. In other words – the maximum that you can bring to the National Final Event would be: 34 Pre-Final points + 55 Final points + 10 bonus points = 99 points. Thereafter the National Final will have 2 Pre-Finals and 2 Finals giving you an additional maximum of 178 points. This shows that more than a third of your points counting towards the series is from events done throughout the year, proving that the Max series is not just a once-off event.

 

Although not all events are compulsory for those who wish to qualify for the world final, it will definitely count in your advantage to do as many events as possible!

 

Next week’s race will include drivers like Red Bull sponsored Caleb Williams, reigning Max Challenge National Champion Kevin De Wit, reigning Junior Rok National Champion Sam Tingle and 3rd generation National Champions Kelvin and Sheldon van der Linde.

 

This is certainly not an event to be missed! Hope to see you all there!