Italkart Welcomes New California Dealer

Formula Karting Championship (FKC) was established in 2018 by Kalvin Chen as a club-level race series in California, with a strong focus on driver development. Partnering with LeCont Tires, FKC did a small amount of travel to other races around the country, but it wasn’t long before their focus turned towards the drivers coming out to the local FKC race series. With an average of 40-50 drivers per race competing in a limited number of classes – only 100cc TAGs and shifter – FKC saw an opportunity to meet the needs of their local karting community.

In 2019, FKC continued much of what had been started in 2018, with an increased focus on the types of drivers coming out to the FKC series. As a small promoter, the difficulty in competing with other clubs’ series in the greater California area became ostensible. Recognizing their efforts were being over-extended and under-utilized, FKC took a step back and began to evaluate the kind of drivers that were already part of the club, and the types of drivers they wanted to attract. This prompted a shift in the mission of FKC: people need to have fun and enjoy themselves if they are going to continue in karting.

With this realization, FKC started to gear their club and race-series towards recreation level drivers who were looking to have fun in the sport.
They aimed to create an environment where people could be free from the pressures of serious competition. A place where they could drive because THAT is where the passion lies – not in the dynamics of winning races. From here, FKC began working closely with ROK, to find products that were well suited for their drivers. The hope was to find something that would be well rounded enough for anyone and everyone – from the entry level weekend summer time driver, to the dedicated professional looking to move up the ranks of the kart racing world.

There was a noticeable pattern emerging: new and less ambitious drivers were feeling intimidated by highly competitive drivers and teams coming out to the track. Kalvin and the team at FKC recognized through all this, that their primary goal was to provide drivers with an environment that would set them up for success. A key element of this was developing a less stressful club environment, one that new and less experienced drivers could grow into.
A place where they felt supported in their growth and development, not overlooked or dismissed because of a lack of experience in competitive racing.

Ultimately, Kalvin’s end goal was to improve the quality of each FKC drivers’ experience on the track. He had heard good things about Italkart, and seen the success of factory team driver Remo Ruscitti at ROK the Rio, where he performed exceptionally well in Shifter with the Italkart Laguna chassis. After this, Kalvin decided it was time to pay a visit to the North American Italkart distributor, Italian Motors USA.

FKC is currently doing winter testing with the Italkart Laguna and Rapido chassis in the 100cc TAG and Shifter classes, with very positive feedback from the test drivers. It’s Kalvin’s goal to promote the Italkart chassis to FKC drivers who are looking to move into more competitive driving. And, it has been well received with five drivers making the switch to Italkart chassis’ in the next two months. Hopefully, some of these drivers will be traveling with the FKC team to race at Sumas International Motorsport Academy (SIMA), the North American home-track to Italkart.

Formula Karting Championship
Kalvin Chen
Yorba Linda, CA
http://www.formulakartchamp.com/
909.802.8731