So Tony, tell us what Prokart is all about. 

Firstly we are a team based kart motor sport, in line with the number one car racing category in Australia we offer our teams the opportunity to experience every facet of endurance racing. Whether that be the riggers of kart preparation, race planning and strategy or the rush of racing amongst big fields of similarly matched karts. Race pitstops, refueling and race damage repair all form part of the overall experience.

So what can we expect from a Prokart race? 

Our race weekends have it all, practice, qualifying, and good close racing. It’s certainly a real mates, and family experience. All members of each team share a collective experience in a fun and friendly atmosphere. We try and offer those extra special touches that make coming away racing with us that extra special. Whether it be assistance with accommodation, advice in regard to kart setup and preparation or one of the many group meals organized on Saturday nights throughout the season. 

How long are the races? 

The shortest race we conduct is a four hour and we build up from there. We will run two twelve and two twenty four hour races in 2006.

Twenty four hours, for one kart race? 

Yes that’s right. As far as we are aware, Prokart is now the only group in Australia organizing 24 hour motor races. These have grown into real special events in their own right. As such we will hold one at our traditional venue of Dubbo on the June long weekend and then a second on the October long weekend at Oakleigh in Melbourne.

With races counted in the hours rather than laps how do you keep track of who is where? 

We use a state of the art AMB timing system. We run multiple computers running independent decoders and separate pieces of race timing software. This ensures that there is never a problem with the integrity of our race data. Along with uninterruptible power supplies we are able to make short work of even a 24 hour race with 30 plus karts.

We have a number of interesting technological features to our races as well. Teams are able to carry a display that when mounted on their kart accepts a telemetry feed directly from the race timing computers. This allows drivers to monitor their current position within the race, elapsed race time, their last lap time and the gap to the kart in front. This updates on a lap by lap basis and really adds to overall race experience.

On top of that teams can tune any television they bring with them to keep themselves updated of the current race positions and last lap time data.

Our timing expertise has led us to assist Raleigh International Raceway in the running of their TaG 125 Kart Enduro’s of which there are two currently planned for next year.

What do you attribute your series success to? 

It’s our people, from the guys who do the refueling and marshalling, to the teams, mechanics and drivers we are all really into what we do and do it for the sheer enjoyment of the competition. It’s a kin to racing with 100 plus of your closest friends.

We pride ourselves on being as much about the experience as we are about the racing. In that we want to deliver to our competitor’s bigger and better race meetings each and every time we go racing.

Their support is what drives us, and their enthusiasm fuels us to new heights.

We are inclusive, not exclusive and are happy for anyone to come and try what we do and see if it is for them. We certainly attract quiet a mix of driving talents and age groups across our fields. From young, professional, motivated race drivers to father, son and daughter family teams to 65 year old grandfathers. Each one drawn to the sport by different goals and aspirations, and each one takes away their own special experience from racing under our format.

 We can also attribute our success to the diversity of tracks that we conduct race meetings at, in 2006 fifteen clubs will supply venues for the championship. This offers variety and coupled with different race lengths, night racing, and one and two day race meetings there is certainly something there to suit everyone. 

What are your plans for 2006 and beyond? 

We are just putting the finishing touches to our race program for next year and with growth of teams and the demand for our racing we will run 19 races next year. We have been fielding enquiry from teams interested in joining the series from both Victoria and Queensland. It is our goal to grow the amount of interstate teams we have and grow events into each of these states in line with that expansion.

You mentioned growth, how quickly are you expanding? 

Interest in what do has just exploded. Eighteen months ago we had fifteen owner teams in the series. That number right now is rapidly approaching sixty. Hence the need for more races. It has been a real challenge having enough karts to supply all the new teams. But it has also been something special. New teams bring new ideas and better racing. Its just snowballing at the moment.

Won’t 19 races be too taxing on your teams? 

Taxing, I can’t wait!! From an organisers point of view, sure we will be running a race program on average about once a fortnight next year. But it has just opened up so many positives for Prokart we simply couldn’t just run the standard 10 round championship we have in the past.

Tell us of the positives? 

We are going to be able to offer the first fully flexible race calendar to our teams in the history of our sport. In that each team only has to race ten times during the year to complete the championship.

In this way should an anniversary, birthday or other important event clash with a race meeting then teams are free not to attend without any detrimental effect on their championship. For that matter should you not like the venue or the race length you can opt out.

When we first came up with the concept of more races and offering our teams some flexibility we wondered whether it would work. However, our teams have fully embraced the concept with all the challenges and opportunities that it represents. Its interesting to note that some of the teams are even choosing to do the lot.