Banzai
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for making karting easier to get into and also for a relaxation of the crazy rules we have had to endure over the last few years but it has to be done to ALL competitors at the same time - not just the "day licence" holder next year or so.
If you consider JTKM at my club - all the competitors have had to buy CMR helmets and invest in race legal suits. All the equipment is to TKM regs (welded torsion bars, neutral castor/camber, race legal engines, legal tyres etc), and as a result we have a very competitive grid where probably there are 10 people chasing the top three chanpionship places (and also, newcomers take points away from club members).
Imagine the uproar if Johnny Day Licence rocks up (albeit with some race-craft under his belt so he doesnt cause carnage) with a standard helmet, tidy but out-of-date race-suit, tidy chassis with castor/camber pills, adjustable torsion bars, sticky rubber, illegal TKM engine and is put at the back of the JTKM grid. He/she would carve through the grid like a knife through butter and probably affect the whole grid by holding back some of the championship front runners.
Clearly he will be excluded from the results but could make a huge difference to the championship standings by being a mobile chicane to front runners trying to get through the pack (especially if he does the last few races of the year).
The only way to stop this is to ensure all Johnny's kit is legal and copmpliant when he turns up for the race day which then puts the same barriers back in front of him and we are back to where we are today.
As I said earlier - I'm all for making things easier and cheaper but not at the disadvantage of current MSA licence holders.
This all needs carefull consideration not the usual knee-jerk reaction we usually see from the powers that be
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