There are varying opinions of what everyone wants out of racing in both MSA and IKR racing. I've done both so I have seen both sides of the fence.
I would say that there are lots of reasons why some IKR racers want to race to regulations that closely mirror the MSA's regulations but don't want to race in MSA.
1. Cost - It's cheaper to race IKR. You don't need a medical (�50 - �100), no snell helmet (�200), no license (can't remember the cost now is is �80?), no yearly membership (�45?), and at Hooton it's �10 per race cheaper than MSA. On top of this you are not forced to change things on your kart when they bring out a new set of tyres / airbox / special parts etc.
2. Hassle - Why would someone who started out in IKR pay all the above costs and time to go and race in what is becoming increasingly smaller grids in MSA racing? The only basis they would do this is to race on a level playing field, the problem is this reason is blown clean out of the water if the playing field is a lot less than the field in IKR racing.
3. Image - This is a big big problem. Go ask any IKR racer who hasn't raced in MSA racing what they think MSA racers are like. The answers you will hear don't bode well for MSA racing, the general opinion is that the driving standards are shocking, they find the big motorhomes very off putting as it comes across as needing big money to compete and generally they think it's a very serious form of racing and the opposite of fun.
Those are the big three reasons for an IKR racer who wants rules like MSA but doesn't want to race MSA.
I'll tell you something else as well, you would think that an MSA racer would command a bit of respect from an IKR racer as an MSA racer is more likely to have experience but to an IKR racer they look at them as 'dirty' racers who can't race cleanly and are cheating scumbags. Whenever an MSA racer makes an appearance I almost always tend to hear they are making a menace of themselves. In reality they are racing the MSA way which is nudge up the back push you wide and they nip through, in IKR this isn't accepted and is frowned upon and class it as being a dirty driver.
There is definitely a distinct difference in driving standards between the two, but I don't know why there is such a difference. The only thing I can think is that the dirty driving in MSA is passed down to the newcomers, they in effect copy the more experienced drivers and it becomes the norm. In IKR the bumping isn't tolerated and this attitude gets passed onto the newcomers so the racing stays very clean and fair (racing room).
Chris.
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