TO: All Affiliated Associations and KA Stakeholders From: Kelvin O Reilly Date: 16 November 2015 Subject: 2016 KA MANUAL REVIEW OVERVIEW BACKGROUND & PROCESS The process of developing the 2016 National Competition Rules (the KA Manual) commenced in May this year. Three separate committees Competition and Events and the Technical Functional Committees and an ad-hoc committee comprising several Executive Commissioners and Directors, members of the KA administration team and our most senior national officials formed a Rules Review Committee. The object being to review all rule change requests, and the Manual generally to arrive at an agreed position on the 2016 Rules with a minimal number of outstanding matters requiring Board determination by late October. RULE CHANGE REQUESTS Rule Change Requests (RCR) were received in accordance with our Rule Change Policy. These were considered by the relevant Functional Committees specifically the technical requests were considered by the Technical Committee and the sporting or competition requests were considered by the Competition and Events Committee. In addition to reviewing the RCR s the Competition and Events Committee was engaged in a review of our competition elements since mid-year. Matters that it has considered include but are not limited to: AKC Class review AKC Race formats. 2016 AKC structure including: o Number of rounds, start and end dates, time between events. Classes for State Championship, Cup, Series, Zonal and Club Competition. Gridding systems oversubscribed and under subscribed. Future of the KF2 and KF3 Classes and engines. AKC Competition weights for all Classes. Points systems. The Rules Review Committee was formed and began meeting from early August. It followed the following process: ACTION DATE 1 Rule change requests submitted by stakeholders June 30 2 Rule Change Requests received sent to relevant Functional Committees for consideration 3 Preliminary KA staff review of Australian Karting Manual ( Manual ) with proposed adjustments (additions and deletions) marked in Track Changes Early July Mid-July 4 Return Rule Change requests considerations to CEO Mid-July 5 Rule Change Request outcomes from Functional Committees incorporated in Draft 1 of the 2016 Manual 6 Appointment of Ad Hoc Rules Committee to review and further consider Rule Changes Mid-July End of July
7 Draft 1 of the 2016 Manual completed and distributed to the Rules Committee End of July Early August 8 Face to face review meeting of Rules Committee Review of Manual Draft 1 Mid-August 9 Adjustments to Manual post meeting and preparation of Manual Draft 2 Preparation of an adjustment schedule to enable comments to be returned Mid to late August 10 Circulation of Draft 2 and adjustment schedule to Rules Committee Late August 11 Completed adjustment schedule from Draft 2 returned to CEO by members of the Rules Committee Early September 12 Preparation of Draft 3 of 2016 Manual Mid-September 13 Circulation of Draft 3 and adjustment schedule to Rules Committee Mid-September 14 Completed adjustment schedule from Draft 3 returned to CEO by members of the Rules Committee Late September 15 Final Draft circulated Late September 16 Teleconference to complete review Early October 17 Final Manual completed for presentation to the Board for ratification Early October 18 Manual Approved Late October 19 Manual Released Mid November Through this process we arrived at the recommendation for the 2016 National Competition Rules that were presented to the Board for its consideration and approval. OVERVIEW OF RULE CHANGES Please note, the overview below is what the administration consider substantive changes of the Rules which have been made to the Manual for 2016. A number of other changes have also been implemented to assist in the ongoing improvement of making the Rules as simple as possible and user friendly for all karting participants. PAGE NUMBER RULE NUMBER DESCRIPTION 11 Definitions Definition of State Regulations has been added General Rules Chap 1, 7d) & e) Expanded description of Zonal Competition and Club Competition 45 General Rules Chap 13, 5 Procedure for Disciplinary Tribunals has been added and refined 51 Competition Rules Chap 1, 9 Consolidation of Classes Rule has been expanded and strengthened 52 Competition Rules Chap 1, 15 Stopping and Stalled Karts has been combined and further clarified 53 Competition Rules Chap 1, 16 Driver Age Restriction KA Elite Participation 62 Competition Rules Chap 3 Overlapping illustration has been added 64 Competition Rules Chap 4, 14 Licence types descriptions have been expanded and refined 65 Competition Rules Chap 4, 16 Licence Grading has been clearly added into the text of the Rules 70-71 Competition Rules Chap 5, 1 Hierarchy of events has been updated and refined 72-79 Competition Rules Chap 5, 3-7 Event formats for each type of Competition has been added to and clarified Compulsory State Championship Classes must be run at all lower level events, State Series, Zonal & Club Competition Restricted is not included as a State Championship Class 86 Technical Rules Chap 1, 8g)(vii) Mandating of Rear Wheel Protection at all levels 87 Technical Rules Chap 1, 8h)(ii) Removal of Duracan Brake Components 95 Technical Rules Chap 3, 5 Inclusion of list of approved oils 100 Technical Rules Chap 5, 7 Starting of Karts time extended and penalty introduced 117-161 Class Rules Note a number of Classes that were established in 2015 for the AKC only due to the tyre contracts have been amalgamated back into the overall class for 2016. 117-161 Class Rules A number of classes have been renamed and/or consolidated 117-161 Class Rules All Tyres have been updated in accordance with Tyre Tender 117-161 Class Rules Competition Eligibility has been expanded in each class to make it easier for the Competitors and Officials 117-161 Class Rules All Cadet Classes Mandating of Rib Protectors, Neck braces and Chest protectors Recommended 162 Class Rules Chap 20 Vintage Rules have been further refined with the input of the Vintage Karting Committee 165 Class Rules Chap 21 Endurance Rules have been further refined with the input of the Endurance Karting stakeholders 179 Class Rules Chap 22 Speedway Rules have been completely rewritten with the input of the Speedway Karting stakeholders PARITY WEIGHTS TaG parity weights will be confirmed in the immediate future.
STATE REGULATIONS As a part of the consultation process in developing the 2016 Manual, it was decided to allow more flexibility in the manner in which events are run at certain levels of karting competition, most particularly those at State controlled levels. The solution and the best outcome for the sport overall lies in our hierarchy of events and allowing our State Karting Councils certain freedoms (under KA control) to determine some matters that may require a level of flexibility and difference from State to State as local State Regulations. E.g. almost every State seems to view what constitutes a Club day competition and how they should be run slightly differently. Accordingly, each State Karting Council will be able to develop (within approved limitations) their own set of State Regulations to govern events that are included on their own State Calendar of events (State Series, State Cup, Zonal Championship, Zonal Cup, Club Championship and Club competition). All State Regulations must be approved by KA and must respect the National Competition Rules and the International Sporting Code. CLASS AND DIVISION NAMES There has been a need to simplify and consolidate the names of many of our Competition Classes and Divisions. As a consequence of the tyre tender process and the awarding of new tyre supply agreements that traverse all competition levels, the opportunity and need existed to consolidate the class names. The notion of Pathways in Australian Karting includes development pathways for drivers and we also refer to Pathway Engines for the engines that we have introduced to the sport over the past 15 months. The essence being that the engines can be used in multiple levels of competition (with easy and cost effective upgrades) from a lower class to a higher class (and even in reverse) as Drivers move along their racing development pathway. We have chosen to implement a set of simplified Class names that are descriptive, simple to understand and that also reflect the similar principles followed by the world governing body of 4 wheel motorsport the FIA. At Cadet Level we already have that in place with our Cadet 9 and Cadet 12 Classes. Both are descriptive and easily understood. Cadet 9 leads directly to Cadet 12. There is no confusion. To anyone coming into the sport, the class names National and Clubman are somewhat meaningless. The uninitiated could be forgiven for thinking that National is a higher level class than Clubman (simply because one seems to relate to Club racing while the other appears to relate to National racing) when the actual situation is quite the reverse. Further, as the Board has made the decision to move away from the expensive CIK high performance engines used in the KF2 and KF3 Classes it is appropriate that these names are no longer used for these Competitions. From the start of 2016, National (including 2015 s KA ) becomes KA4, Clubman (including 2015 s KA1) becomes KA3, KF3 becomes KA2 and KF2 becomes KA1.
The names for these four Classes, reflect our own name, exhibit a clear pathway concept from slowest to fastest Classes that is well established in FIA open wheel class naming principles i.e. the lower the numeric suffix, the faster the car that it relates to (i.e. F1 is clearly much faster than either an F3 or an F4 car and competition is conducted at differing levels. The table below reflects the new naming structure of the following Classes National, Clubman, KF2 and KF3. It also reflects the Classes and Divisions that are proposed for AKC Competition, those Classes that form the compulsory Classes for State Championship Competition (and hence forth all subordinate Competitions in accordance with our hierarchy of events and the 2016 Rules), and the discretionary Classes that are able to be used at State Championship competition upon the decision of the relevant State Karting Associations. Current Name Characteristics New 2016 Class Name 2016 Divisions Cadet 9 60cc Air cooled Restricted engine Low grip tyres (7.6 hp) Cadet 9 SINGLE DIVISION Cadet 12 KA12 (AKC) 60cc Air cooled Unrestricted engine Low grip tyres (10 hp) Cadet 12 SINGLE DIVISION National KA (AKC) 100cc Air cooled Restricted Engine ( 13HP / Senior 13hp) KA4 Light Championship Senior Light Senior Heavy Masters Heavy Clubman KA1 (AKC) 100cc Air cooled Unrestricted engine ( 22HP / Senior 22hp) KA3 Senior Light Senior Super Heavy Senior Championship Masters Senior Heavy KF3 (AKC) 125cc Water cooled High performance restricted engine High grip tyres ( 28hp) KA2 SINGLE DIVISION KF2 (AKC) 125cc Water Cooled High performance High grip gyres (Senior 38hp) KA1 SINGLE DIVISION KZ2 (AKC) 125cc Water Cooled CIK Homologated high performance 6 speed engine. High Grip Tyres (Senior 44hp) KZ2 SINGLE DIVISION X30 KA X30 (AKC) Restricted Medium-high grip tyres (Senior 28hp) restricted engine X30 Light Heavy Restricted Light Heavy Super Heavy Masters
KA TAG (AKC) Open (Senior 22hp) Medium to high grip tyres (Senior 28hp) Open Light Single Division Championship (Parity Weights) Heavy Masters Rotax Classes Micro Max MOJO D1 Tyres Micro Max Single Division Mini max MOJO D1 Tyres Mini Max Single Division Max MOJO D1 Tyres Max Trophy Open 125 Max MOJO D2 Tyres 125 Max Light Heavy DD2 MOJO D3 Tyres DD2 Open Masters Sportsman Sportsman No Change TaG 100 100cc TaG engine TaG 100 No Change Various engines ( up to 28hp) No Change Note: 2016 Australian Kart Championship Class Compulsory State Championship Class (Also applies to State, Zonal and Club Competition) Discretionary State Championship Class Only in States that do not host a round of the Rotax Pro Tour Karting Australia Pathway Cadet to Senior Competition Pathway (6-15 yrs) Cadet 9 (6-9 yrs 7.6hp) Cadet 12 (9-12 yrs 10hp) KA4 (12-15 yrs 13hp) KA2 (13-15 yrs 28hp) Pathway To Seniors (12-15 yrs) KA4 (12-15 yrs 13hp) KA3 (13-15 yrs) (22hp) KA3 Senior (15+ yrs 22hp) KA2 (13-15 yrs 28hp) KA1 (15+ yrs 38hp) Senior Pathway (15+ yrs) KA3 Senior (22hp) TaG125 (28hp) KA1 (38hp) KZ2 (CIK Class - 44hp) or KA3 Senior (22hp) KA1 (38hp) KZ2 (CIK Class - 44hp) THANKYOU On behalf of the Board and the karting community generally I would like to thank the members of our Technical Committee and Competition and Event Committee for their work on the 2016 Rules. I would also like to thank the Rules Review Committee - Russell White, Gary Light, Derek Ferry, Mark Horsley, Phil Smith, Craig Denton and my staff for their diligence and contribution to the process. Bringing the informed thoughts and opinions of more than 20 well credentialed individuals to a point of consensus on most issues in a rule book of nearly 100,000 words is no mean feat. The achievement of this resulted in very few outstanding issues remaining for the Board to determine at the time of approval of the 2016 Rules Thank You! Kelvin O Reilly