Super 1 National Kart Championships
The "Super 1 National Kart Championships" "S1" or "Super One" is a karting championship based in the United Kingdom. It has been in operation since 1983 and is regarded as the premier karting championship in the UK, producing many famous drivers including Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Dan Wheldon, Anthony Davidson and Jason Plato among others.
History
The first Super 1 meeting was held in 1983 at Snetterton where only 4 classes were run as part of the championship. At the time, the championship was not officially recognised as being the "British Championship" as the RAC national titles were decided over a one-weekend event. This continued up till 1990 when Super 1 secured the rights to decide the British champion over the course of the series.
Over the years, the Super 1 series has produced champions that have gone on to race in Formula 1 such as David Coulthard, Jenson Button, Anthony Davidson, Ralph Firman and Lewis Hamilton. Other drivers who have won a Super 1 championship and who have gone on to professional motor racing include Gary Paffett, Dan Wheldon, Ben Hanley, Oliver Jarvis, Allan McNish and Paul di Resta
Classes
Originally, there were only 4 classes in the Super 1 series. Currently there are 11 different classes that run within the series. For 2011 these classes are split into two separate series, (MSA and Rotax).
The MSA series consists of the following classes:
- KF3 (MSA British Junior Kart Championship)
- Comer Cadet
- Super Cadet
- Formula KGP
- Junior TKM
- TKM Extreme
The Rotax series consists of the following classes:
Out of the above, only one class is recognised by the Motorsports Association as being a British Championships. The rest are recognised by the Association of British Kart Clubs as National Championships (Excluding Formula KGP.) Each class also has seeded rankings for the top 15 finishers in the championship standings for the use of their finishing number until the end of the following years series. Super Cadet and Formula KGP are new classes for the Super One 2011 Championships.
Just before the 2011 season started it was decided to change the class setup. Previously there were 3 separate series, the third being TKM. With the cancellation of the two 4 stroke TKM championships the previous year and now this year it was deemed to un-cost effective to run the series separately anymore. Instead the series has been merged. The remaining TKM classes move into the MSA series while Honda Cadets move into the Rotax series.
Following this just weeks before the first round of the MSA series the KF2 championship was cancelled due to lack of drivers entered, this means along with the class, the MSA British kart championship went and this is currently trying to be resolved by way of getting another class to host the championship or creating a completely separate race to decide it.
Races
Currently, there are 14 Super 1 race meetings each year split into 2 separate championship series: the MSA series (for KF3, W60 Cadet, Super Cadet, KGP, Junior TKM and TKM Extreme), and the Rotax series (for all Rotax classes as well as Honda Cadet). Each series has 7 rounds at different locations throughout the UK (usually at circuits which are regarded as "premier" venues).
The 2015 Championship Dates[1] are as follows:-
| Date | Location |
|---|---|
| 18/4/15-19/4/15 | Rowrah |
| 25/4/15-26/4/15 | Rowrah |
| 8/5/15-10/5/15 | Shenington |
| 22/5/15-24/5/15 | Llandow |
| 12/6/15-14/6/15 | Buckmore Park |
| 26/6/15-28/6/15 | GYG (Glan-y-Gors) |
| 10/7/15-12/7/15 | Larkhall |
| 7/8/15-9/8/15 | Rissington |
| 28/8/15-30/8/15 | Whilton Mill |
| 11/9/15-13/9/15 | Shenington |
| 25/9/15-27/9/15 | PF International |
Officials
The current series co-ordinator for Super 1 is Neil Hann. Hann is responsible for promoting the championship as well as organising the calendar/venues for each season. The competition secretary is Sonja Game who is responsible for championship points and processing entries into the championship.
There are normally 3 or 4 clerks of the courses who attend the Super 1 meetings, the most regular ones being Phil Cox, Rod Taylor and Alan Bryant. The series' chief scrutineer is Paul Klaassen and fuel is supplied by ATOL.
John Hoyle is the current promoter for the series.