Inaugural North of 49 Championship revs to life over weekend event

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Inaugural North of 49 Karting Championship, hosted by the Calgary Kart Racing Club (CKRC), was held at the Strathmore Motorsports Park on July 24. 

John Kwong, who organized the event, said the club had been looking to host a larger scale event being somewhat of a central club in western Canada. 

“We figure we can draw racers from Chilliwack, Warburg, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg,” he said.

The club has reportedly been debating the idea for several years, though only acted on the idea and began putting it into motion last November.

“The impetus was that we had seen other clubs run events and we thought we should run our own event,” explained Kwong.

He added the hobby has recently experienced growth in the amount of people both watching and racing, as during the COVID-19 pandemic it gave people something to do in their downtime, as well as being a sport that is social distancing-friendly.

The karts themselves are not like the average go-kart one might see at a casual consumer track. Kwong said a lot more goes into both building and racing this type of machine, just like a full-size vehicle.

“These are far beyond what the general public typically knows as a go kart that you would rent … or that kind of machine,” he said. “These are purpose-built racing machines, very lightweight, colourful bodywork, lots of safety built into them.”

Drivers competing at the North of 49 ranged from ages eight to 78 and were divided based on their age, as well as engine class.

Eight-year-old drivers reportedly mount a Briggs and Stratton four-cycle motor into their karts, boasting roughly six horsepower, and typically capable of rocketing the youths to speeds of 55 to 60 km/hr.

“The top class is about a 45-horsepower gearbox kart, so it actually has a transmission where the drivers have to change gears¬ – and those will reach about 140 [to] 145 km/hour,” said Kwong.

Heat races were held on Friday, pre-finals were on Saturday, and a 20-lap final took place on Sunday. Though the driver to win the final wouldn’t necessarily have triumphed through the whole weekend.

“We’re going to do what we call a P-pick for the Friday night heat, so each driver will experience a front, middle, or rear of grid starting position,” he said. “This way, they will have to race smart and careful to get through the heats because if they did not finish one of these, it could hurt their points total by the end of the weekend.”

All the drivers had to get through the weekend on one set of tires. Kwong added drivers will have had to come up with strategies to manage their tire wear in order to complete the weekend.

As of July 21, the club had 104 entries in 10 different classes, and hoped for more slots to be filled through the week.

For more competitive racers, the North of 49 Championship was a standalone that regardless of result, did not affect any other tournament or championship points through other organizations.

Prior to the start of the event, the CKRC had petitioned the Town of Strathmore to allow a beer garden at the event, which was approved for spectators to be able to enjoy withing the confines of the serving area. 

Kwong said the idea is to encourage a friendly atmosphere and share the camaraderie of racing.

“Between the families, spectators and officials required to run this event, we’ll probably have 200-250 people out at the facility over the weekend on each day,” he said.