Stop Street Racing, Try Karting
	A new program designed to get people into karting
	November 1, 2006 - Street Racing is a hot topic. It’s on the front pages of our newspapers during the summer months for all the wrong reasons. It’s illegal, it kills innocent people and the drivers behind the wheel of these street machines. A new campaign has been initiated by director Jim Pirzas as a viable solution – Karting! Karting will give street racers the thrills of speed they’re seeking but in the controlled environment of a purpose built circuit. Jim comments, “Karting is the purest form of racing. I believe that once these street racers are exposed to the sport they will be hooked. Acceleration, braking and cornering speeds can only be duplicated in the highest forms of motorsport. Furthermore, karting will educate a driver in skid control and a smoother driving technique making them safer drivers on the road.” The idea was presented to P.C. Kent Taylor, the Ontario Provincial Police Media Relations Officer (Highway Safety Division) and he made this campaign an official partner to the E.R.A.S.E. Program (Eliminate Racing Activities on Streets Everywhere). E.R.A.S.E. educates people on the dangers of street racing and the Try Karting campaign is happy to be part of it. It’s a better solution to try karting rather than building more quarter mile tracks. Street racers will use the tracks but it won’t stop the racing activities before and after the track event. Karting takes them down a completely different path and it’s a far more cost effective alternative. Recently Jim brought the topic up with Salvatore Murtas, VROOM Magazine’s Marketing Editor. Salvatore praised the program and offered his help. So far they have been asked to provide photos from their magazine for the website and they have responded with some excellent international race photos. As the website is further developed you will see more of their photographers work. Salvatore has gone one step further by introducing Jim to the President and CEO of SE Games, Michael Donaldson. Michael fully endorses the project and commented that he too wanted to start a similar campaign after hearing about two young drivers being killed in his home State of Florida in two separate street racing accidents – one on a motorcycle and the other in a street tuned car. He said, “ It would be great if we could have chapters across the USA and Canada working together to educate young drivers on the dangers of street racing and at the same time introduce them to karting.” For those that don’t already know, SE Games is due to launch the first real karting simulation game in mid 2007 with a list of partners from the industry including VROOM and the top manufacturers in karting. Gary Lehmann of KarTVidz is enthusiastic about the Try Karting campaign. “I feel like I can really connect with the passion people have for speed!” He is dedicating many hours into developing an intro to karting for the website from footage of the recent Woodbine Grand Prix. Gary says, “Through video we can help provide assistance to Stop Street Racing, Try Karting.” The campaign is a good opportunity for the karting industry to expose new people to the sport. The target is street racers and aggressive drivers but really anyone in the 10-24 year old range will find karting fascinating. In Ontario alone we are estimating over 2 million people. We look forward to your comments and ideas to better help us direct these potential karters to your clubs, tracks, series and kart shops to have a look at what karting is all about. When you visit www.trykarting.com please click on the logos of our supporting companies to view their sites.
	Related links: http://www.trykarting.com