Three national titles in the key kartsport development classes of Vortex Mini Rok, Rotax Light and Cadet Rok, and a clean sweep of the podium in VMR, have been the highlight so far this season for the team at WKS Kartstore in Christchurch.

When you consider that director Matt Hamilton and his father John have 30 New Zealand Sprint titles in karting between them, then their success is less of a surprise.

The team, which has operated in Christchurch for four decades, guided Zach Tucker to national honours in VMR – his third in a row; Caleb Cross in Rotax Light and Iver Spence in Cadet Rok, while Henry Fisher and Aryan Lala filled the podium with Jack McGrath fifth in Vortex Mini Rok.

“We have had an extraordinary last three years,” said Matt. “Along with TC Performance, we have won the last three Cadet and Mini Rok NZ Sprint titles. That’s every National Sprint title in those classes since the inception of the 950 homologated chassis. And we have won five of the last six VMR national sprint titles. It is a great run.

“I love it. Our core focus is the young guys. They are the ones travelling and chasing championships. I love working with them.”

“It is super rewarding to see their passion grow. When they get in to it, often it is just something to try with the family, but to see it grow to a passion and see their development is pretty cool. And it is nice to help with that.”

Let’s not forget that those “young kids” grow up – and the WKS Kartstore team have continued to nurture them. It is quite a list but includes the likes of Marcus Armstrong (now in IndyCar); 17-year-old Jacob Douglas, based in Indianapolis and impressing in the feeder class to IndyCar; teenager Callum Hedge who has made a successful start to his Porsche racing season in Australia and NZ Elite Academy winner James Penrose. The list goes on.

It started with father John who began racing karts in the 1970s and gained success overseas, mostly in England, before returning to start the business in 1981. He drove 100cc classes mostly in NZ and in England.

“He started racing in his mid-20s – everything was done later in life. It was not professional then – just racing for the passion and the folly,” said Matt.

Matt and sister Fiona grew up in motorsport and both raced. He raced the 2001 Rotax World Finals in Malaysia, where he met a racing team from Bahrain, who invited him to join them 24 hour kart racing in Asia.

“Ï was meant to go back to NZ for Uni, but instead I went straight to Oman, and travelled regularly to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe which was quite exciting. There were no race car tracks in the Middle East so karting and rally were the focus. It was quite big and attracted big sponsors and backers.”

The team was backed by the Crown Prince of Bahrain, and with their help, Matt’s intention was to compete in Formula Renault in the UK. When that programme wound down, Matt returned home to race successfully for the Karcher team in the Toyota Racing series, winning the Lady Wigram Trophy, and eventually moving to Auckland to work for the sponsor. There he met Ron Dixon who helped him into Indy Lights in the USA.

“The Indy Light experience was amazing. It was a huge step up and a culture shock. It was more ovals than road courses. This was a completely new experience for me, unlike the guys I was racing against, some of which had been racing on ovals since they could first drive a go-kart.

“You go to the fairgrounds on a Sunday mornings and kids are racing staggered go karts on circle tracks, that was the American culture. The cars were big powerful v8s and it was a steep learning curve.

“We were a one-car team with a very limited budget, and while it could not last, it was an unforgettable and rewarding experience.”

Matt returned home, and after a stint with Team Kiwi in Australia racing V8s, he joined his father in the business in Christchurch, developing the burgeoning karting operation, supplying karts and parts, building engines, and establishing the race team.

Racing has now taken a back seat to help the youngsters, but you will still see Matt in a race car where he can, in 2022 becoming the only racer in NZ history to add The Wigram Cup to his Lady Wigram Trophy.

Over the last decade he was joined by Tiffany, three-time British Kart Champion and arguably the best female karter to grace the sport in Europe. TC Performance was launched, which has greatly complimented the WKS operation, providing one-on-one coaching and advanced high-performance tuition in and out of the kart and racecraft guidance.

“There has always been a huge amount of talent running through here. While Tiff and I are at races with the race team, then Dad is at home looking after the business and building engines. It is working well.”

The reward is to see the development of the young drivers – in and out of the kart.

“They are a group of young people who work well together, and share data which is not easy. They get to use the previous data from the likes of Jacob Douglas, then likewise they understand that others will view their data to help us improve them as drivers too.”

“They are all such great kids. Jacob and Marcus, for instance, have both turned into great people. We would not be working with them if they were not good kids. That is the most important and rewarding part of what we do.”

Article added: Tuesday 18 July 2023