Stroud race ace Max Winfield is going green after landing sponsorship support from Ecotricity to race in the F1’s Rob Smedley’s Total Karting Zero National electric karting series.
Cadet karting racing driver Max,11, topped up 6 podium finishes last year over 8 race circuits around the country showing great potential and this year is challenging for the national championship title along with 30 other talented young drivers.
The 2022 series kicked off in May at Lydd in the Kent countryside in a two-day event where drivers competed in close racing in super tuned racing e-karts using their best driving skills and race craft in a series of heats, qualifying sessions, and finals.
With a pole position in qualifying and 2 consecutive podiums, Max has collected some good points and is currently sitting in 2nd place in the championship with 4 races to go.
Competing at race circuits across the UK, including Nigel Mansell’s raceway in North Devon and the well-known Thruxton circuit in Andover, the races will determine the best drivers by accumulating the most points from each round.
The Total Karting Zero series was founded by Formula 1’s Rob Smedley who is passionate about putting something back into motorsport that offers fairer, greener, and more accessible racing, to help develop our young talented drivers.
According to Rob, karting isn’t just about racing, it’s about a sport that helps kids find confidence, resilience and most importantly – respect. It’s a sport that can bring families together to create exciting moments and memories that will last forever and is why we’re on a mission to make motorsport more accessible to a wider group of people.
With Formula 1 announcing an ambitious sustainability plan to have a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030 E-Racing is going to be the way forward for motorsport.
The powerful E-Karts are charged by using an Off-Grid energy charger that enables the karts’ two batteries to produce a power output of 5.5KW with the karts reaching speeds of 50MPH. The difference between this series and other petrol series is that as well as being environmentally friendly, it is an ‘arrive and drive’ set up whereby all the karts, engines and chassis are identical and equal in performance, so it’s not about how much cash you can splash it’s all about the racing!
Dale Vince, Founder, Ecotricity said: “As soon as I heard about Max and his electric karting endeavours, I wanted to get involved. Switching to renewables and going green doesn’t mean the end of racing sports – but a chance to do them another way.”
Angus Scott from Ecotricity’s graphic design team together with Max designed his race suit and carbon-fibre crash helmet sporting the Ecotricity flag.
Max who has been karting since the age of 7, SAID: “I feel very honoured to be sponsored by Ecotricity and fly the flag! I feel I can do something special this year with my goal being to win the series and progress into the junior classes. My ambition is to race in Le Mans one day and become a Formula-E driver. If I keep training hard and keep believing in myself then maybe one day, I will achieve my dream. I was inspired to race in the e-karting series as the racing is cleaner, much fairer and competitive with the e-karts giving you instant power with incredible torque that’s really exciting.’’
You can follow Max’s progress throughout the series on Instagram @maxwinfieldracing
To find out more about the Total Karting Zero series www.totalkartingmotorsport.com
