(Photo: Musselman Honda Circuit)

EKN’s Paddock Insider is part of our Trackside coverage, bringing you notes, updates and breaking news as it happens. The article will feature notes from trackside at the Challenge of the Americas at the Musselman Honda Circuit in Tucson, Arizona. This is insider info will not be seen anywhere else. Be sure to follow the EKN Social Media channels – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram for more coverage throughout the weekend.

A New Era at The Challenge

Vega Tires makes its debut with Challenge of the Americas this weekend (Photo: EKN)

The 2024 Challenge opens this weekend at the Musselman Honda Circuit entering a new era. The series has become an independent program for the first time in its 17 years, not running under the Rotax Max Challenge nor ROK Cup USA program. As noted during the last few months, both ROK and IAME engines continue to be permitted in the 100cc divisions, and now welcomed in the Cadet division. The Shifter divisions have expanded to welcome the KZ platform alongside the ROK engine to make up the six classes.

With the independence, this opened the door for the Challenge to move to the Vega Tires for 2024 season. The new XH4 (Green) for all the classes except Cadet running on the VAH (Red). We’ll be getting feedback on the tires throughout the weekend. The other update is the rule structure the Challenge follows. They will be using the NKA rulebook as the basis. Staff officials have been reviewing over the last few months, making supplementals to better conform to what the series has done or will be doing in 2024. Tech procedures are very similar, with ROK and IAME rule sets utilized.

Musselman Honda Circuit in Reverse

The Challenge is welcoming a few firsts in the 2024 opener, clockwise direction and rain (Photo: EKN)

In the near 20-year history, there have not been many times the Musselman Honda Circuit has been run in the clockwise direction. Some club events, and a race last year for the US Trophy West program and in the past for the Stars of Karting. Since the Challenge has been coming to Tucson, it has always run in the counterclockwise direction. The feedback from drivers already contesting unofficial practice and testing has been positive. The difficulty level is a bit diminished, however, there are bumps on entry in certain corners and exit spots that drivers are finding that you would not normally feel in the ‘normal’ direction. Because of the way the pavement is laid out for drifting, temporary tire barriers have been put in place to mark the outside of the track in certain spots.

On the other side of it, Friday practice was greeting with hail and rain for the first time in Challenge history. In the past, there have been cold temperatures but never precipitation on the circuit. So cold in fact some of the water-cooled engines were frozen inside. The track was wet this morning and was just starting to dry out before a cell of hail and rain came through the area just before lunch. It appears rain will be done for the day, however, heading into Pre-Qualifying the track continues to be wet.

Debut for Pantano Racing Karts at FDM

Pantano Racing Karts making its USA debut with Forward Direction Motorsports (Photo: ChallengeKarting.com)

Announced in late January, Forward Direction Motorsports has become the US Distributor for Pantano Racing Karts. FDM owner Greg Welch is among those under the tent running the new chassis along with others. The Pantano name comes from Giorgio Pantano – a 1994 FIA Karting Junior World Champion. The Italian made his way up the motorsports ranks, racing one season in Formula One along with selected time in IndyCar. The homologated chassis is built in house with unique characteristics. The most notable is the non-tube brackets for the seat struts and other sections of the chassis. FDM worked with Pantano to make sure the chassis would be usable for 4-cycle engines, adjusting the rear design of the chassis utilized in the 100cc 2-cycle divisions here in the US market.

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