7,000 children, one British F4 seat: The karting league tearing up motorsport’s money problem

“Aggregated across championships in Europe and the US, it’s roughly £100,000 a year across national events,” he details. “At a European or World championship level, that’s more like £250,000. For anybody, that’s a lot of money.”

The sacrifices of families and parents have long been written into the narrative arcs of those who reach the top. George Russell’s father, Steve, sold his business to fund his son’s karting journey. Lewis Hamilton’s dad, Anthony, worked three jobs simultaneously to do the same.

On the flip side, Lance Stroll’s father, Canadian billionaire Lawrence, literally bought an F1 team in Aston Martin. F2 driver Cian Shields, son of Scottish businessman Seamus Shields (whose net-worth was put at £151m in The Sunday Times’ 2024 Irish Rich List), paid an estimated £2m to feature in practice for Aston at the Abu Dhabi GP last year, The Independent understands. Money doesn’t buy happiness, right?

Lawrence Stroll bought an F1 outfit in Aston Martin, with his son Lance a driver for the outfit (Getty Images)

Smedley is a former race engineer for Felipe Massa at Ferrari (Getty Images)

Yet the cold, hard facts are that lucrative sums in the back pocket can buy opportunity in motorsport. As for teen prodigy Wolny, his background has certainly not been of blank-cheque privilege.

FAT KARTING LEAGUE

What is it? FAT Karting League is an electric karting championship with low, fixed pricing and an arrive-and-drive format that “puts the focus back on talent.”

Their aim? To remove the financial obstacles for under-resourced kids to progress up the motorsport ladder by slashing the entry price point by 95%. Their prize, after hosting regional, national and worldwide karting events, is a fully-funded Formula 4 seat.

Why is it called FAT? The racing brand is named after a 1980s French-German logistics company, Francais Allemand Transit, that sponsored racing cars, including a Le Mans-winning Porsche 962. It is now owned by Ferdi Porsche (grandson of the German car marque’s founder), who has teamed up with ex-Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley in forming this new project.

“We were in way over our heads,” says Wolny. “I missed so many days of school. My dad didn’t know how to pay for all the racing, so he sold his car and his die-cast business with his brother. He was putting in more time than me just to fund the whole thing.”

The problem is obvious; the solution perhaps not so clear. Enter FAT Karting League. A continuation of the F.A.T International racing brand, Smedley worked with Ferdi Porsche (grandson of the German car marque’s founder) after the Covid pandemic to formulate a new all-electric junior programme, which would provide a realistic entry pathway for kids in karting.

And, on the face of it, the business model is simple: lower the price point, increase the customer base.

“With our system, you can come and race with us in a junior-level kart for about £2,000 a year,” Smedley explains. “For all the testing and practice sessions as well, it’s around £5,000.

Smedley speaking to Jackson Wolny at the Formula 4 shootout event in Oxford (FAT Karting League)

“So it’s a massive discount, around 95%. How do we make that work? It has to be a business; it can’t be funded through benevolence. But by collapsing the price point significantly and with business partners investing, we’re in it for the long term.

“People aren’t investing with the expectation that this is going to do venture capital multiples. This is purpose-driven and, so far, it’s working. The probability of being able to find talent in a very large pool of kids is high.”

Launching for its inaugural season in 2025, FAT hosted numerous test sessions and race weekends across all three karting categories – bambino (aged 6-8), cadet (aged 7-13), junior (12-17) – in the UK and US, culminating in a world finals last December in Willow Springs, California. From that, four teenage drivers were selected to take part in a ‘Formula 4 shootout.’

How much does the traditional motorsport pyramid cost?

Karting (national) – £100,000

Karting (European/International) – £250,000

Formula 4 – £500,000

Formula Regional – £1m

Formula 3 – £1.5m

Formula 2 - £2m

Approximate figures per season

Alongside Wolny, Monde-Jnr Konini (Glasgow), Ellis McKenzie (Surrey) and Shea Aldrich (California) took part in a week-long assessment programme, modelled on ‘F1 driver-selection methodologies.’ As well as time on the karting track in Oxford, the teenagers underwent simulator work, strength and fitness testing and mental performance evaluation. Their boot camp concluded with testing in F4 cars at a circuit in Granada, Spain.

A few weeks later, Wolny was selected as the chosen one. After screaming in jubilation when told, the 16-year-old told Smedley: “I’m just telling you now, you made the right choice.” Alongside online schooling, he has been testing in F4 machinery over the last few weeks – and recently moved across the pond and into a rental property in Banbury, Oxford – ahead of his debut at Donington Park this weekend. A venue where his idol, Ayrton Senna, experienced one of his greatest days back in 1993.

Dozens of kids competed at the inaugural World Finals in California last December (FAT Karting League)

All four drivers underwent testing in Formula 4 cars in Spain in February (FAT Karting League)

Wolny, a 16-year-old from Chicago, will make his British F4 debut this weekend (FAT Karting League)

Such an opportunity would not have been possible without FAT’s involvement.

“We couldn’t come close to funding single-seaters,” Wolny says. “Even in karting, there were superior teams, people dumping money on engines and kids getting new chassis’ every weekend. But this chance in F4 feels a lot different.”

The early signs are promising, but Smedley knows the importance of continuous growth. He is looking to expand into the Middle East, India, China and Africa over the next few years. By that stage, the programme could involve 100,000 children. The company’s motto, both verbally and online, is: “We’re building a million-person race team.”

It is a meritocratic approach to dismantling motorsport’s old order. Yet like every pathway, there’s always a moonshot objective. On this, Smedley shows no hesitation in his ambitious, unwavering target: “In five or six years, we should have a kid who is either knocking on the door of Formula One or, better still, makes it to Formula One.”