CIK Best-of 2014: Ricky Flynn, RFM Team Manager

An absolutely outstanding season

In 2014 the English team Ricky Flynn Motorsport experienced the best of all of it’s racing seasons since it’s creation in 1995. To the many victories gained everywhere in Europe this year, were added the CIK-FIA European Champion in KF-Junior and two CIK-FIA World Championships in KF and KF-Junior for Lando Norris and Enaam Ahmed. RFM is positioning itself as the best team in both categories, with the distinction of fighting at the front in all races.

Are you a happy team manager?
– Of course! We had never previously won as many international victories. For many years, our drivers were well placed, but this year success was almost total! We can say that the CIK-FIA European Championship in KF eluded us due to mechanical problems for Lando Norris at Genk, but apart from that, we won everything. It’s fantastic. We put two drivers on the world podium in KF at Aunay-les-Bois and won both categories.

How do you explain this success?
– There is no secret. To win you have to do a lot of work. We use very competitive equipment, the FA Kart chassis and Vortex engines prepared by One Engines. Unlike the factory teams, we are focused 100% on racing. We complete numerous testing sessions on the track to prepare for competitions. The development of the karts is not the most complicated point as we have mastered the current hardware very well. Everything is ready when the race starts, we just have to adapt to track conditions. We spend a lot of time in parallel training our drivers. This does not just happen, it’s like at school, they have to learn step by step, over several years. They have speed, but also racecraft, which is essential to win, and that’s another thing.

What is your opinion on the new generation of engines announced for 2016?
– I think we need to do something to decrease the budgets. Karting is a wonderful discipline that should not be reserved for rich families. There are many “normal” Drivers who cannot show their talent now and that’s a shame. This should be done without sacrificing the development of drivers. For the 2016 engines, I would firstly hope that they are more developed than the KF during their appearance in 2007. It is important for a successful transition at the beginning of the season.

What goals do you have when you have been so successful?
– We will try to keep our top rankings, which is perhaps even more difficult than to gain it. We need to work more, if possible! Our success depends in large part on our drivers. We need young, motivated drivers who are willing to listen and learn. Those who think they know it all at 13-14 are struggling to make progress. On this point, the Enaam Ahmed’s progress throughout the season was very significant. At the World Championship, he demonstrated impressive qualities that he did not possess in the year, even though he won many victories in 2014.

CIK-FIA Best of 2014 / © Photo KSP