Meet 18-year-old Carter Peters from Christchurch, who may be new to competitive racing, but has already caught the karting bug. Carter works as a switchboard builder at Bremca while studying through ETCO, and has loved cars from a young age. His racing journey only began late last year after a mate took him to Supa Karts Christchurch for a bit of fun. One visit was all it took — he was hooked. 🏁 Since then, Carter has continued racing at Supa Karts and has even competed in S

Meet Roman Lally, a 14-year-old from Wellington who's bringing a serious amount of sim racing experience to his first IORK campaign! 🏁 A student at Wellington College, Roman has already spent more than 200 hours on iRacing, putting in plenty of virtual laps before making the jump to real-world competition. His love of racing comes from iRacing, and his favourite drivers are two names well known to fans of Formula 1: Max Verstappen and Liam Lawson 🏎️ Roman has experience rac

Meet Ryan Groen, a Wellington-based racer who's back for his third IORK campaign and has already proven he knows how to fight at the sharp end of the field. 🏁 Ryan has been racing rental karts for around six years, after he and a few mates decided it would make a good hobby. Six years later, that hobby is still going strong, and Ryan has built up plenty of experience racing tracks across the North Island. And he's no stranger to IORK success. In 2025, Ryan finished 5th in th

Meet Rylan Valentine, a 16-year-old from Upper Hutt who's heading into his first IORK campaign with one thing on his mind: speed, competition and maybe a sneaky podium! 🏁 A student at Upper Hutt College, Rylan has already started building his racing experience at Daytona Raceway Upper Hutt, with Auckland GameOver also on his karting radar. Now he's taking on a bigger challenge and lining up against drivers from across the country at IORK. Rylan's passion for motorsport comes

Meet Kyle Forde, a 52-year-old from Dunedin who's bringing a mix of real-world motorsport, sim racing and plenty of competitive spirit to his first IORK campaign! 🏁 Kyle works as a Director and describes himself as an "IT grunt" who keeps busy with water polo, bodyboarding and a bit of iRacing on the side. While he's not claiming a huge racing background, he's clearly no stranger to getting competitive, whether that's behind the wheel or in the water! 🏎️ His entry into IORK

Meet 16-year-old Harry Owers from Christchurch, who is making his IORK debut this year! 🏁 Harry's love of racing started young, when his dad bought him a sim racing wheel for Christmas. Safe to say, it didn't take long for him to catch the racing bug - and he's been hooked ever since 🎮🏎️ Now he's taking that passion from the virtual world to the real track for the first time, competing in the 18 & Under category at IORK 2026. While this will be Harry's first IORK, he's cer

Meet 43-year-old Del "Papa Bear" Ellis from Christchurch, returning for his fourth IORK appearance! 🏁🐻 Del first found his way into karting through his work at Supa-Karts, and what started there has turned into four IORK campaigns. He's back again this year, competing in the 100kg & Over category. With four appearances under his belt, Del knows what it takes to get through an IORK weekend - and this year, his goal is simple: make the finals and finish every race 💪 Del's lo

Meet 19-year-old Caleb Barr from Christchurch, returning for his second IORK appearance - and after what he's achieved since his debut, he's definitely one to watch 🏁🔥 Caleb's motorsport journey started in a pretty familiar way: watching racing with his old man and dreaming that one day it could be him behind the wheel. Formula 1, Supercars, NASCAR and MotoGP were the inspiration - but IORK gave him a chance to actually start making that dream a reality. While on holiday in

Meet Mason Roberts, a 13-year-old Nelson racer who's already got plenty of experience chasing competition and speed! 🏁 Mason is a student at Waimea College and has been racing at Nelson since he was just 9 years old, originally getting behind the wheel of a two-seater go-kart with his dad. What started with constantly trying to beat Dad quickly turned into a serious love of racing! 🏎️ That passion for karting has also helped lead Mason into speedway, where he now races a Yo

Meet 23-year-old Jaime Blake from Auckland, making his IORK debut this year! 🏁 Jaime's racing journey started young, with his uncle introducing him to karting when he was around 8 years old. Fast forward a few years and he's back behind the wheel - this time ready to take on his first IORK. And if Jaime's profile is anything to go by, we're in for some entertainment 😂 In his own words, Jaime has "absolutely no business thinking I'm this fast" - but apparently that hasn't st

Next up in our IORK driver spotlight series is Jozef Hoeta! 🏎️💨 At 38 years old and hailing from Auckland, Jozef is making the trip to Nelson for his first-ever IORK, stepping onto the grid in the 100kg & Over category. And if there's one thing Jozef is chasing, it's SPEED ⚡ When asked what he loves about karting, his answer was straight to the point: "I love speed." With Formula 1 listed as his favourite racing inspiration, he clearly appreciates the thrill of getting behi

Meet Izaak May-Cashen, a 22-year-old from Wainuiomata who's bringing a lifetime of motorsport passion to his first IORK campaign! 🏁 Working as a transport driver for LT Transport, Izaak has been hooked on motorsport for as long as he can remember. Some of his earliest memories are watching Formula 1 and V8 Supercars with his old man, including one particularly memorable image of a red car crossing the line to win a race. That early love of racing has stuck with him ever sin

New face, fresh challenge, and a first shot at IORK glory! 🏁 Meet Ethan Roberts, a 24-year-old engineer from Roxburgh who's making the trip to the IORK grid for his very first campaign! 🙌 By day, Ethan works as an engineer at Roxburgh Dam. But this year, he's taking on a different kind of challenge, swapping the engineering work for a kart and lining up against drivers from around the country! 👷‍♂️ Ethan will be competing in the 70–84.9kg category, stepping into a competit

Meet Rowan Poole, a 39-year-old Auckland local who's making his IORK debut with a pretty special reason for getting behind the wheel 🏁 Working in cyber security at Spotica, Rowan is originally from South Africa and moved to New Zealand three years ago. Racing has been part of his life for a long time, thanks to his dad's love of motorsport and the karting trips they enjoyed together growing up. That passion has stuck! Wherever Rowan travels, he makes a point of checking out

Meet Fergus Holland, a 15-year-old from Te Anau who's making his competitive karting debut at IORK 2026! 🏁 A student at Fiordland College, Fergus is a huge Formula One fan and has a clear reason for getting into karting. He knows that F1 drivers start out in karts, and now he's ready to experience competitive racing for himself! His favourite driver is Kimi Antonelli, and his ultimate goal? To become a Formula One World Champion. 🏆 That's a big dream, but every racing journ

🚦 Driver Spotlight 🚦 Christchurch's Alice MacLachlan is back for another IORK campaign, bringing experience, determination, and a podium finish already to her name. At 33, Alice balances life as a doctor with her passion for competitive karting. While medicine might keep her busy away from the track, she clearly knows how to make time for racing! Returning for her second IORK appearance, Alice has already proven she can compete with the field, having secured 3rd place in a

Next up is 32-year-old Hamish Cleland from Christchurch, returning for his second IORK appearance - and he's coming back with unfinished business. 🏁 Hamish's route into karting is a little different from most. After spending several years competing at a reasonably high level in the Australasian sim-racing scene, he decided it was time to find out whether those virtual racing skills could translate to the real thing. His first year in real-world racing came with a steep lear

At just 18, Leonora is already building plenty of experience behind the wheel, with time spent racing at Kartsport Kaitoke, Kartsport Rotorua, Daytona Upper Hutt and Ace Motorsports. She's no stranger to competition either, finishing 7th in the U18s Final last year. Now she's stepping up and looking to see what she can do against the 69.9kg & Under category 👀🔥 Currently a student in Wellington, she's bringing experience from multiple tracks around the North Island - so it'l

IORK NEWSLETTER 4 Weeks To Go 🏁 FOUR WEEKS TO GO – THE IORK 2026 COUNTDOWN IS ON! We are officially just FOUR WEEKS away from IORK 2026! From 15–18 October, Pro Karts Nelson will come alive for four huge days of rental kart racing, and things are starting to get very real. Entries continue to come in, many categories are filling up and some now have very limited spots remaining. If you are still planning to race at IORK 2026 but haven't entered yet, now is the time to lock i

IORK NEWSLETTER 5 Weeks To Go IORK 2026 — FIVE WEEKS TO GO! The countdown is well and truly on. We are now five weeks away from the 2026 New Zealand Rental Go Kart Championships, and everything is coming together brilliantly behind the scenes. Ticket sales are going well, with several categories now nearly full and only a few places remaining. If you are planning to race at IORK 2026 but have not yet entered, now is the time to secure your place on the grid. CKT LIVES