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PAGE 19, 20 & 21 - THE LONG LAP - RICCIARDO KART<br />
THE LONG LAP - BUILDING A BRAND - RICCIARDO KART<br />
Around 17 years ago at the Tiger Kart Club in WA, a young, curly haired Australian-Italian kid started<br />
driving a bright red Birel under the stewardship of Michael Patrizi. Little did he, or Patrizi know at the<br />
time, those tentative laps in the rookie kart, head bobbling about, would be the genesis of a global<br />
karting brand.<br />
A few years later, that curly haired kid would head East for a CIK round and out of nowhere would pop<br />
the #3 Birel on the front row of Junior ICA...<br />
“Who is this kid Patrizi’s got?” the karting elite from New South Wales and Victoria sneered.<br />
“Don’t worry, he’s good,” a then 19-year-old Michael Patrizi said to this writer, with a wry, knowing<br />
smile…<br />
Fast forward about 15 years and now that curly haired Australian-Italian kid is arguably the most popular<br />
driver in Formula 1 - and in the eyes of some pundits - was the best driver in the world in 2016 - he’s<br />
also known as Daniel Ricciardo.<br />
In 2013, Patrizi - now based on the Gold Coast - and Ricciardo - now based in Monaco - spent a West<br />
Australian summer with their tight knit families celebrating the announcement that Ricciardo would move<br />
from Toro Rosso into the all-conquering Red Bull Racing squad, the heir apparent to Mark Webber -<br />
alongside the foreboding (if you believe Australian media) four time World Champion Sebastian Vettel.<br />
With a young family, Patrizi was looking to futureproof himself, but also find a way to leverage his<br />
relationships in the Italian karting scene and to do business with his mate, assist Ricciardo’s long term<br />
legacy and success that Patrizi knew would come.<br />
Thus the seed for Ricciardo Kart had been planted - however there was plenty of watering to be done<br />
before it germinated...<br />
“For us, there was only one option and that was to build the Ricciardo Kart with BirelART, if we couldn’t<br />
do that, then we’d have to consider the practicality of the project,” said Patrizi.<br />
“I’ve had such a good relationship with Ronni Sala and the team at BirelART from my time racing here in<br />
Australia and through Europe that they would be the first port of call to get Ricciardo Kart off the ground.<br />
“Obviously, Daniel and I had been very close since the beginning of his career and we’ve helped where<br />
we could and I wanted to do something with him to leverage his personal brand, so it made perfect<br />
sense that we looked at creating a karting brand.”<br />
That may all sound easy on paper, but behind the scenes, Patrizi would have to be sharp to sell this<br />
concept to the Birel factory.<br />
Whilst other manufacturers willingly enter into licensing arrangements, Birel doesn’t.<br />
Founded in the 1950s, the name ‘Birel’ itself comes from the nickname given to the Sala family in the<br />
city of Lissone near Milan.<br />
The only deviation from the red and white master brand first created after World War II was to build