Full Throttle

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