Gennaio

Cover photo: Carl Kilbey in the Toshiba-sponsored Global Cup at Rye House. Haydock Park Motorcycles Ltd marketed the Honda CR125 in air and water-cooled forms with six speed gearbox. The Lane Aerospace kart with two bearing rear axle sold well abroad, with a large consignment going to Japan.

Febbraio

Cover photo: Gary Parker. Lars Forsmann won the Hong Kong GP for Birel Parilla. TKM announced their new L90TT. We were shown the Motoplat ignition test bench in action at Montala. Sisley introduced a 2 bearing version of the Cobra used by Herbert to win the RAC Junior champs.

Marzo

The evocative cover photo well illustrated the special appeal of the Hong Kong Kart Prix.

At this time two future top ranking F1 drivers were competing in their first kart races - Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Mika Hakkinen.

Aprile

Steve Styrin, breaking the Cadwell 250 Int. lap record on a GBRD-Yamaha powered Aero, was the cover photo. An article went into the inner workings of the new reed valve Parilla TT25 and Komet K55TT motors. There was an acrimonious debate at Cadwell concerning the double engined 250cc Deavin. The photo-spread by Denis Callingham captured the excitement of Jesolo. There was a feature on exotic machinery in the USA.

Maggio

From this time on, drivers were no longer required to wear a helmet and racing suit in their National colours at CIK championships. The CIK homologation of chassis frames was introduced. Future F1 driver, Johnny Herbert, won the Rye House Winter Series. Karting magazine covered experiments on changes in hardness with temperature on tyres, the Honda CR250, and the Ferrari kart.

Giugno

The Three Sisters round of the "AP & RR" had Johnny Herbert on pole in Junior Nat. but the win went to Paul South.

The Mini-Monaco event in Dubai was sponsored by Marlboro and Goodyear and staged in the car park of the Grand Metropolitan hotel with the track passing through the archway of the main entrance. Zip karts won all three classes. With his two sons having just started kart racing, Champion ex-boxer Henry Cooper was at the Easter Rye House event.

Luglio

The Global Cup at Rye House was won by Martin Smart. Johnny Herbert came 2nd in the Junior class to Nigel Mitchell. The first supplies of the Rotax 250cc parallel in-line twin in air-cooled form started to arrive from Austria. In the USA, 400cc Yamaha twins were allowed to race alongside the 250cc versions. Dave Buttigieg broke the outright long circuit at Shenington with a time of 46.51 secs.

Agosto

Sweden's Lennart Bohlin won his 4th World Cup at Morecambe with a Star Kart 250cc Yamaha. Terry Fullerton on a Fullerton kart won the Champions Cup at Jesolo. Ayrton Senna came second - both used DAP motors. The RAC Champs round at Cadwell had 262 entries with Zips winning every class except 210 Nat. Despite appalling weather and problems with the Steward, the England team won the CIK European Championship at Fulda.

Settembre

Bernd Schneider, using a Birel Parilla, won the World Juniors at Le Creusot with Ivan Capelli finishing in 4th place and Johnny Herbert 18th. Goodyear tyres were discovered with fake RAC code marks and there were other eligibility problems concerning the Hewland Arrow motor and the Yamaha YZ25OF.

Ottobre

A tremendous entry that included 123 drivers in the Villiers class, provided superb racing at the third Silverstone Kart GP. The class winners were Deal, Carter, Newton and Hines. The IKF Road Racing Nationals at Seattle suffered a reduced entry following a volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helens. Cathy Hartman added yet another championship to her tally. Zoserl on a Birel Parilla won the European Individual Champs at Liedolsheim, AlanLane was 2nd.

Novembre

The World Championships returned to Nivelles in Belgium, the scene of Terry Fullerton's victory in 1973. This time it was Modena, Fullerton, Ayrton Senna and De Bruyn that provided the exciting racing with the last three named each winning a final. The championship was won by De Bruyn on a Hutless Parilla by the smallest of margins.

Dicembre

The announcement of the new 100cc Dino motor with its horizontal cylinder, similar to the Saetta V11 of 20 years previously, and distinctive radial finning parallel to the bore, caused quite a stir.

Mike Wilson, Birel Parilla, won the CIK Asian Championship in Hong Kong. Many of the design features of the new rotary valved 100cc Yamaha K100 AX appeared to resemble those of rival makes.