Sport
17 April, 2023
Horsham stalwart achieved another milestone
Horsham’s finest and seven times Australian Karting champion Remo Luciani inducted into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame. A 40-year veteran earned this landmark on March 23, during the Grand Prix weekend in Melbourne after winning 70...
Horsham’s finest and seven times Australian Karting champion Remo Luciani has been inducted into the Australian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
A 40-year veteran earned this landmark on March 23, during the Grand Prix weekend in Melbourne after winning 70 championships in his career.
In Geelong in 1992 and 2010, he won his first and last Australian championships.
He is also the oldest Aussie to have won a Formula 100 Australian Karting Championship in 2010.
Remo, who was born in Horsham in 1960 to Italian ancestry parents, began karting in 1980 after purchasing his first kart for $400.
In 1980, he became a member of the Horsham Karting Club and won several club competitions before taking first place in the inter-club challenge in 1981 in Hopetoun.
Remo obtained his Australian Karting Association licence in 1986 after winning club championships in 1982, 1983, and 1984.
In 1986, he won the Victorian Country series in his first attempt in Ballarat.
“I won the Victorian Country series in my first year in first attempt and I started on P plates,” Remo said.
“It was my first year in the national 100 class consist of four round.
“The four round happened in Ballarat, Portland, Bendigo and Shepparton.”
Remo won his first Australian Kart Championship in 1992 in Geelong. He won two championships that day in two classes.
“I took and part in two classes and won in both of them,” he said.
“I was double champion in one day.”
Remo was four time Australian champion in space of two years in 1992-93.
Remo finished fifth in both the 1991 Hong Kong and 1995 Japan international championships.
After winning the Australian Championship in Geelong in 2010, he took a break from competition but at age 52, he then won the New Zealand National Championship.
At Horsham’s Firebrace Street, Remo is currently operating an IAME engine import company. In 1984, he began this business fromthe garage of his house.After marrying his wife Sabrina, he quit his full-time work as an athlete in 1993 and went into business.
“I met Sabrina in 1989 in Sydney and we got married in 1995,” he said.
"She's the engine room of our business.
"I was still taking part in the karting championships part-time after starting my business."
Remo recalls his cancer diagnosis as the worst moment of his professional life.
"In 2015, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and i had a surgery," he said.
"That time I had a feeling that it would be the end of my career.
"I asked many question to my self that time while laying on the bed."
Remo claimed that every time he considers giving up racing, his father's comments inspire him.
"After the cancer treatment my father once asked me, "Are you going to spend the rest of your life sitting on a chair, waiting to die?" he said.
"These words motivates me all the time."
Remo is still competing in the country's karting championships and he finished fourth this year.
"I'm still enjoying and looking forward to hit the track as long as I can."