Rayner Costello Racing

Another weekend in the books at Townsville ✅️ More data gathered & had a wicked time throwing the kart around in the wet final. Cheers Natedogg Photography for the incredible photos 🤙

Kart's been fully stripped & re-built, ready to rumble for AKC Round 1 in Coffs Harbour in 16 days 👊

Tecno Kart Aus
CD Motorsport
CC Race Engines

2025 Tony Lovasi Enduro run & done for another year ✅

Brady Godfrey & myself decided to give this one a crack with Peter Matthews jumping aboard as our trusty pit crew. After making a few minor changes to the kart on Saturday morning, we were feeling comfy and fast, despite being 13kg over the minimum weight limit!

We planned our strategy well, and by the mid-way point of the 3 hour race it was looking like we had the win pretty well sewn up with a 1 lap lead over the field. However, when we went to leave the out-grid following our pitstop, the starter motor had failed, ruling us out of the race 😢

A big thankyou must go to Brady for allowing me to come up to Townsville with him. We had a great time giving this awesome event another crack! And I'm sure we'll be back next year😃

All Photos by Natedogg Photography

Just about to fly out for Round 4 of the Australian Kart Championship down at Willowbank!

This weekend, I won't be behind the wheel, but instead I'll be swinging spanners for Cruz Smith & Elite Racing Team!

Over the years I've been lucky enough to have received some of the most incredible words of wisdom and advice at the track from some incredibly talented individuals. I'm so lucky that I can now continue that cycle, emparting as much knowledge as I can onto Cruz & Elite Racing Team, so that they can have the best chance possible at doing well.

I can't wait!! Let's do this 👊

2025 Queensland Kart Championship run & done ✅️🏁

The goal for the weekend was to come away with a blue plate, but I just couldn't quite make it happen. It was a fun weekend racing in TAG 125 Light. Absolutely the most stacked category with Australian National Champions, state champions and all round talented drivers throughout the field.

Results:

Practice 1 - 1st / 20
Practice 2 - 1st / 20
Practice 3 - 2nd / 20
Practice 4 - 3rd / 20

Qualifying - 5th / 20
Heat 1 - 5th / 20
Heat 2 - 5th / 20
Heat 3 - 5th / 20
Heat 4 - 5th / 20
Final - Started 4th 🟩 -> Finished 6th / 20 🏁

I spent the heat races looking after tyre whilst maintaining track position at the front of the field. Starting from the 2nd row in 4th, I manged to get a good start, slotting into 4th out of turn 3. However, whilst getting ready to make a move for 3rd, I was run off the track by the kart behind which pushed me back to 6th.

Big thanks to CD Motorsport for all the help & an all round great weekend, and Sweet Tune Engines for the mega horsepower. Also, thankyou to my dad - Big Russ for coming up for the weekend to swing spanners 👊

And of course, thankyou to my incredible sponsors:

EHS Parts & Components
R&H Refrigeration & Air - Conditioning
Brighter Learning, Tuition and Training
Elite Plastic Fabrications
Mills Painting Contractors PTY LTD
Weigh'n'Pay - Cash 4 Scrap

What better way to fill your weekend than 2 days of Racing at 2 different tracks!

Saturday - 2025 Sugar City Titles (Mackay) ✅️

Having now been 6 years since I last won the Sugar City Titles, why not skip qualifying & start from the back for the first 2 heats 😃.

It was such a fun day, charging through the pack in heat 1 & 2! I had the opportunity to battle with many different karts, and it made for such a fun day.

In the end, I managed to put the Tecno S30 kart back at the front of the pack to end my 6 year drought, and win another 1st place Cane knife trophy!!

Results:

Heat 1 - 16th to 3rd
Heat 2 - 16th to 4th
Heat 3 - 3rd to 1st
Final - 1st!

Sunday - Whitsunday Kart Club Mini Enduro ✅️

After an awesome Saturday, I headed up to Proserpine to race the mini Enduro alongside the legendary Peter Matthews!

It was a great way to spend the day. This was my first time racing in Proserpine since 2020. It was such a great, chilled out atmosphere - combined with the chance to get out on track enjoy the flowing nature of the Proserpine track.

We ended up finishing the enduro in 3rd place, with the fastest lap by 4 tenths. A big thankyou 🙏 to Pete for inviting me to come up and jump in the kart. I had a ripper day!

As always, thankyou to my awesome Sponsors & partners for your ongoing support. I wouldn't be racing without you 👊

CD Motorsport
CC Race Engines
R&H Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning
EHS Parts & Components
Brighter Learning, Tuition and Training
Weigh'n'Pay - Cash 4 Scrap
Mills Painting Contractors PTY LTD
Elite Plastic Fabrications

Mackay Photos - Kev Davies
Proserpine photos - Natedogg Photography

Next up: QLD State Titles shakedown - Mareeba. Let's get it ✊️

** Race Day at Mackay and District Kart Club **

2025 Sugar City Titles is underway 🟢

I'm having a crack at not qualifying and starting from the back! Could be hero or zero 🫣
18 competitors in the category, so it's sure to be a fun day 👊

CD Motorsport
CC Race Engines
R&H Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning
EHS Parts & Components
Brighter Learning, Tuition and Training
Mills Painting Contractors PTY LTD
Weigh'n'Pay - Cash 4 Scrap
Elite Plastic Fabrications

2025 North Queensland Titles - Townsville ✅

Never a dull weekend with us 😅. Headed up on Friday to do some laps, and the bottom end decided to milkshake itself on my #1 motor. However, the Tecno Kart was feeling flawless, so we bolted the #2 back on and moved onto Saturday feeling confident.

I qualified on the front row in 2nd out of 10 karts, 4 hundredths from pole. From there, I spent the heat races staying towards the front to try and setup well for the final. Seth in the Rotax had been rapid all day, so I planned my start, dived down the inside into turn 2, and was fortunate enough to end the 1st lap with a 1.3 second margin. I managed to extend that over the 17 lap race to cross the line 1st by 3.7 seconds! The Tecno Kart Racing Australia/X30 package was on point all day.

A big thankyou to my dad for coming up to Townsville and helping me all weekend!

And as always, a massive thankyou to my awesome partners!
CD Motorsport
CC Race Engines
R&H Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning
EHS Parts & Components
Brighter Learning, Tuition and Training
Mills Painting Contractors PTY LTD
Weigh'n'Pay - Cash 4 Scrap
Elite Plastic Fabrications

Photos by Natedogg Photography

12th April Mackay and District Kart Club Meet run & done ✅️

What an awesome raceday - Lots of wind, rain, some sunshine, and a big field of 15 competitive drivers! And to top it all off, I was back in my favourite Tecno S30 kart. I had so much fun 🤙

Results:

Heat 1 - Started 10th, finished 3rd
Heat 2 - Started 4th, finished 1st
Heat 3 - 1st (Rain on slick tyres)
Final - 1st

As always, thankyou to all my partners & supporters!

CD Motorsport
Tecno Kart Aus
CC Race Engines

R&H Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning
EHS Parts & Components
Brighter Learning, Tuition and Training
Mills Painting Contractors PTY LTD
Weigh'n'Pay - Cash 4 Scrap
Elite Plastic Fabrications

Mackay Kart Club - 12th April - Sportsman Medium

A few 🔥 shots from Todd Rd

AKC Round 1 in Melbourne - Done & dusted!

What a massive week! This was my first crack at running an AKC weekend on my own, and I can definitely say that it is as difficult as it sounds. 5,300km of driving & 3 hectic days of kart racing all completed in the space of 6 days. No mechanic, just a driver fueled with alot of passion 😃.

I ended up bringing it home in P14 out of the 37 karts in X30. It was a tough weekend as I could never quite get the kart into a comfortable window, and the racing from some of the other drivers was reckless to put it nicely. However, despite a carby leak hindering acceleration off of corners in the final, I was able to place the kart in the right spots at the right times to move up from 27th on the grid to 14th at the end of the race!

A big thankyou to the Lumsden family for the company at the track, and lending a hand to pick my kart up from the grid and push it back to my pit area after each race!

And also, thankyou Justin Smith & Lisa Smith for the awesome accomodation over the weekend 😁

And of course, thankyou to my incredible sponsors, who make doing these events a reality:

R&H Refrigeration & Air-Conditioning
EHS Parts & Components
Brighter Learning, Tuition and Training
Mills Painting Contractors PTY LTD
Weigh'n'Pay - Cash 4 Scrap
Elite Plastic Fabrications

Stayed tuned for my highlights video of the Round to be uploaded within the next week 😎👊

It's race week!! Round 1 of the 2025 Australian Kart Championship is now upon us. There's always something special about the first round of the Championship. Each year, you put in more effort, more work, more time to learning everything and getting every detail just right and perfected before heading to round 1 of the championship. I'm feeling more ready than ever this year. With a head full of knowledge, and many hopes and dreams; I'm really looking forward to this one. No expectations on a certain position or goal set. Only objective is to give it my absolute all, use my knowledge to the best of my ability, and take every opportunity as it comes and the results shall follow.

Thankyou to everyone who has come onboard this year and chipped in to support the continuation of my journey for one last year. Now all the hardwork and preparation comes to life, as we hit the track for the first time of the year in Port Melbourne on Friday morning.

Now enough with all the sentimental stuff! I've still got 2,350km to drive in 1.5 days! 😃 Let's do this 👊

R&H Refrigeration & Airconditioning
EHS Parts & Components
Brighter Learning, Tuition and Training
Mills Painting Contractors PTY LTD
Weigh'n'Pay - Cash 4 Scrap
Elite Plastic Fabrications

Where do I even start with this weekend?!

It started off on Friday night, finding out that Proserpine had cancelled their race meet due to rain in the area. Desperate to put a shakedown meet on the new kart before AKC; I decided to see if I could get a late entry to head down to Bundaberg for their 2 day Race meet. They accepted the entry, so at 1:30am Saturday morning, I was off to Bundy 😃

Then about an hour from the track, the U bolts on one of the trailer leaf springs decided to part company. With some tech support over the phone from Brady Godfrey, I made some bush repairs and got to the track with 8 minutes to spare before practice.

Once I was at the track, it was a great weekend. In a field of 11 drivers, I clean swept the meet with 1st in all races. The kart was easy to tune up, and it was a great opportunity to learn another track and work out what does and doesn't work on this kart. Super happy with it at the moment, and feeling confident with the direction I need to go in heading into Round 1 of the Australian Kart Championship in Melbourne 👊

Big thankyou to Brady & his family for helping me get the trailer repaired properly at the track on Saturday arvo. Absolute lifesavers!

Thankyou to all my incredible sponsors who have come onboard this year to support the journey

- R&H Refrigeration & Airconditioning
- EHS Parts & Components
- Brighter Learning, Tuition and Training
- Mills Painting Contractors PTY LTD
- Weigh'n'Pay - Cash 4 Scrap
- Elite Plastic Fabrications
- CC Race Engines