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A journey that began more than a hundred years ago, continues today with the same enthusiasm that set it in motion
From producing power supply units for presses, to the world of karting. From a company that uses automated machineries and machine tools, to a circuit that hosts drivers and races. From weeks in a factory building products destined to the mechanical industry, to weekends at karting tracks around the world competing at the highest levels. Linking all the pages of TBKART’s history is the single common thread, created from a dream and the commitment necessary to make them come true. The primary character of this long journey has always been and will only be one family, the Brenna family.
From producing power supply units for presses, to the world of karting. From a company that uses automated machineries and machine tools, to a circuit that hosts drivers and races. From weeks in a factory building products destined to the mechanical industry, to weekends at karting tracks around the world competing at the highest levels. Linking all the pages of TBKART’s history is the single common thread, created from a dream and the commitment necessary to make them come true. The primary character of this long journey has always been and will only be one family, the Brenna family.
TBKART’s history begins when the Brenna family opens its business in Erba, in the province of Como. Founded as TB (Tranquillo Brenna & Figli), the company builds power supply units for presses, which are patented and whose prototype they still own today.
After 40 years of experience in the field of mechanics, the company adds automated turning to its vast spectrum of activities. Additionally, TB fuels its innovative process in the 1950s by using automatic machinery. When the group relocates to the Como area, the factory reaches a total of 40 operating machines and the company’s personnel works both on the power supply units and machines until the advent of the electronics era, in the 1980s and 1990s.
Motivated by their innate passion for engines, the members of the Brenna family decide to apply their technical competencies to the construction of karts. They handcrafted their first chassis, now on display in the company’s showroom.
The first prototype karts manufactured by TB are intended for off-road use, but soon the company turns its attention to Racing-type models, for competitions on asphalt circuits. One of the very first TBKART model took to the track in 1988: a product that was not yet homologated because it was produced shortly after the completion of the approval process implemented by the Federation every three years. The staff of TB heads to Lonato to test their creation on the South Garda Karting circuit and does it with an active driver, fresh from third place in the first round of a nationally ranked trophy race held just a few days earlier in Lonato. The first timed laps results are surprising, so much so that the driver wants to abandon his own kart to immediately race with the newly manufactured TBKART. The lack of homologation forces him to give up.
Two years after that very first test on the track, TB finally gets the approval for its first competition kart. Qualified to participate in national and international competitions, TBKART debuts on the scene with Paolo Moro, who on his first appearance earns the third position on the starting grid, behind two professionals and very well-known drivers of the time. Thus, the history of TBKART on the track officially begins.
The business of power supply units and automatic machinery is by now part of the past. The world of karting represents the present and future of TB and that of the Brenna family who then decides to further invest in this field. It does it by building a kart track in Gordona, the province of Sondrio, in northern Italy. An entrepreneurial venture that lasts 15 years, until the land-use agreement expires. The subsequent bureaucratic issues force the Brenna family to abandon the business, however bringing with it the value of an extremely formative adventure. In fact, the corporate philosophy with regards to the Rental Kart Line, which will soon be launched with the development of highly specific products, has its roots right in the Gordona circuit.
