Like all good stories, the GioVa Racing story begins in the nineteen seventies, several years before the GioVa name had even come into existence.
In 1979 John Pellicano stumbled across a relatively new and little known class of kart racing - superkarts. Superkarts were different to 'regular' karts as they were fitted with gearboxes, front disk brakes, and raced on full sized circuits.
This entry into circuit racing kick-started a story which is now into its third decade and which looks highly likely to continue more decades to come.
Read on to learn about the path travelled thus far...
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all images copyright John Pellicano and their respective owners and may not be used or reproduced without prior consent.
1980-1982
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It all started in 1979 with John's first kart purchased from the 'St George Kart Center' on Canterbury road. This kart was fitted with a Suzuki RM250 air-cooled engine and was raced in the 250 National class. The kart was fitted with a custom rear-wing as built by John himself. These photos show the very first outing of the machine at the legendary Amaroo Park Raceway in Sydney.
1983-1987
A time-out period from racing while John established his jewellery business.
1988-1990
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John would return to the sport in 1988 after a 5 year absence. The earlier model Suzuki was replaced with a newer Dino chassis - Dino was a successful brand in the 70's and 80's - and was purchased from the now defunct 'Eurotek Racing' which was located in northern Sydney. The kart was fitted with a water-cooled Yamaha YZ 250 engine.
As evident in the photos, the kart underwent some major surgery prior to being raced. Six weeks was spent making many modifications to the kart including new side-pods, new rear wing and replaced radiator, not to mention a myriad of other less visible changes. This would also be the first time a kart would wear the now iconic GioVa name.
The Dino saw its first outing at Eastern Creek Raceway and competed for a little over 12 months.
1991-1993
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Early in 1991 the Yamaha powered Dino was replaced with a new, bare Stockman MR2 chassis. The Dino brakes were transplanted to the new chassis and in-house fabrications took care of mounting the remaining fittings. The chassis was fitted with an upright front end, allowing for more adjustments to the handling. This new machine would also see the birth of the now unmistakable black and green GioVa colour scheme.
The Yamaha powerplant was replaced in favour of a Kawasaki KX250 unit, sourced from a new motorcross bike. This would see John as the first person in the country racing a KX engine locally.
At Lakeside in 1993, Ashleigh Dunn joined John for a one off event, driving the GioVa kart raced periodically throughout the year by John's wife, Jackie.
Years later, the sight of two black and green superkarts would become a very familiar site around racetracks across Australia.
1994
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The 1994 season would be a good year for John. With some spectacular racing taking place at the Adelaide GP early in the season, leading on to John taking his most prized title to date - the 1994 '250 National' Australian Championship.
This season also saw John have his biggest 'moment' on the track when attempting to pass Brian Stockman through a gap designed for a much smaller vehicle at a Bendigo street meeting. The consequence was contact between the two karts which resulted in John launching over the other machine. The kart came to rest upside-down with John trapped beneath. Luckily, both drivers were unharmed and John walked away from the incident with nothing more than a bent machine.
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The title was hotly contested between John and reigning champion Brian Stockman over a 6 round championship which travelled the country.
Although the title would not be decided until Mallala at the end of the year, the second photo to the left captures the spirit of the championship as kart 62 leads kart 1 out of turn 9 at Eastern Creek Raceway.
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1995
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After four years of hard pursuit (1991-1994), the ultimate prize was won ahead of the hard charging Brian Stockman, and for the very first time the black and green wore the National number 1.
1996
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Thanks to a partnership with Sam Sofi of Trans-West Insurance, 1996 would see a transition year for John and also a temporary time-out for the black and green. As a result of this partnership, John would say farewell to the 250 single-cylinder class in order to contest the '96 season in the premiere superkarting class - the 250cc twin cylinder, International Class (as denoted by the black on yellow number plates).
An unofficial lap record in private practice was set at Eastern Creek that year of 1:32:1 in the TWI machine, taking more than one second off the record held at the time by Les May of 1:33:4.
Fitted with a Yamaha TZ Grand Prix engine, the 'twin' was a step above the performance levels of the single-cylinder machine and was good for around 80+ HP.
1997-1998
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1997 would see a transformation in the GioVa team. In this year, John would partner with the Crossland brothers, Steve and Wayne, to form a two kart team. The highly recognised black and green colours would also make a permanant return to the camp, ensuring every competitor knew who they were up against.
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The karts both continued to run the Yamaha TZ motor with a Zip Eagle and Anderson chassis. This combination of driver and machine made for an ultra-competitive package and a very formidable team.
Also of interest from this period and as evident in the last photo, is John's interest in flying. This shot in particular shows John arriving at Eastern Creek to spectate the 1997 V8 Supercar event - via helicopter. Always one to offer a hand, John took photographer Dirk Klynsmith to the air to assist with birds-eye-view shots for the magazine, Motorcycle News.
1999-2002
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This era sees the most success to date for Team GioVa. Sam Zavaglia joins the team and between both John and Sam, they each claim 3 club championships, creating a consecutive 6 title run for the team - the black and green presents a force to be reckoned with.
2003-2006
This period of time has seen a number of changes take place within the team.
2003 to 2005 saw John undertake the NSW Superkart Club Presidency. This commitment would eventually leave very little time for racing. In spite of this, John chose to switch from Yamaha engines to Honda in 2004 after becoming increasingly aware of the supreme performance available with the Honda engines.
2006 would in turn be a development year. After many years racing chassis built by others, John decided it was time he manufacture his own chassis. To that end, modifications were made throughout the '06 season to the existing Zip/Eagle chassis in anticipation of an all new chassis to be released in 2007. The modifications were of such note towards the end of the season they became the subject of a protest launched by rival competitors at the second round of the National Championships. After much fanfare with officials, the protest was successfully overturned.
2006 also saw the retirement of John's longest standing rival, Brian Stockman. Over the years the pair were fearsome competitors who produced much memorable racing, particularly in the early '90s when contesting for the 250 National championship.
2007
, John Pellicano (62)', 800, 300))
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 and 002 (62)', 800, 500))
After a year spent both on the drawing board and on the track designing, testing and refining a new chassis design, it was time for John to unleash his custom built 250cc Twin machine named, 'Elise'.
After many hours spent in the workshop, two machines were completed - a customer machine and also a new machine for John. While the potential of these machines was immediately apparant, a string of engine gremlins throughout the season with John's machine would not see him reach the heights which had been hoped for. However the season finale saw John make a fastest lap time a mere couple of hundreths off the fastest for the weekend - surely a great sign for things to come.
By mid season, it was time for a welcome return to a two kart GioVa team. Sonny Luca joined the team in a newly designed GioVa 125cc chassis. In the hands of 16 year old Luke Brown, the machine managed a second place during its maiden race weekend held at Eastern Creek - a very respectable achievement!
When the dust had settled on the year, celebrations were in order as the customer 250 machine driven by George Koutros had managed a 1st place in the NSW 250Inter Club Championship. This was followed by a 3rd place in the NSW 125 Club Championship by Sonny Luca in his first ever season of racing superkarts.
2008
Stay tuned for the team progress throughout the year.