Question about kart safety

[EvilPumpkin]

That would be great Rod, many thanks. Can you also ask them about changes to circuit configuration at international tracks? Chicanes, that kind of thing?

Ta

[Guisbro Rod H]

Will do

[Guisbro Rod H]

The question was "How do you prepare a circuit for Karts?"
The simplist answer is as for a motor bike meeting.
Wooley is right, they are not encapsulated in a roll cage, metal box or a carbon fibre cigar. They are unbelted and sat on top of their machine like bikers.

Flagging requires only one slight modification.
Kartist do it only one inch above the ground (25.4mm to you Euro types & Non-Canadians.)
Whilst doing it they like to lay back and enjoy it. This means their eyeline is about knee high.
Try and keep your flags as low as practical -like for kneeler sidecars.

Warning for lady marshals.
Many drivers are georgeous hunks.
With a minimum weight for Kart and driver this means slim and shapely.
The narrow seats often mean especially shapely bo**oms all wrapped in leather.
Now, before you dive in and insist on mouth to mouth resusitation and detailed pulse analysis, BEWARE!
The podium at the recent European Donnington meeting had a combined age of over 160 years. So many are as old as many male marshals wouldn't dare to admit.
If the ladies have the chance look at Mr Marshall's seat in the 250 single No 141; no girls, I meant the one on the Kart. Ask him why it says "Does my B*m look big in this!"

Maximum speed for a 250 Int (single cylinder) is 140mph or 160mph for a European 250 E (twin). At Croft this weekend the 250 Ints were doing 120mph maximum and averaging over 90mph for the race. Yes they are quick round the corners leaving a sticky rubber film (not marbles) coating the track. The fastest UK averages are at Mallory and Thruxton, both at over 107 mph.

They don't like clowns in cars running off the edge of the track and digging out the grass and mud. If they accidentally go wide their 1 inch ground clearance becomes zero. Painful. With no suspension they tend not to clip the kerbs.

Wooley is again correct, James Courtney's Slick 50 Formula Ford lap record of 1min 22secs was just beaten by the 250 Ints this weekend at Croft. The Ints were a second slower than last year because the track is bumpier, apparently they like their Karts on the ground and their "sit upons" on the seat. It helps with accelerator operation and cornering.
The 250 E Karts are typically 4 seconds a lap quicker. Thats two seconds quicker than the lap record of the Lister in GT s.
Oh if you get the 125 Karts they are 4 seconds a lap slower than 250 Ints - say Caterham Superlight speed.

If we were all EvilPumkins we would know all about preparing circuits for motor bikes or Karts (The female Gods know everything. Yes gentlemen ladies only argue when they are wrong!) So how do you prepare a circuit?

First no artificial chicanes - straw or otherwise, thats for 100cc Karts WITHOUT gearboxes at silly revs.
F1 may be mickey mouse but world superbikes don't have straw chicanes so similarly gearbox Karts have the full track.

Armco hurts especially on the outside of tiny run offs at bends. In an ideal world you use those air bags for M/bikes that I have never seen. Those foam barriers are good even straw bails are better than truck tyres. No need to do the entire circuit with straw just those vulnerable areas as for M/bikes.

A must is to protect the sharp ends of armco.
Some may remember the Volvo 850 (Kelvin Burt?) going sideways into the end of the armco at Cascades in the 1996 touring cars at /Oulton Park. Volvos may go banana shaped but Kart drivers suffer.

Gravel traps are designed to stop cars by allowing them to dig in. For Karts don't allow the gravel to be in ploughed ridges. The Karts flip into a frighteningly fast roll and the drivers might not be able to say flip afterwards. So gravel as flat as a pancake.

The thing the drivers really complain about is a rough track, the smoother the better. 120mph when its rough is not nice, but marshals can't cure that.

Guess what the drivers didn't know how they wanted a track prepared. Even a works team had the sense to help me locate the Clerk and Superkart organisers who provided the above data. If you want to see Croft's lap records try www.northeastmotorsport.co.uk look for circuit and croft records. Turn on the speakers for "The Chain" on the home page.

Does that help?

[Muppetrescue]

Yes it does , thanks for that.

regards

Muppet Rescue

[EvilPumpkin]

Rod you are, as always, my total hero

I'd give you a big kiss, but I forgot to bring the defib!