SAFETY IN KARTING

[Darren Swisher]

Fellow Karters, The question was “Are current safety equipment standards adequate for Karting in the United States, in regards to the track, kart, and driver apparel?” The question itself was a trick question. Because there are no standards set up here in the U.S. Safety should be First on the list. This should be taken care of NOW. If we procrastinate further we may have a similar situation as they have in Nascar. I know we cannot foresee all but a set of minimum safety standards should be written, tested and enforced. I am trying to get the safety apparel community together to create a minimum set of standards we can all live by. A few of the players are very interested. Robby Mott of Ribtect, Leaf Racewear, Stewart and Extreme Racewear.

SFI foundation has interest and may play a part. I spoke with Joe Ramos a while back and he mentioned the FIA standard. The FIA standard has 2 levels but still not sure of either of these companies being strict enough or have adequate levels for the different forms of Karting.

I am well aware that most karters know the risks involved. Some people have said to me STOP trying to protect me from myself! To that I say, “I am just doing my Job.”

We must step up now.


Darren

[Bill Martin]

Charlie,

About the only thing that would constitute a "wake up" in karting is if there were no insurance available. We do not have a national racing icon to sacrifice as Nascar did. The general public will not pay attention to anything less, not to mention that there simply is not the amount of money at stake to provide incentive for sponors to apply pressure to kart racing organizations. Its a very unfortunate state of affairs, but thats the facts. In my opinion, of course...

Bill

quote:

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Originally posted by Charlie Tackett:
Safety in karting is like safety in NASCAR. They had there wake up call at Daytona. Karting is just waiting for their's to happen sooner or later.

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[Glenn Holland]

Although karting may not have the issue of NASCAR in losing a huge star, the worst case scenario (outside of any actual tragedy) is the reaction to a tragedy and the impact it would have on karting.

Karting doesn't have a war chest to fight any sort of challenge, be it in court or with government regulation. So, a "Soccer Mom's Against Karting" (SMAK) organization of sorts being formed in the wake a some 14 year-old dying at a track and it being shown on CNN via home video could potentially ruin the sport.

The best way to fight that is to start now with unified safety standards. The only way to have those is if they are enforceable. The only way to enforce something is if someone can withhold benfits - subsidies, big events, insurance from the businesses and participants in karting - A track doesn't get a big event unless it complies and/or it can't get insured for a competitive rate. A racer can't race unless he/she has the proper safety gear, etc. It's a complex issue.

G.

[Doug Welch]

I have a copy of the FIA track standards published by NAKA. They are so open that for the most part, they are worthless.

Shifterkart racing has obsoleted most of our fathers go kart tracks. They are bigger and much faster. We need more room on the track and off. We need more seperation between lanes and the removal of barriers. We have not raced at every track in the country. but of the ones I have been to, very few are what I would consider safe.

The biggest single problem with most of the current tracks is the lack of seperation (Norman) and the presence of poles, buildings and fences (Jacksonville). These ain't kiddie cars we're driven. As racers we need to demand from our sactioning bodies standards for track approval. As racers we need to demand from track owners that they take better care of us. After all, we're paying the bills.

Doug

[Charlie Tackett]

Safety in karting is like safety in NASCAR. They had there wake up call at Daytona. Karting is just waiting for their's to happen sooner or later.

[Marshall Martin]

As Director of Operations at South Bend Raceway Park we work with the race director for every series that visits South Bend. Our policy is that our safety track official in charge of safety concerns walk the track with the series race director before the official start of an event (practice or race day). If any safety concerns are raised it is addressed at that time. We have spent a lot of money (and this amount is a relative figure) on safety issues. We have racers and parents bring up concerns at almost every event and we do what ever possible to make adequate changes. I don't know if we will ever prevent the wake up call accident because we do not have any idea of what will cause it. Most accidents of the nature (i.e. Dale Sr.) are caused by a series of circumstances occurring at the same time and in just the right order. I race and I have a daughter that races and we both realize that when we enter the track we are accepting a level of risk. We also have the right to not race at an event if we are uncomfortable with the facility. Referring to the recent death of Geoff McGill at Minster, OH, I think his family is under the same opinion my family is and I hope that if something were to happen to myself or my daughter we could look at it in the same perspective.

This is not meant to be a lecture or scolding. The message I want to get across is if you do not think the facility or event is safe leave. If the organizers and promoters are unwilling to address safety concerns do not support the event. At your local tracks if you believe work needs to be done then get involved.

If you are not willing to do something about a situation then you have no right to complain. It is the same thing as voting, if you did not vote you have no right to complain about the performance of the person in office.

Marshall Martin
Operations Director
South Bend Raceway Park

[Darren Swisher]

Marshall, I would like to get your experience on insurance and the possibilities of reduceing premiums with added safety features at the track,This may be your insurance or the Promoter/series insurance. including:

track design
Kart specific safety features
Karting safety apparel
Barrier systems

If a set of minimum standards were developed and implimented for each of these areas, would an insurance company reduce rates or would it matter.

If any Insurance expert want to jump in go ahead.

This is one angle we are looking at.

Darren

[John Burgess]

I agree that the current speeds in karting have made many existing tracks dangerous. Since my slamming into the fence incident I find myself cringing at the speeds people are reaching on straight-aways that do not have adequate run off areas or some type of absorbing barrier system. My initial thought was some kind of speed limit on the smaller tracks. In kid karts we control the gearing to keep the speeds down and the competition even (It works on paper, not necessarily at the track). Cart has even worked at reducing the speeds for driver safety, so please don’t shoot me for saying it! I do not have answers, but really want to keep these discussions open so we can possible come up with a solution.
Thank You
John

[Barry Hastings]

One of the safty issues is the drivers knowing the tracks well. Even the faster ones. Slowing the karts of the people who dont have the best grasp on driving is a very good idea. But untill they (me included) know the tracks, karts and people they race against accidents will happen. It is like they say about motorcycle riders, there are 2 kinds, ones who hae crashed, and ones that will.
I like how they do it in the Formula one, have the drivers sign off on the track as to it is safe to there liking. But that doesnt mean that accicents wont happen. Ayrton Senna aproved the corner where he had his fatal accident. They also have changed there minds about gravel traps. Mostly there needs to be some carefull thought out safty plans. I really like the airbag things they have at SBRP, but where would you put them at some of the other tracks? What works for one may not work for another. And then what do you do to account for all the moons and stars aligning and all 6 winning lotto numbers comming up accicent?

[aamjohns]

This may be a little off the topic but I've been looking for a place to ask this. I'm new, and haven't experienced many different courses. One track I have spent some time at uses tires as barriers at the edge of the track. I don't know what the best track side energy absorber is, but tires seem to be less than desirable. Being that they set the tires so close to the track (say, right on the inside of a turn, at the edge of the pavement) it makes for a painful jerk when hit. I barely nicked a tire with the front wheel and it 'grabbed' my kart, causing my body to be thrust forward hard. Rubber tends to grip rubber.
It seems to me the tires should be spaced a given distance away from the track. That would allow the kart to slow some before the contact. I don't know what the answer is to a good barrier, but are tires really that great to have sitting right next to the track?

I'm all for safety requirements. I've already bruised my ribs and strained my back. This is most likely the result of a poor seat and lack of proper protection. I now have a rib vest and plan to purchase a better, deeper, seat.

Aaron.

[Darren Swisher]

Aaron, I am no expert on track design, but IMO you have to look at the track first.

Temp Street Course: This type is probably the hardest to keep safe. With man made obsticles such as curb, light pole, parking meters, man holes ect. You have to have a close barrier. Maybe hay and tires, I would love to see soft walls but the expense uasally kills that Idea, although if they thought ahead they could probably reuse it over and over and it would pay for itself in time.

Temp course (airport, parking lot type): With this setup up I would like to see cones used, but you have to keep in mind track design, if you have a tight hairpin corner that goes back in the same direction, you may have to look at a way to keep traffic (other karts) from entering that part of the track if they get out of control. for the most part the exterior parts of the track could be cones.

Perminent course: if the track has sufficient run off no barrier is needed. Just in the areas where a kart might end up. Along any fences or rails or building ect. I would still like to see the soft wall technology used.

Darren

[John Grinager]

I think the issue of safety must be dealt with in the same manner as any issue needing resolution in a professional environment. This usually begins with a Paredo analysis of the symptoms that indicate a problem. For instance, we shouldn't be focusing all of our energy on run-off areas or impact barriers if most of the injuries are from kart-to-kart collisions, equipment failures, etc., and vice-versa. Is there any group or major body that collects karting incident information? Where do we go to get this important information so that we may formulate an intelligent direction towards resolution of the problem?

[Marshall Martin]

Darren

As far as information on the type of accidents that occur, Joe Janowski might be of more help. If anyone has access to this type of info he will. I have my thoughts on what is a safe set up and someone else's idea will be different. We have to listen to the participants and continually review our facility. This is a never ending procedure. I am sure that just when we think SBRP is as safe as we can make it, an accident will occur that we never thought could happen.

If you are going to Rock Island, I will be pulling in on Friday afternoon. Look me up if you are there.

[Doug Welch]

Whether the crash was caused by kart to kart contact or a track problem is almost irrelavant. Here is my logic.

Kart to kart contact can be controled by a race director who watches the race. He/she/it can use the black flag at the first sign of rough or reckless driving behavior. A kart that bashes into another, usually doesn't do it the first time a particular driver does something stupid. There have been many near misses long before contact that could be addressed by a safety consious race director and his corner workers.

When looking at track design and layout, we must look beyond the obvious spots at corners. Two karts that touch in the middle of a straight away have the same needs for the lack of poles as does the outside of a corner. I saw a crash in Reno where a kid was coming down a straight alone when another racer just had a brain fart and ran up over the back of him. It caused the racers to go straight off an easy corner into a fence less than 30' off the track. Was it the kart to kart contact that caused the injuries or the fence. What difference does it make who caused the accident, what matters is that the fence shouldn't be there.

We are not encased in a steel cage like a car. We can not have hard barriers any where near the track. We can not have tracks that fold inside themselves where the seperation is less than 100'. I'll give another example. Last year at the WF, Ryan Bailey had the wheel studs shear off his kart coming out of the infield section. He went straight off into a tire barrier seperating the track from the front straight. He suffered a broken wrist from the impact and tires were spread all over the front straight just as the leaders were coming on to it. One tire got on edge and rolled the full length of the front straight to the pit entrance. Had a kart hit one of those tires at speed, it would have been another serious accident. Last year at the same race, a junior got a trip to the hospital after hitting the barriers due to contact between karts just after turn one. The year before at Norman, Dick Conyers went straight off going into the infield section, again due to kart failure, hit the barriers that tossed him into the fence severily breaking his leg.

While the track did not cause any of the accidents, track design is solely responsible for the injuries. I don't mean to sound like I a picking on Norman, its just where I know a couple of examples where track design has contributed to injuries. I'm sure if we looked at tracks all over the country we would find similar problems.

We have absolutly no standards for track design or certification. Tracks that are safe for clutch karts are not necessarly safe for shifter karts. We can attain speeds in places clutch karts never dreamed of due to our acceleration capabilities. combine this with our serious lack of standards for safety equipment outside of the helmet, we are not only asking, we are begging for an extremely serious injury.

Doug

[Darren Swisher]

Doug, I think you touched on a good subject. STANDARDS, or a term that might scare people REGULATIONS. We have none set in place at this time for:

Tracks design and construction
Safety equipment

Since the majority of karts are made in Europe they have been though a regulation/homologation process.

The Fia has Kart Track regulations http://www.fia.com/homepage/selection-a.html I have not read them yet but they seem quit detailed.

I am not for over regulation but we need a minimum set of standards.

Even classes or advanced education courses to teach track officials more would be helpful.

Yes we will still have accidents but hopefully they will decrease over time when new track are built and safety equipment standards have been set.

Darren