Is karting actually dangerous…?
This is probably one of the most frequently asked question, and I feel that there’s a lot of myths around it, so I wanted to clear up some points now, yes, of course, karting is dangerous, as every single motorsport, but here’s the catch, if you do it properly with the right safety equipment, it’s going to be actually so much safer than you expected. In this guide, drivers and parents will finally get an idea of the dangers related to karting and how to actually prevent them and make it safer overall.
What are the real risks compared to other sports?
I believe the major danger is the speed element, which gets up to 131, under 4150 kilometers per hour. Of course, that’s a pretty considerable speed.
If you think that the karts only weigh 145 kilos, including the driver. So their karts are very light. They have no airbags. They have no carbon monocoque chassis, as they do in f1 they have no seat belts, and they are quite easy to roll and flip. Now, this may sound very scary, but for sure, it’s not as dangerous as you actually believe it is. So the speed element is, of course, one of the major thing that makes it dangerous as other sports have it, as motocross, you know, overall, motorbikes, downhill biking, skiing and any other dangerous sport that includes the speed element, karting also has another element, which is that it’s very close to the ground, which, in reality, is actually not that dangerous. And make sure you actually make it safer. Imagine going at that speed with no seat belts at two meters above the surface of the track, rather than two centimeters. So actually, the fact that it’s very low, sitting on the ground makes the speed perception really high, but it actually makes it safer in a way.
What are the most common injuries?
Well, I haven’t seen them often. The common injuries are at the ribs. So that is what can happen. If you have a big impact, you may have a small fracture on your ribs. Because, of course, even though you have a rib protector, if you have a big impact, you may still have a little bit of an issue on your rib cages. Besides that, you may have if you flip, if you have a very big flip, like I had one time in Germany at amfing, you can break your collarbone, you can break your wrist, but it rarely happens that you have anything more than that. Now, of course, you can have bigger crashes, of course, but normally you will, 90% of the times, still be able to walk after a major crash, after a major flip. So yeah, you should not be too afraid of that. Anyways, I feel that, especially the fact that you have no seat belt and that you can quickly get out of the kart when you flip, it actually makes it safer, rather than more dangerous. And so I’ve noticed that lots of drivers who flipped in the past were able to get better, back up and walk out of the kart without any issues. So many times.
What prevents injuries?
Well, of course, the major thing that prevents injuries is the helmet. You cannot drive without a helmet. Of course, that’s quite obvious, but it is really an important thing. If you have a strong homologated helmet, you’re going to be super fine. Of course, you need to drive with an homologated air. Unrelegated helmet, with an amologated visor, so that even if you have a flip and hit your head with a helmet, you’re still going to be able to have it impact intact and protect your head. Another thing that is going to help you a lot is your rib protector. And if you have a big impact on your chest, it’s going to protect you. Then there’s also this latest trend of using a neck protector, even though I don’t feel that necessarily, it makes a big difference to your protection. Personally, I don’t feel a big difference, and I I’ve seen drivers flipping big time. With or without the net protector, and not really seeing a major difference. To be honest, drivers with that had neck protector on, they flipped. And actually, many times the neck protector fell off, so before, before, you know, hitting the ground. So I feel that sometimes the neck protector is a bit over valid, and I do not expect it to be that important. For sure, is a nice add on for young drivers and for the parents to have peace of mind that they are protecting them. But I’ve noticed that when the drivers go up to juniors at 1213, years old, the majority of them drive with a neck protector. And yes, when by the time they go to seniors or shifters zero, drivers are got their neck protector, which is quite counter intuitive because they are traveling at the highest speed, and they should be way more dangerous. So it would make even more sense for them to use a neck protector, but actually, none of them uses it. So, yeah, it proves that the drivers would not, would rather not use it than using it.
What are the biggest risk factors?
Well, the biggest risk factors are the starts, because all the drivers are bunched up, you get 36 drivers, all very close to each other. And if somebody spins in the middle of the field and the others collect them and crash into the driver will just spawn, for sure, it’s creating a big danger. And of course, there’s a chance that the karts are going to get destroyed, and that there’s likely that the kids can flip. So that’s part of the game. We know that when they start in the middle of the field, the drivers need to really look forward and kind of anticipate their crashes, and if they do, they need to be really quick with the reaction times at avoiding them. So that’s the major risk factor the start, but also the overtake. Sometimes you may have situations where drivers are overtaking each other very aggressively, and that may create a dangerous situation. Other than that, when driver is driving solo, it’s very unlikely that is going to have any danger.
What’s the role of marshals, flags and rules to increase safety?
Well, of course, safety is key, and marshals, together with the flags and technological light flashing system, help a lot to tell the drivers coming up that there is danger in front of them, and that maybe there is a crash in front of them, maybe somebody is stuck in the middle of the track. And so it helps, because the drivers then will see that signal, and they will slow down with the yellow flags wave, so that’s one thing, but also with the red flags, if there’s a red flag, they know the drivers will know that they need to stop right away because there’s been a serious crash. There’s going to be a slow procedure during a race, which is pretty much the same as a safety car for Formula cars. And with a slow procedure, the drivers need to slow down, go in a single line and not overtake each other and go at a slow pace, because, of course, there’s a danger, and they need to avoid creating any dangerous situation to allow them the doctors or the ambulance to get inside of The track. But that’s again, very unlikely that it happens. But when it does, you need to be ready and know all the rules. You have to respect the flags, you need to respect the marshals, and you need to respect the rules. That’s very important.
What’s the real risk versus the perceived risk?
Now the real risk for drivers is, of course, that you can have a crash, especially in the race when you are starting in the midfield. And you know, if drivers are driving very aggressively and erratically, there can be a crash. And some drivers can flip, some drivers can spin in front of you. And maybe even though you don’t do anything wrong by simply the bad luck circumstances, you may crash into a driver in front of you, which obviously it will make it increase the chance of you getting hurt. I’ve seen many crashes, though, and the reality is that the protection of the karts is very high. The protection of your equipment is normally going to be very high, so it’s quite unlike that you will have very big crashes that will result in severe damages or injuries. I’ve seen drivers sometimes breaking a little bit their wrists or their a. Um, or maybe their fingers, but that maybe was one or two weeks off, and then getting back into the kart, and they didn’t think for a moment to quit this board due to the danger side. That was the same for me. I flipped a couple of times, and I had actually
broken myself a collarbone, but again, I’m one of the few who have had the severe injury. But again, I was fine. Three weeks later, I was back in the kart, and I was faster than ever. I have this joke that some that I say that when drivers have big crashes, I actually believe they’re going to get faster rather than slower, because they realize that the risk is not as much as they thought, and even if they have a crash or get hurt, it’s not going to be as bad as they thought. But of course, big risks and big, big moments can happen even so it’s it’s very unpredictable, and you cannot rely too much on unlock, but I believe that there’s a lot of over perceived risk and that the parents sometimes are overly careful and try to protect the kids a little bit too much. I mean, I understand that if I would have a child, I would do the same, but realistically, they need to understand that sometimes the more they protect the kid, and the more they put stress and anxiety on safety, probably the more issues that create, and the higher the chance of crashing it creates and actually getting hurt. So I normally notice that, yeah, I mean, the real risks are not that high. Of course, there’s a risk of getting hurt in any sport, absolutely in any sport, even in football. So it’s it’s unreasonable to think that you can protect too much your child a driver in a way that is impossible to get hurt. So you will always get a chance of being hurt, but it’s if it’s if it’s what he loves doing, then of course, I believe that we should let them do it, even if it’s risky.
How do drivers control safety?
Well, the number thing to control safety is the driving standards. So that’s exactly what drivers are discussing during the briefing rooms, and what the marshals are trying to teach these drivers is that they need to be able to, yes, drive aggressively, if they want to, if they need to, but they need to respect the rules. They cannot go beyond the limit, and if they do, they should get a penalty, so they are not incentivized to do those kind of erratic behaviors and take those unnecessary risks. I believe that driving starters are the key. And of course, I’m not saying that the drivers should drive with precautions, because if the drivers drive with precautions and overly cautious, that actually is going to make them worse off, because they’re going to drive with a handbrake, with an invisible handbrake, and so I’m not saying that. But of course, the kids need to be aware that their actions are going to have consequences, and they cannot drive F’s if they were on a video game, on a PlayStation. Basically, this is reality. If they drive erratically and they create some dangerous scenarios, they will create a dangerous situation for themselves and for other kids, which is not necessary. So all in all, yes, karting is a dangerous sport is well as food soccer as well as tennis, as well as many other sports, skiing, etc. So I believe no sport in the world as a level of dangers of zero. So every sport is somewhat dangerous, and as well, we can try to protect the kids and the drivers and try to make them as safe as possible. There’s still going to be a risk factor. We need to be all aware of that. But again, this is such a amazing sport, and I believe the kids, as it was my case, the kids and the drivers will still want to drive and still want to do this sport, because racing is life, and the small chance of getting hurt should not overrule the fantastic sensations you get behind the wheel. So yes, karting is dangerous, but I believe that in all these 20 plus years I’ve been on the track, I have never seen a kid getting that hurt badly. Yes, I’ve seen some broken bones. I’ve seen some big crashes, thankfully, never, ever seen myself a fat. Crash, but still, we keep the fingers crossed that is never going to happen, but we just need to be aware that it’s a numbers game, and it could always happen, but it doesn’t mean that all the drivers should stop doing it. It’s part of the game, and the drivers should be respectful and have high driving standards, and hopefully, if they all respect each other, they will be able to make the karting environment a bit traumatic and be like, Whoa, why am I slow? But then you will realize you will find lap time. You will make some gains here and there, and step by step, you’re gonna be fighting for race wins, which is ultimately what we’re here for. But equally, make sure you keep enjoying it and keep pushing. Remember, if you need any online coaching, sign up to my remote coaching program where I can analyze your onboard videos, as well as you can join the six months training program where you can transform your career completely.
until the next time, keep sending it!
