Is Go Karting Safe?

Go-karting is the entry-level discipline in open-wheel motorsport that every young aspirant goes through. Taking the current grid of F1 drivers as the sample, some started as young as 4-year-olds. The tragic death of a 15-year-old in Norway in a go-kart accident, however, has raised concerns over the safety of young drivers.

Go-karting is considered the safest yet competitive discipline for youngsters to hone their racing skills. The little speedsters are capable of reaching 50 mph while drivers competing in professional championships have crossed 60 mph. The most prestigious of these competitions function under the rules dictated by the FIA, the body that also governs F1.

FIA also sets the standards to ensure the safety of the drivers competing in the series. The ruling body has divided the discipline into two categories that have further three and four classifications, respectively.

Barring Group I’s Superkart, all six disciplines require the go-karts to have 125cc engines. The Superkart, on the other hand, has go-karts with 250cc competing in the championship.

❓ Ebeveyn olduğunuzda çocuğunuz gelip “Ben F1 pilotu olmak istiyorum” derse ilk tepkiniz ne olurdu?

️ Verstappen: “Bunu söylediğinde ‘iyi şanslar’ dileyeceğim ve go kart’la başlayacağız! Bu ilk adım.” pic.twitter.com/znTrfyVXR2

— Motorsport Türkiye (@motorsportcomtr) February 25, 2024

FIA has further defined the regulations that every go-kart competing in its championships must follow. Given the air-tight nature of these regulations, engineers don’t have much freedom to give their machines a significant advantage over others. That makes these championships ultra-competitive with the talent of drivers shining through.

The same regulations, however, have proven to be rudimentary with little to no room for safety equipment on the karts. While the cars in senior disciplines continue to evolve with revolutionary additions like the Halo in recent times, go-karts are still manufactured in compliance with the regulations the FIA set in 2015.

Mandatory safety standards set by the FIA for Go-karting competitions

The safety equipment on the karts may have complied with the standards set in 2015, but the FIA follows a zero-tolerance policy on their enforcement. Among the standards set are the helmets that each driver must wear. The ruling body has set some strict restrictions on the standards that such helmets must meet.

Other compliances include the mandatory use of gloves that cover the drivers’ hands completely. There are furthermore stringent standards for the overalls a driver must wear.

Those include the requirement for the overalls to be FIA standards compliant with the ruling body’s homologation. Such overalls shall cease to be in use after 5 years from the date of manufacture.

The overalls, boots, and leather overalls again need to meet some stringent standards. Those include the material used for their manufacture, as well as the mandatory compliances for longer races. Wearing of scarves, mufflers, and other loose clothing is further prohibited.