When Auto Racing

Karting has become increasingly popular in recent years, offering thrills for all manner of ages, wallets, and skills sets. It’s worth bearing in mind however that whilst karting is a relatively cheap form of motor racing, and arguably the easiest form of racing to enter as a newcomer, serious and long-term competitiveness will require serious investment in all sorts of karting gear and accessories.

To begin with, all organised karting events – be it the national championships, or the more humble weeknight practice sessions at your local club circuit – will require the driver to wear a karting helmet. As with regular car racing, helmet designs vary hugely, as do the prices. First, you’ll need to decide between either an open-faced or full-faced helmet design, before then deciding on which material your helmet is to be made from. Cheaper helmet designs are, for the most part, constructed from fibreglass, and although the more expensive carbon fibre designs offer superior crash protection, a good quality fibreglass karting helmet will prove adequate for most beginners.

Fireproof race suits are also compulsory in most categories of kart racing. Karting suits protect the ribs and chest against damage caused by racing accidents, and although the will always be the temptation to buy your child a karting suit which is a little oversized – so as to increase its usable life as your child grows – it is very important that the young karters race in well-fitting karting suits at all times.

There are also rules and regulations around the use of karting gloves, which are used to protect the hands from cuts, blisters and abrasions both during the course of racing and in the event of an accident. Well designed karting gloves also absorb some of the sweat from the driver’s hands, which will go a long way to maintaining some degree of comfort over a 40 or 60 minute kart race. Therefore, whilst quality karting gloves may seem relatively expensive, their added protection – not to mention comfort – is an important consideration for all kart racers.

Finally, you will also need to look at purchasing a pair of karting boots – and their importance cannot easily be understated. It is widely accepted that a significant number of karting incidents are attributable to one or more of the drivers wearing incorrect and unsuitable footwear. A good set of quality karting boots need not cost the earth, and will provide vastly superior levels of grip and feedback to the driver.

If you are starting out motor racing this year, you will almost certainly wish to look at getting the race car insured. This article covers a few of our top tips for taking out that all-important race insurance policy.

First up, consider that you may want the car to be insured from the first date of ownership, rather than from the first race date. In addition to the car itself, racing accessories can be very costly and if they were to become damaged during storage or in transit, this could have severe consequences to your racing campaign. Racing accessories then should also always be fully insured, even if they are separate from or have not yet been installed onto the car.

You may wish to begin by obtaining an agreed valuation for your race car (and any valuable accessories) from the insurer, which will help cover the car or equipment’s true replacement value, rather than their standard book value (which could well be naught in the case of some racing equipment and accessories!). Be sure to include the value of any parts which you have with the car, but not necessarily installed at the present time (such as spare engines etc). With this in mind, you’ll probably want to check the terms and conditions of your policy for any specific exclusions and limitations.

To bring the cost of the race car insurance down, you may wish to take out a ‘parts only’ policy rather than a fully comprehensive package. Here, the cost of replacement parts are covered but not the labour cost involved with fitting them. If you are a particularly competent mechanic or engineer, or working on a particularly tight budget, this may be a viable option – provided you are willing and able to carry out the repair work yourself, in house. Any cover for race suits, racing helmets and other race accessories may need to be arranged separately, however.

Finally, you may also wish to check the terms and conditions for what will happen if the car is damaged beyond economic repair and is written off. A policy which includes salvage retention rights will allow you, the owner, to salvage any undamaged parts from the vehicle in the case of an accident.

Liability insurance may be required if you intend to use the vehicle on track during an open day (commonly called track days here in Britain) – whether it be due to a general ‘racing incident’ or in the case of a component failure, you may be liable for damages. Many racing circuits, track day companies and racing series offer detailed liability insurance as an optional extra to all participants – this is likely to be one of the cheapest ways of getting cover – but these policies are unlikely to cover those all-important racing helmets and plumbed-in race fire extinguishers.

Mode Racewear is a leading supplier of racing accessories, race fire extinguishers and racing harnesses, and also stocks a range of racing seats by Sparco, Corbeau, Cobra and Recaro race seats.

It’s the one thing that hits a driver early in his life, probably most everyone. But, a racer feels it deep down in his gut. The power of the engine engulfs him. One day he not only wants to own it, but he wants to control it. He has to overcome it and master it.

That’s the dream. That’s what takes a hold of us when we are eight and it never lets us go. We hear an engine and we stop to listen. We see an engine and try to figure out how everything works, how it makes the car go! Then as we grow older, we want to know how we can make it go faster.

We want to push the engine and ourselves to the limit. We want to know how fast for how far we can go before the motor cracks and a rod comes shooting through the hood, or smoke simply starts to roll into the cabin and we have to stop before we hit a wall. That’s us! That’s what makes drivers unique.

I’m no professional driver. But, I love putting a fast engine in a fast car and driving off like Bo Duke through Hazard County. If the engine isn’t purring and the body isn’t shaking, it’s just a car to me. But if I can feel it before even sitting inside, then it’s the beast and I have to see what it can do.

Taking it around the track, you can feel the tires hugging the road as the engine pushes speeds you don’t see on the highway. The turn comes and the slide is slight. You have to control that or the wall is waiting to welcome you right into it. That’s about the time you realize you are in the belly of the beast and the engine can eat you alive.

But, the need for the rush starts to grow as you want to catch air and take radical turns. Now, you are looking at a totally different beast. All terrain vehicles that leave dirt in your face and the only thing clean are your teeth if you’ve managed to keep your mouth closed.

Taking those turns are an entirely different slide that you have to feel your way through because only if you’ve done the track enough can you remember, but where is the fun in that? Hit the hill. Take some air. Hopefully, you come back down on the track and not end up in a tree.

All of a sudden, sliding gets your gut. You have to slide everywhere, all the time. You find yourself drifting into parking spaces at the local grocery store. Your cop buddies have told you a hundred times to slow it down, but you can’t when you see that stop sign at the end of the cul-de-sac and you have to see how many mailboxes you can leave standing this time.

You’ll never grow out of it! They let you feel the power of the engine when you were eight. It transformed you then and it has you now. Why fight it? Before long you’ll be racing your wheelchair down a hallway trying to beat your next opponent for your meds. Until then, live life like you were eight!