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Full Rear Bumpers to be Phased in for GCKI

Monday, March 21 2011 22:17

Bumpers – Early in the 2011 season we have had a number of incidents whereby karts have had wheel-to-wheel contact with unfortunate results. One of the most effective ways of improving our safety against such incidents in future is to require the use of full-coverage rear bumpers on all karts competing in GCKI sanctioned races. Full-coverage bumpers are already mandatory on all karts being used by drivers under the age of 12. They are also becoming standard equipment on all new chassis from many manufacturers. The new requirements will mandate their use on all junior and senior classes for competition.

For 2011 a full coverage rear bumper is mandatory for competition in SWRC. It is strongly encouraged that members adopt full-coverage bumpers as soon as practical. The use of full-coverage rear bumpers shall be mandatory after the first SWRC event at GCKI (June 5th) GCKI’s sponsor and race-support provider, 3G Kart Racing has an ample supply of new-style plastic full-coverage rear bumpers, and adaptor kits. They can also be purchased on-line via GCKI’s other sponsor Fastech-Racing or other kart supply sources. Beginning June 19th at Spring Race 7, a full coverage rear bumper will be required to pass pre-tech inspection prior to race registration.

Neck Braces - (SKUSA does not mandate) – GCKI rules do require neck protection and we shall continue to enforce this rule for all events held at our track. A “horse-collar” neck brace is acceptable but only protects against injury to collar bones. A full-support neck brace, such as the Leatt or Valhalla-360 is preferred.

Rib Vests – Rib protection is not mandatory at GCKI. However, we have seen a number of drivers sidelined this year by bruised ribs. Rib vests are an inexpensive and relatively simple way of avoiding this severe discomfort. We highly recommend any members practicing or racing at GCKI consider their use at all times while on track.

Padding – Elbows, knees and especially hands are prone to injury in the event of an out-of-kart occurrence. We encourage our members to consider the use of padded gloves (such as motocross or street bike), along with elbow and knee protection when practicing or racing at GCKI.