Formula Fast MK was inspected by the National Karting Association (NKA) today, and – despite the new track only having been open for a month, in a completely new location – I’m very happy to say we’ve passed the first time around.
The NKA do a fantastic job in ensuring a common safety standard across ‘rental’ karting circuits across the UK, which – aside from keeping our insurance premiums down – means that the general public can have confidence in driving on a track that has been designed with safety foremost in mind and inspected to ensure compliance with the regs.
Along with all this comes compulsory staff training, detailed record keeping, kart maintenance and driver training procedures that have to be adhered too – suffice to say, circuits that have been accredited by the NKA have had to prove a high level of operating competence to get to that stage.
The days when UK circuits would send Billy Beginner, wearing a bikini and flipflops, onto a track where the only crash barriers are barbed wire, cones or simply a brick wall are thankfully long gone, which has helped karting become a mainstream leisure activity that appeals to a wider audience than hardened speed junkies.
In my years as a Daytona circuit manager I’ve had to prepare for many such inspections, and you would think that the experience becomes easier with time. Generally speaking this is true, especially if (as is in our case) you’re lucky enough to have a well trained team following, enforcing and improving on the basic rules day in, day out.
Unfortunately, however well prepared you are, it is is always more stressful when the object under scrutiny is your pride and joy, so it was certainly a weight off our shoulders to be told that the hard work in making our new venture both exciting and safe had all paid off.
Perhaps it was worth updating our ‘bikinis only’ clothing policy after all…
Phil Stanley
Managing Director
###
