Race formats
Although there are countless names for go karting events, depending upon which venue you’re going to, there are essentially just four race formats and here is our handy guide.
Experience
This is simply a timed session, which you can use to try out a kart for the first time, improve your racing technique or get in some sneaky practice prior to an event! It is non-competitive, by which we mean that is not a race, but of course there will be other drivers on the circuit and of course you will be trying your hardest to overtake them and be the fastest on the day.
Sprint
We define a sprint as one race preceded by a qualify/practice session. These races can be a fixed number of laps or over a time period of anything from 15-minutes upward. When the race length is something from 30-minutes or more circuits like to call these ‘Iron Man’ races as they take some fitness and stamina to complete.
Grand Prix
This is possibly our favourite type of event. A Grand Prix is generally for larger groups and will comprise a number of qualifying heats that ALL drivers take part in followed by a grand final for the top qualifying drivers. In the heats each driver will start from different places on the grid (front, middle and back) and the points scored will determine your grid position in the final. You should note that not all drivers will make the final, simply the best. Great fun and very cut-and-thrust.
Team Endurance
A team event where a number of drivers share a kart over a period of time to complete the most number of laps. This involves team strategy, pitstops for driver change-overs as well as fuel stops in longer races. As a guide we normally assume that each driver will get 30-minutes of racing time so a 60-minute race would be for teams of two and a 90-minute race would be for 3 per team. One-hour races are not uncommon and for the truly mad there are even 24-hour events. If you want to know more about these please contact us.
Party
If your enquiry is for a Stag/Hen/Corporate event where you are unsure what type of race is best for you then this will be identified as a 'party' and the choice of format will ultimately depend on the number of drivers you have in your group. The Party format will also apply to junior events where the day may also include party room/catering/medals etc.