03/08/2026
If you're a parent and you've a Junior driver I'd suggest having a read.
I've been in and out of Karting for quite a while, probably watched the most Karting ( typing this as I've Kartmasters on beside me ) out of anyone, competed in various different types of karting from 2 stroke to 24 hour racing in many conditions. Basically I've seen it all. But what we have currently in Ireland regarding safety is the worst I have ever seen by far.
- The amount of times this year I've seen Junior drivers put themselves and others in danger is mind boggling. For example just on Sunday we'd a driver have a incident and instead of following the marshals instructions quickly he decided to try unrealistically pull his kart out of the grass on exit of T1. Then followed this up by having a wobbly, throwing a tantrum, flinging gloves the lot. This nearly lead to the marshal being hit by another Kart! We shouldn't be putting marshals in positions that could lead to injuries. Thankfully this individual knows the sport inside and out so knew where to look.
This has been a issue where the younger drivers attitudes have been fairly poor as a small minority act like they're in a CIK FIA World Championship and fighting for the championship when they're not even in the top 10. So have a word with them as not only do they look silly but also is dangerous.
- We'd a bad moment in the final when a driver tried to recover himself but that was actually topped by someone STOPPING to RECOVER A BUMPER MID RACE? It's a junior so I've to word a lot of this article carefully but to put it nicely, that kid should lose his licence for a certain amount of time as they clearly have no idea at all of the dangers that they put themselves in, other drivers and officials.
I'd mentioned earlier in the year of a similar situation and actually bumped into the father at the weekend where I was thanked for being hard on his son because of how dangerous it was. That moment should've been a wake up call for Motorsport Ireland who issue drivers their licence.
We clearly have a broken system where drivers can get a licence and have no understanding how dangerous this sport is. We've many moments where they don't understand the most important of safety flags/boards which is to keep officials and the drivers safe. We've them attempting stupid things on track like pulling a kart onto a track in a dangerous spot, attempting to fix karts on track, pick up parts, act like they lost the F1 world championship by staying in the kart/moaning/rolling around/throwing gloves etc.
How do you fix a situation when drivers got a licence and clearly have no understanding of the dangers of this sport? Do we become extremely hard with penalties to make examples of them? Like we'd a driver rejoin very dangerously which resulted in points on his licence this year which I agree with as the outcome could've been horrendous. I honestly think we need more outcomes like that where they either get big penalties, points on licence or even sent home. That may sound harsh but when you're on track and witness a lot of this, you'd probably agree.
For newcomers to the sport Motorsport Ireland need to actually insure drivers actually understand the most important part of our sport - safety. Along with drivers parents who're new to Motorsport also need to be made aware of safety. Not to scare them away but to educate them so they can insure their driver is going to come home safe.
Let's ensure our young drivers get home safely, our marshals are safe and overall have a better event meeting.
