The Karting Research Group supervises all research
into safety issues relating to karts. It leads research into all
safety issues in this area identified in collaboration with the FIA
Safety Commission and the FIA Medical Commission. It also monitors
related safety issues reviewed with other motor sport safety researchers
and laboratories.
It initiates, monitors and reviews a number of safety
programmes, which lead to new standards and new regulations drawn
up in collaboration
with the appropriate FIA and CIK regulatory bodies. The effects
of these and other new measures on the safety of karting events
are continually monitored by the Group.
Progress
The Karting Research Group manages various research projects
funded by the FIA Institute.
It recently conducted a number of tests to
develop safer front and rear bumpers. The full-scale kart impact
tests, conducted at
Idiada-Barcelona, demonstrated that improved bumper systems can
significantly reduce the potential for a kart to launch in the
air when it collides with another kart.
The Group is now working
with the Commission Internationale de Karting (CIK) to develop
new specifications and test methodologies
to enable the karting industry to design and homologate new bumpers
to achieve this improved level of performance. The CIK aims to
make the new bumpers mandatory for the 2006 season.
A further safety
development has been found in steering column protection. A novel
collapsible steering column system has been
developed and has become mandatory for bambina classes during
2005. The Group will then evaluate and develop this system for
future
CIK sanctioned race series.
Another project, in conjunction with
the Open Cockpit Research Group, is to develop an advanced protective
helmet for young (8
to18 years) motorsport participants.
In order to do this researchers
are examining and measuring the growth rate and development of
the human head from age six onwards.
This is an important project as adult helmets tend to be heavy
and too big for younger drivers. And just making them smaller
does not necessarily do the job. The objective is to create a
helmet
with the required performance but at a much lighter weight.
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