karting is the only motorsport that you do not need a licence to race competively. There is nothing stopping a newbie from buying a shifter or other high performance machine and sign up to race. I need your feedback on this and I will put it to a vote the next time we meet which will be very soon. DRIVERS CAPABILITY: Any driver upon request from race officials must satisfactorily demonstrate their driving capability. The race director may ask at least two competitors from the senior classes to be observers and give a report back to the race officials. If the driver in question does not pass the driving capability to race the driver will be given a refund minus the pit pass fee.
I understand the intent of your proposed new rule and I do agree with the intent. An inexperienced driver can get someone hurt easily.
I think you first need a definition for what is a driver who isn't up to the task. Something much more specific than having 2 other drivers say this guy is no good. Once you have a stated criteria, then I think you must figure out a way to get this person the needed training.
For some, karting is their first entry into the world of motorsport. I don't think you should just deny them access. Instead, once they have been identified, they need to be nurtured some to get them on the right track.
Do stick with your idea, just work on the specifics a little.
Sometimes when you see an inexperienced driver doing something wrong, all it takes is about 2 minutes of telling them what they did wrong and what to do to fix it.
This may seem a little outdated, but in the olden days we would put an X on the back of the NEWBIES helmet with the understanding that they start in the back and run in the back until the X was removed by the race director. The process usually took 3 or 4 race weekends.
All novice competitors must have a X on the helmet and start at the rear of the grid. We had a little discussion and we talked about drivers in question to run three laps or so for evaluation in which driving off the racing surface or spinning in the corners at race speed would be the basis. This is in no way to discourage anyone but to help the safety aspect and to encourage new drivers with instruction. The original rule was taken from the WKA general rules.
