Buckmore Park Kart Circuit

Motorsport venue
Name = Buckmore Park Karting Circuit
Location = Kent, England


Events = Buckmore 1200, Buckmore 600, Iron Man, Man of Steel
Layout1 = International Circuit
Length_km = 1.2
Length_mi = 0.75
Turns = 11
Record_time = 0:37.82 (DD2)
Record_driver = Amanda Lassu
Record_team = Year
Record_year = 2007

Buckmore Park Kart Circuit is a 1,200 meters MSA approved outdoor kart racing circuit located just off the M2 in Chatham, Kent, England.

The circuit currently hosts hundreds of events yearly, with over 100,000 annual visitors and over 1,000 corporate events. It caters for nearly everyone, with events available for racers as young as 4 year old and up. These events range from individual races, to team races, to corporate events with up to 280 competitors.

Buckmore Park is also the circuit where many current and past Formula One drivers learned their trade, including Johnny Herbert, Jenson Button and current British F1 sensation Lewis Hamilton who was originally discovered by Ron Dennis in the 1996 Champions of the Future Event held at Buckmore Park. [ [http://www.buckmore.co.uk/content.php/19020 Lewis Hamilton - Discovered at Buckmore in 1996 aged 11] ]

Although Buckmore Park is primarily a race circuit, it also has on-site conference facilities and a large fleet of hire karts, quad bikes, Argocats and Powerturn buggies.

In 2008 the circuit will undergo various changes, including increasing the track length as well as increasing the facilities available.

Sisley Kart Racing School

Buckmore Park is also home of the Sisley Kart Racing School which trains 6-16 year olds during the school holidays. [ [http://www.buckmore.co.uk/content.php/58120 The Sisley Kart Racing School] ]

Types of Hire Event

Buckmore Park is well know for its Hire Kart Club which regularly hosts events for its members. One type of event is 'Sprint' style racing, where competitors compete in a series of heats and finals. Starting positions for heats place each driver at the front, middle and rear of the grid for one race, whereas finals are decided by points acquired from finishing positions in heats.

Sprint events at Buckmore include the Grand Prix League, Buckmore 600 and the two Junior Kart Club classes.

Some individual competitors prefer 'Endurance' races, where grid positions are decided by a short qualifying session, leading to the fastest driver starting on pole. Races are then usually an hour long and include the Man Of Steel (known in 2007 as the Thunder 60) and the Iron Man (known in 2007 as the Pro 60).

Team races are also popular, and work in the same way as Endurance races but include fuel stops and driver changes.

Popular team events include the Team Of Steel (2 hours using Thunder Karts for 2-3 drivers) the Buckmore 3 hour (3 hours using Pro Karts for 2-3 drivers) and the 6 hour, unique in running both Thunder and Pro Kart classes.

At the end of each hire season, Buckmore hosts an annual 'Star Pupil' day, for the top drivers in all of its hire kart categories, in 2007 this was awarded to Simon Rudd.

Lap records

[http://www.buckmore.co.uk/content.php/29020 Current Lap Records]

Notes

ee also

*Kart racing
*Kart circuits

External links

* [http://www.buckmore.co.uk Buckmore Park Karting]

;Video Footage
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfgKQrjIKII Buckmore Park 2007 DVD]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeHwqIm0NHA General Circuit Information]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uuMXumEZ7c Buckmore Park Hot Lap]