In-House Kart Race Format: Qualifying, Heats and Final

An 80-person company decides to hold a kart race at year-end. Everyone is excited, and on race day three things go wrong. The first heat takes forty minutes because nobody can remember who races whom. Two experienced drivers win by a mile while everyone else can only cheer. At the awards, a colleague asks, "How were the points counted?" and nobody knows. A written format would have prevented all three.

Why the format matters more than the winner

An in-house kart day differs from a professional competition in one basic way: the point isn't to find the fastest driver. It's to give as many people as possible a fun experience and something to talk about afterwards. So the in-house kart race format is more than a set of rules. It is the design that gives both a first-timer at the wheel and the company's most competitive driver a reason to join in.

Infinity Racing says as much on its introduction page: the multi-level track is hard enough for every skill level, so first-timers and regulars can race on the same track. What's left to you is a format that keeps them from facing off head to head in every heat.

Three basic phases

Timed qualifying

Each person gets their own timed run, or runs in a small group with individual times measured. The result is used to rank people and split them into groups for the next round, not necessarily to knock anyone out. In a company of 60 to 100, qualifying makes sure everyone gets at least one full run.

Ask the operator how times are measured and whether they can export a results table per person. Don't assume, because everything after depends on it.

Heats

Use the qualifying ranking to split people into groups of similar level. Each group races one or two heats of a few minutes each. The operator decides how many karts can run in a heat, so confirm that in advance to plan the schedule.

Grouping by level does two things. Newcomers aren't thrown into a race against strong drivers, and strong drivers get a race worth watching against their equals.

Final

Take the top few from each group into the final. This is the heat the whole company stands and watches, so put it at the end of the day, once the atmosphere has built. Cheering from the waiting area is part of the experience too, and Zone 1 (73 m²) is built for exactly that.

Scoring: three options

There are three common ways to score, and each suits a different goal.

• Fastest lap time per person: simple and easy to understand, but it favors the strongest drivers
• Points for finishing position in each heat, added up: this evens out the luck of one bad heat, and works when there are many heats
• Team scoring, adding up the times of team members: this builds bonds between departments

If bonding is the goal, the third is usually the best choice, because it makes the whole team care about its weakest driver's result. A team with two strong drivers and three newcomers can still win if all three newcomers drive steadily.

The article on speed sports team building looks at the cultural side of competition inside a company. The article on a one-day team building script shows how to fit the format into a full schedule.

Fairness: where arguments start

Four things tend to cause arguments after the race.

1. Karts can run a little faster or slower than one another, so rotate karts between heats or base results on several heats.
2. Starting position affects a heat, so draw positions publicly.
3. Some people join in but don't want to race. Give them another role, such as timekeeper, MC or cheerer.
4. How collisions and rule breaks are handled has to be written down before race day, with the operator's staff making the call.

Print these rules on one sheet, send it to everyone before race day, and repeat them briefly in the safety briefing before people get into the karts.

Sample schedule for 60 people

This timeline is only an illustration. Adjust it to the venue's real number of karts and heats.

1. Welcome guests, safety briefing: 30 minutes
2. Timed qualifying: 60 minutes
3. Break, light food in Zone 2, ranking announced: 30 minutes
4. Group heats: 60 minutes
5. Final: 20 minutes
6. Awards, photos: 20 minutes

That comes to about three and a half hours. Treat it as a planning estimate, since the real figure depends on how many karts run at once and how long each heat lasts.

Keep the prizes small but meaningful

Big cash prizes usually make the mood heavy. A trophy, a certificate and the right to pick the opening song at the year-end party are usually more fun. Add side prizes too, such as fastest lap by a first-timer, best-disciplined team and most enthusiastic cheerer, so more people hear their names at the awards.

The Infinity Racing page has videos of competitions held there, such as the Infinity Speed Race and MINI GP 3. The operator's reference package runs from VND 70 to 100 million (about US$2,700 to 3,800), including kart racing, food and drink, and entertainment, depending on group size and number of rounds. To see a specific option for your company, visit the Infinity Racing page or send a quote request with your headcount and planned date. In the October to December peak season, the best time slots usually fill 4 to 6 weeks ahead.

Nobody remembers the name of a good format, but everyone remembers feeling that the race was fair.