2025 Rules & Regulations

  • Any driver aged 16 or over can race in the EKS. It is advised that only drivers with significant outdoor karting experience should enter into the 2-stroke rounds due to the nature of Daytona’s DMAX karts which are the fastest hire-karts in Britain

    Drivers aged 14-15 can race in the EKS, however will require explicit permission from Luke Battersby to race in the series due to circuit-specific age restrictions. Please contact luke@elitekartingseries.co.uk with a brief overview of your karting history if this applies to you.

    To race in 2-stroke rounds 14-15 year old drivers must have passed a DMAX assessment at a Daytona circuit by either taking part in an EKS Group DMAX Tuition, a Daytona Group DMAX Tuition or by booking a private DMAX assessment.

    14-15 year old drivers must have some form of championship experience or have been RT10 assessed to race at Buckmore Park.

    14-15 year old drivers unfortunately cannot race at Warden Law due to their age restrictions.

    Any 14-15 year old driver can race at either Rowrah or Three Sisters however must be aware that if they are unsafe then they will be removed from the circuit and the event without refund.

    Drivers aged 14-17 must attend all events alongside either a parent or a guardian.

  • The following classes are run in the 2025 EKS National, Northern and Southern Championships:

    • Junior: minimum age of 14, maximum age of 19, minimum weight of 70kg.

    • Senior Lightweight: minimum age of 14*, minimum weight of 80kg.

    • Senior Heavyweight: minimum age of 14*, minimum weight of 90kg.

    The Senior Heavyweight class also contains its own Senior Superheavyweight sub-class. This sub-class has a minimum age of 14* and a minimum weight of 100kg.

    *14-19 year old drivers must naturally exceed 70kg to be allowed to race in the Senior classes.

  • Upon arriving at an event, drivers will be weighed and handed any ballast, if available, which they require to reach the minimum weight of their weight class. It will then be solely the drivers responsibility to keep hold of and handle their ballast throughout the event, before returning their ballast at the end of the event.

    Drivers who fail to return their ballast in full at the end of the event will be required to cover the significant costs of replacing the ballast which they have lost. This cost is usually £30 per kilogram lost.

    Either all or a random selection of drivers will be weighed after each session near the pitlane exit gate. Drivers will be weighed whilst wearing all of their race gear and whilst carrying any seat insert and/or ballast which they are using.

    Any driver found to be underweight after a session will be disqualified from that session. They will score points equivalent to last position in that race and all the drivers who finished behind them in that race will gain a position. The disqualified drivers lap times will be invalidated and they will start the following race in last position.

  • The EKS takes a hard line on driving standards and will not tolerate dirty driving. A strong emphasis is placed on leaving drivers enough space and allowing others to re-overtake if a position is gained unfairly. Fundamentally, drivers are expected to treat others how they would like to be treated.

    If a driver is more than half a kart length alongside another driver at any moment in time, at least one kart width of space must be given.

    Drivers who do not drive cleanly will be spoken to once we become aware of their poor driving and they will be given a maximum of 3 rounds to improve their driving standards. If the driver continues to fail to drive cleanly then they will be removed from the series.

  • Before each event, the EKS passes a penalty guide onto the race director of the event and asks for the guide to be used where possible when awarding penalties. This guide demonstrates the penalties which are usually awarded in the EKS in an effort to maintain penalty consistency across events.

    Please be aware that the EKS cannot race direct events and penalties are awarded by each circuits race director. The race directors discretion will always be used when awarding penalties.

    Please note that all penalties can be appealed for or against using the EKS’ post-race appeals system.

    Below is the penalty guide which is passed on to each circuit. Please be aware that this is only a guide and penalties may differ from what is listed below depending on the nature of the specific incident.

    • Contact/bumping warning = 1 point deduction for that race.

    • Dangerous defending/blocking (i.e. late defensive move) = 1 point deduction for that race.

    • Bump and pass/ABC (i.e. contact from behind causing an overtake) = 5 second penalty.

    • Forcing a driver off the circuit (i.e. no attempt made to leave a driver sufficient space) = 5 second penalty.

    • Jump start/insufficient gap to the kart in front at start line/breaking formation = 5 second penalty.

    • Ignoring blue flags/blocking the race leaders = 5 second penalty.

    • Takeout but returns position = 1 point deduction.

    • Takeout then fails to return position = 30 second penalty.

    • Excessive number of a particular warning in that race (usually 3 or more) = 30 second penalty.

    • Underweight = Disqualification and scores points for last position in that race. Back of the grid start for the next race.

    • Intentional or attempted takeout = Disqualification and likely series ban.

    Penalties regarding ignoring flags and the safety of track staff are left strictly for the circuit to decide however they are usually either a 30 second penalty or a black flag.

  • The EKS contains 3 Team Championships: the National Team Championship, the Northern Team Championship and the Southern Team Championship.

    Any driver who races in the EKS’ solo championships can pair up with any other driver from any class to form a team of 2 drivers. The Team Championship points at each event are then calculated by adding together the points scored by the 2 drivers who are designated to each team at that event.

    At the end of the season, these team point scores are added together to determine the EKS National, Northern and Southern Team Champions.

    Please note: B teams or other secondary teams are not allowed. Junior teams and Senior teams are allowed but only if they consist solely of Junior and Senior drivers respectively. Each team must be entirely independent of all other teams within that championship and they cannot share similar names aside from when there are Junior and Senior teams. This rule is to prevent large gangs of drivers from forming and to prevent on track assistance from B team drivers.

    Substitute Drivers

    When a team makes their season debut their first 2 drivers will be classed as Driver A and Driver B. These drivers must drive for the team at any event which they attend.

    Driver line-ups can be changed when either Driver A or Driver B do not attend a particular event.

    This substitute driver will then be classed as Driver C. Driver C must drive for the team at any further events which they attend but which Driver A or Driver B do not attend.

    Teams are permitted to bring in additional substitute drivers if necessary. These drivers will be classed as Driver D, Driver E etcetera with the same rules applying.

    Please note that in exceptional circumstances exceptions can be made to these rules, for example if a main driver for a team could not attend Round 1.

  • Splits

    When required, drivers will be split up into ability-based groups known as splits using their average championship points score in their classes National Championship. Their average championship points score is calculated by dividing each drivers total championship points by the number of rounds they have raced in in their National Championship.

    Drivers who are making their season debut will be assigned to an appropriate split based on their known ability level.

    These splits allow drivers to race against those of a similar pace level to themselves and make for competitive racing regardless of ability level.

    Promotion

    The winner of each lower split race will be promoted to the split above for the next block of races onwards.

    For example, at an event where our 3×12min format is ran, the winner of Split 2 Race 1 will then race in Split 1 Race 2 and Split 1 Race 3 whilst the winner of Split 2 Race 2 will then race in Split 1 Race 3. The winner of Split 2 Race 3 however will not be promoted in this scenario as there is no Split 1 Race 4.

    Promoted drivers will start at the back of the grid for their first race in the split above due to them having not competed in or set a lap time in the previous session in that split.

    Relegation

    Drivers who are struggling in the split they are racing in can choose to drop down to the split below during an event. This is entirely optional and will never be mandatory.

    If drivers choose to be relegated to the split below then they will start on pole position for the next race in that split.

  • Race Points

    Each race within a split scores equal points, thus making each race as important as any other in that split. Points are awarded to drivers based on where they finish in their class in each race.

    Split 1

    The victor of each Split 1 race will score 50 points with drivers scoring points accordingly in each race:

    1st: 50, 2nd: 47, 3rd: 45, 4th: 43, 5th: 41, 6th: 40, 7th: 39, 8th: 38, 9th: 37, 10th: 36, 11th: 35, 12th: 34, 13th: 33, 14th: 32, 15th: 31, 16th: 30, 17th: 29, 18th: 28, 19th: 27, 20th: 26, 21st: 25, 22nd: 24, 23rd: 23, 24th: 22, 25th: 21, 26th: 20, 27th: 19, 28th: 18, 29th: 17, 30th: 16, 31st: 15, 32nd: 14, 33rd: 13, 34th: 12, 35th: 11, 36th: 10, 37th: 9, 38th: 8, 39th: 7, 40th: 6, 41st: 5, 42nd: 4, 43rd: 3, 44th: 2, 45th: 1.

    Lower Splits

    The points system which is used for each class in each lower split will depend on the number of drivers racing in that class in the split above at the start of the event.

    The winning driver in each class in each lower split will score points equivalent to third to last in the above split. Points will then descend in line with the Split 1 points system.

    For example, if there are 8 Lightweight drivers racing in Split 1 at the start of an event, the top Lightweight driver in Split 2 will score points equivalent to 6th in Split 1. Split 2 Lightweight drivers would score points accordingly in this scenario:

    1st: 40, 2nd: 39, 3rd: 38, 4th: 37, 5th: 36, 6th: 35, 7th: 34, 8th: 33, 9th: 32, 10th: 31, etc.

    Overall Results

    At the end of each event, these point scores for each driver will be added together to form the overall results for each class in that event.

  • Solo Championship Points

    Due to the nature of the EKS’ championships there are a fluctuating number of drivers racing in each class from round to round.

    As a result, a dynamic championship points system is used where the amount of championship points given out for each position varies depending on the number of drivers racing in that class at that event.

    The driver who finishes first in their classes overall results will always score 100 points whilst the last placed driver will always score close to 0 points. The intervening drivers will score points based on how many drivers are racing in their class.

    For the full championship points systems please click here.

    Team Championship Points

    After each round, the individual point score of a driver who is a member of a team will be added together with their teammates point score to form their team point score for that round.

  • Each National Championship consists of 3 drop rounds whilst each Northern Championship and each Southern Championship consists of 2 drop rounds. This will remain the case if any event is cancelled.

    These drop rounds allow drivers who cannot attend every round to still fight for the championship.