Last weekend I signed up and took part in the first open track event at the Kuwait Motor Town. It was probably the only sport left in Kuwait other than bowling that hadn’t restarted and I couldn’t understand why. It’s a sport where everyone is alone inside their cars driving around an outdoor circuit, so it’s pretty much perfect for social distancing. After taking part in the first event last weekend, I ended up leaving really impressed with the whole experience.
For this COVID era, KMT has introduced some new rules and changes to make things even safer than usual. Here are some of the important ones they’ve introduced:
Number of Participants
The number of participants at a race has been reduced to just 30. Previously it was anywhere from 60 to 90 participants per open track event. This means a lot less people everywhere and even spectators are no longer allowed at the events.
Registration
Previously on arriving to the track, you had to park your car, go into the reception area and wait in line till it’s your turn so you can sign in and collect your tags. You then have to go back to your car and drive up the scrutineering area where a group of guys run a number of safety checks on your car. The new process now is when you enter the parking lot you register at the gate while still in your car. While registering the scrutineering team will check your car and then when they’re done you enter the track. You don’t have to leave your car and really this process was so much more efficient than the previous way, they should permanantly have it this way.
Pitlane Garages
Pre-COVID, you’d enter the pitlane and park in any of the garages you wanted to. Now every garage is assigned to an individual and the separators between the garages are closed. So you basically park in a large garage by yourself and you don’t see anyone or interact with anyone. Every garage has it’s own bathroom and they’ve also provided gloves, masks and hand sanitizer for you.
Briefing
Before a race, every participant needs to attend a briefing session. Previously we’d all squeeze into a tightly packed overcrowded room. Now the number of participants has been reduced down to just 30 people and on top of that, the briefing session has been split into two groups. So there is plenty of social distancing during the briefing.
Other Points
Due to the number of participants only being 30, the track was pretty much empty the whole time with no traffic. KMT have installed new digital flags all around the track so we can now see the various warning flags when they’re shown. KMT now also has a fuel station and they accept Knet!
Really the only negative thing about KMT right now is the lack of proper night lights. They’re using regular street lights around the track which barely light up the track because they need to be positioned behind the safety barriers which are quite a distance from the track. There has been talk every year about getting proper flood lights but it hasn’t happened yet.
As I said at the start of the post I left the event impressed. If there was a local sport that is setting a good example of how to host an event safely during COVID, it’s KMT.
21 replies on “First Kuwait Motor Town Event Post-COVID”
I know you keep raving about KMT, but one day we would like to see actual F1 races, and car enthusiasts going around the track for fun. This project has been a complete embarrassment since it’s opening
You’re talking about something you clearly don’t have any knowledge about and you’re coming off as a generic hater. If you think Kuwait is ever going to host an F1 race firstly then you’re delusional. But, luckily for us, the primary goal of this track (and 99.9% of other tracks around the world) isn’t to host an F1 event but instead to host enthusiasts like us and other professional racing events.
Based on how all the KMT track events get sold out and the huge number of people that take part in the drag race events or just come to watch, the project is clearly not an embarrassing one but actually one of their more successful ones.
thumbs up to that (you should consider adding this feature)
Yeah let’s invest millions of dinars into this project to have car enthusiasts perform their drag races. What a National success story that is…. lol.
We’ve never seen a proper professional level race on this track, so stop defending this stupid sham of a project.
So basically your argument is they shouldn’t invest millions of dinars in shaheed park only to have people just walk around, or they shouldn’t invest millions into a museum because people never visit, or they shouldn’t invest millions into an entertainment park only for people to have fun. Dude are you fucking trolling? Either that or you’re really not that bright because you clearly don’t understand what racetracks are used for or what the point of all these facilities are. You should probably send hate mail to Silverstone race track and tell them how stupid an idea Lapland is while you’re at it 🤦🏼♂️
https://www.laplandsilverstone.co.uk/
Mark comparing apples to oranges once again. In a country where there is antiquated infrastructure and not so much development, we have priorities that take precedence over your motor sport hobby. He is 100% right. How can you compare KMT to Shaheed park? Compare the total amount of the residents of the country who have used Shaheed versus who have attended or been to KMT? It isn’t comparable.
Sorry but you’re the one comparing apples to oranges, what does the infrastructure have to do with the race track? You talk about lack of developments, well here is a development and you’re complaining about it. So either you want developments to happen or you don’t but, don’t complain about the lack of developments and at in the same comment also complain that KMT shouldn’t have been developed.
Who cares how many people visited Shaheed Park? Is that your metric for having a project built or not? Have you been the museum here ever because based on your metric of approval it shouldn’t have been built. Can Shaheed Park hold international sporting events? Can Shaheed Park help young drivers develop into international stars? Can Shaheed Park bring down the number of injuries and deaths due to a drop in street racing? KMT is way more important to the country in my opinion than Shaheed Park, it isn’t even comparable.
+1 to that. These people complaining about how bad an idea KMT is seem to just have a generalized anger that they feel they have to direct somewhere and complaining about the new development projects is one way of doing that. I get a feeling even if Kuwait were to host a F1 race, these same people would start complaining about how bad the traffic is on the roads because of the F1 event and that Kuwait shouldn’t have hosted the race and should have instead prioritized more important things like building better roads and new hospitals for its citizens lol
While you’re at it, send hate mail to these 10 historic tracks for not hosting F1 races:
https://drivetribe.com/p/top-10-current-circuits-that-havent-bLfE8Mn5T0qrcOy4sgS0Dg?iid=Zd3Y41L2QjabQT60FkLhng
Damn these casuals ain’t shit
Glad to see KMT taking good precautions
Dude…. stop speaking from a car enthusiast level…Last time I checked this was a F1 race track…. and there has never been a F1 race in the last few years since the opening of the project. You can make fun and be arrogant all you want, but fact of the matter is…. the true purpose of this track has not been fulfilled and met.
I would never go to KMT to see a lame lotus car drive around the track. Let’s actually bring professionals to the country and see them race. It’s like constructing the tennis international stadium in 360 and then hosting events for 5 years straight where only locals play…. and justifying it
It’s nice they put on these events…. but you gotta bring in the professionals and make people other than car enthusiasts care.
The more you keep talking the more obvious it becomes that you’re a troll or you actually have no clue what you’re talking about.
KMT is not a Formula 1 circuit, check your facts again. You probably read that it was designed by an F1 track designer or that it has certain FIA licenses or maybe that the track has provisions to become an F1 track one day, but that doesn’t make it a F1 circuit. Have you ever been to or watched an F1 race? Do you not know that it requires a lot more than just a “track”?
Anyway, based on the rest of your comments you just sound really angry. Complaining about the tennis courts as well? Come one, you’re a fucking idiot with no understanding to how development works or what it is. You want to bring professionals to the country and see them race? That’s fun, but what about growing and developing local talent? You think we should only build tennis courts after we have more tennis players but in reality, you need to build tennis courts first to create more interest in the sport. Oh they haven’t hosted a Serena Williams game yet, they’re a failure, oh they built a race track and it’s been 2 years and they haven’t held a F1 race yet, the project is a failure 🤦 Stop embarrassing yourself
It looks a great venue and I look forward to in the future watching some kind of competitive motor sports there.
Just one observation. Please can the petrol-heads self-govern and try to get the message out that racing only works on the circuit. I have twice been passing KMT when super-cars in convoy that I have passed leaving the facility have then been weaving in and out of Joe Public on the 40.
I realise 7th and 40 are racetracks by default but it would be nice if the true petrolheads actually could help get out the message of driving your car rather than aiming it.
Hello, just to mention that KUWAIT SKYDIVE is also open.
Lol, wow what a professional you are. Insulting people for their views and their thoughts. Calling them idiots for saying things that aren’t in line with your own thoughts. Some kind of blogger you are….
There’s always room to argue and disagree on things, but no need to insult one another. Let’s try to be better than that…Anyways won’t be coming back here because you can’t seem to be mature enough to run a blog like this.
Oh please, you started with the insult but in any case, this isn’t McDonald’s, if you don’t like it you can just not come back, no biggie.
First all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Kuwait Motor Town staffs for organizing and supporting all kind of motorsport activities.
I have some thoughts and suggestions to share with KMT management with all respect to their efforts during this challenging period:
• The circuit to be open 5 days in a week for cars and motorbikes. Drive or ride your car/motorbike after paying the fees and inspection.
• Weekend to be organized for special events.
• Establish car/motorbike school to qualify the amateur racers to be expert in the track.
• To re-consider circuit fees.
• Improving KMT social media (Instagram/app). Need to interact with comments and questions.
Do the 30 participants drive in the same time or KMT divided them to two groups?
Moreover, what is the different between Passenger and Assistant as KMT mentioned the following:
One Passenger only is allowed at these events.
Only ONE assistant per participant will be allowed on site
30 with open pit lane meaning no groups. Usually they divide into groups when participants are a lot more but 30 at same time is less than amount of people in a group usually
So actually the numbers will be less than 30 after several laps as some drivers will stop and then drive again.
My second experience in the track will be in 29 January!
Thanks Mark.
Exactly, track is fairly empty