Kart racing techniques

Jordan,

1) Be as smooth as possible, drifting or sliding a Kart looses speeds because the tires scrub off momentum
2) Lose weight...........I am serious, on a kart 20 pounds makes a huge difference. At my local kart track I cut my time by a half second going from 200+ pounds to 185 or thereabouts.
3) Grab some axle grease and liberally apply it to all your competitors tires before hand.

Good luck.

And yes the leaning part is correct!

Regards,

Jon P. Kofod
www.flatoutracingnet

 

1) don't brake (maybe gently lift, but of course, this varies on courses)
2) drink lots of water/gatorade, especially before the race. you'll be able to think better for a longer period of time.
3) weight might not apply, in the local Ferrari/Porsche league, we use weight ballasts, so I add about 60 #'s to come to the median weight. later on in a season, I used leg weights to balance the weight forward instead of all to one side of me. that helped.
4) learn to tap the brakes if you have to, or lift the throttle if you have to, and get back on it JUST before the corner. this worked for me, although I'm not one of the fastest out there. by doing this you are anticipating the power coming on.
5) experience, experience, experience. I tend to prefer going out with the F/pcar guys and getting my butt kicked rather than going on a casual outing with friends. while I can beat up on my friends, it isn't as challenging.

 

6) listen to Dave. he's quite fast around the karting track.

 

Smooth is faster. While Karts have to slide around (especially on slippery concrete) the really fast guys will not look the fastest. Spend lots of time thinking about the best line for maintaining the karts momentum ... sometimes this actually requires braking!

I've also never heard on the leaning to the outside cornering technique ... I could not do that, would seem all wrong and with a fast kart (as opposed to an indoor one) you would be lifting the inside wheels.

What I have always done in these indoor kart competition thingies is learn which kart is a good one ... by watching every race real hard. You soon usually find that around 3 of them are common front runners and then if you ever have a choice for which kart make sure you are in the front of the queue and casually grab the good one.

The other thing (as these competitions usually take the top couple of finishers per race and keep working forward) is to be smart about winning at all costs. Many years ago I tried an impossible pass and ended up loosing a place ... not worth it until the last round ... also if you win all the races up to the final you will be starting off the rear of the grid (how it is done in NZ anyway) ... thus pays not to win every heat, thus less karts to pass in the final.

Have fun.

Pete

 

Jordan,

I forgot one very important part of karting (especially indoor stuff) ... how not to get overtaken.

You have to make absolutely sure when you hear a guy behind you or feel him that you never leave an opening on your inside ... cause smash crash and bash they will be up their.

You can easily hold them off if you take the tighter lines when required, ie. at the end of a long straight, etc.

You will need to do this if you happen to get a dud kart

Pete

 

The less you steer the faster you go.

You need to understand your kart and drive it any way that keeps steering input to the absolute minimum. Depending on the particular balance of YOUR kart you'll need to use your bodyweight accordingly

Momentum is everything, DO brake, but more for steering than slowing.

You rarely gain much by trying to drive faster....just drive AS fast for longer...brake less and later, gas it earlier..USE THE FULL WIDTH of the track EVERY lap.

Oh yeah, and tap the guy in front just as he gets on the brakes..he'll go sailing past the apex but won't go off so it'll look like his mistake....

 

(Remembering some F1 debates.) (I'm not going to say it ...)

 

Yep and I admit I fncked up ... should have made the pass stick

In the end you guys are right that championship points are what they are racing for ... and in this karting competition a grid spot in the final was all I was racing for. I forgot and the racer inside me wanted to win every race ... , guilty as charged. Thus maybe I should add: do as I say not as I do

BUT there is one very, very important thing that every racing driver needs to do. They must intimidate the opposition ... that is they are the type to have a go at passing. IMO this is critical to your perception as a driver. If (like RB) you are known as a pussie, the driver in front will not worry about you being close behind and be extremely confident that they can hold you out all race long. This makes passing doubly difficult.

When MS comes up behind another car they **** themselves and this is a huge advantage to MS. Same used to happen when Senna came up on another car. The guy infront just about drove off the track to let him through such was the intimidation.

I always will be one of those drivers that will have a go, because winning the mental game is 75% of the battle.

This is why RB will never be WC, because unless he qualified on poll and has a perfect start every race he is beaten BEFORE the race even starts.

Pete

BTW: When I used to belong to an indoor karting club (just for fun during the week after work) the team I belonged to ended up being hated. Not just because we always won , but because we knew the race craft and took no prisioners. Racing is not a game to me, it wakes me up and the idea of letting somebody else win is just not there. Anyway I can remember starting on the front row beside this other guy and going for the first corner ... neither of us would give in (naturally because it is real hard to pass on a indoor kart track and thus getting through that corner first was bloody important) ... thus a big crash resulted (infact I nearly rolled my indoor kart and had to use my hand to stop it going over ...). Thus restart had to occur ... er, same thing and this time the owner of the place had a chat to us ... thus third restart! All I can say is that I never lifted and came through that corner first and won the race ... I guess the other guy must have lifted .

I can guarantee that I was no dirtier racer than anybody else, but I was definitely not known as a push over ... and that is how it should be.

Any real racer will tell you that you very quickly create your opinions of the other drivers. You usually only end up with about 3 that you take seriously ... to be a winner you must be one of those 3 for the others IMO.

Nice guys come last!

 

Really?!?!?! You should lean to the outside?? I'd have assumed the opposite. That would imply some really strange dynamics in karts that is counter to all normal racing physics.

Maximum traction in a four-wheel car is when you have the weight evenly distributed on all four wheels. When turning, as you increase weight on the outside tires, you increase their traction a bit, but lose the inside traction a lot. Net loss.

So, in a kart, the above recommendation would imply that the traction of kart tires actually increases more with extra weight than it loses with loss of weight. While that seems possible, it doesn't seem too plausible.

In a car, you want to be smooth, in part, to minimize how much weight shift you get side-to-side. If the above recommendation is right (to shift your weight to the outside), then it is also plausible that its better to be LESS smooth on turn-in in order to throw more weight to the outside.

Can anyone explain the actual dynamics of karts that makes shifting all the weight to the outside superior, when such is not true in cars?

 

Brian,

I think you might be putting to much complication into Karts. They do not have a diff remember and thus a solid rear axle ... thus the inside rear driving wheel always HAS to loose traction to go around the corner (assuming the more loaded wheel, the outside gets the traction) ... thus putting more weight on to the SINGLE driving wheel may help.

Saying that Brian I have never, ever done that and really do not think it would make much difference.

Why?

Because I like to be really snug in my kart seat, thus learning would only move my weight bugger all if any ... and make my brain confused.

Pete

 

So Jordan, trying to get a head start so you can beat me huh? I'm up to your plan!!! This advice also helps me because the only karting I've done is more kidish stuff, with small tracks and sloooow karts. But hopefully I will be able to join you on Saturday, I still need to talk to my dad. Hope I can race with ya!

 

Shhhh, don't let Byron see, you need all you can get to beet his time!! Hope to see you there as well.

 

Smooth driving is the key to fast lap times. Yes, your driving style should be much more like that used in F1 than rally car driving.

I know a girl who went from sprint karts to 125cc rotax (which have to use full road-car tracks), and never did terribly well because she still had alot of the jerky driving movements ingrained in her head from the time around tight twisty sprint kart tracks.

After making another move, this time to 250cc twin engine Formula E superkarts, her driving improved dramatically. The reason for this is that you simply can't afford to be jerky in these karts; they reach over 200kmph several times a lap, and have a power to weight ratio higher than any racecar after Indy cars and Formula 1. Therefore any awkward driving inputs would quickly send you into a spin or off the track.