Karting advice: shifting bodyweight

Definitely to the outside, to load up the tires which need the grip. It also just feels natural, if you try and lean to the inside, you're loading the wrong tires, and it's going to feel really awkward, and you'll probably find that it's harder to be smooth that way. Definitely lean to the outside.

 

The most important body weight shifting in karting is under braking and reacceleration: you can really gain that way: lean back during the hardest braking lean forward briefly as you turn in -in hairpins and tight corners- then lean back as you reacclerate. In qualifiying I used to do that a lot and also jump in the seat as I reaccelelrated: but you cannot pull on the steering wheel which would neagte any advantage gained so you have to kick your backside up as though you are trying to ""*ck the moon"! You are half the weight of a kart so it does make a difference. People used to tell me Marc it is a kart not a horse but I qualified in the top 3 of the Paris league several times out of a hundred other guys so it worked!

Best regards,

Marc

 

PS: This was in 1984,5,6 when you braked sideways to really load a rear tire (and I weighed a lot less)but I do believe that even though you now brake in a straight line the principle is still valid.

 

ughh.... are you guys serious?

The only time worth leaning to the outside is if you are racing in the rain or maybe some ultra slick rental kart track. Because you have so little grip in these conditions, shifting your body weight to the outside isn't meant to load the outside, rather unload the inside tyre of the kart which allows the inside tyre to lift. Because a kart has a solid rear axle it is essential to lift the inside tyre through a corner otherwise the kart will understeer through the corner and in conditions with minimal grip it might help by leaning to the outside.

My recommendation is to set the kart up properly though, you should just be able to sit back, relax, and drive. It isn't necessary to shift your weight in a modern kart* to go quickly.

Cheers

Michael




*different rules potentially apply to older karts as pointed out by Nembo1777

 

Nice to see you're still around MJ. I hope everything is going well with your racing.


Cheers!

 

I kart at an indoor facility.Velocity 17(v-17) ,the biggest indoor karting facility in the world.I race there when I can go(it is expensive).The almost all karts need fixing and almost all need new tires.I havent been able to put my times down how i should.The circuit has no straightaways.The closest thing you will get to that is the main left hand sweeper(think turn 7 Istanbul Park).Im 19 and this is how i plan to build a foundation in my racing career.I get it all,the stupid smerks,dickhead remarks when i tell people that I aspire to be a Formula 1 World Champion.With the Scuderia Ferrari.Anyone who is even reading this is probably pissing their pants they're laughing so hard.Yet i dont care.It's all i think about.I just need the finances and the sponsor.There is a semi-pro league at V-17.I was supposed to compete this fall,but for school reasons,I will race in the spring.It's my first season of organised motorsports.It's 18 and older,yet all the rest sre mostly 20-50+.I am starting my regimens this week,in order to be efficient tin the spring.Im not just going to race.I want to win it all.If i cant do that,I feel like life is not worth living.I thought if i'd share this, what better place than F-chat?With my fellow Tifosi.

 

Hey Guys,

Everything is going great in my racing. I am living in England and have gotten hooked in with Jonathan Palmer's racing school PalmerSport. It is world class and so much in fact that Lewis Hamilton and Justin Wilson instructed there and people like Bob Bondurat occasionally turn up to see how the school does things!

In regards to indoor karting, I don't know much about the particular circuit, but a few things you might thing about to give yourself an edge.

1. When driving: Keeping the wheel steering wheel straight: rental karts don't have power or grip, the straighter you can keep the wheel, with minimal sliding, and utilizing the entire circuit the quicker you will go.
2. Figure out what 'wins' the race. Some indoor kart tracks the results are determined stictly on lap time, obviously bumping and grinding it out with the pack won't result in a good time. I have won some indoor karting events by letting everyone half a lap ahead and then having clear track and getting to click off some good laps.
3. Karts are not equal. EVER. If you are seriously keen on winning, try to get to the track early and try out the different karts. Some will always work better than others on account of tyres, bent'ness, and engine performance.

Hope this helps!

Cheers

Michael

 

Hi Christian, I like you have also had the dream to someday win the WC title with Ferrari some day. I had to give up however, after growing far to tall to fit in a single seater race car, hell, even most standard cars are a struggle...

Since i was 11 I almost daily either rode my quadbike and karts (i could sometimes drive the karts for free, benefits of living next to a racetrack. Normally i helped the people out and in exchange they let me ride the karts with other people who did driver training days, if there was a seat open. on average about an hour a day seat time but not unusual was over 2 hours seat time). I'm not a driving god by any means, but I do feel I have a natural ability being quick in certain vehicles.
When i moved abroad to the carribean, i managed to get a job at the local (indoor) kart track, where again I was able to drive karts all the time for free. I must say though, indoor karting doesnt have much to do with skill, the karts are generally slow and every single one of them is different. Many have had crashes, all engines have different power levels, tires are either new or worn.

many, if not all formula one drivers began racing karts very early in their lives, 12 at latest. For some, their first taste of racing maybe came from indoor karting but at racing levels, they are all outdoor events. at 19 years old, current F1 drivers would race in championships such as formula ford, Formula 3, formula Renault, GP2 and the odd one out possibly testing F1 cars.

I'm not saying to give up on your dream, but dont be disappointed if you fail to enter Formula 1. there are thousands of other guys out there right now, driving their balls of in championships such as formula ford or bmw, some younger than you (IIRC vettel was 16 when he was racing in formula BMW), all trying to get that invite to even test an F1 car...and you're just getting started at an indoor track.

I'm never going to weigh under 105 kilo's (~210 pounds), unless i cut a limb of, or have a serious eating disorder (but that'll probaly leave me unable to walk, let alone race lol). Because of this, i've set my ambitions lower and tried to find a different sort of championship I could enter myself in, perhaps even be competitive enough to finish on the podium. I'm hoping to build or purchase a used race car next year, and start racing in the dutch supercar challenge in 2010.

I wish you all good luck with your future career in racing though. Even if you have to finance the majority of it yourself (like me!), go out there and have fun!

 

I normally lean a little bit to the outside of the corner when entering tight sharp corners in order to weight the outside wheel and take weight off the inside wheel since the Kart is on a solid axle and both tires are spinning at the same speed, thus allowing me to slip the inside tire and drive the Kart through the corner harder since the inside wheel can free wheel a bit, in fact I have on several occaisions got the inside rear wheel just a little off the ground in order to get that affect.

Brakes are on the back axle only, so no braking in the middle of the corner as you'll break lose and end up going agricultural, also the weight is shifted to the back when braking, better grip on the tires, as well as during acceleration.. Another thing to remember is to grip the steering wheel lightly, don't get a death grip on the wheel or you will get loads of arm pump and end up having your arms give out during the middle of the race. I myself usually flex my hands during the length of a straight section, then get on the wheel firmly before I start entering a corner. The better you are at using your brakes, the faster you will go.. A guy who helped to teach me taught me to go as fast as I could to the next corner, get on the brakes just to the point where the rear end would break lose, then off the brakes, turn across the apex and floor it at the same time. I did this for a session, really getting the feel of the Kart and then understood how to break my momentum just enough to make the corner without graining the tires, be able to get position before the corner and get maximum acceleration out of the corners. I learned how to maximize the kerbs, draw a straight line through the chicanes, all of that stuff from snowmobile racing and then applied it to Karts along with some tips from the guys at the track as well as reading the websites below and practicing what they were teaching.. Remember it's all about being smooth and fast.. WHen you have it right you know as it's pretty much effortless.

Here is where I usually go Karting:

http://www.thetrack.us

I have found this site to be very helpful at times:

http://www.karting.co.uk/KandK/Tech/KartSetup.html

And this one:

http://www.karting1.co.uk/


It was pretty hard for me to adjust at first, was used to racing snowmobiles and motorcycles which are the opposite in a lot of ways... The best part is getting the frame flex in a corner, as Karts can do about 3 G's in a corner with good tires, a good frame, etc.. It's about the same on an ice track with a sno pro sled, it's an amazing feeling!!!


Hopefully you can learn to kart like these guys, it only takes lots of practice and determination:
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The best thing you can do is shift your body weight from your body to the outside of the car. Lose 10 pounds and gain acceleration, decrease braking distance, enhance your traction and stability through the turns.

 

Keep your body always pushed back into you seat. The only time you lean forward is to get a draft. As for the turns, you should be leaning the opposite side. Good posture in a kart is key as it can effect the handling of the kart. So always make sure you sit upright and your body pushed back, no leaning forward. Here is a link to a picture that gives you an idea.
http://highoctaneimages.com/galleries/20080818/gallery.swf