Whether you are a beginner who is just starting to learn kart racing, or an veteran racer, everybody comes back to the fundamentals of karting. Because without it, you won’t be able to excel in the next stages of your karting career. With that, here are 10 basic karting tips that are essential in taking your driving and racing skills to the next level.
In the world of go-kart racing, here you will experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. The victories and milestones you achieve are very rewarding, but the incidents and mishaps that come along will sting. However, always remember that there is something to be learnt from everything you experience, including the negative ones. In fact, it is often at our lowest points that we learn the most. It is these moments that help us grow, improve, and mature as drivers. With that, in this article, we will tackle how to take those steps of progress, big and small, and improve overall as a driver in go-kart racing.
Let’s discuss how some drivers can dominate on a practice day, but then can't translate that onto a race day. We see in practice sometimes, kids setting the fastest laps they've ever set. Two days later, or a couple of weeks later, get to race day and suddenly, they're 0.4, maybe even up to one second off the pace they were driving the weekend before.
How much of an effect does slipstream have and how can drivers best get it on the racetrack. Slipstream is something we see a lot in open wheel race cars. Thinking of F1, when they've got their DRS open. The reason for that is, they're trying to get less wind resistance. They open their rear wing on the straights, more wind flows through that space, it doesn't hit the wing to slow them down.
Let’s discuss how to drive in wet conditions, with some basic tips. Now when it comes to driving in the dry and then we change into the wet weather conditions, there's a stark contrast. Straight away there's limited grip when it comes to the wet weather driving that drivers need to pay attention to.
Overtaking is a vital part of racing. The ability to get past one driver on track is an important part of race craft and what makes drivers win races. However, making an overtake is not always easy. Before making a move, the driver must set up the opponent to make the overtake as smooth as possible, otherwise they can gift that spot back. Drivers can assess the pros and cons of making a move in a certain corner, how to go about the overtake, as well the amount of risk involved when making a move. It is important to consider these things because making a mistake might cost you to lose a position instead of gaining, or worse, your day may end early because of a wrong move.
The mentality of go-kart racing drivers is unique and cannot be compared to any other sport. The skillset and mindset it takes to excel in the world of racing is one that is hard to replicate with other sports. From the outside, it may look easy. But when it comes to racing, the smallest differences have the biggest effects. So, what exactly does it take to have a driver’s mentality and how can you develop and nurture it? Well, this is what we are here to discuss in this blog.
Colin McRae once said, “Straight roads are for fast cars, turns are for fast drivers”. The same holds true in the world of go-karting. Having the best equipment doesn’t mean you win all your races, but rather it is a driver’s technique, race craft, and speed that brings home the silverware. This can all be seen in a driver’s ability to take corners in the fastest way possible. As history proves, brake-roll-accelerate is the best way to take a corner. In this article, we will teach every step of this technique and further understand what makes it effective. To help visualize where to brake, roll, and accelerate, we will use one corner from the Ipswich kart track in Queensland as reference.
Let’s look at how to drift in a go-kart and the negatives around it. There are not many positives, just a quick heads up! When it comes to drifting in a go-kart, many of our newcomers or our younger drivers think it's fast to be sliding around corners. Now, the reason for this is they play video games online, or it just naturally feels faster when you're drifting, because as karts or cars or anything is starting to drift around and turn, it's losing control. When something is losing control, the chances are you can't drive around as fast because your kart or car is out of control.
How has the Netflix Series “Drive to Survive” impacted kart racing?
A few years back, Liberty Media, a USA Company, took over the rights to Formula 1. Now, what was a one race a year in the USA has now gone to three races in 2023. Formula 1 has the Miami Grand Prix, the Circuit of Americas, and now for the first time ever, the Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix on the strip in Las Vegas under lights.
One way to take your driving ability to the next level is by being one step ahead on track. To do so, drivers use a technique wherein they look ahead and increase their field of vision. For example, as the kart heads into the first corner, the driver is already looking at the apex. By the time the kart reaches the apex, he/she is already looking at the exit. By doing this, drivers can give their brain more time to process what is happening on the circuit and how to best handle it.
At what age can we start karting, and then depending on what age we are, which classes we would fall into. Now, this does vary between a country to country. Where I'm located in Melbourne, Australia, the earliest that someone can start kart racing is at six years of age. So at six years of age, you can apply for a practice license only. This then allows you to get 12 months of practice on track, so that you can start to hone your skills and learn the basics, the race lines, build some confidence, get used to the brakes, get more familiar with other karts being around you on the racetrack.
