You can mess around with video editor to try to get a sense of where the other kid is faster/slower. I made a couple vids where I divided the track into sections that were relevant and compared each segment side by side. Sort of a pain to do, but kind of interesting.
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I am no kart racer but have some seat time in various karts up to an X30. I recently got a 206 for myself. My kid will kick my ass any day of the week. I have nothing to teach him from the drivers seat, but can help him with racecraft and race management. I can also help talk him though different lines for turns. But I certainly can’t replicate what I tell him.
When I do have an X30 I can actually keep up with him on his swift. It is really amazing to me to see the line he runs vs mine. Whole different ball game. I leave trying to get a few extra tenths out of him to the coaches!
Get a reliable engine, there’s noting worse that turning up a the track and messing about before hitting track.
Just to give an update a year later.
We still haven’t raced yet and we started late into the Ohio season due to what felt like a lack of enthusiasm towards the end of last season. We had the engine rebuilt over the winter and it just sat there waiting for him to be ready.
He’s taken to it with a vengeance. He dropped his lap time over 5 seconds from last year at Adkins Raceway and we are expecting to enter in his first race later this month.
He’s driving the line and attacking the track. I used to have to bicker with him to get him to run 10 lap stints, now I’m waving him off the track after 20. The new rule is now he’s allowed to run as many laps as he wants until he runs 2 consecutive laps a second off his best lap for that session.
He used to watch YouTube videos on Minecraft and Fortnite. Now he’s watching YouTube videos about karting.
My only expectations for him in racing is to make mistakes and learn from them. Thanks for the help and advice. The road going forward is to be encouraging and supportive. I’m not going to be able to do anything for him now to make him a professional driver some day, but I sure can do something to cause him to stop loving the sport.
On the dad racing front, I’m on a diet and looking for an LO206 kart for next year. I’ve spent some time in a kart before, but I want to focus on him this year.
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1st race tonight under the lights at Adkins… 3rd place! OK…OK… There were only 4 karts in his class, but we were expecting to have 4th place on lock down. Finished 3rd in a heat race and the main. Super proud of this kid and most importantly the entire family had a great time.
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Congrats! Looks like he’s “off the the races”!
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I spent a few hours working on one turn in practice Thursday. And sure enough he hit both rumble strips and didn’t lose any time or positions in that turn this week.
One of the things I love about our track (Badger Kart Club) is the ample amount of practice time available during the week. we’d be lost without it.
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Another update.
He won his first Heat Race and Main this weekend.
First time he had to pass another kart at speed for position that wasn’t out of position or struggling through a corner.
It really is all about seat time. I’m wondering at what point do we start using a data logger?
His consistency is an issue. 33.93 to 34.25 then he ran a 33.76 and back to a 33.96. It’s tighter than I can do right now, but I don’t know where the issues are.I’m putting the Go Pro on his racing helmet to track him, but I’m thinking it’s time to put a Mychron 5 on the kart.
Thanks for all of your help and input.
Definitely need a gauge of some kind. A simple starting point with the MyChron 5 is to set up splits breaking the track into sections. From there, you can compared one lap to another and see what section he lost time in, see his theoretical best lap based on his best splits, and work on specific sections of the track. You can also show him where he maybe hit a better top speed or RPM because he nailed a corner on one lap vs. another.
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I’m piggy backing on this thread due to the quality response material and I’m looking to help my brother (11yo) who has expressed interest in karting. For the OP, where have you gone in Ohio for events and races? He lives in Columbus, Ohio and I’m based out of Southwestern Ohio.
Thanks in advance.
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We race currently at Adkins Raceway up in Port Washington. They have rental kart races along with the standard LO206 and KT100 classes.
Circleville Raceway is supposed to have at least 6 races next season also.
Congratulations Fathers, you seem to be doing all the right things. I am an old school 1/4 guy and getting into karting with my Son. We both are going to try and learn as much as we can, have a blast and remember dreams with hard work does come true. My grandson is ten years old and is close to beating me in chess and I am a very good, experienced player of 55 years, I can not wait until he beats me without me giving tactical advice. The correlation is this, You can take your loved one only so far, then personal drive and will takes over. You set the table and now your son’s are bringing the meal, enjoy and Happy Trails:dove:
Charles AKA Silver Fox 
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My son is 9 and in his 3rd season. His first year when he was 7 he had no ability to run consistent laps, he’d be up and down 8 to 10 seconds per lap all event long. Just left everything as is, and in his second season he could start to run a full race of laps within a second, then we started worrying about tuning. This season its been a progressive improvement each time out, often dropping his personal best by half a second compared to his previous round.
Most important thing I found, was to just make sure it was fun for him. We’ve left races after the first heat because he got nailed by some other kid and hurt his ribs, now we’re to the point that he got completely ran over, had a kart land on his wrist hard enough to bend his steering wheel, and all he said was “can you fix my kart while I go punch that kid?”. So he may be more NASCAR than F1 based on his attitude haha.
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Update. He broke a rib and finished the race. Then a few months later he had a driver lose their brakes and run over him in a turn and broke some ribs and his wrist. Got a little tire rash on his helmet too. That was enough for his mom.
We are racing Quarter Midgets now, and while he’s glad to still be racing he really misses karting. So I’m trying to figure out a way to buy him a 206 kart and sneak him off to G&J every so often so he can use the brake and turn right once in awhile .
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I am not sure if it makes any difference, but what kid of rib protection was he wearing?
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That really sucks, that sounds really abnormal for karting. It’s certainly dangerous, but not break your ribs twice in a year dangerous. At least not for kids.
I’ve raced 3 years in a large class and the worst I’ve gotten is bad bruises
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He was wearing an Armadillo both times. We didn’t know about the broken rib the first time until they Xrayed him after the crash that broke it the second time. Pretty sure the first time was because the vest rode up on him and the seat bolt got him.
Can we get a photo of the seat (bolt protrusion that might be an issue). This sounds like it’s incorrect.
Well… the kid is too tall for Quarter Midgets so we are heading back to Karts.
Welcome back. Sorry it didn’t work out with the caged ones. Those do look like great fun.
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