Can you take a look and give me some feedback? Here’s two laps from Etown last weekend. What I am curious about is the turn at the end of the straight. It looks to me like the kart rotates a few degrees and almost “slips” sideways into the turn. Is this OK? It feels fast to me and to be fair air temps were cold so grip wasn’t huge. Should I be going in slower to keep the kart more stable or is this effective? Laptime wise these are low to mid 42s which, from what I understand, is reasonably quick for the location. I think fastest times in races are mid to high 41s generally.
I love Englishtown. You’re definitely losing speed at the end of the straight. Your left side tires should be under the concrete patch, in good conditions the kart should feel super grippy and responsive in this corner. You can definitely turn in earlier. Your driving looks solid, the first thing to work on would be tightening up your line a bit, most notably in the light pole corner.
By under the concrete patch do you mean left side on the white concrete right wheels off?
Also, the light pole corner, is that the long round 270? And by tighter do you mean hold the inside line all the way through? Don’t let it drift right at all?
Next time you run there, walk the track. Make note of where all of “turtle shells” are that define the limits of the track. So in the case of the corner after the straight, your lefts should be on the red/white paint, as close to the turtle shells as possible, right sides will be on the concrete. Remember, always use up all of the racetrack, especially important here because E-Town is so narrow. The light pole is the super tight 180, same thing here, right sides should be in the paint as close as the turtle shell as possible. Englishtown is all about running tight lines and hugging the turtle shells.
Ok got it. Earlier turn in at end of straight and get real snug with the paint on the inside.
@Bimodal_Rocket
Kart Looks really responsive through corners and rotates nicely. Maybe slow your hands down to help with the over-reactive front end, or narrow front end, less caster, etc. Overall the kart looks good for the grip that is on the track. Another note is the you should use the rubber patches when you can. As said above by @Joey_Kowaleski tightening your line up will help as well.
An E-Town expert, like Joey, probably has more specific tips, but my main critique would be, as stated above, you need to tighten your line up a bit. It looks like the kart is washing up a bit and possibly feeling a bit twitchy, probably because you are slightly off line in most of the corners. Really get that kart down to the curbing. I think you’ll find there’s more grip to be had down there, and you can really roll the kart through the corners easier, rather than chasing the kart up the track mid-corner.
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Thanks for the feedback!
So after absorbing all of your suggestions I have been very carefully observing etown vids and can see what you guys are talking about. I really need to try to tighten those apexes big time.
This fella, Raif Shah, seems to run very nice lines at etown. His tire is pretty much always up near the turtle shells and he’s always left side in the paint/right on the concrete at the big corner.
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I’ve actually done a little online coaching with Raif in the past.
I think once you get the kart down to the apex properly, you’ll find it handles much better too. The number one issue I have with drivers is they aren’t on the right line, and the kart feels off because they aren’t running on the grippiest part of the track. It seems somewhat obvious, but it’s very easy to come in and say “the kart is oversteering”, which might be true, but it’s true because the driver isn’t down in the rubber, they’re in the marbles, sliding around.
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What do you mean by “chasing the kart up the track mid-corner?” Do you mean getting on gas early (pre apex) to compensate for positioning? To make up lost time?
It looks like there is a lot of steering input happening; counter-steering especially. By “chasing the kart up the track”, I’m referring you to trying to steer more to keep the kart down as it’s sliding wide. When you’re slightly off-line, the kart is going to want to slide wide and you spend the whole corner counter-steering and trying to catch the kart. If you get the kart down into the clean, grippy part of the track, the counter-steering will totally disappear usually.
Ok thanks for the explanation. Noted.
So, is this any better or is it just the tires doing the talking? I’m kind of surprised that this was my fastest lap in that I had to take an inside line with a narrow exit out of the tight 180 (light pole turn) to pass a guy. It didn’t seem to slow me down. I feel like I am tighter on the apexes with a couple of flubs.
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I think it looks better. You look more confident and in control to me.
Often times the slower you feel, the faster you’re going.
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