It’s mostly driving you need to focus on for now, building that consistency and that comfort with the limit of the kart.
For example, the tire pressure didn’t cause you to suddenly spin 3 times in one lap. The kart doesn’t swap balance that quickly and that harshly that it suddenly becomes uncontrollable within a lap. And if it were the case, a small pressure adjustment isn’t going to solve that. That’s just you not having the seat time necessary, and you probably started doing something in your driving that you don’t even realize yet because you’re not attuned to it.
Not a dig at you at all! We all started where you’re at. It just takes time to build up to it.
From the video it looks pretty good for where you’re at, but there are a few instances of missing apexes, turning in too early, not using all the track, some slides, and general inconsistencies, which is completely normal at this point. Keep plugging away and getting more ass-in-the-seat time.
I think he’s talking about what Greg has articulated before. When you are a new guy and you get the draft, all of sudden you realize you gonna have an opportunity to pass and it makes no sense to you. You don’t have similar experience to contextualize it.
Greg talked a lot about the idea of having to let go of some pace as you close if the pass isn’t on. Just because you have a run, doesn’t mean you have a pass and Dean can feel that.
The key is to understand that having more pace does not equal easy pass. Use that pace to have all the time in the world to set up the perfect, efficient entry from behind and catch him even stronger. Rinse repeat till the other guy screws up or you have an opening.
The reason why I noticed you holding angle too long is I do/did that too. It’s a part of the learning journey. You want to make the kart free on exit ASAP. It’s a feeling. Run those exits out as wide as you can for now. Feel it open up.
Drafting is a bit of a new sensation, where all of a sudden you have more speed to pass than normal. But just because you have the speed, I’m struggling with the “when” to use it. i.e. down the straight? in the corners? I know this is subjective and subject to change based on other factors and the “feeling” you get.
Then what happens if you shoot your wad and they defend and your forced to brake. You might lose the draft and you momentum, so the “execution” best practices are what I’m trying to wrap my mind around.
Two examples:
Got sucked into the draft and as soon as I did, I “thought” about passing but then I banged off my rev limiter WAY sooner than expected. It threw me off and I thought I’d be making a mistake by trying to pass as I wouldn’t have enough power to continue carrying that kind of speed.
Got sucked into the draft and I was gaining so quickly, I decided to pass and I still had plenty of rpm’s before hitting my rev limiter. Soon as I got around him, a few seconds later, he just went right back around me on the same stretch of straightaway. So my timing was off somehow. Maybe I had some draft, but not enough to “launch” past if that makes sense. Just enough to “ekk” past but not enough to carry the momentum/speed needed to keep the position.
These are some examples of situations I’m trying to understand. There is alot more technical aspects to karting that don’t become appearant until your in the cockpit trying to make said decisions in real time.
I’m always facinated just how quick some of these 206 guys are, but I know alot of racecraft goes into it that I feel I’m just barely getting a glimpse into for the first time.
Up and until this point all my seat time was on an empty track, so there were less variables to consider.
Think ahead. You know where the kart ahead of you is. Stop staring at its bumper. Look through him and see your exit and line. Use your experience to understand where he’s going to be at apex and tracking out. Adjust entry speed if it allows you to position for that lane. Back it up a touch if necessary. It sucks to waste pace but it’s a better option than slowing even more due to a poorly initiated pass.
The hard part is finding the patience to not just jam yourself past. All the good drivers make it look easy because they are patient and wait for or make happen the right moment. Bear in mind that you can influence where the other guy goes and thus how he takes the corner ahead of you.
If you can’t shut the door on him by the next apex, you did not have the exit speed. If he passes you right back, you compromised your line such that you lost speed.
This. I’m 3 years in and still figuring out how to time passes by letting off. Most of the time I catch up at the worst times, let off too much, mess my line up, etc. you will see this in nearly every one of my races on YT
Well I would bet that you used more speed to enter first, pushed a bit too far in, went or was going wide, had to brake or lift, then got on gas late.
Since it’s lo, that late throttle makes you a sitting duck.
Prioritize minimizing pace loss over passing. I know that sounds nuts. Try it a bit. Guard that pace and be greedy about grip. You want to be pushing out of each corner at the right time. Getting to the apex first is great and all, if you can power out, but, you can’t drop 2 gears and use power to cover the weird line you took to pinch the other guy off.
I have found that if you need to slow yourself without losing pace, the best thing is a slight tap of the brake while still on the throttle. You have two feet and two pedals, why not use them both. When you lift off the throttle, the rpms drop and it can take time to build them again, but when you are full throttle and just brush the brake you can scrub some speed without the lag of the engine spooling back up. I find this technique most useful when I catch someone at the end of straight just before the braking zone. If I try to late brake them, I blow my corner exit speed, but if I drop my momentum slightly I can tuck in behind their bumper and try to drag race them out of the exit. A lot of time, if they realize you are coming up on them, they will take a defensive line into the corner which can allow you to check up and take a faster exit line and pulling them on the next straight. Like Dom said, you want to carry as much momentum as possible. Sometimes sacrificing a little before the turn, can benefit you on exit.
There are some exceptions, like tight multi corner sequences where trying to out brake them going into the first corner is better. If you can hold them up on exit, because there is not room to make a counter move then it will leave a little time to correct your line by the last corner before the straight and maintain the advantage.
@KartingIsLife Does this work for race starts in 4t? If I gas and brake to increase RPM without increasing speed will I accelerate faster? Also im assuming the clutch wears out a little quicker by doing this?
Its not like drag raging where you power brake then lift off the pedal to launch. If you are riding your brake and applying throttle at the same time in a kart from low RPM, you will burn out your clutch or at best overheat it and loose bite.
The technique I am talking about refers to how much RPM drops from full throttle by letting off the gas pedal compared to just tapping the brake. Both will scrub speed, but the RPM drops more when you close the slide, compared to when you tap the brake. So to shave a little instead of a lot of speed, don’t lift and just tap the brake.
In KZ starts, I’ve seen guys dump the clutch with throttle & brake pinned simultaneously & then release the brake at the drop. It works with gearbox engines, albeit at the cost of accelerated clutch plate wear & tear. I can’t see it translating well to single speed centri clutch engines, though.
Another CKNA Event in the books. Got some track advice from a former Professional Karting Champion from the (1970’s-1980’s?). Older gentlemen, super nice, coached me alot on corner entry and exit line/ speeds. He watched me turn laps a few weeks ago, and said he had some tips. One thing he mentioned, was NOT to fixate on gearing. I was like “Wait, what!?” (Ignorance is bliss)
But he explained that being new, my driving was too inconsistent from lap to lap. He explained once I gained some driving consistency, then I could focus on being on the right gear. If I lacked driving consistency, and I was constantly changing my gearing, he said it would be like trying to hit a moving target.
Its amazing what can happen when someone drops that kind of knoweldge. Following his advice, I shaved 3 seconds off my best time from just one month ago. Still finished in the back, but had a ton of fun and learned alot.
Front runners where in the high 1:09/ low 1:10 range.
I was consistantly turning 1:12.4. Not super fast but way more consistent, which was something I was sturggling with leading into this race.
Had a wonderful time. CKNA South runs really fun events.
I also got to draft with someone for the first time for 10 laps straight. That was an eye opener. But with 2 laps left on the final, I initiated a risky pass (no contact) but it sent a him off track. (my bad). After the race he said he wasn’t expecting anyone to pass him on that particular turn. Finished the final 3rd from last place.
Better than Jacksonville, where I was last place in every race I ran.
Awesome job! thats a really good time compared to the leaders for your second race. I learned the same thing when I started, just focus on driving and forget that you can make changes to the kart, really helps you focus.
Hey, good work! Nice finish. Sounds like you are starting to get a feel for driving with others and managing that process. I think you’ll find that this will get more and more natural. Soon, you will be looking at the race from a “how many spots can I grab?” perspective rather than a survival/completion one.
I tend to shut up when new guys go the setup route because I recognize that folks think different from each other and that some folks “need” to tune. They need to address their learning that way, because of how they think.
My perspective is that it’s more productive to focus on the driving pretty much exclusively for the first year or so. From the literal tens of thousands of laps I have run in the past 5 years, what matters is the line and how you drive it. Setup can help you with that, but only when you are experienced enough to see how a change would affect this turn AND the rest of the track. A setup is a compromise. One needs the depth of experience to understand what’s critical and what to sacrifice.
Get a workable gearing for each track you race at, that’s a given. Get the kart to a nice neutral base. Drive it as much as you can. Learn to make that baseline work in all conditions.
Forgot to mention the new front aero, that was the first time I ran it. Its suppose to be wider than normal for the wider folks. Don’t know if it works, but it sure looks cool.
In the track picture you can tell I run a neon green strip under the front fairing, so if I poke my noise out, hopefully it can be seen. Again, I try to be cautious and not cause a wreck. I am still in that feeling of more survival vs. completion.
