Hairpin turn in low hp kart

Driving, Data & Fitness.
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Welcome to racing. Ideally, you want your passing to not slow you down at all. However, the guy in front of you will have other ideas.

Battling for position slows you down. Too much battling and the pack behind you catches up and chaos ensues.

So, as TJ once told me, “No window shopping. Make a purchase (pass) or leave the store.” In other words, don’t go for a pass unless you can complete it. No half baked attempts. You’ll just slow the both of you down.

That’s why you see folks bumper to bumper. They are waiting for the dude in front of them to make a little mistake and slide into the gap.

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Gonna try my best to do everything as best as I can. Racing in 1 hour!

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Good luck and have fun!

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Go get em! :racing_car::racing_car::racing_car::racing_car::checkered_flag::checkered_flag::checkered_flag::checkered_flag::checkered_flag:

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That was something completely different! After this race, I understand what it means. Someone seeking for a slightest mistake and you are out. It was a very difficult race, no rhythm in both qualifying and race. Very hard to adapt to different kart characteristics. It was a big challenge for me to find, as Dom would call him, inner Stig. Nervous but not in a way that I sweat or shake but my concentration was zero, acting calm but inside not knowing what to do. Conditions also did not allow anything near 48s (anyone, not only me). I did not manage to get it below 50s. Regular times were around 49.7/9s so I was a bit off in that aspect as well. The fact that the race was 5 laps long was not helping me either. Please don´t ask me why only 5 laps, no one knows, only the ones who organized the event. Literally no one understands it, who races for 5 laps (x 50s = 4 min)?! But aside rather pointless rules, I really had fun and had a great time, learned a lot. I started 4th and finished 4th as well. There were ups and downs, but it was mostly my fault that I did not hold on to my position well enough. There was also a questionable move from a guy that pushed me wide in 11 but I also could have prevented that few corners before. One thing I am really proud of is my start, reaction time under 0.2s :zap: Anyways, here is the clip, I hope it looks decent at least, considering it is my first ever race :hugs: Let me know what you think!

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Great Start! Great race. Really impressive for your first race. You got to have a good start and then you got to chase the leader while holding off a pack! You did a great job of keeping it together.

You really were not visibly rattled until you started to worry about the kart on your inside coming down straight. Instead of holding your line, you decided to defend, but they did not have the speed, and had already tucked behind you. This narrowed your entry into 1. Despite this, you hold it together and make your corners work, but it’s not enough. The kart behind you had two sectors to capitalize on your mistake in 1 and took it next.

Feeling the pressure, you run wide in the switchback. He takes you coming out. As you two go side-by-side, the rest of the gang closes in. The bumper bashing slows you down and when the leader pulls away, your relative speed is crappy. The gang starts to push by and you definitely don’t come out the winner in the game of tippy-taps.

But, not all is lost! You very quickly catch back up to the interlopers and begin to reclaim what was rightfully yours. Textbook pass into 8. I love how I you micro-hesitate and then sent it. Great job. I think, given 5 more laps, you’d have gotten back to second. The last guy was very squirrely and made mistakes.

Amazing first race. You had it all. A great start, a chase, holding off the pack, a disaster, perseverance, and redemption! Hopefully you are happy. It looked like a ball. Welcome to the fun.

I get all weird about this too in races. I had a race where I was really on it and driving great but my pace wasn’t good. But it turns out that everyone was off, relatively. The track was green.

You have to compare yourself against the others, really. You are new to this, so you don’t know who runs what times normally, however.

Speaking of races, I had one today as well. It was fun but I got rather firmly squished in the early parts of the final and sent to the back. I persevered however and was able to recoup some dignity with a noble 8th. Kinda like your race, actually.

I had a quick kart in the pre-final and got 4th. I had some nice laps but I felt like the kart was pulling against my braking so I never got comfy with it. Tanguy got 2nd with the kart in finals and set the fastest lap of the month so the kart must be fine.:sob:

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Nice race! It’s your first race, and you did well. really nice pass to get back into 4th. You were starting to settle a bit at the end and I think if it was a 10min race you would’ve done better.
So, when is the next race? :smiley:

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Exactly, it had everything, packed into 5 mins haha! Loads of fun and I was happy at the end, because I was not last after all that bumping! I agree, should not have defended that much, lack of experience that costed me. Also, bad move (it was just what you mentioned, not to do “No window shopping”) in 10 that increased chance for mess and excursion to the gravel in 11, which at the end, really happened. Great fun, looking forward to the next year and new challenge!

Yeah, I actually watched the final race yesterday, right after you uploaded it. Such a mess into the first corner!
I still don´t get why and how does everyone get so heated to the point where they push you out of their way, unnecessarily aggressive. Unless it is a cardinal mistake and misjudgement, it deserves a penalty to some degree. I don´t know, it doesn´t look like they intentionally did it but anyways, it is not hard to be a bit conservative and careful, is it? Especially as it is a pretty wide track and has a lot of opportunities for passing. And it is not the first time I see these exact guys in the pileup :sweat_smile:

@Bobby Oh man, the next race can be as early as 6 months time :disappointed: And that is if I decide to drive the league, not cup competition. I will see about that, not much up to me really.

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I don’t know if there’s a term for unnecessary defense… No Refunds, No exchange? Reverse Window Shopping?

In any case, I only saw you change line like this the one time. I’m not sure how to advise on defense as I’m pretty new to it myself. My guess is to defend sparingly. If someone has a run on you in the straight, how can you defend that? The track is very wide there. You are probably better off holding your line and seeing what happens. Let them try turn one from a weird angle instead of you.

I am OK with this crash. Tanguy went full send into turn 1 and locked up ahead of me. Since I had to narrow exit to avoid him, so did the guys behind me. The fellow to the left of me was pushed into me by the guy to his left and so on. So, in this case no one was pushing to get ahead. It just was too many karts in too little space. All good. Also these cages make driving consequence-free pretty much, so that kinda colors your thinking.

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That really makes sense. Everyone was pretty much sticking to their line and driving how they know. If there was any move, it was only because someone made a mistake, on their line. No one made incredible progress so the guy in-front needed to move drastically. I was making those mistakes in situations where I was off my line, and that looks like the main problem I have right now. I am good when everything is okay and calm. The moment you throw changes to the line/driving, taps from behind, there goes my laptime and concentration. Actual racing is what I miss in my driving style. Looking forward to improve on that main aspect that actually makes you a racing driver.

Maybe I overreacted after watching that crash, but still, could they have been a bit more conservative and patient into the turn? Maybe I see this differently as I am not experienced at all, but they still hit you pretty well and threw a race away, right? But yeah, probably looked way different from their point of view so I assume just a regular racing incident.

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Yep. That’s racing. You want to stay on the fast line until you are forced off. Let them do the work. Occasionally narrow the track a bit to defend when necessary. But, we are talking one kart width. No big sideways moves.

It all fell apart when you started banging bumpers with the leader. You guys locking bumpers brought the pack in range and the leader got the better end of the engagement. You lost pace because of the contact. The guys behind didn’t and they pushed you out of the way. It’s that simple.

Looking more closely at my crash, I’m gonna concur that this one isn’t on me. I was fine avoiding Tanguy and left a ton of space on the inside.The two boys behind me must have not been paying attention. Oh well!

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Guess I am watching F1 too much these days, that is where big sideways moving comes from hehe.

You were just a passenger in that crash, unfortunately. Hopefully they learn from this and be just a bit more careful next time :wink:

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So that’s it then? Are you done with the competition?

Also, it looks like the leader at the start of the race has a very nice turn into the switchback (5?) right ahead of you. What do you think of his turn?

Same lap, into 8 then through into 10 etc… Look at how he enters 8. Its serpentine, He’s using 7 to zig and zag to load up kart and he rides the rubber in and around. It looks tidy from behind and is probably something you should explore. Again, tell me what you see and think, if you’d like.

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Yes, I am done for this season. I will probably go few more times just for fun and to use some coupons I got as a reward.

Actually, he was that fast guy that told me to be narrow in the 4 to prepare better for 5. He clearly narrows the corner as much as possible to prepare as best as he can for 5. First off, he is perfectly accurate. He just goes through the bump, not touching the curb, minimizing the distance. He uses full track space to prepare for the hairpin, in comparing to my line where I am catching up and turning late to the left and wasting grip for straightening up (while traveling good 30-50cm forward, missing the apex, understeering), and after straightening up, I am turning to the right. I am also 10-15cm from left apex, not using full space. That is where he gains. That is how I see it.

What was fascinating, in the finals race, is that he was so aggressive on the wheel just when he starts turning in. Every time, a bunch of dust is seen when he turns in. Like he goes into some bump, turns, and tyres “bite” and get the grip, so he catches some kind of slope, that is how it looks like. Something I feel is used on racing karts, that strong first input to turn the kart where you need it to go. But I never managed to do that, to turn it like that. I always understeered into nowhere when I tried it.

Yes, pretty obvious, much earlier turn in to the left to prepare for 8. He really got used to the kart well, it seems. He felt comfortable, and just nailed everything after. From my side, I felt kart was heavily understeering and I could not repeat those low inputs into 8,9,10. To be more clear, felt like I was driving on 30°C during day, not in the mood. He look like he was practicing during night with a nice 15°C cooled track, less understeer, smaller inputs, completely calm. That lack of experience really is a big problem I think.

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You did great.

In all of it.

It was fabulous to watch and I hope we get to see more. Keep plugging and you will get faster and faster. You will win this thing someday, if you want. For now, remember that you have a tendency to charge headfirst. Learn to temper that a bit. I find its the hardest thing to do, but almost always necessary.

I do also hope you get to race in the series that you spoke of. The speed and excitement of discovering grip is what pulls you into karting, but racing is what gets into your blood. And, apparently, it never leaves.

Thanks for sharing your journey. Good luck!

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Thanks Dom! Thanks for listening to me, and of course everyone else who did as well. It really helped me a lot. I really look forward to next season, it is quite far ahead but it will eventually come. Until then, I will be acting like a racer driving raceroom on my cheap wheel with the gloves on. Every day until that damn day, when I can go out on track again, comes.

I think it is about time for me to stop posting here, enough is enough, 395 posts, 90% not related to tittle :smile:
Thanks again everyone for helping me out when I had no one to talk about karting, maybe I would never go to the end without you all. Now when I am into this, I will be back for the upcoming seasons!

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You are welcome! I look forwards to hearing about the races and seeing the vids. Feel free to give me advice as the mood takes ya. Thinking about other peoples driving helps with your own. Heck of a thread, we did good!

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It’s been a great thread! So much to learn.
Well done lads :+1:t2:

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So if you feel like having your butt handed to you by an old guy, lmk. I can DL raceroom.

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I would certainly like to see how do you compare to me in raceroom, although I only have basic vehicles and tracks, it can still be good fun I think! Let me know if you are up to a small challenge and name a track you want to go at, as well as a racing series. By the way, I did not understand DL. Maybe I got it all wrong here, sorry.

EDIT: 400th post lol