I would say yes, keep your foot on the throttle, but not all the way until you come out of the turn. You don’t really want to be coasting much. Now if you find yourself beginning to slide even if your foot is a little on the throttle, then take it off, just to regain control, and then put on foot on the throttle once control has been regained.
Hope this helps, I’m not the most experienced, but that’s I’ve noted from my experience and what I’ve heard from others
I would say so, yes. I try to drive in throttle always except for braking and when I have to lift for rotation. But, even with rotational lifting, sometimes partial throttle reduction is enough to get kart around.
I can’t think of any situation where I’d want a full lift other than a very low speed corner with a tight 180.
Maybe I am forgetting something.
UPDATE: Took a different approach to starts as well as pushing on cold tires and it paid off.
Here is the video from this weeks final race. This is a tough group of guys who have been racing together for awhile on a track with limited passing.
After qualifying 7 out of 15, then ran 7th in first heat and then in the second seeding heat after being in 3rd for 8 out of the 10 laps, had to brake hard to not hit the guy in front who spun and I ended up spinning off track and had to fight my way back to 11th.
This put me in 5th row with a 9th place start inside for the final. Now was the time to have a good start and try and hang with lead group. Ended up 5th due to an accident up front which took one guy out and DQ’d the other.
So I went back and looked at this from 3 months ago. You have made very good progress.
When I watched your new video, Race 8, the first thing I noticed is that you seem to be much more committed to being on throttle. The big lifts and hesitancy has been replaced by a desire to keep the revs up!
So, you seem to be doing a lot more modulation as opposed to lift and keeping the kart loaded. I do see that you are a bit late here and there to full power, timing is slightly off in some of the complexes, but its way, way better.
Look at the vid and see if you can see what I am talking about. Look for the turns where you are just a touch late and see if you can feel it. You are on throttle, but the final expression of it, the feed to full, is at or slightly past apex a few times. Try to drive through those, squirting out of the turn with throttle building earlier
At 6:32 Could you have taken a position to the left of kart in front of you? You could have remained alongside through medium left sweeper that would then have placed you inside the turn for the subsequent right at 6:38. You looked like you had a run off the corner and had more pace than the guy in front, there. I could be totally wrong here and maybe that would have pinched you off.
More than once you had good pace that would have carried you past the guy ahead but you had no where to go with it. Maybe someone that is more familiar with LO206 can pipe up. Maybe the best thing was just to stay in line like you did.
@speedcraft or @tjkoyen take a look at his run from 6:25 ish to 6:40. At 6:32 can he go inside left and not get screwed?
Wow Dom, you are really such a great asset here. You constantly amaze me and outdo yourself. Thank you.
That was a good call to go back and watch. Albeit hard as that was my first race and to be dropped like that was no fun but essential to my success to date. The interesting thing is that getting dropped like that was overall easier to watch than my final where I am seeing exactly what you had called out. Its hard when you start to know what to do and then go out there and don’t do it—race nerves can do that to you.
As I told two friends who went out for their first Lo206 race this weekend, for many races its so much more about everything other than the result. Its hard to understand that for many, especially if you are competitive at other types of racing.
This group has helped me so much along with a recent coaching session with TJ. Just need to keep doing work, putting in laps and refining my racecraft.
Hey, anytime man! I get as much out of this as you do, probably more, even. It forces me to think critically about this stuff and I can’t just say the first thing that pops to mind. It has to be correct, mostly.
It really is. I had a terrific 7th place this weekend. I drove the kart (as far as Im concerned) beautifully and made some good moves. I really felt 100% on it. I took great joy in wringing what I could out of the kart I was given. If I’m gonna lose, I am going to take as many people to school in the process and learn as much as possible. It will stand me in good stead at Supernats 2035 
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Slow Kart Fast
You really drove well. I assume there is no weight regulation involved with these karts? You had much cleaner and faster lines and they were making mistakes - was their weight a factor that gave them the jump?
You raced smart and I like how after doing the yo-yo for a bit you went for the double pass, that was so close I was rooting for you!
Thanks! I am pretty light now, all of 163 lbs so I am actually pretty light compared to many. I am no match for the 14 yr olds, weight wise, however.
What you are seeing is NJMP’s rather pathetic fleet of karts in action. There is literally a 5s gap between slowest and fastest karts. I am in one of the below average ones here and you can see them pull away on top end.
Unfortunately, thats the way it is. Kevin, the mgr. says they aren’t getting the fleet updated. They just spent $ putting in night lights, however. The rental biz is apparently doing very well, so much so that they want to milk it at night, too.
This is frustrating to me. I find the one form of truly affordable and convenient racing, and the karts are garbage. Sigh.
NJMP could have a world-class program. This could be a Sodi World Series location as it is a CIK/FIA approved karting circuit. Gah!!!
That is frustrating. Sounds like you have found a way to deal with it and are giving yourself credit for your wins even if they aren’t podiums. Winning is relative. I will say it was nice when I did get a 3rd place this season but it was far from my most rewarding race.
Thank you. Silver linings and all that. A good fight > Win.
Next year, Covid willing, I may get serious and go to OVRP and do their spec series LO206. I was really hoping to not buy another kart. Oh well.
