G’day folks, just did my 3rd race event at a rental league and am starting to make my way into the middle of the pack and get into some battles.
The track is quite technical and narrow. And while fun, this makes it quite difficult to make a pass, even if someone ahead makes a mistake. @Bimodal_Rocket has already been very helpful with advice with my driving and suggested I make a post.
Here is some video of my second race of the last event, particularly the battle at 6mins on. The driver in front makes a number of mistakes, and although I am close I cannot capitalize.
The big thing that I see is that you should try and pay attention to when the two karts ahead of you get into each other, and try not to be right behind them.
That causes a big change in speed that would let you at least sail up next to the guy immediately ahead of you, if you’re off line.
Otherwise, when he slows down, you slow down and you’ll never pass.
Interesting. When you say not right behind them, do you mean giving them more space (distance between me and the person directly in front) or do you mean taking a slightly different line, so that when they have to slow down I have the different line I could take?
In my experience key part of passing is making sure you are just far enough back entering a corner that the kart in front of you does not dictate your speed through the corner. It is difficult first to convince yourself to back up from the person you are just getting capable of catching. It is also difficult figure out just how far back you need to be.
Ahh I see, so back off slightly to ensure that you keep good mid corner speed incase a mistake is made? It was a struggle as the driver in front is very light and even with 30kgs added to her kart she was almost 13kgs lighter than me. coming out of the last corner which is uphill she would always gap me, so I had to fight to get back near her for half a lap.
In an ideal world you ride the leader’s bumper perfectly through the corner. You are at best, tho, matching his speed. Even if you are more composed on entry and have a potentially stronger run, you can’t do much with that potential if you can’t pass.
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So why not lift a titch? Let him get a kart length or two. In doing so you make it easy to set up a powerful exit. Worst case, there’s nowhere to go with it and he slows you back down on exit. But what if he bobbles a bit? You gave yourself some extra speed (and room) to capitalize. maybe. Seems like a no-risk proposition.
Also consider how traffic works at your track. In the scrum, it gets ugly. But, the pack always seems to come back when they inevitably fight, so it looks like you can afford to mess around with this. I don’t think it will lose you time. It might also confuse whoever is behind you and cause some chaos in the scrum. Maybe not a great idea in the scrum, actually…
The only way you’d get past me on that track in those karts is if you bury me into the tires. The cambered corners mean defensive lines go unpunished. T2 is your only hope really and you’d need to get your elbows out.
I’d agree with Alan. The only way that I really see to pass is when two karts ahead of you get into each other. Then, especially around Turn 2, it slowed them down enough that you might…might be able to get next the kart immediately in front of you.
Might not be pretty, but it might work. You have bumpers though.
So Bobby gets repeatedly pushed backwards at the starts. Could he be using the wall as his ally? If everyone’s gonna get pushy, the ability to scrape/slide along the wall without getting spun could be helpful? In other words, someone pushes into you, they are likely to come out worse for wear.
You could drive that track blindfolded and hardly lose a tenth. Like a slot car track. I don’t think you’ll ever see an elegant pass happen there, the kind of passing normally discussed around here. I think you just need to mash the muffled loud pedal and wedge yourself between the kart ahead and the boards whenever possible.
Thank you for you help everyone. Really appreciate it.
I feel like I am relatively quick in turn 2 and turn 7 compared to others around my skill level, but find it hard to capitalize on this. Other drivers are often able to gap me on the straight and this means that I am often too far to put any move on at turn 2, even if there is a mistake from the other drivers. I put this gap down to my weight (about 90kgs or 198lbs with my gear minus the helmet), but does the brains trust think that my line for turn 13 (the banked right hander just before the straight) is the issue?
From the three heats, it looks to me that you have pace in all but the last turn complex, basically.
Some is attributable to weight. In the heat where you chase Chloe, who has a 20kg advantage on you, its clearly weight that allows her to pull away at the end. But, that being said, you always closed back up.
It does seem to me that you could re-jigger the turn. It looks like you might be pushing too hard into the end of it. Maybe carrying too much speed midway and having to slow down to not push wide?.
I do sometimes have to partially lift just before apex if I feel I am carrying too much speed. No every time, but sometimes. I think I might try to apex just a touch later next session out and see how that feels.
