I see there’s drivers here in the Seattle area, so I figured this would be a good place to pose the question.
Track map (direction is backwards, but using these numbers for reference):
I’m usually in the 80.5-82s range in a rental kart going the standard reverse direction, and have plateau’d and can’t get down into the 78-80s range of the faster drivers. My questions:
Which corners require application of the brake and how much? I’m currently braking at:
15: quick stab before turn-in to the downslope
10: if I don’t brake, I end up in the dirt on the far side
7: hard to get the car rotated without losing so much speed
3: hard stab after the long straight
I get the sense that the faster drivers are hardly braking at all, but am not sure.
The corners I struggle with most are:
11 -> 10: feel like I scrub a lot of speed getting around the corner.
7 -> 6: enter 7 too fast and you blow the exit out of 6, enter too slow and you just bog down all the way through to 5.
3: seems like you need a quick stab to get the rotation, but I tend to blow the apex and make too large of an arc.
1: also feels like I scrub too much speed at entry and can’t carry the speed through exit
Any tips on how to tackle the corners would be appreciated. Or if somebody has posted a track guide, that’d be great. Thanks!
Are these the standard 6hp 4 stroke on hard tires?
Also, you seem to be asking how to run the track with little to no brakes presumably because that is a full size track and the karts you ride in are relatively “underpowered” for the speed of the track?
Are you having trouble wrapping your head around carrying momentum as opposed to braking?
11, 7, 3, 1: where does it feel like you are making the transition to throttle? Do you feel like you are late?
If you are doing no braking, how are you loading up the front end to make the tighter turns?
Haha. I made that map.
I haven’t driven a rental there in ages, but the thing with rentals is that each kart is different. Some need brakes to load the front up because they’re all twisted and others don’t.
Also, don’t stab the brakes, be gentle on the application. You’ll have more control on how much you shift the weight into the corner.
It’s really more about weight management, than speed control that those low speeds.
To Davins point, 7 into 6 will require braking. But only to the extent that you are using this turn to set up your exit of 5 which sets up the really important 4. You are definitely going to want to be as early on throttle as you can coming out of 4.
It looks to me like 7 is a medium hard, quick straight line speed shave-off. You could trail, I guess. It’s a late apex that you are going to want to not over slow but also not get too wide on exit.
Try a short firm straight line brake a bit earlier. Roll back on as you turn in.
Not good at drawing lines but it looks to me that you want to be late apexing here. You’ll need to keep 7 from running wide so that you can get run to 5. You’ll likely need to brake for 5 to set up for exit of 4 down the straight. The green line is probably too “sharp” but you get the idea I hope.
Edit: the shape of 6 and 7 look bizarre in reverse. They both look more natural counterclockwise.
