Posture, and head movement

TJ, earlier in the thread you mention biceps in reference to steering. Wouldn’t biceps be used if pulling the wheel and triceps used if pushing? I guess using both would be more of an arm locked method.

I always like to note what were my physical weaknesses are so that I can work on them with training. Sometimes I do feel it indicates that I have a driver comfort issue or a change in method is needed

In my first race day my brother said he could just see when things physically got me. You looked OK, then next lap you looked like a sock monkey. I have found once I start fatiguing to the point my head position starts to fade with less and less laps it become a sign the end is near.

Correct, that’s why I say that people use their biceps too much because they are pulling on the wheel rather than pushing.

When I drive, my biceps never feel tired. My forearms and triceps do though.

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Didn’t Crews just win the Finals?

Finally got the kart adjusted better to my size (since I’m 6’ 4") and I feel like a whole new person when I’m racing. Now I just need to get some conditioning so my head doesn’t fall off during a 40 lap final, haha

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Yeah he just won the X30 Mini World finals.

That seat looks a lot better for you, much less squeezed together. What did you guys do specifically to the seat that helped out?

We originally had a Max Transformer seat in the factory suggested position. Finally decided to scrap that, since I’m way too tall to suit it. It was very difficult to move around in since I was pretty much pinched in the seat by the hips. Swapped for a Tillett, dropped the angle and position back. Never have I felt so comfortable in a go-kart.

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Hi all,

I appreciate it’s a little while since anyone posted in here but I was wanting to seek some advice.
As a driver I am 6ft and probably a little heavier. I have noticed a large improvement in recent months of DMAX racing here in the UK from leaning and pushing the wheel more.
I have a few issues though:

  1. I am not sure if I am excessively leaning as around 45mins in to a 1hr race I am getting really bad neck ache and feeling like I am going to fall out the side of the Kart. Is that conditioning or am I over emphasis the lean?
  2. I feel like I am getting a lot of rear vibration. Chatter almost. So when I go through the corner feels like the rear is bouncing if I am leaning and pushing myself backwards.
  3. I don’t lean in to a corner, even slow speed, I always exaggerate leaning outwards. I don’t know if that helps?

Here is a pic of me head on, unfortunately not in a corner, but it represents how I hold myself:
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Any advice on these?

Thanks,
Nick

I would guess this is a conditioning thing more than anything else. You are talking about 1hr uninterrupted seat time which is a huge amount. So, yeah, after 45mins your head will start to fall off. I suspect that if you do these endurance races frequently you’ll “get used to it”. maybe some targeted strength training? Maybe shrugs to build up those shoulder/neck muscles?

Re hopping etc: could this be a function of tires overheating? Those are long sessions and maybe the tires heat cycle isn’t designed with hour long run times in mind?

As the poster above said, I know this is an old thread, but there’s some great info here, and I had a question/observation regarding the “shoulder drop”. Doesn’t dropping the shoulder on one side automatically result in a downward pressure on the opposite side butt cheek? Applying pressure to the outside of the seat? i.e. effectively removing some weight from the inside wheels? (which is what you want, right?) If that is so, it seems that the Shoulder Drop and the Outside Lean accomplish the same thing. No?

Can you show more comparison pictures?? Thx

I move all over the place in my seat, turn my head and look behind. I do what works for me don’t plan on changing. In most photos you don’t see it but in videos it’s obvious… haha

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Just got some pics of me on track. Wow, I didn’t realize I’m leaning so much! (Also didn’t realize I’m not in the rubber either!)

The outside wheels are in it. Which is where the load is. But it does look like you are taking a tighter line than the rubber would like. Looks like a double apex? Perhaps let yourself really come off the first apex and let it carry you out a bit wider?

For fun, try leaning the other way as you come ripping around the first part of this. Reminds me of the section at ovrp by pits. Plant your weight outside, not inside. See how that feels.

Never noticed this thread. But this has been one of the things I have been working on hard this year. And In the final race of the year I feel I finally got it down consistently cause my shoulders were burnt out. Still working on it all the time as I have found the kart to be much happier when I am able to keep my positioning stable.

I will say this…

Nick and I were in different finals this weekend so I got to watch him battle. For a while he and Justin Dittrich and another couple were duking it out and I noticed their pack. The drivers looked (particularly Justin) physically calm and collected as they drove (well). They looked like they knew what they were doing and it looked correct. Posture matters.

Contrast that to the guy we saw the race prior that was looking like someone had poured jello into the kart and asked it to race. He was all over the place (and dead last too).

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Getting back to this topic.
I’ve been moved back to Italy and started a new training for KZ season 22’.
Neck and overall upper body strength improved a lot .
Here some pictures :

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So nice to see this topic here!
I’ve raced in Brazil, USA and Europe for now and it was something that I never gave any importance before getting to drive in Europe on those really grippy track.
What I can say that I’ve learned there is that you have to use your body instead of keeping it straight all the time and that’s why you see the driver’s there leaning their body to the inside in some corners and keeping straight on anothers.
Sometimes leaning your body inside in a really grippy corner helps you avoid that much of wheel lifting and bouncing and the other way around for slippery corners.
That’s something that I really try to work with my drivers since it can save your race when you go out with a setup that’s not ideal or get the track changing every lap.

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