Push the steering wheel when hard braking?

I was told that to push the steering wheel when hard
braking can help to keep the kart back end stable. Is it true?

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Not just during braking, but pushing on the wheel is the preferred method on modern karts because it stabilizes your body (the biggest piece of weight in the kart) and helps forces more weight through the seat to the rear end, making the kart work more directly.

It can help stabilize the kart through the entire corner.

I could see that. If you press against the steering column, you are pushing yourself back over the rear axle, posture wise, and you are creating rigidity in the connection between you and the structure of the kart.

Certainly the back end would be more stable with all possible weight back, relatively. It would be subtle imho.
Personally I go from sort of crouched over, head down on the straight to laying way back as I go to brake.

If you have never done it before, practice it a few times in a practice session. It does work quite well. However, if you are used to braking without doing it, you will lose some of the “feel” from your upperbody (that you didnt even realize you were using). Making it easier to brake too hard or not hard enough. It will just take some practice to get used to the new way.

It’s also fun to try being a bit savage with the weight shift to get a sense of the effect. Aggressively shift weight backwards to get a sense of it. Also works leaning over the outside tires in a turn. In the rain, I have seen good drivers do very hard lateral weight shifts to Jack/rotate.

At Whiteland in my 420cc kart was hitting 4.1g in the brake zone… didn’t have much choice… my ass was gonna come out if I didn’t push.

I think, My max G at G&J is about 2.8 in comparison

I lean up past the steering wheel to the outside in the rain sometimes. :grimacing:

I lean sometimes the same in the dry on 5-6 at ovrp. Double apex. Plant the weight way outside and let er rip.

I have used this very effectively. I am tall and heavy, so trying to get the kart to slow down as quickly and as short a distance as possible can sometimes lead to lockup especially when the track is green or the tires are cold. In those cases I will push against the wheel and lean back forcing my shoulder past the seat back. The extra weight over the axle keeps it planted under hard braking. You have to remember to reorient before turn in or you may find the front end pushing more than usual for your set up. Remember the biggest piece of ballast in the kart is you and you can actively put it where you want, but you don’t want to be flopping around like a wet noodle either. Its subtle.

Here’s a photo of Lando in his new kart doing some proper lean-back braking.

Not this:


Keep it loose to keep it tight taken a bit too far.