In the last 8 years, I’ve had a few different engine packages, driven a few different tires (MG red, MG yellow, and LeVanto mostly), but my own perception about how much the engine/tire package affects one’s ability to pound out lap after lap is very fuzzy at this point.
I feel fit(-ish), but I also feel like the number of laps I can do before I’m experiencing substantial fatigue has gone down. But then, this decrease in laps has been happening as the performance of what I’m driving has gone up substantially higher than what I started out with (KT100/HPV in the beginning, then PRD Fireball, now SuperRok), so I don’t know if my dwindling lap count is from just driving more exhausting engine/tires, or if it’s just my own physical shortcomings.
Share your thoughts, and particularly if anyone concurrently owns an LO206 (or similar) and also owns a TAG/shifter and can share their tales of how many LO206 laps they can pound out versus the TAG/shifter, I’d love to hear about it just to have some context for my own situation.
I can do 25 laps or so in the shifter in a row before it become “unpleasant”. I have done 80+ in a day over 5-6 sessions. That’s with mg yellows or levantos.
15 lap races in my tillotson/tonykart on mg reds barely gets my heartrate up. I think I could drive that thing for 2 hours straight without much issue.
I feel like on hard rentals I can go forever. I have done 3hrs straight in cool weather and can go longer. Heat, thats another thing.
I wwould love to see how long i could go on a ka100 on med tires. I bet nowhere near as long (until I get conditioned to it).
Thats what makes Trey Shannons record so nuts, would have been so much easier for him on hard rental tires I imagine. Pretty sure he was in a normal racing kart.
I’m not exactly in peak physical shape, but the tire is a big part of it. The new Red compound this year is noticeably softer and you definitely feel it in your body from the first lap. Back in the day when I was even smaller than I am now, I could barely hold on for a 12 lap race on Dunlop DBS sticky tires.
Anything slower than a KA I can comfortably drive until the kart runs out of gas. A 206 on MG Oranges I can drive one-handed until the sun sets. An X30 on new Yellows probably would rip my head off after 20 laps. A KZ or similar threatens my physical well-being from lap 1.
Funny enough, even though this year was one of my best years for building my dad bod, I actually felt physically stronger than I have in a long time, which I think is mostly down to just carrying toddlers everyday. I thought with the minimal training and the new softer tires, I would be really struggling at some races, but I actually coped better than I have in years. I really thought the Stars race at Mooresville would be tough with the increased grip, but I felt better than I did 10 years ago.
When I go practice or test at Dousman, I try to do 25 lap runs at full-chat, and try to cross 75 laps in a day.
Very illuminating responses, thanks guys! I guess I’m not alone in feeling like things get considerably tougher the more things get sped up or stuck down. Yeah, it’s common knowledge that’s how it generally is, but until now I couldn’t really draw up a distribution curve in my mind of actual expectations.
After going down the powerlifting rabbit hole pretty hard for a while (2-6 reps of whole body exercises using the heaviest weight I can), to the detriment of other types of training, and kind of suffering for it in my endurance, I’ve been increasing the cardio and dialing back some of the strength training. In the short time I’ve made these adjustments it’s helped a lot from where I was, but I have some more work to do until I’m turning the number of laps that I expect to be able to turn. I can turn 20 laps with my Levantos and SuperRok with good form, but 25 would really be pushing it. Worse, anything over 50 total laps for the day right now would leave me paying a heavy price in terms of fatigue and lower immunity the next couple of days (over the years I’ve gotten sick following greatly overdoing at the track a few times, which I now know to try to account for by not ‘going there’).
I have pretty good endurance, I ride my mountain bike around 4 hours a week (2-3 rides) at pretty much full tilt on techy trails. Average heart rate is 150 ish, max is 180 ish. My fatigue in the shifter is more about my body just getting pummeled…
It’s 100% a thing. The faster classes tend to be more physical. As long as my back holds together I can pound 20+ laps in a 206 on MG reds without it being a issue. Shifter, I’d say in my current shape I’d barely be able to do 5. The track of course plays a role too, a 25min road race in a shifter is a lot more laid back and easier on the body compared to a sprint track.
The first thing to let go for me in the shifter is my forearms… then my neck and my cardio quits about halfway between those two. But in the 206 both are fine. I’m generally unfit these days so YMMV.
I haven’t driven a two stroke single speed in a few years (like ten) but I would imagine my endurance would be somewhere in the middle of the 206 and shifter.
It’s interesting that you bring up the point that the type of track you run on plays a large part in things. That’s a whole other ball of wax that I don’t know how to account for, but with the ultra tight tracks around me (mid-forties MPH average for a lap, versus the mid-fifties MPH lap average found at many/most kart tracks) I’ve very recently been moving the gear ratio I use farther and farther up in order to play the game that apparently works best on these tight tracks - rev it to the moon.
When my SuperRok comes on the pipe, and power valve kicks in using the 7.90 gear ratio I’m running (11/87 or 10/79 equivalent - which would be unfathomable at most tracks), it gets to be a LOT to hold onto. There’s enough torque to snap the rear tires free in an instant even in relatively fast sweepers/corners if I’m not light and steady on the gas and the steering wheel, which is something new for me.
But, it is most likely entirely possible to be kart fit for anything. Like I said, I can basically go forever on hard rentals tires in a gx270 or 390 or lo206. But, I also did TAG125 when I started and got very fit for that. If I was able to run x30 as much as I run my rentals, I’d be insanely fit. IT would be harder to achieve, but doable. It just requires lots and lots of repetition, IMO.
That’s a interesting approach and it could definitely achieve a certain level of fitness that would be above many other alternatives (not to mention that getting so many laps in is likely to only help keep the driving skills sharp).
Something that could causing issues is just plain trying too hard. Hard tire stuff is “easy” so you relax and look for the perfect line. The reduced loading on your body is a side benefit. When you get into a faster kart with sticky tires then it’s time to be “serious” so you try real hard. Probably too hard. You end up basically over driving the kart. If the kart is set up correctly the effort involved is not that much greater. Arms and torso are close to the same, neck strength would be the big player. The problem is much like Motocross. If you jump on the bike and try real hard - you get arm pump bad! The trick is to figure out how step back from the max effort edge just a little bit. Go 99 percent instead of 110. You’ll find you can go just as fast for far longer.
(over the years I’ve gotten sick following greatly overdoing at the track a few times, which I now know to try to account for by not ‘going there’).
