Rental Karting Season 2025 : A cold hard truth

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Yesterday I was running my second race of the season, an 8h endurance at Mariembourg (still !) with my teammates.

To summarize, we were able qualify decently, and the pace on the first stint was really good, on par with the top teams, until they started to work together. Then they started lapping .3 faster thanks to the bump drafting.

The race was quite uneventful, as it was sunny and the endurance layout is not as technical as the sprint one. We tried our best and finished P8 in class and P14/45 in the general standings. Unfortunately we lost a spot due to one mistake I have made that cost us 10 seconds, but in the current state of things, we couldn’t have done better than P7.

This race told us a lesson that was an hard pill to swallow. We are just not fast enough. And that is even more the case for me. Mariembourg started to host SWS races, which attracted all the top endurance teams of the Benelux and the Northern region of France. The level skyrocketed, and we are not able to compete anymore.

On a team level, we are not sharp enough to compete. We have the technique, the experience, but we just don’t drive enough, and I estimate that we lose 2 tenths on pure pace at Mariembourg just on execution. Then obviously we are not as consistent, so that average might go up to .3 or even .4 a second. Over a 8h race, or roughly 389 laps, that is 115 to 155 seconds lost on pure pace. 1.5 to 2 laps lost. That is obviously on a worst case scenario, but we can assume we lost at least a lap due to pace.

Then there is me. I am 93kg fully equiped. The minimal weight is 85kg fully equiped in our category.
While the track isn’t that all technical, it features 2 accelerations zones from 43 - 48kph to 70kph at least, one uphill straight where we drive up to 82-83kph, one flat straight where we get up to 80kph and one last full speed section where we get up to 78kph. The last few turns opens on accelerations from 53 - 58kph to at least 70kph.

All those characteristics makes that layout extremely engine and weight sensitive. then we know that the higher the weight, the worse it is on the engine. My conservative guess is that I lose at the very least .5 seconds a lap. That, over 113 laps, that means 56 seconds lost. Almost a lap lost because of my fat ass.

@Bimodal_Rocket @KartingIsLife @speedcraft @tjkoyen @Alan_Dove what do you think about that time loss analysis ? Have you ever been confronted to this issue ? What is you take on this ?

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That’s a lot of analysis Tanguy and I’m sorry that you feel like you aren’t competitive enough. I can relate somewhat; since I stopped being full-time a few years ago I started to feel the effects of not driving as much as my competitors. The reality is I have a family and cannot commit as much as I used to, and that’s just something I have had to accept. However once you accept the mantle of the “underdog” and start to not put so much pressure on yourself, it all becomes much more fun. The key is self-acceptance and remember that you do this because you’re passionate about it. I know you’ve got the competitive drive still so that’s hard to do, but you can maintain that spirit and also accept that there are obstacles outside your control. And when you accept those things, it feels so much more satisfying when you actually do grind out a good result. Because you will get another good result, it’s just going to be a bit tougher. It’s like playing the game on legendary difficulty now.

Running endurance races probably isn’t helping you. Is there no opportunity for any type of owner karting for you? Sprint races in a masters style class could be a lot of fun.

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Thanks for your reply TJ. Indeed I struggle to accept that position of underdog. I want to win, and seeing that it is outside my reach is infuriating. But I guess I will mature and grow up someday, but it is hard to accept.

I used to run the rental sprints at Mariembourg, but because I gained weight it was more and more frustrating to drive, to the point I was not getting a good time going there. So I stopped.
As for owner karting, the cheapest would be KA, but the weight limit is too low, as it is meant for juniors (even at 155kg I wouldnt be able to be competitive)

Do I spot an Halo reference ? What’s infiurating is that I feel like I am much more aware, much more able to understand and fix my driving, yet due to the reasons I cited, I am less competitive.

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Well yeah the weight issue is real. Assuming you all very sharp, it’s an issue. But wether you out yourself through the weight loss is another thing.

I guess are you ok with it? Also, you guys can bump draft too. Make a sister team and get strategical.

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The skill level is far greater that I used to run. Lots of teams are coming, a few of teams have like 2 to 4 sister teams LOL.

I guess I don’t have the choice :grimacing:

Kinda complicated to find other good drivers, everybody is already in a team

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Yeah but the alternative is? Lose a couple lbs and see. You just as good.

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season 5 episode 10 GIF by SpongeBob SquarePants

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You have my permission to name drop your Rebel Scum background.

Seriously though, when you are doing these races do you have a regular gang?

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We are a team of 3 this year, one same teammate as last year and a new addition from the same league. We are a bit an introverted team so despite our pace it was hard to attract people. But the current rolster is pretty good I think. We just need seat time

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This is a rich vein for race reports, potentially. Team Awkward goes to the races and inserts foot in mouth, etc.

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That would make for some good memes lol

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As they say, it’s not the destination, it’s the journey… (but podium is nice too).

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The first year I started racing I raced about once per month. At the driver’s meeting for each of those races the school owner would say “Alright yous guys, you can’t turn it on like a light switch, so don’t go spinning off putting stones through my rads; work up to speed.” I always thought to myself, maybe you can’t turn it on like a light switch, but I never turn it off, so I would go out and be on pace on lap 2 of practice.

I know this sounds like BS, but for me walking IS driving, so I literally never turn it off… even in my 60s, I drive everywhere I walk. Anyway, after that first year, money was in short supply, so it was often 6-12-18 months between opportunities to race, but I was always on pace very quickly. For example, one time I hadn’t driven in at least a year, went for a lapping day a Laguna and set the lap record in the final session. Another time I was out of the seat for 11 Years, went to a race at new track to me and got to within 18 hundredths of the lap record.

Anyway, my point is, if you want to control the kart like it’s part of your body, then control your body like it’s a kart. If you do that, you can practice all the time. This is much easier than losing weight :wink:

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I see your point, but I have mixed feelings about it.

In one hand, I do agree, you can mentally train yourself, and racing is like riding a bicycle, you cant forget it. And I also experienced going onto a track and doing really good laptimes from the get go after an hiatus.

But in the other hand, I feel like when the level is sky high, nothing beats seat time. You need to sharpen, and you can do that only by practising.

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When I stopped simming I also started driving real car with a bit more intent/refelection.

Sounds sort of weird but I’d go drive my normal car and imagine the turns play out, but limit the cars speed to civilized about town pace, so, slow.

I’d extrapolate how the tires would grip, car pull etc. I would find this listening to the car instructive and helpful to my bigger driving picture.

I guess to Warren’s point, always be driving, even when you can’t go fast.

The fact that he’s put his mic down and is giving the Stig AI a break suggests to me that you raised his eyebrows.

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Yes and? Are we making the relative seat time excuse?

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I mean, is it not an acceptable reason ? :grin:

I get the intuitive thing, and I already do it, when I drive or ride. But it feels like it is not enough. Though I will be simming more I think

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Yes but we’d likely still race if all we had was to show up once a month, cold, and race. Haha sucker, showtime!

The sooner you choose to refuse to accept your aging process the better off your driving will be. You have plenty of time left to be an impossible sweat.

The race walking is about staying in the game, always being in the game, and not accepting “I can’t practice enough”. Make your own reality.

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I feel like it is getting metaphysical and I don’t have the brain power to process that. That or I am just very tired and I can’t make sense of this idea just yet :grin:

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Bad thoughts = bad. Tanguy is best racer, obvs.

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