New to the forum and karting! I did my first meeting a few weeks ago, and aside from not actually making it to heat 3 (damaged my ribs hitting a spinner in heat 2), I’ve realised I’m 8 or so tenths off the pace and I’m really struggling to work out why! I’ve included a video from the last practice session (fastest lap starts at about 3 mins in), and pictures of my tyres below. Although It’s likely to be predominantly my driving, I’m finding it skates of the track mid corner when I try to stick with the faster guys, usually back goes a bit before the front, but it doesn’t feel overly oversteery. Slicks are 2 test days old, and I was running 11/12psi. Only other thing that may be worth noting is that I’m carrying a wopping 17kg of lead to meet min weight of 152 kg. I’m 67kg without my lid on.
Any of your input would be HUGELY appreciated - I want to know what to work on going forward setup wise and driving!
Any chance you utilize a data logger such as a mychron 5?
From your description I have a hunch as to why you may be struggling (overdriving and never ‘activating’ the karts habit to jack the inside rear wheel), but it would be helpful to look at data traces to see, as I’m not familiar with the track you’re running on…
If you are only 8 tenths off on your first meeting then you are doing extremely well!
I agree with Eric, you are likely asking too much from the kart and anxious to hang on to the others - Shenny is all about exit speed from the tight corners onto long straights. Most progress at Shenington is made by prioritising exit speed and avoiding mid corner slides that delay your application of power for a good clean exit.
Looks pretty decent to be honest, especially for your first race. I would say it looks like you’re slightly late getting back to the throttle in several corners, and this is probably because as most have said, you’re simply over-driving the entry and sliding mid-corner. There were a few instances where you completely missed the apex just from entering too fast.
Work on slowing down to go faster, that’s a tough concept for a newer driver to grasp, but as Terence said, prioritize the exit of the corner to get down the straights faster.
I find it hard to judge without being able to see the steering wheel inputs. Given you have 67Kg (17 actually) of lead on there, I’d get that kart on a scale and look at your F/R balance before anything else.
Thanks for the help guys! I’ll work on slow in fast out next time. Do you think tyre pressures being a psi or so higher than everyone else would make a big difference to it skating off mid corner? They’re not over heating or showing any signs of graining.