Surviving and thriving on the first lap

Nah, you are missing the point. Its not about following a fast guy. Its about knowing who is going where. If I have a poor pill draw and start in the rear, I still know who is aggressive and who is going to give me room if I show a bumper. Its about visualizing who you can use and how you can use them… (and I dont mean that in an negative way like use them up). If you know a guy is an early braker or going to be aggressive, you back that corner up half a kart length and drive by him on exit.

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good point especially in the big races where you get 10 practice sesions you should learn the drives as much as the track.

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Great topic!

I had a recent “aha” moment when entering turn one on the first lap, as previously mentioned I too have a tendency of being overly cautious. So I decided to PUSH and glue myself to the rear bumper of the guy in fornt of me, knowing he was one of the fast guys who usually podiums. He (aggressively) braked as I was trying to push him forward. At the time I didn’t understand it, but with his experience he was obviously seeing something I wasn’t aware of. Which ended up being a multiple kart pile up that we both narrowly missed.

All I know is if he hadn’t withstood my push to move forward, we would have been in the middle of that maylay.

Still learning. . . when to be aggressive vs. when to be smart. Currently I’m neither . . .

I always tell my drivers the best way to not wreck on a start is by being aggressive. One, if you’re going for a pass, the driver behind you will follow instead of go for a pass on you. Two, usually if you’re the one going for passes, you’ll be on the inside. Most wrecks carry themselves up and away from the apex, so you’ll already be in good position to avoid anything that does happen.

It’s very situational and also depends on where you are in the field. If I’m starting way in the back, I might try to hold back a little and cut under a few karts that check up or get themselves tangled up in something. Mid-pack is usually a crapshoot, but making decisions and acting on them is a hell of a lot better than waiting for something to happen.

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Even in X30, it’s not about knowing who’s fast and who isn’t, it’s about knowing what the other drivers around you will do in a race. There are some guys that don’t have great pace but they’ll make up a bunch of ground on the first two laps. That’s the driver you’d want to follow until he runs out of steam.

You can be aggressive and smart at the same time, gluing yourself to someone’s bumper doesn’t mean you have to be stupid. Especially in 206, you have some wiggle room to leave a foot off their bumper so you can react and not plow over them. Time your throttle right and you’ll punch them the the bumper coming out of the turn to give you a better draft down to the next corner.

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Likewise if you know the guy you just overtook is a t-boner give him room to shoot up the inside and go horribly wide, then do the old switchbackeroo, don’t let him pinball off of you

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here is an alright start from uspks

there’s actually another pov I’m the 890

Here’s a terrible start from one of my clown shoe races:
Full Tilt Enduro: Start and crash

I kid. The rental races are a gas. But it’s a bad start.

A good start indeed. I like how you tucked in and went through.

looks like in t4 you should have blocked it shuffled u down a bit
oh and a pile up ensues
looks like you misssed a few blocking opportunities and they made u lose spots
if u didnt loses thoes positions there was a shot you culd have been in the lead after the wreck.

Yeah. I figured since folks were leaning on me and it’s an enduro, that all would work out, over the course of many laps.

I deliberately dialed it back and let them gap a bit so that they could chop each other up, which they did. I managed to escape it, mostly.

So, a bad start with a silver lining.

In retrospect, I could have been more assertive on Alex’s bumper (#3) initially. I lifted a touch after bumping him and that opened the door.

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ya i see what you mean but especily in rentals it never hurts to be aggresive

I think there’s that perception because of all the bumpers. It’s true that we can and do side contact (pushing) all the time, mostly accidental but when it happens, it’s fine. I’ve had plenty of drag races to the corner with another dude literally on my pods.

But if you want to be fast, it’s the same rules as owner karts. Get some track and run perfect lines with perfect inputs. Or try, at least. Fighting is slow, always.

ya you can make moves in rentals that would never work in a race kart.

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This is probably what I’m most worried about in starting karting. Our track has a fast left-right chicane into a left hairpin right off the start (similar to 2020 YazMarina turns 5,6,7) Granted the rookies all start from the back of the grid but I really don’t want to punt someone right off the bat… or get left behind too.

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Only one way to learn! Be conservative on your first couple. As you build confidence, get more aggressive. Its not IF you make a mistake and ruin someone’s day. Its WHEN. Own up to it, chalk it up to learning. Buy them a beer after the race and keep having fun!

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Here’s an example of how outside pole gets freight trained on a start. I hope my video works because this is the first time, I’ve edited. By the way I used Shotcut.

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Larry, it’s set to private. YouTube learning curve :grinning:

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Dom – I think its right now, I even have the still title image up.
Thanks – Larry

If I could offer one piece of advice it’s that, other then off the start where in you do manage to find a hole, you don’t really make anything happen. You’re reacting great to what’s happening around but you not really making any moves or thinking a corner ahead to line people up (especially when they are defending).

Check out Max as a mini max drivers start and how aggressively he makes things happen. There’s also more then one instant where he undercuts some one who’s blocked or is fighting in front of him because he smartly knows what’s going to happen.

Starts are mostly about predicting what will happen rather then reacting to them.

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