What should I do if I spin out in the rain?

1

Hi everyone, I hope you are having a wonderful day.

After watching that video from the FIA European Karting Championship where almost the entire field spun off the track due to the rain, I started thinking. If I were to spin out in the rain, and my engine stalled (lo206), what would I be allowed to do? I race Lo206, and since it is a pull start motor, it is a little bit easier to stall and it is harder to get going again. I can not find anything in the rulebook on this. What be the best thing to do? Should I try to get it running again or do I just retire from the race? It is a trivial question, but it is something that is not clear to me.

Thank you

2

Grab the wheel, sit up in the seat, push the accelerator halfway, look for traffic to avoid, then pull the cord with your left hand if you’ve got a right-side engine.

It’ll start.

3

Never give up (if you can avoid it). Get that thing going again and rejoin the race safely.

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4

With the exception of kid karts, the only general rule is you are not allowed help from anyone to restart the engine. I.E. rip that cord and get back in the fight!

5

Why do you think the motor would die?

The bigger worry in the rain is collecting someone or someone collecting you in a spin. If you can avoid that, safely rejoin the track and continue the race.

6

1 - dont stay on throttle if you spin, you are going to burn your clutch
2 - push the kart back on the tarmac, while looking for any damage
3 - if you stalled, left foot in the seat, right foot on the throttle pedals, pull start the engine. Once you’re going, sit in your seat

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7

Depends on what your race allows. Weirdly if you get out of your kart in my series you are forced to retire. Also, a 206 shouldn’t stall too easily, unless you completely lock the rears for a while and mash the gas. If it does die, half throttle, rip the cord. Easy to start when the engine is warm

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8

Definitely check with the regulations for the race you are running.

I’d also add, when it’s raining go out on slicks, drive around and practice finding grip. There’s lots there. It’s fun and rewarding. Develop some skills to avoid getting caught up in a pathetic looking mess like what we witnessed in supposedly a top tier form of Karting :laughing:

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9

My club racing with 60 year old guys looks more professional in the rain than these guys😂
@Kartracer58 if you are worried about stalling and if you have to start it from sitting in the kart, grab an exercise band and start practicing until your arm looks like an MLB pitchers

10

To be fair, the red and yellow stripes flag (change of track state) was out a bit too late, and the track was heavily gripped up due to the very soft tyres used. It was like driving on ice, a lot worse than the usual slicks in the rain drive.

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11

Being rubbered up certainly doesn’t help.

I thought they would have caught a few drops on their visors as a warning of what’s ahead… but maybe they didn’t 🤷

But as I keep reminding myself… it’s easy to be a critic… especially over the internet.

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12

I learned about this over the weekend in my heat race. I had a guy spin in front of me and I spun after locking up my brakes while trying avoid him. I knew better but my immediate reaction, coming from oval racing, was to sit and wait for a yellow that slows the entire field. At that point I would be able to get going again with some help from an official, rejoin the pack at the tail, and then we’d go green again. Once I realized this is not the case, I hopped out of the seat, restarted my kart, and went on to finish the race a couple of laps down in last place. Lesson learned…