well, i think i might be going karting sometime soon with my sister and her friends and have a big race with.. the real karts lol rather than the 2bhp .. uh, well i dont know what to call them, and i was wondering if anyone here had any tips and pointers
we used to have some offroad gokarts but that was so long ago and so different from tarmac i can imagine, so i guess you could say i have a tiny bit of knowledge, but nothing to be able to go around and get some fast laps down
cause i mean, i've seen some videos on tv of all these 'techniques' even little kids use like jumping out of the seat etc. but.. ya
They are really hard to spin (unless its wet or your jam the pedal!), they are really nimble
Ok, im not really helping!
Just use some lfs techiqeus, and watch out for the brakes (or just dont use them, going sideways into the only corner i brake for is about 0.000001 seconds slower, but the noise scares the peson in front enough to let me past!)
Well, when going around a corner, don't try too hard, or you'll skid your back tires, losing speed. On straight-aways, punch it, and try to get as close as you can to the person ahead of you before the next corner(if there IS a person in front of you). That is basicially it. Don't try to bump draft in the fast karts, if you do, chances are your bound to spin.
if you have more speed on the straight, and are right up behind them, but making the pass now (ie at that corner is not feaible), then slowing down and doing that still keeps you just behind them. plus its fun.
the last time i went karting i was going real close to the kart in front of me which launched tons and tons of rubber, dirt etc into my eyes. I decided to pull down the visor. Which immediately resulted tons of condensation. So i had to pull up the visor again, and then i spun.
couldn't really focus on the driving i guess
then again, i'm not really an experienced kart racer am i?
Having only had experience in rental karts I'd of said the best thing to do is never lift off the throttle anywhere except harpins. The karts at my local (indoor) track have no power low down so if you lift or brake you're going to be waiting ages to go anywhere. I think braking for the harpin is the fast technique although some of my mates are faster not lifting. We're all within 1/2 a second and usually it's decided by weight and how good a kart you get.
By big karts I'm guessing you mean proper racing karts? If so be careful on the brakes, they're very easy to lock up. Also if it's not a prokart (2 honda engines) then be careful on the power out of corners, don't use it as an on-off switch
Oh and one more thing, avoid contact altogether, it always happens but if you try to avoid it you'll end up with a lot less damage.
Depending on the class of kart you'll have to drive it different. If it's a 2 stroke you have to watch that you don't let it oil up but if it's still a rental kart place then it will most likely be 4 strokes.
Back when I raced cadets that was with a 4 stroke engine and you had to be very careful not to slide otherwise the engine struggled to build up momentum. People jump out the seats out of corners to take their weight of the rear of the kart under acceleration, very effective in prokarts. Don't jump about too much in the seat though because there’s no point, you’re best to let the kart settle down and be ready for the next corner. The key factor is being smooth and hitting the apexes. Build up your speed as the tyres begin to develop some temperature, a mistake a lot of people make is actually driving too slow and never getting the tyres up to temperature. Just push the kart quite hard you'll be surprised how much grip you can find. Another thing that a lot of people make mistakes in doing is not using the whole track, use the entire track you can but avoid very bumpy kerbs as there’s not much to gain from upsetting the kart - well that’s my opinion from a few years of karting. Get yourself as comfortable as you can in the seat and just focus and feel what the kart is doing, don't under-estimate it as karts can be pushed very hard but can easily be spun if your not smooth.
If you get any more information on the type of kart it's then some of us might be able to give you more specific advice. I've raced 3 different classes ranging from a 4 stroke cadet to a 2 stroke 125cc rotax max. Also had a couple of shots of club hire karts (pro-karts).
Just go out an enjoy yourself, if you don't make a mistake you're not trying hard enough was always my Dad's little motto to me during practice days.
That may be the case with cars but AFAIK not with karts, you lose a lot of speed cornering since you only have 3 wheels on the ground so if you put the power on later you lose more time than if you feed it on earlier.
@XCNuse - when you brake push back on the steering wheel to put weight over your back axle, making it harder to lock up. Also the quickest way to slow down is to lock up then let off a slight bit so it just bites, it looks cool too
Have absolutely no consideration for your fellow racer. Attempt every passing chance you see, regardless of how improbable. Attack every corner and racing incident in a suicidally reckless manner.
Sideways is never quicker especially in hire karts because the little 4 stroke engines bog down and struggle to regain momentum. I raced a Honda Cadet 4 stroke in my first year of karting and the key to doing well was to be very smooth, if you bogged the kart down by sliding too much then that was it the guy behind had a good look at you down into the next corner.
It's a mistake a lot of people make at hire kart days I got invited to a friends party which was at a karting place and at this time I was racing karts myself. I lapped the field and nearly took the track record on my first outing on the track, the person who had the record was a regular.
The key is to be ultra smooth and keep hitting the apexes of the corners
My last time out in kart was a couple of months ago in a hire race with random people as it was an open day at my old local track. I got taken out three times by someone with your logic ... it pissed me off and to me personally showed how bad a driver he was. A good racer can pick a gap which will work not one which is 50/50 touch and go. In the end the guy got the whole stright on me after putting me off into the rough stuff yet in a 10 lap race I caught him up and passed him, showing him how it's done
In hire karts it can be fun getting rough and overly competitive, but only with people you know, unfortunatley when we go out in sessions of mixed ability it's always the people who think they're fast but actually slide all over the place that end up having big crashes with people who just crawl around. If you know who your racing with then getting a bit rough can be entertaining I think we've only broken 2 karts and as we're regulars and know the guy who runs the place he overlooks the 'if you break it you go home' bit of the agreement we sign, you may not be so lucky. And the golden rule is never dick around going into harpins, they're about the only place on most tracks where your likely to hurt yourself in hire karts and seeing stupid idiots T-boning each other in harpins is a lot more common than you'd think.
when im stuck behind him on thi particular corner its marginally slower (i only use it if im a LOT quicker anyway, plus i can use the "proper" line into the next corner, get a lot of speed (if i did this stuck right behind them i would just run right up their backside) up on em, then on the next corner i shoot right past!
yea XC if u are racing a 2 stroke just lock the brakes so the wheels are doing less RPM than the karts speed, if u know what i mean. Semi locking. it makes a really loud wierd sound when done properly, and u need to countersteer.
dontsimons advice sounds about right aswell, take that!
and u do loose time by applying the power later.
maybe it was slower because u totally over-powered, but u need to set yourself up so that u can fully apply the throttle early as possible.
just drive it, the worst thing you can do is think about it too much....
i can picture you trying to recall these posts in your head as you drive around! lol!!
just be smooth and you'll be fine.
I think everyone I go rental karting with takes it far more seriously than real racing, it tends to take over everything for at least a week before hand
well i have no idea what type of karts, i havent been to the place in a long time, its just a arcade place with 2 tracks out back and 2 types of karts and now that i have my license (well.. had it for a while but) i can go on the faster karts, not sure what type they are though, but afaik my sister's boyfriend drove one once and he said its pretty easy to drift so.. im not sure when im going karting to be exact, just sometime in next couple of days
Well who ever your following is slow I'm not joking when I say that the hire karts which use a similar engine to my cadet I used to race (usually the same) just bog down if you have the back of the kart sliding as when it eventually bites you're putting a load on the engine which it struggles to recover from. Being smooth is always the quickest way. As I said my first time back in a kart for 4 years or so was a couple of months ago at my old local club's open day where they have the slightly more powerful pro-karts than standard. I was really fighting the rear of the kart into some of the heavy braking zones to make sure that I kept it as straight as possible to give me the best speed out of the corner.
XCNuse, the karts will be 4 strokes since it's a hire place. I don't know any hire kart place that runs 2 strokes because they are just not as easy to run for long periods and also need more maintenance. Just be smooth and concentrate on driving the right lines and as I said don't under estimate what the kart can do. If it's an outdoor track on a half decent set of slicks you should have decent grip The only problem with hire karts is most of them are usually out of shape somewhere along the lines so you might find the one you pick is all over the place
I got invited to a friends party which was at a karting place and at this time I was racing karts myself. I lapped the field and nearly took the track record on my first outing on the track, the person who had the record was a regular. 
