Dear Veeky Forums

Dear Veeky Forums,
I went karting today for the first time and it was fun but I sucked so much I can't feel satisfied. I ended on 10th place out of 11. My best lap time was 1:32 while the first place got 1:21. I wanted to believe my kart was slower than the rest but somebody raced with the same kart and got a time of 1:26. I knew I wasn't a great driver but not even being mediocre hurts. How can I improve my shitty driving skills?

Practice^2 and some theory. But mostly practice.

are you fat?

>first time
>not in dead last
You're fine, keep practicing. Talk to people in the winner's circle about how they do well. You can even take lessons if you're that hell bent on getting good at go carts.

Practice practice practice. If you want to actually git gud you want to own your own world formula kart and race/practice with that. Follow the fast guys on open practice days if you can. Even rental karts based on race karts have shit brakes, shit tires, and shit engines, world formula is a spec class so it largely comes down to driver skill.

1. Drive a kart or car more.

2. Lose weight - I know you're a fat piece of shit, people that are overweight have low self esteem.

3. Relax - pick your lines carefully and don't rile up the other drivers by sitting on their ass, it'll spook em and most of the time something bad happens.

learn that racing line nigga. I wouldn't expect some boy racer who only drives on the street to be good at karting first time.

I've done autox and track days a few times and have yet to do karting. will trying this fall, should be fun

Lose some weight, learn to drive.

Last time I went karting, I had a whale of a time. It was also fucking terrifying; something lighter than my bicycle with an engine the size of my car's, driven around a warehouse. The average lap time was about 30 seconds due to the size of the track.

I actually learned a lot about racing lines and driving in general. And found that drifting is stupidly fun.

>my kart was slower

Because you're a mess, fatty
Lose some weight you tubby bastard

Your car has a 125cc or smaller engine?

>be big guy
>eating my knees when karting
>accidentally hit gas and brake in a turn
>do a 270 spin
>fugg

>dubai autodrome

ayy lmao my best lap time was 1:13 on the outdoor course like 3 years ago. i needed 3 days practice to get that time tho. its all practice. i was horrible at the start too. just go karting more often

nevermind just saw its fucking bahrain

Some people just are naturally better, some people need a lot of practice

You're turning too much. Read about lines, the goal is to turn as little as possible. In my experience, karts are particularly punishing of bad lines because the tires scrub almost instantly. You only have like 10 degrees of usable steering angle until you start ploughing.

Also, try sitting as far forward as you can. The more weight you can get off the rear tires, the more the kart will rotate rather than push.

With proper race karts you want to be immobile in the seat.

>OP here
Practice wasn't a problem because I wanted to do this often but with these results I don't know if it's worth it.
I'm not fat. I've gotta stay fit since I'm in the military.
I couldn't learn the track line since it's in Bahrain and I'll most likely not come back because I live in the good ol' U.S. of A.
I'll be going to Dubai soon so might try it there

You have to follow a different line in a kart than in a car. In a turn, you have to get on the gas earlier, and apex later. Generally, focus on maintaining your momentum.

its expensive as fuck thats all i can say. youre better off saving up cash and then racing a mclaren mp4 along the actual track. which is even more expensive but insane fun.

Thanks, these are the kind of tips I was looking for.
I could say I was putting my weight back.
I was actually leaning towars the side I was turning. Why should I stay immobile? Is it aerodynamics?
I also didn't think the line for a car and a kart would be different.

>I also didn't think the line for a car and a kart would be different.
It's different. But a car line will get you started.

The kart had a 1.6L engine.

If you go to a rental kart place some karts are faster then others. But that's only like half a second or a second at most, not 10 seconds. So you can only use the "my kart was shit" excuse once or twice.

I've heard that in a rental kart you want to lean towards the outside of the turn, reason being it picks up the inside rear wheel off the track a bit and since karts don't have a diff the inside wheel causes some drag. Not sure how much effect this has.

Anyway OP aside from learning the fundamentals of driving a kart and racing lines, it helps to know the specific track you're at like the back of your hand. Like where you can cut the curb a bit to gain time, or where the track is bumpy etc

what the fuck. how fast were they?

Yeah bullshit dude, karts are literally steel tubing, a steering bell crank, a chain drive gearbox/engine combo, an axle, and some wheels. It did NOT have a 1.6 unless it was some buggy somebody made out of a car.

Practice and racing line. I've cut fifteen seconds off my initial time at my local K1 just learning how to run the racing line right and practicing. If you can, get o the track with people who set really good times and just try to tail them. You learn a lot just by following someone faster than you and trying to imitate.