Tonight I went to K1 go karting for the first time with friends, I have no prior racing experience outside of some sims on my PC wheel, some hydraulic sims. I only daily my car.
Today though while out there I ended up putting down a top 6 time for the week and about .3 off the fastest drivers at the course until you get to the record holders who are about .8 faster then me a lap.
Everyone I raced against I was .9 to 2 seconds faster a lap and held out pretty well. But it was pretty thrilling and I wanted to keep doing it since it's not super expensive.
What sort of advice could you guys give me if you have any to offer? I started reading up on a few things and noticed some mistakes I was making that could have cut my time down like I would lean forward when I should be sitting back and I didn't exactly fit in the sit very well since I'm smaller and bounced in it a bit. I also wasn't the smoothest everytime and would bounce the kart losing time.
>TLDR Give me some karting advice please.
Jack Ross
where do you live? i used to race karts when i was a kid and still have one, also used to work at an indoor karting place.
go to one with gas powered karts if you can, they're way better
Noah Lee
If it the Santa Clara one, go wide on the first chicane to set up the line for the right left right into the sweeper. Everyone cuts that turn and then as robe slow into that back section, and loses about a second or more.
Cooper Bell
Richardson.
Connor Nguyen
race me irl nigger
practice fundamentals, threshold/trail/left foot braking, use all of the traction circle
idk about the electric places but most rental karts dont have much power so it's all about cornering speed, you cant slide too much without losing momentum, but it can be useful to get the rear around in tight corners
Blake Hill
What's your PB?
Caleb Davis
Well these are electric and they top out at 45mph. Pretty quick little suckers too, I bruises on my upper back right now from the 3 runs I did.
Jason Edwards
havent been to K1. used to work at GKR burlingame
Jeremiah Gutierrez
Oh shit I didn't even know GKR was a thing. Just looked at their site, shit looks dope af, plus gas karts, ahhh shit.
Landon Johnson
Gas karts are better
Advice as follows. And for fuck sake practice the idea before you deem them worth less.
>eyes to the horizon, usually looking at the vanishing point
Slows your perception of speed and allows you to plan farther ahead. Faster you go the farther ahead you have to consider
> carrying momentum is more important than strictly following a race line.
If your moving fast but your off the "race line" don't give up that speed to change lines
>turn the steering slowly.
Important this one. But you have to practice this one to discover it's worth.
My experience advice: >the karts most stable state is : wheels straight, throttle for steady speed.
When your sliding while cornering or out of control you need to stabilize the kart before offering new imputs. The kart recovers fastest in this stable attitude of Wheels Straight, Some Torque/constant speed..
Wheels have the best friction while rolling, the kart rolls best with the least resistance when the steering is straight. It should begin to make sense why "wheels straight" helps recovery
But you must throttle for constant speed. This controls weight shift. And you need the weight distributed EVENLY for BEST GRIP. If your decelerating weights balanced on the front and if your accelerating weights balanced on the rear.
>know how to instantly hold your speed. I.e. listen to your revs and hold them at one spot.
Maybe more later. I'm a total technique whore. Got essays on this shit. Just not in a post able state.
Luis Cruz
>sauber
Nathaniel Ortiz
That's pretty much everything I already do, but thank you.
Hudson Roberts
here's one you don't know.
>the steering wheel gently vibrates when nearing the tires maximum slip angle
Holding the wheel gently enough and with a properly balanced corner entry you'll feel the steering indicate understeer, before a reduction yaw rate followed then by the screeching of sliding tyres.
This phenomenon is best experienced in non-powered steering vehicles.
Nicholas Gomez
Even the camera man didn't expect him to turn that fast lol
Dominic Cooper
>electric karts Wow OP are you actually takumi or something? Holy shit you're probably the best driver ever.
>protip: Drive real go-karts against adults then come back and tell me you're top 6.
Brandon Bell
Oh look someone who doesn't understand that electric motors are faster then gas engines.
Isaiah Thompson
oh look, someone who doesn't understand how much of a handicap the torque of the electric motors has and how gasoline carts behave completely different as a result and require significantly more skill to use.
Austin Cooper
T H I S H I S
Ryan Cruz
>he thinks electric motors are on and off
Brandon Perez
>Disclaimer, torque helps turn a kart.
No what he's stating is, the the torque on an electric motor is always there. No matter what speed the engine is at, an electric motor can still apply a constant torque as the speed increases.
On a gas kart, torque has curve. You have less att slow speeds and you lose some again as the kart tops out. It's less noticeable because horsepower picks up the ball here..
So to drive a gas kart effectively you must know how to drive quickly with varying amounts of torque In all situations. An electric kart removes a variable by having torque a constant.
Josiah Ortiz
K1 near me limits certain karts to certain speeds.
Charles Murphy
They also seem to adjust the karts speed based on your skill and driver rating.
James Wood
Any suggestions for padding? I've tried this in the past but ended up with bruises on my lower back, waist and one on each side of my lower shoulder from bouncing around so much in the kart.
Would just a heavy sweater and a jacket be enough to help this?
Ryan Morgan
Tighten the belts properly. Also make sure you're wearing some clothing.
Gas karts are different. For K1 electric karts above all you need to focus on the path that requires the least turning. Generally speaking you want to trail brake into turns to try and get rotation but if you overdo it you will lose time. The K1 karts tend to skip rather than drift. Don't turn too aggressively or you will lose time.
Late apex is often better in many parts of the course. Don't try and apex early constantly, it's one of the most common mistakes I see.
In my experience gas karts are generally far more difficult. I couldn't get any power oversteer out of K1 karts. Gas karts can easily oversteer on corner exit if you aren't careful.
Tyler Bell
Belt was as tight as it would go, It was when the kart started to jump about in corners I would get thrown around.
And I had jeans and a t-shirt on. That's clothing.
Jackson Hall
is it not just that electric motors have more poles of switching ? .eg piston engines only manage power per 90 - 120 or 180 degree intervals
but none of this matters given that gear reduction is also in play
Owen Sanchez
You should have your arms completely covered. Like a race suit but don't actually wear one unless you're in a shifter kart or something where you actually need fireproof clothing. I was fine with a jacket.