How to get a good race start

Motor Racing is all about driving fast and trying to beat your competition.

But sometimes that means we need to overtake our competitors to get in-front and win the race.

Nerves, confidence and choosing the right corners are all important when it comes to learning how to overtake other drivers.

Setting up a pass so that the driver doesn't get you back the following turn or switch you back on the exit.

We try providing tips and techniques to listeners to make efficient overtakes and stay ahead of the pack. 

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Winning races comes down to being fast, but also being consistent.

That might mean stringing 10 laps in a row within 1 tenth of a second. What this does is, by making less mistakes, chasing drivers will find it harder to overtake and beat you.

Consistency means finding the same markings around the track and aiming to hit these points lap after lap.

Drivers should be looking out for landmarks around the circuit and not using a shadow as this will change from lap-to-lap and session to session.

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Today we're discussing go-kart rear axles. When it comes to motor racing, cars have suspension. So karting is different because the rear axle acts like a suspension. It might flex a little bit here and there depending on the stiffness of the axle, but realistically it doesn't spring like suspension does. 

So, it's important to use it as a tuning tool depending on the conditions that you are driving in. You might find if it's 15 degrees or it's 35 degrees, you might have to use a different axle, or depending on the tire compound or the changing grip levels across a race weekend.

Drivers & mechanics can also change the length of the axle. The different stiffnesses change how much the kart flexes in the rear. There are different size axles for cadet karts compared to a senior kart. It's important to know that most kart manufacturers send karts out with a neutral medium axle. Now, the reason why karts are designed around that neutral setup, is it gives you a bigger window to fine tune your setup of the kart. You're very limited with the changes you can make when you're at one end of the spectrum. That’s why kart manufacturers design karts around a neutral setup, and at least that way you can fine tune the chassis it if it's not quite right. You’re able to try a softer axle or to a different length axle.

If you need to learn more information about how to setup your go kart, we have a dedicated Kart Setup Guide, to help you make informed decisions across a race weekend. Check it out here: Go Kart Setup Program (kartclass.com)

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Today we're going to be discussing how to go-kart in the rain. Now, for most of us, we tend to want to drive as it’s easier. When you drive in the rain, things are going to wear out quicker; engines, tires, cleaning the kart, that takes more time. The chances of spinning out are more evident with the wet weather, but let's face it, motor racing is driven in all conditions. So, we need to learn how to drive in all conditions so that we can be prepared for all weather conditions.

When it comes to driving in the wet, we want to choose the right tires and kart set up for the conditions. What we find sometimes is that if it's only a little bit wet, the fastest tire is still a slick tire. It's still a dry tire but you might have to adjust your driving style or your kart setup because there's just not enough water for the treaded wet tires to have enough grip. If there's not enough water on the track, they're going to wear out quickly, so we've got to make sure that we're choosing the right tires for the right conditions. As a rule, I would say that if you're on slick tires and the track is 10 seconds or more off, then usa a wet weather tire. Anything under 10 seconds, then it's probably going to still be a slick tire in the slippery conditions.

Some of the quicker adjustments you can make on the grid or at the last moment, can be to widen the front track by spacing your front wheels out. That increases your front steer which helps in the slippery wet conditions. The other thing is to increase your tire pressures. It might mean if you're normally using 15 PSI, and there's a little bit of drizzle, you might run 20 PSI, so an extra 5 PSI, that might be sufficient to get temperature in the tire. With extra heat, hopefully you can get more grip. Another thing you might want to do is put an air box cover on so that your engine doesn't suck in too much water. If that's the case, then you might find that you have a mechanical.

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Today we're going to be discussing how to find the last one second in kart racing. Now, it can be quite frustrating as you're starting out in karting and you're picking off one to two seconds at a time because you're just starting out and it all seems a little bit too easy. You're like, oh, how good's this going? My times are dropping. Then it comes down to that last second, and it's extremely hard to put it all together to get onto that front pack.

Now, it can be tricky, but we want to look at three key areas as to where drivers are potentially lacking. From my experience of coaching, probably over 1000 or 1500 kids in the last 10 years, these seem to be the three main areas where drivers who are more than one second off seem to be struggling with.

The first point we want to look at is not using the whole racetrack. It might seem simple, but even just giving up 30 centimetres of racetrack on every corner, which some tracks have 12 or more corners, is just slowing you down. So by not using all the track, drivers are either turning the steering wheel a lot more, which slows them down. Or they might be lifting on corners where other drivers are flat out.

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Let’s look at when to use positive or negative camber in kart racing.
 
Now the first thing is what is camber? That's changing the angle of the tire. As you are looking at it from a top-down point of view, if you've got the tires pointing towards the inside of the kart, that's going to be negative camber. 

If they're pointing towards the outside of the kart, it's going to be positive camber.
 
What we see with racing cars is, they've got suspension, so you're going to notice their tires are pointing towards the inside, towards the chassis or the frame of the car. That's negative camber.

Stay on top of your karts setup to maximise on-track performance.

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Let’s look at why it’s so important to not just drive at the one circuit. For some people, they don't have the luxury of having a circuit close to them. So, they might have to travel one or two hours away and be forced to just drive at the one circuit. If you are fortunate enough to have a couple of circuits within a reasonable drive, we want to look at the key advantages of experiencing new circuits.

The first advantage is you can get stuck in a rut by just being at the one circuit. Now it feels comfortable, you hit your certain lap times, but after quite a few thousand at the one track, it's hard to then just push yourself out of that comfort zone.

Then suddenly you go to a new circuit, you might be experiencing tighter hairpins or some curbs that you can use, where at your local track, you might not be able to use. They might be a lot more aggressive or rougher. The drop-off in the circuit might be a lot more aggressive, where you're a bit nervous to get to the edge of the track. It could be different camber. It's always very important to learn a positive cambered corner, which is for our readers, like a NASCAR circuit where it's banked.

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Let's be honest. It's all good qualifying up the front, but if you aren't good at the race starts, then it's all a waste of time.

There's different techniques drivers can use to get a better launch, this then gives the driver an opportunity to pass a few drivers.

Then working out whether the inside, or outside (more risky) line is going to be best depending on your position and risk factor.

Let's dive into this episode of how to get a good race start.

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In motor racing, driving in the wet conditions can be more difficult than driving in the dry conditions. 

Wheel spin, limited grip, understeer, are all factors that are exaggerated in the rain. For drivers though, they need to learn how to adapt to all conditions so that on race day, they are ready for whatever challenge is thrown at them.

In this episode, we try explaining three basic tips that can give your driver more confidence in the rain, to improve their lap times, and move up a few positions.

If you've enjoyed this episode, be sure to send it to a friend of yours who could benefit in these conditions.

To learn more about what Home – Kart Class has to offer be sure to visit our site.

Want to watch the podcast episode instead? Follow us on Youtube here

You can join us at Instagram here to see the latest tips.

Let’s discuss how some drivers can dominate on a practice day, but then can't translate that onto a race day. We see in practice sometimes, kids setting the fastest laps they've ever set. Two days later, or a couple of weeks later, get to race day and suddenly, they're 0.4, maybe even up to one second off the pace they were driving the weekend before.

How's that possible and what changes sometimes from a practice day to a race day? The first thing we're going to be discussing is pressure. On a practice day, generally there might be other karts on track, but there's possibly you just racing your lap time. You might be doing a 46-second lap time and really, you're just racing yourself. You're trying to brake later than you normally do. You might be trying a slightly different line. You might be trying to take a little bit more curb than you're used to or you're trying to accelerate earlier. But realistically, you're just racing the clock on a practice day.

And so, if you do make a mistake, that's totally fine because most karts have a clutch these days. If you do spin off or you run wide, it doesn't matter because you can just get back into it on the following lap. When it comes to a race day, you might be a little bit more tentative because if you do run wide or spin out, that could jeopardize your race result. Straightaway, you might be only driving at 90 or 95% of your full potential, and that could be a reason why you are half a second off the pace of what you're doing during the week.

To learn more about what Home – Kart Class has to offer be sure to visit our site.

Want to watch the podcast episode instead? Follow us on Youtube here

You can join us at Instagram here to see the latest tips.