Karting Thread

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You shouldn't have to do any kind of digging for this thread.
Had another race today, first race went from 13th to 4th. Top 7 were within 3 tenths, I was 4 hundredths slower than the top guy.

2nd race started 5th but only got 4th, went way too low on pressures and was all over the place.
Started 4th in the final and and dropped to 5th after 3-4 laps. Got him back into hairpin, he could've held on but he overcooked it and went into the dirt with two wheels. (I didn't hit him.)

Coming up to a lapper on the last lap with 2 turns to go, and I wasn't really close enough to pass the lapper into a the right hander. But I knew that if I didn't try to pass that the guy behind me would take a different line and get by me.
I hammered it into the corner and thought that I might be ok since the lapper was a bit wide, suddenly she (We have some fast chicks too though.) turned in really sharp and I hit her at about a 30 degree angle in the back.

Apparently (As one of my friends behind me said.) I was several feet in the air and the guy that was a foot behind me had to go into the grass so that I wouldn't land on him!

The next turn was a left hander and the guy returned to the track a bit ahead but he had no momentum at all from trying to turn in the grass. I was able to repass him and was just ahead of another person who had closed up a lot with the incident. I landed on the left front tire and I don't know how it isn't bent.

And we discovered that spindles are in the wrong place so that's why I was so tight the past few weeks, next race will be good with the kart free.
 
Crap crap crap crap crap day yesterday. Kart was fast but nothing went right mechanically. 10 of us racing jnr rotax. First heat started 2nd was pushed wide on the first corner and had a guy go over the top of me giving me a burn on my arm. Continued on, managed to fight on overtaking a couple of people until my rear wheel came off going into a fast corner. I have got an onboard vid of that which I will put on at some point. 2nd heat the chain broke 10 metres out of the pits. Final heat I started last made up a place in the start, got stuck behind someone for about 5 laps, overtook them and was catching on the rest of the field but ran out of time.

In the final I started last because of my DNF's, made up 2 places from the start, was faster than the pack in front and was looking for places to overtake. I then got a puncture in my front right (the one that takes all of the load at blackbushe), I was loosing about 0.5secs a lap from this but still managed to hold off someone. The kart was pulling right on the straights and would hardly turn left, my dad was suprised that I managed to still be slightly competitive. My fastest lap was the 4th fastest out of anyone and I would have gone faster later in the race, so abit annoyed that my position doesn't show what my pace was

In all a bad race day, made worse by the fact that the field was so close, only 6tenths between all of us.
 
lbsf1
Crap crap crap crap crap day yesterday. Kart was fast but nothing went right mechanically. 10 of us racing jnr rotax. First heat started 2nd was pushed wide on the first corner and had a guy go over the top of me giving me a burn on my arm. Continued on, managed to fight on overtaking a couple of people until my rear wheel came off going into a fast corner. I have got an onboard vid of that which I will put on at some point. 2nd heat the chain broke 10 metres out of the pits. Final heat I started last made up a place in the start, got stuck behind someone for about 5 laps, overtook them and was catching on the rest of the field but ran out of time.

In the final I started last because of my DNF's, made up 2 places from the start, was faster than the pack in front and was looking for places to overtake. I then got a puncture in my front right (the one that takes all of the load at blackbushe), I was loosing about 0.5secs a lap from this but still managed to hold off someone. The kart was pulling right on the straights and would hardly turn left, my dad was suprised that I managed to still be slightly competitive. My fastest lap was the 4th fastest out of anyone and I would have gone faster later in the race, so abit annoyed that my position doesn't show what my pace was

In all a bad race day, made worse by the fact that the field was so close, only 6tenths between all of us.
Click to expand...

There are times when I really hate this sport, and times that I love it.
It's a shame, but that's racing my friend.
 
lbsf1
Crap crap crap crap crap day yesterday. Kart was fast but nothing went right mechanically. 10 of us racing jnr rotax. First heat started 2nd was pushed wide on the first corner and had a guy go over the top of me giving me a burn on my arm. Continued on, managed to fight on overtaking a couple of people until my rear wheel came off going into a fast corner. I have got an onboard vid of that which I will put on at some point. 2nd heat the chain broke 10 metres out of the pits. Final heat I started last made up a place in the start, got stuck behind someone for about 5 laps, overtook them and was catching on the rest of the field but ran out of time.

In the final I started last because of my DNF's, made up 2 places from the start, was faster than the pack in front and was looking for places to overtake. I then got a puncture in my front right (the one that takes all of the load at blackbushe), I was loosing about 0.5secs a lap from this but still managed to hold off someone. The kart was pulling right on the straights and would hardly turn left, my dad was suprised that I managed to still be slightly competitive. My fastest lap was the 4th fastest out of anyone and I would have gone faster later in the race, so abit annoyed that my position doesn't show what my pace was

In all a bad race day, made worse by the fact that the field was so close, only 6tenths between all of us.
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i swear camberley is left handers only, how does the right indie get worn :confused:
 
gokartman78
i swear camberley is left handers only, how does the right indie get worn :confused:
Click to expand...

Nope, nearly all right handers, only 2 left handers, a long one on the esses and the chicane.

Here is the video of the crash as promised, just as I spin you can see the wheel fly past.

 
lbsf1
Nope, nearly all right handers, only 2 left handers, a long one on the esses and the chicane.

Here is the video of the crash as promised, just as I spin you can see the wheel fly past.
Click to expand...

Never a pleasant surprise when you lose a wheel in a high speed corner. Randomly spearing off the track and spinning around.

The worst one I saw was the last lap of the final for the open class in what must of been the 2007 nationals. This guy was leading and coming down the home straight to take the flag. About 20 metres before the end his wheel falls off and he flies off the track. Came second by 0.014s.
 
Here is a vid from heat 3, started from the back and got stuck behind someone, I was faster down the first section of the straight but ran out of revs by the end and couldn't get far enough alongside to be able to stay ahead. You can't overtake easily at blackbushe all you need to do is plant yourself in the middle of the straight.

I got past eventually and then was catching the rest of the field.

The vid is in HD.

 
^That's why you have bumpers and pods.
I get very very pissed off if I'm behind somebody slow for a lap, heck even for a few corners, it lets the front runners get away.
And when I get pissed I almost run them off of the track passign them, so I've learned that if you wait too long you're going to be aggressive anyways so you might as well do some rubbin' at the start when you won't lose as much time.
(Just some advice, don't be afraid to swap tire marks.)
 
Bopop4
^That's why you have bumpers and pods.
I get very very pissed off if I'm behind somebody slow for a lap, heck even for a few corners, it lets the front runners get away.
And when I get pissed I almost run them off of the track passign them, so I've learned that if you wait too long you're going to be aggressive anyways so you might as well do some rubbin' at the start when you won't lose as much time.
(Just some advice, don't be afraid to swap tire marks.)
Click to expand...

I usually get abit rougher than that if I was held up for that long. However the other driver was a girl and pretty damn hot, she wouldn't be happy if I put her in the tires.

I was trying to be as agressive as I could be while being fair, I tried to put myself up the inside however she just held her's in the middle, thus making it almost impossible to get up the inside and still make the turn quickly.
 
lbsf1
I usually get abit rougher than that if I was held up for that long. However the other driver was a girl and pretty damn hot, she wouldn't be happy if I put her in the tires.

I was trying to be as agressive as I could be while being fair, I tried to put myself up the inside however she just held her's in the middle, thus making it almost impossible to get up the inside and still make the turn quickly.
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best way to pass people round blackbushe is to help them in the braking zone, if you get what i mean. either that or be very brave on the brakes and give it full lock when you get to the apex. i haven't raced there in juniors but i did that in mini's and cadets and it worked quite well.

and don't go easy on girls. I dont want to sound sexist, but now we have equal rights and everything, if they want to be treated as we treat male racers then they have to be prepared to race hard .
 
I get what you're saying but it is just another driver out there.
Going around a 180 degree left hander I was side by side with somebody slower and it was the same in front. Directly ahead of me was a fast guy on the outside of a slower girl whom I think is nice and cool. The guy ahead was able to clear the indside girl and I got a run on the person inside of me. Going down the back straight I moved the person on the inside over and then dived in the little hole in between the person on the inside, and the girl infront. It was from a kart length back and I used the sidepods to gain more grip from rubbing off of her, Had her kind of cleared but came down a bit just to make sure. Go bat**** crazy in the first lap and then mellow out a bit once you get to the faster guys.
 
I'm thinking of getting into karting, and I'm slowly gathering the bits and pieces I need. I have a helmet and a racing suit on the way:

DSC012171.jpg
 
gokartman78
best way to pass people round blackbushe is to help them in the braking zone, if you get what i mean. either that or be very brave on the brakes and give it full lock when you get to the apex. i haven't raced there in juniors but i did that in mini's and cadets and it worked quite well.

and don't go easy on girls. I dont want to sound sexist, but now we have equal rights and everything, if they want to be treated as we treat male racers then they have to be prepared to race hard .
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This. Especially the girls. I get mad when I lose positions to slower karts at the start. You lose time behind them, then you just move them out of the way. There is a banked corner that you can set people up and move them out of the way under highspeed braking. You just slam into them and push them wide. It's after a very log straight.
 
Hollidog
Never a pleasant surprise when you lose a wheel in a high speed corner. Randomly spearing off the track and spinning around.

The worst one I saw was the last lap of the final for the open class in what must of been the 2007 nationals. This guy was leading and coming down the home straight to take the flag. About 20 metres before the end his wheel falls off and he flies off the track. Came second by 0.014s.
Click to expand...

Now that is what I call some serious bad luck right there.
 
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That was one of my best race weekends ever. Most fun too.
Back at the home track for the first time in the senior Rotax and the first time this year.
Took me a few (5) practice laps to reorientate myself and get my bearings. I had forgotten how wide it was!
So they stuck the seniors, masters, TaG, shifters, and DD2s all together for some reason. (This is just a club race BTW) A total of 28 karts on the track, 24 of them powered by Sr. Rotaxes.
Qualified fourth behind a TaG guy that's my teammate in the WKA races, a master guy who decided to run senior instead with less weight (he's probably the best driver there, and definitely the fastest at this track), and one of my good buddies that was also in senior. Had quite a few other of my good friends right behind me too.

So come the pre-final, my buddy in front broke his chain on the warm up my lap. He has the most terrible luck. I made a pretty bad start. Not BAD but one of my friends behind me made an even better one and that kind of slowed me up. So I drop back to fifth or sixth, not including the TaG guy who has a different and faster engine. They started the DD2s and Shifters separate.
Pick the guys back off one by one until I'm in second. So I'm now four or five kart lengths off the leader and making up ground little by little. Last lap he's coming up on traffic. In no rush because he has no idea I'm right behind. Last turn, a hairpin, he pulls an over-under and passes the lapped kart on the exit. Killing his momentum in the process. Me at the time ---> :D
And me when we go across the line side by side ---> :D
And me when I find out I beat him by 4 hundredths of a second ---> :D

So the final went pretty well too. Kept up with the TaG guy who is also on Bridgestone YLBs as well as a better motor for a couple laps. Then he started pulling away.
Pretty uneventful race until the last couple laps I started to get held up by traffic.
My Dad was giving me hand signals from the stands, the same guy was getting closer and closer. Last lap I tried to make a move on a lapped guy, made a mistake and left room for the guy behind me to get by. Coming up to the hairpin, he gives the lapped kart a little nudged and the guy gets a little sideways. The other guy went around the outside of him, I went down the inside and once again beat the guy by less than a tenth.
Everyone came off the track laughing and smiling.
If anybody wants the videos, just post. The pre-final has some pretty good passing.

Have a Northeast RMAX race there this weekend. Have NO idea how I'm going to make it through this school week with the anticipation. Already working of how I'm gonna do my starts. :lol:
 
I would like to see some videos if it's not too much trouble. And your still in school??? I've been out for 2 or 3 weeks now! :cool:
 
A place near me has these, which I'll be going to soon.

6.5 HP GT5 Sodi Karts

And

9 HP Sodi RX7

Are these pretty good?
 
They're good concession karts for getting an idea about karting. Just know that race karts are much lighter and don't have any of the protection that those karts will have.

They're still fun though :D
 
Cowboys965
A place near me has these, which I'll be going to soon.

6.5 HP GT5 Sodi Karts

And

9 HP Sodi RX7

Are these pretty good?
Click to expand...

No.
And is it that place in Wallingford? :yuck:

And who changed the thread title? It has capital letters now. :lol:
 
Anyone got any advice on how I drive without mistakes? I've only been karting for 10 months, but racing in Sr Max for 3. I was second last race, but screwed up a corner.
 
nitrorocks
Anyone got any advice on how I drive without mistakes? I've only been karting for 10 months, but racing in Sr Max for 3. I was second last race, but screwed up a corner.
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Everyone makes mistakes, they just keep them under control.
If you're talking about big mistakes though, it's just a matter of practice.
Don't overdrive the kart, the harder you drive, the more mistakes are made.
 
nitrorocks
Anyone got any advice on how I drive without mistakes? I've only been karting for 10 months, but racing in Sr Max for 3. I was second last race, but screwed up a corner.
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Graham Hill, one of the great race car drivers who drove like a metronome without mistakes, put it this way: "Concentration, dedication, determination".

But obviously, experience means a great deal, so don't expect perfection right away.

I've been racing for over 40 years, and I seldom make mistakes (knocks on wood). To me, the secret of consistency is total control over your body, mind and emotions. Your body, particularly the upper body and arms, must be strong and not tire. Your mind must engineer and prepare your kart so it is drivable and competitive, and know exactly what the situation is around you on the track. Most of all, you must have total control over your emotions: no red mist, no optimistic lunges, the big picture in mind at all times. Think of yourself as a ball of rubber in the seat, merely an integral part of the kart and not a guy hanging on barely in control. Going in with the belief and expectation of doing well also means a great deal.

Respectfully submitted,
Steve
 

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