Karting Thread

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Nearly two months, so time for an update.
I didn't race June clubday
I went up to Swan Hill for the Sun Centre Titles the week after.
It was good fun, and I loved the track, but I was not quite on pace.

Just last weekend I had July clubday. Four 2nd places meant I got second (shock, horror!) for the day. The top three were split by 1 second in all four races.
 
GTracer38
Nearly two months, so time for an update.
I didn't race June clubday
I went up to Swan Hill for the Sun Centre Titles the week after.
It was good fun, and I loved the track, but I was not quite on pace.

Just last weekend I had July clubday. Four 2nd places meant I got second (shock, horror!) for the day. The top three were split by 1 second in all four races.
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Sounds like your ready for the ProKart Challenge, atleast the Regional Races?,. I'm racing the Socal Regional & Super Nats, but Super Nats only because I live 300mi away from Las Vegas.
 
joetruckv8
Sounds like your ready for the ProKart Challenge, atleast the Regional Races?,. I'm racing the Socal Regional & Super Nats, but Super Nats only because I live 300mi away from Las Vegas.
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I'm guessing that this ProKart Challenge is an American series?
 
joetruckv8
A great country indeed! I wish we had Aussie V8 cars as our Nascar racecars here in the states, that's 4 sure!
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That would be pretty cool, but they would be useless on an oval...
Getting a bit OT lol :)

I have C&D's this weekend, last time I won an event was C&D's last year :(
Probably won't win this year as I will be running out of class but should be something to do for my 18th :P
 
GTracer38
That would be pretty cool, but they would be useless on an oval...
Getting a bit OT lol :)

I have C&D's this weekend, last time I won an event was C&D's last year :(
Probably won't win this year as I will be running out of class but should be something to do for my 18th :P
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Lol small world I have my KT100 convert for dirt now (let me get pics) Im about to start "Friday Night under the Lights" here. I have 2 dirt tracks within 100mi now.

I do wish they would create a dirt GP layout to drive/race on that woukd be like driving ATV's on a supercross track without the jumps. I hear at the dirt track we will actually share race slots with dirt midgets so i will see good racing while I race at the same time. Super pumped to finally get on dirt finally!
 
joetruckv8
Lol small world I have my KT100 convert for dirt now (let me get pics) Im about to start "Friday Night under the Lights" here. I have 2 dirt tracks within 100mi now.

I do wish they would create a dirt GP layout to drive/race on that woukd be like driving ATV's on a supercross track without the jumps. I hear at the dirt track we will actually share race slots with dirt midgets so i will see good racing while I race at the same time. Super pumped to finally get on dirt finally!
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Sounds like fun!
I love the idea of a dirt circuit. I would definitely give that a go!
 
Yeah, I agree. I think they keep the 40MPH limit for general public safety. Not everyone can drive. In the ones I've been to, there are always some who can't drive and keep crashing into the wall or hit someone. The race had to be interrupted so many times.

They should have made the following improvement:
1. Longer track. I felt the track is too short.
2. 2 tracks: 1 for slow drivers/beginners and 1 for fast drivers. Mixing all drivers together like they do is a bad idea because of the reason mentioned above.

joetruckv8
Yea I just wish they were faster, but that's because I'm used too shifters tho...
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C&Ds kept consistent with my year, full of promise yet no result.

Managed to get two 3rd places in the Saturday heats which was a suprize for me.
In the third heat only got to 7th (starting 9th) in the worst, dirtiest, lowest driving standards, I have ever raced. I think every kart ended with damage, it was pathetic but that's racing, supposedly.

Longer final so I set up the kart for the back half of the race, knowing that if I could hang on to the pack, I would be able to pick them off. Dropped from 4th to 6th at the start but ran on the tail of a pack from 2nd to 6th.

Kart started coming to me and I was bringing back the 2 kart lengths I'd lost when they started tangling. Unfortunately they had 'the big one' as it would be put in NASCAR terms and I had to bail into the mud (Heavy rain soaked the grounds and -2C in the morning meant it didn't dry) and spun.
Finished about 8th but a lap down. It was a shame but it was lucky I didn't clean up one of the blokes that spun.

Not running City of Melbourne Titles because I am 18 and I want a car :P
 
2 setups in a row, means you had the setup that night, and they sure couldn't figure it out that night, great work! 👍
 
hi all, I'm just after some advice from the pros who do this regularly. myself and my friends go every few months to my local track and really love it, but I seem to be at a plateau with my lap times I'm a full second and a half from the overall fastest lap, I realise track conditions temp and weight can affect it but I don't know if my technique is good enough to even factor those in yet.

this is the track layout:-

wp54d44d08_05_06.jpg


braking is at turn 2 I brake only in a straight line and as late as I think I can.. I think turn 5 leading to turn 6 is the key.. I don't know if I'm going too hot into 5 (I don't brake just lift then turn in) which sharpens 6 meaning a slow exit and run all the way to turn 2..

iv got a couple of raw videos from today..



starts at 2.33.. first ever crash on the second lap :(



My fastest lap was lap 9 on the second session but I was struggling to get a clean lap in really especially in session 1 as there were quite a few spins.

I think my general fitness/strength is something I need to work on to try and get a bit more control

apologies if the camera view doesn't give enough info for advice but any I can get would be great..
 
Raceworx
hi all, I'm just after some advice from the pros who do this regularly. myself and my friends go every few months to my local track and really love it, but I seem to be at a plateau with my lap times I'm a full second and a half from the overall fastest lap, I realise track conditions temp and weight can affect it but I don't know if my technique is good enough to even factor those in yet.

this is the track layout:-

wp54d44d08_05_06.jpg


braking is at turn 2 I brake only in a straight line and as late as I think I can.. I think turn 5 leading to turn 6 is the key.. I don't know if I'm going too hot into 5 (I don't brake just lift then turn in) which sharpens 6 meaning a slow exit and run all the way to turn 2..

iv got a couple of raw videos from today..

Click to expand...

You seem to have it pretty much worked out.
Braking a touch earlier into turn 2 and focusing on being smooth and maintaining speed around and out of the corner would be a good thing to try.
Those karts (and most karts in general) don't have much power so it's all about keeping as much speed from the straight, around the corner and onto the next straight.

With turn 5, I would say the same, brake earlier but this time use less of the exit and be sure to get back across to the left side before turning into 6.

And now a personal note, if you fell that you aren't getting enough feel through the steering, move your hands lower down the wheel. They seem to be a fair way up the wheel.

Anyway, other people will probably have better ideas but that is all I got :P
 
A friend and I started talking about getting into shift karts, but we don't know where we can race them. We live in Ohio, so the closer to Ohio the better. He says he knows they run them at Summit Point in West Virginia, but we don't know about Mid-Ohio or anywhere else. I know there's heaps of posts here, but there's fifty pages of replies, and even a search for "tracks" didn't seem to yield desired results. Does anybody have a link or know some places in or near Ohio?
 
GTracer38
You seem to have it pretty much worked out.
Braking a touch earlier into turn 2 and focusing on being smooth and maintaining speed around and out of the corner would be a good thing to try.
Those karts (and most karts in general) don't have much power so it's all about keeping as much speed from the straight, around the corner and onto the next straight.

With turn 5, I would say the same, brake earlier but this time use less of the exit and be sure to get back across to the left side before turning into 6.

And now a personal note, if you fell that you aren't getting enough feel through the steering, move your hands lower down the wheel. They seem to be a fair way up the wheel.

Anyway, other people will probably have better ideas but that is all I got :P
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Thanks for taking the time to reply.

I guess I am being a bit too aggressive into the corners and then scrubbing off to much speed under steering. rather than getting round the corner ill give that a shot next time same with turn 5 go in a bit less hot..

I think my hand placement comes from my lack of strength so I use my whole body to leaver the wheel rather than just my arms . It really does show you how fit top level racers have to be to cope with the forces on your body. you can tell when I get tired my left arm drops on turn 7. I also think this doesn't help with my initial turn in as I can't be as refined with my inputs.

thanks again, will give me something to think about when I next go rather than just mindlessly lapping and hoping..
 
IceMan PJN
A friend and I started talking about getting into shift karts, but we don't know where we can race them. We live in Ohio, so the closer to Ohio the better. He says he knows they run them at Summit Point in West Virginia, but we don't know about Mid-Ohio or anywhere else. I know there's heaps of posts here, but there's fifty pages of replies, and even a search for "tracks" didn't seem to yield desired results. Does anybody have a link or know some places in or near Ohio?
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Unless you already have some karting experience or high level racing experience, Shifter Karts is not a place to start karting. It's like saying you'd like to start racing and going out and buying a 600 hp open wheel car. Best place to start in karting is some kind of 4 cycle karting, then move up to a 100 cc two stroke, then to the shifter class.
 
NW48
Well has any Aussie karters read through all the new engine changes and new regulations that have finally been implemented by the new look Karting Australia board. Just as I lost all hope, they impress me with the new engines!! Thanks Mick Doohan & co.
EDIT- Here is the link for anyone who is genuinely interested, http://www.karting.net.au/new-fresh-look-for-australian-karting
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It seems pretty good, but most of it doesn't affect myself (TaG engine).
Not sure about the mandatory forward facing and rearward facing DV camera, however.
 
GTracer38
It seems pretty good, but most of it doesn't affect myself (TaG engine).
Not sure about the mandatory forward facing and rearward facing DV camera, however.
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Yeah, I'm not too happy with that (rear & front facing cameras), uneccessary money needing to be spent there. But what I do love is that nothing can be done to the new engines, so if you do something to it, you get disqualified. Finally, you don't need to spend thousands of dollars just to get in the top 5. This is really gonna help me as times out in the Far North West (QLD) are getting extremely tight.

I really like the idea of Cadets becoming a controlled class as parents were throwing their wallets around just to get their child to win. Now that was putting uneccessary pressure on the kids. Even though it won't affect me, I'm really impressed KA could see that's where karting in Australia was starting to go. Now, if only we can get rid of the politics...
 
Well my 1st race in a few months, got these results;
Junior National Light- 1st, 1st, 3rd (Got punted off the track), 1st, 1st
Junior Clubman- 2nd, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 2nd
Well I was shocked at how terrible I went in Junior Clubman, but that's what I get for using 2 year old MG Red's. All in all, for using my back-up gear (my proper engines are being refreshed, the JNL engine for the upcoming Race of Stars) I went extremely well!
 
Hello all! :)

I race in a 600m kart track in Athens, Greece. So far I haven't seen any races, only time trials. I have been driving 270cc karts but recently I set a time that's good enough for 390cc karts 👍 Today I'm going to drive a 390cc kart for the first time! Wish me luck! :D

Edit: I just came back. It was an amazing experience to say the least! 👍
 
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Double post - It's been a week.

I just found out that the time I need to drive a ROTAX kart is <30.70. Up until yesterday, my record was 31.77, but after driving a better kart I clocked a 31.06 :) ROTAX karts are not so far away! 👍
 
GT5Power
Double post - It's been a week.

I just found out that the time I need to drive a ROTAX kart is <30.70. Up until yesterday, my record was 31.77, but after driving a better kart I clocked a 31.06 :) ROTAX karts are not so far away! 👍
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Less then half a second to go, good luck!
 
GT5Power
Double post - It's been a week.

I just found out that the time I need to drive a ROTAX kart is <30.70. Up until yesterday, my record was 31.77, but after driving a better kart I clocked a 31.06 :) ROTAX karts are not so far away! 👍
Click to expand...
I just hate the low dead bottom-end the Rotax motor produces, But my Rotax is by far my most reliable consistent chassis of the 3 I have
 

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