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Driving, dangerous situations and other This chapter has the purpose of providing some advices (not all correlated), to optimize the use of your kart and the right behaviour during races:
Start up the kart Balancing accelerator, brake and steering-gear Bends and steering Overtaking (to go or to undergo) Rain Info for races Starting up the kart is both very easy and very complicated. First times, if you don’t have any experience and you’ve never seen someone else doing it, it could seem like an impossible action to perform alone, very difficult in two people, and it becomes easy if you are three. Actually, it’s easier to perform alone, with a second person help in a second moment. I want to stress that karts have direct transmission; it means without clutch and other parts. When the engine run, wheels run and vice versa; if one out of two is still, the other one cannot get going. Kart engine has a very high compression and for this reason it seems to be very difficult to push. Final objective is starting up the kart without anyone help. To reach it, it’s better starting in two people and then improving and doing alone. You should do it several times…. Probably you realized kart without a person on it it’s easier to start up…. Well, to start up the kart it’s sufficient lifting the back part, covering a 2-step distance with the kart lifted up, then you have to lean the kart on the ground, with an angle not too high and not too low. The correct angle is a bit lower than 45°. So, one person has to push the kart from the back and the other one has the push from one side, with one hand keeping the steering wheel. When the engine starts, the driver has to jump in, immediately looking for the accelerator and pushing it. In the meantime the person who was pushing the kart from the back, should continue pushing it until you can clearly hear the kart is running properly (few metres and the person should bear not too much effort). It’s done. Now you should learn starting up the kart by yourself, but if you’ve already tried with another person, it’s not going to be so difficult. You have to push the kart from the back, and when the kart is going to start up, you have to go to the kart side and jump in, pushing the steering wheel in order to avoid the engine turning off. You could push the kart directly from the side, but from my point of view it’s very effortful and dangerous. It has to be underlined that during this phase, your back is very stressed, so it’s better if you perform this action as least as possible. It’s not so nice if you have some back pain, after performing the starting up of the kart….. so be very careful .. Now, we assumed everything is ok, but sometimes it’s not like that; after a certain time without starting up the kart (something like 1 week), due to “cold” engine and petroil not existing in the engine (petroil has to be anyhow in the carburetor, filling as described in the special chapter), you need to push a lot. Another trick to start it up with little effort is having carburation at MIN level, having less air in the carburation (closing a bit the screw), but in this case just a bit, or you could have the kart without control. Then it’s essential restoring the situation as it was before. We talked about direct trasmission:
actually 50, 60, 100 junior and 125 have the clutch. In 50, 60 and
100 there’s a special device to start up the kart, which is
controlled by a person not on the kart; in 125 the kart has to be
pushed in neutral and then a gear has to be set, as it is with regular
cars. For this reason it’s very difficult starting up a 125
and I don’t think you can perform it by yourself, because
you can suffer a lack of push (so the kart could be abruptly stopped.
When you go up the kart, as a first
thing you have to get knowledge of it, on the other hand you won’t
be able of using it. In fact every kart is a bit “nervous”
and you have to realize when it starts accelerating and braking;
that means understanding how and how much pushing the accelerator
(in order to get a right power) and how much the brake pedal (to
get a balanced action and not a kind of block). During this learning
period of time it’s better if you use the same kart, but change
track condition, tires and kart regulation. For example in a track
with a high degree of adherence (kind of gummy…) you can push
a lot to reach the block. It’s better performing these tests
with “cold” engine and “cold” tires and
then warm them up. You have to carefully evaluate the behaviour
of the steering wheels and wheels grip in several parts of the track.
After this testing phase, you can really run! Best feelings of running with karts
can be summarized in: speed, satisfaction of detached to the limit,
controlled acceleration and facing bends in the right way, excluding
here overtaking and recovering of mistakes. In karting, the “absolut king” is the countersteering, actually there are no bends where you don’t use it (if you run in a competitive way..). You perform a countersteering, since the kart has an opposite behaviour; back wheels usually get sliding, while front wheels continue keeping trajectory; in other words, considering tangents to the ideal trajectory, you have to perform a countersteering when kart is going to enter inside trajectories or bends. Now we have to distinguish between two kinds of countersteering: the spontaneous one and the intentional one. I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but when the kart starts “loosing” the back part, front wheels continue following the ideal trajectory: this is spontaneous countersteering, it’s enough keeping the steering-wheel in that position (avoiding stones and hollows get deviating trajectory) and you get one of the best performances. In fact if the countersteering is exaggerated or not coordinated, you can loose a lot of speed, but this spontaneous action leave you with a good speed and a MIN physical effort. It happens you have to perform an intentional countersteering, for example when the kart has an unforeseen behaviour or in case of mistakes: even micro - countersteering, in order of correcting little mistakes or track roughness. In karting very often you have to perform these corrections, and every time you loose speed (even if it’s absolutely necessary). Big/strong countersteering imply a big lost of time and have to be performed only in case of real need: they are very frequent in bends which become wider, and in bends with a not steady radius. It’s better loosing some km/h, but avoiding these big/strong countersteering. The same countersteering can happen at the end of speedy bends, after a lost of control, and they are very dangerous; in fact the kart loses grip with the ground and skids, then it skids to the opposite direction due to the countersteering, then another skid and so on, causing troubles to karts coming back to you (these karts could even make a direct hit on you, with risks of injuries and bumps). In order of correcting these mistakes it’s better to use the accelerator and brake, and not just the steering; the instinct can tell you if you have to accelerate, decelerate or brake. Remember you don’t have to trust the steering-wheel only. The difference between spontaneous
countersteering and intentional countersteering, it’s personal
and I don’t know if other people affirm the same thing; in
fact even the spontaneous one it’s driven by the pilot, and
so it’s not completely spontaneous.. Then I want to stress
it’s better (if possible..) avoiding a big/strong usage of
the countersteering, because you have a decrease in performance
and a high degree of back tires wear. Anyhow, It’s very exciting
trying it (using old tires, “filled” at 3 BAR), but
it’s not very professional… especially if other karts
are on the track…. We are now going to say something about how to undergo, contrast, encourage, avoid and perform overtaking. We have to underline that overtaking happen in different ways, depending on situations: in trials or in a competition. During trials, when you have back to you a faster kart, you should try a way to encourage its overtaking; if you are a correct pilot (as I am in almost all cases..) you need to calculate how much time it will need to reach you, so you can settle your speed in order to let it overtake in best and easiest parts of the track (easy bends or straight stretches). If (as always happens to me) the kart which is arriving, gets very close to you in a straight stretch, it’s better immediately decelerating and let it go; straight stretches are not amusing and so it’s better leaving it go there, and maybe driving it crazy close to a bend, staying back to it and demonstrating that the only reason he overtook you it’s just because he has a faster kart.. (I know it could seem a very infantile reasoning, but when you are on a track and you see all karts reach you in straight stretches and when they overtake you, they go very slow close to bends, it’s so irritating…. I can understand one kart back to you is irritating, but it’s also very irritating being overtaken and then wasting time back to it…). Sometimes it could happen you see the kart back to you very late… and you have to give the way without deciding where: in this case just go away from the trajectory and let it go. In these cases, it’s correct and polite encourage the overtaking ending the bend out of the trajectory, slightly accelerating. If you want, you can leave him back to you for some bends, if those bends are not dangerous (slow), because he wouldn’t gain too much….. Anyhow you have to show, with one hand put on the side bumper, the direction where he can overtake, and of course you have to stay in the opposite side of the track. If you go back to the pit or in case of mechanical break, you have to point it out with one hand raised. In order of performing an overtaking, be sure the kart in front of you realized you are back and gave you the way. You should avoid the overtaking if the kart in front of you didn’t realize you are there, on the other hand you could run some risks. If you find someone who would like to do “a kind of personal competition” (a pilot who has realized you are back but doesn’t want to give you the way), you can accept that challenge but you have to be confident in what you are doing. When you are in a real competition, rules are quite different; if you have one back to you, he can overtake you just at the end of a straight stretch (in other parts it could be dangerous) and in order to avoid the problem you should follow the internal trajectory at the end of the bend going to the straight stretch. Be very careful, because that trajectory has less adherence, so you should anticipate the final braking; it’s very important being on his trajectory and do not let him go. If he is a crazy driver and tries to overtake you in speedy bends, even in this case follow the internal trajectory since even if it’s slower, can let you avoid an accident: in fact if you are on the external side, the other kart can overtake internally and could be easy to reach a lateral impact, very dangerous. Actually it’s not that he is a crazy driver, it’s just that it’s a risky steering in motor sports (in fact you cannot see this steering in F1 races, because it’s too dangerous). Another tactics to avoid the overtaking at the end of a straight stretch, before entering a slow bend, it’s following a regular trajectory, leave your opposing going internally and then recovering at the end of the bend, exploiting the fact he is ending a detached, while you are already in a decelerating phase. This tactics is feasible if you have engine and sprocket of the same dimension and power of your opposing, because on the other hand his greater power can give an advantage to him and let him in front of you; then it’s feasible only if the opposing arrives long at the detached (very often), otherwise he could risk to cross the trajectory and close yours, so you are obliged to stay back to him. Overtaking during races has rules
completely different than rules you have during trials; first of
all, you have to realize if your kart is more or less powerful than
karts of your opposings. In the first case you can try to overtake
internally or, if your opposing closes your trajectory, you should
keep an external one and try to exploit your bigger power ending
bends avoiding to cross trajectories of your opposings. If your
kart has the same power of your opposings kart, the same rule has
to be followed. You can have problems if your kart is less powerful
than others: you have to exploit first laps when karts are very
close; it can be a dangerous tactics but very effective. Even if
you have a technical gap you are able to stay close to your opposing,
you have to attack him, taking some risks in bends, when bends are
not too difficult: you must punish his faults. The ideal situation
is in a bend of medium speed in which you can gain space and in
a micro straight stretch in which your less powerful engine is not
penalized, so you can try to overtake. It’s very important
to remind that the person in front of you will be probably very
nervous and he won’t be able to concentrate on driving: this
fact implies he will probably make a mistake, but probably a negative
one for you… for example he could brake before necessary...
so you have to be very attentive… and not to crash into his
kart… Rain, or anyhow wet track, implies a lost of adherence. This lost will affect both front and back tires. Setting and choice of tires in case of rain will be treated in a specific chapter; here we are going to talk about driving changes under this specific weather conditions. Let’s start saying (based on personal experience) that back wheels are affected from rain, while front ones have a behaviour completely opposite than usual. In fact we are (unique situation in karting) in a situation highly understeering, that means front wheels are inclined to follow bend tangent, while back ones have a quite good grip... Actually the whole kart is inclined to follow the tangent, due to the fact front wheels cannot maintain the trajectory. To face this problem there are 2 options: driving very slow (but we are not interested in…. on the other hand we didn’t buy a kart… but going slow could be a good option during first laps) or pushing the accelerator at full speed during bend, so the kart will go sideways and we can regain the correct trajectory. This option is probably the only one, but it’s very dangerous because you can lose kart control. The only experience I have is with wet tracks, with some puddles and slick tires... I completely don’t know specific tires behaviour, but I assume is pretty much the same, but better balanced: both front and back wheels will have more grip but the final result will be anyhow understeering. In conclusion, the understeering is mainly due to the fact tires cannot reach the right temperature (both because if it rains it’s probably cold and because between tires and ground there’s a kind of water film which reduces the adherence you have on dried tracks and which increase tires temperature) and in particular the front ones. Front tires are more affected than back ones because they have to support less weight (so the water film has a bigger impact) and because back tires have higher temperature (due to the fact they tyreburst), so the grip is greater. As a pilot, the behaviour you need to follow is: you have to brake in advance, you have to keep the driest trajectory (in bends it's usually the central one) and you have to avoid puddles; you have to accelerate very carefully and avoid steering with difficult angles. I remind driving under rainy condition is a situation which is not so common and people are not used to do that, so even new pilots can reach good results. It's also a situation where engine is not so important (because you cannot exploit power at the end of bends and during straight stretches. Then pilot talent will be underlined; I personally believe driving when it rains is funnier. In conclusion I want to stress water
is a kind of cooler for your engine, and it will probably have troubles
in reaching the right temperature; it's a risk because a seize to
a cold engine can happen (you will have the feeling of being kept
by someone...). In order to avoid this problem, you have to put
the tape in specific positions, so you have less air in the carburetion
and the temperature increases. This advice is a personal advice,
and I didn't have some official feedback about it.... Here you can find info if it’s the first time you run in a race/competition. It’s a kind of remind about what to bring with you, how to behave and how to be organized. To the race you have to bring: The kart (minimum weight 145 kg for 100 and 165 kg for 125, and you can get it even with some extra weights, like ballasts – you can buy them before races) with its carriage and all things listed in the previous chapter, like tools and suit. 15 litres of petrol should be enough; it has to be unleaded ERG with oil in the right percentage (not important which brand) Money: from 50 to 70 euro for the race, money to eat and to drink, and some extra money to buy the racing number and some spare parts Complete licence and medical certificate (original documents) A lot of patience. The entry could be chaotic and could take long time, waitings are long and boring; so it’s better if you go with some friends. It’s essential having a person with a mechanic licence (in theory…!) together with you. Races of low level are run in one day in a very easy way; let’s suppose racing include these categories: 50, 60, 100 e 125. First of all you will have free trials for 50, then 60, 100 lamellar suction, 100 plates, 125 lamellar suction, 125 plates 125 rotax (the position could be different). After these trials, (time needed around 10-15 minutes) we are going to have the official/qualifying trials in 3 laps (one of them with the max speed) and heats of max 6 karts. During these trials pilots and mechanics can improve the kart. In fact after free trials you can check the weight and then start with the official ones (in official/qualifying trials the kart weight is checked and if it’s not correct you can be disqualified or relegated to the last position), and then there’s the real racing. The racing day starts around 6 o’clock in the morning (entry ‘til 8:30) and ends from 14 to 19 depending on several factors. For all these reasons, it’s
not a good idea to risk a lot; after waiting hours it’s not
so nice going out after one lap. But on the other hand you cannot
decide to run and going slow………. Anyhow for the
100 category you perform a kind of “training lap” (in
a very chaotic way) and then you start "on the fly", like
American motor racing. For all the other categories, there’s
a “training lap” and the start is on the starting-line.
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