How To Get Better At Go-Karting?
Ready to take your go-kart racing to the next level? Here at Adventure Park, we are passionate about racing and want to help you be an even better driver. We love seeing young and experienced racers challenge themselves to achieve faster lap times. There is always fantastic excitement and a competitive spirit on the track.
It’s good to note that even the best drivers in the world reach a plateau when it comes to faster lap times. That’s why we’ve put a blog on karting tips and tricks that we have picked up over the years at Kartworld. Reach new driving milestones with a few small adjustments to your racing strategy before you start seeing results.
We are a family-oriented racing community with many opportunities to enjoy outdoor recreation and racing events. Call us today to book a race and see how your times compare to friends and family.
Get Familiar With The Go-Karting Track
The first thing you’ll want to do is familiarize yourself with the karting track.
This is a very important step and will save you a lot of time and frustration if you take the time to get used to the track.
To improve lap times, you need to make sure you know the track very well. Memorising the track layout will help you feel more confident when driving.
Each racing track has its own unique set of turns, barriers, and signage. Try memorising each turn and the order they appear in. From there you can start creating your strategy for shaving off time. There may be more than one way to navigate a turn, and it’s up to you to decide which way to do it.
In racing scenarios, it often comes down to a split-second decision. The way you handle this turn could be the deciding factor in where you finish. The best thing to do is take notice of what other drivers are doing around you to make the best decision.
Check out our map below to get familiar with our track –
How To Navigate Turns
Navigating turns as a professional race car driver requires superhuman levels of focus. Karting has many of the same principles. Tiny adjustments can make massive improvements to your lap time. Once you’re familiar with every turn, it’s time to establish the best racing line for the turn.
A racing line is essentially the fastest possible path around a corner. This line can be broken down into three parts: the outside of the turn you’re approaching, the apex and the innermost part of the track, and the outside of the track that you come into at the end of the turn.
Approaching The Turn
As you approach a turn you must do so from the outside of the track. Try and get as close to the edge of the track for your approach to the corner. At this point, you should still be accelerating as much as you can to reach a top speed before you approach the corner. This can seem unnatural for an inexperienced driver.
Approaching The Apex
As you approach the corner, try and stay in that straight line. By the time you’re approaching the apex of the turn, it’s time to ease off the accelerator and press your breaks. As you’re passing through or near to your turn’s apex (depending on how tight it is), start turning after getting ready for this by shifting gears beforehand.
Coming Out Of The Turn
As you’re coming out of the turn, it’s important to continue accelerating in a straight line. Doing so will help prevent your back wheels from kicking out. Aim for the outside of the track while accelerating to get a longer distance before slowing down from turning.
-Try to keep your speed up when exiting. If you don’t, your back wheel will kick out and you’ll have a hard time recovering.
-Aim for the outside of the track while accelerating to get a longer distance before slowing down.
Where You Can Usually Improve The Most
Your timing for the apex approach is the most important element of your turn. Breaking and accelerating during the approach will drastically influence your time around a corner.
Remember -The apex is the spot on the inside corner of a turn where you can take a peek to show your profile to the corner. It usually occurs at the midpoint of the turn, between the two sides of it. The goal is to hit this spot as close to perfect as possible, without overshooting it and running off the outside of the track.
Approach every turn with the intention of accelerating and braking at different speeds and positions. Pick a specific point to brake and accelerate and experiment with it. Think about specific objects or markers on the track which you can use to indicate where you need to start breaking, accelerating, or turning.
More Go-Karting Tips And Tricks
- Don’t lean – Avoid leaning towards the apex when you’re turning. This puts more weight over your inside wheels, which can make it harder to straighten up after a turn.
- One pedal at a time – Stick to using one pedal at a time when you’re racing. Pressing both pedals at the same time can cause you to spin out and lose control.
- Look ahead – When you’re driving so close to the ground, everything seems twice as fast. Looking ahead will help make everything appear slower and help you make decisions for navigating turns earlier on.
- Use every part of the track – the wider you approach each turn, the easier it is to get close to the apex. Getting right on the apex will minimise the length of your turn and the time it takes to navigate it.
Plan Your Next Day Out At Adventure Park
Adventure Park delivers a one of a kind experience for all ages and can cater for all manner of events. Group events, corporate, school tours, youth clubs to stag do weekends, hen parties and fun filled family days out. You name it, we have it covered.
Our aims have always been to deliver the ultimate adventure experience for all ages to all people and we promise you just that.
Contact us today for bookings.