Getting Wet - Our Advice

We all know that driving your car in the wet requires a careful approach don't we. If you go racing around on wet roads the same as you do in the dry at some point you're gonna come a cropper. So the same must be true in kart right?

Back

Wrong

I have a pretty smooth approach to karting so was under the impression that the first time I went out in the wet weather conditions (on slicks) would favour me more than most. And what a surprise I got. I came into a corner braked in a nice straight line and took a gentle wide approach to the apex, no sudden moves. In fact, no moves at all as my kart continued to plough in a straight line, almost intentionally avoiding the corner and off into the dirt. I tried the softly, softly approach on every corner and got pretty much the same result each time. I didn't get it.

So what's the problem? Well, there's a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, you're on slicks in the wet and if you've seen F1 cars doing that you know it's not the best combination. Slick tyres have absolutely no tread to deal with the water, wet tyres are like your road going tyres and work in two ways. The grooves in the tyres or 'tread' channels a lot of the water they come into contact with so it doesn't get between the tyre and the surface. Secondly, tread patterns mean there are a lot more smaller parts of a tyre to try and gain grip rather than just one large contact patch. So if you lose a bit of contact on a slick you lose it all, whereas on a treaded tyre one bit might lose grip but there are many others still trying to hold on.

OK, so we know we should use the right tyres for the conditions but kart venues don't often put you out in anything other slicks so we need to find other ways to cope with the rain. The second reason a kart feels compelled to dive straight ahead on a wet corner is that all the weight is at the back, particularly with pro karts. So there's a lot of pressure on those fat tyres at the back (the ones that don't turn) and less on your steering.

In order to get round these problems there's a couple of things you can do. First sit as far forward as comfortably possible without hindering your driving ability. For instance, I wear a back protector which pushes me forward in the seat whist also saving my spine from a battering. This shifts my weight forward and gets a bit more bite out of those front tyres. Secondly, be a lot more aggressive with your driving. Leave a little extra space on the outside of the track, still brake to a sensible speed in a straight line but at the point where you are turning in, floor the accelerator. Not for long, just enough to get the back of your kart sliding out (remember those tyres that don't turn? Well all of a sudden they're doing the majority of it). So if you're coming into a tight right corner angle your kart a little into the corner, brake before the corner and when you reach it stamp on the throttle with your steering wheel turned to the right. The back end will slide out to the left (that's what the extra space was for). Now you need to catch the drift before you go too far and spin all the way round. As the kart comes round be ready to steer the other way to counteract your spin and be facing the right way for the exit. You're almost going around the corner sideways and whilst your technique does need to be a lot less subtle and smooth you still need to retain some driving skill rather than charging round like an idiot.

So hopefully you've managed to get round a couple of corners with a little more success this time. But how do you get round in record time? There's another element to wet weather racing that is hard to master I'm afraid. On a dry track there's usually a definite racing line, so everyone follows it and before long there's a strip of rubber all round the corners where the best line is. And when it rains, that strip of rubber has about as much grip as Stirling Moss' shiny head. So what you have to do is find a new line, and sometimes it can very radically different to what you'd expect. It's likely that you'll miss the apex all together because that's where all the rubber will be and the new fastest line won't seem to make any sense at all. But then, racing isn't about sense all the time anyway.

Good luck and good grip.