Lesson 2 - Daytona, Sandown Park

Matt's first encounter with a kart was last month at an unfamiliar track, with unfamiliar equipment and it was p*$*ing it down. Since then Jules has been bleating on at him about smoothness and consistency. To help with the consistency, we revisted Sandown Park where it all started to continue our teachings, very good Daniel San.

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The Guinea Pig Speaks

After my baptism of fire (or should that be water?) into the world of karting last month, like a sucker for punishment I’m back for more! The truth be told I was actually really amped to be getting back out on the track again especially as the weather had it’s sunny (if a little chilly) hat on, which meant I could experience some pedal to the medal action without spinning off into the undergrowth / tyres. Something to tell you about from the last session I had was my back. I had a massive lump come up in the small of my back which looked like a small golf ball! Jules assured me that this is something called karters back and is caused by the plastic seat rubbing on my spine. Sure enough after a couple of days it had disappeared but I'll invest in a rib protector which has extra padding around the back at some point, something which Andy from Thrashed swears by, as he apparently suffers the same thing.

Anyhoows, back to the track action. Before we signed in Jules explained to me that I only needed to remember two things: smoothness and consistency. Speed apparently was a by-product of these two things. (I'm sure he got that from gone in sixty seconds) see lesson 2 below for further detail. I also borrowed a crash helmet from Jules so I did not have to wear the pair of pants on my head like last time. (always make sure that the lid is a close fit and is done up properly, a loose fitting lid is almost worse than not wearing one at all, get a marshal to check it out if you have any doubts) With the safety briefing over with, we hopped in the karts and it felt like an age before we actually left the pit lane and got onto the track proper. (I think they did it on purpose to fray my nerves!) For the first couple of laps I took it easy and tried to familiarise myself with the racing line. Once I was comfortable I picked up the pace and had a good battle with some of the other guys on the track. Jules overtook me on the long straight and I decided to try and stay with him for as long as I could, but found I was sliding out and getting a bit ragged, so rather than risk a spin and some lose places, I backed off and found my groove again. I felt confident with the racing line and being smooth and consistent really helped me to keep control of the kart especially in the faster corners. Overall I had a really good session. There was far more grip out there this time and at some points it felt like the kart was on rails! I was smooth on the accelerator and brake, although I did get the pedals board a couple of times at the end of the back straight where I had my foot flat on the gas and was using the brake to scrub just a bit of speed (wondered what that burning smell was) and I found that being consistent with my lines meant I was able to overtake more easily as I had a vision of where the track would go and what alterations I would need to make to the corner if I was going in offline. Now I have this experience on a track I know, it will be interesting to drive a track that I am not used to and see how I do! Watch this space….

Lesson 2:

Once you have mastered the track layout and the basic racing line on a track, it is important to work on your smoothness. This is a basic requirement of driving anything from Karts to F1. check out the onboard footage of the master of smooth, Jenson Button and see how gentle he is with the steering and foot pedals. Each movement is planned and positive. By using this approach you will find the racing line easier to stick to and the kart will give you a bit more notice of under or oversteer, which will give you a bit more time to react to them. Also by being smooth you will find instances where just a gentle lift of the throttle will slow you enough into the corner and by gently applying it again you can get back on the gas earlier than you could with a jab of the brake-lift off-flat on the throttle approach.

You will find that consistency is best friends with smoothness. The track will become a series of prejudged manoeuvres of your hands and feet. You will do the same basic actions hundreds of times during a race. It is also about hitting the same apex / braking point lap after lap. If you can master this, when you look at your lap prints at the end of the session you will find that each lap should not be wildly different from the last. If they are you will know that there was a waved yellow or some other instance on the track which prevented it from being the same.

As with everything in life, these disciplines get better with practice, so get out there and get some track time in!