What are racing formats?

If you've never been karting before (and maybe even if you have) you might be unaware of what's available. Although it's no rocket science, it's worth knowing what you're getting yourself into before you arrive at the track.

For now we'll concentrate on what you can do as an arrive and driver. We'll cover the more professional owner driver events another time.

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Practice

This should be exactly what it says on the tin. The cheapest option at a kart track and depending on where you are and how long you want to be racing will cost in the region of £35 for half an hour.

The track is marshalled but it is not an actual race. Everyone is on track as an individual (rather than a team) and the idea is to get used to the track, the kart and your own driving style.

Whilst practice may not be the biggest buzz around don't be put off, this can be where you'll put some of your fastest laps in. Keep refining your lines and adjusting your braking zones and you'll be banging on the door of the track record in no time (maybe). And, because your not racing to win you can happily back off if needs be to give yourself some track space to put in a flying lap.

Jules and I often take part in practice sessions as there's little organisation required. We also have an unwritten rule between us. We will both push as hard as we can and constantly try to overtake the other… but not at the expense of taking each other out.

Sprint Races

These races are individual, every man for himself (or herself) racing to a set number of laps or specified time. They usually include a short practice session, qualifying and the race. These races could be anything from 15 laps to 100 and are the preffered option of most racers as you're driving for yourself. Don't be fooled into thinking there easy though, if you're not used to it 15 laps at full race speed can seem like a long time and you'll come away with aching limbs.

Sprint racing is all about going as fast as you can from start to finish, your strategy is limited to how you can get past the guy infront, but don't forget, you can't go flat out on the first couple of laps. You'll need to warm up the tyres and get some rubber down on the track first.

Endurance Races

These are more strategical races for teams. A lot of the time, the number of drivers in your team is up to you and generally comes down to how much your willing to pay per driver. Most common race lengths are 1 and 2 hours but there are events that go through the night and even the whole 24 hours if your brave enough. A 2 hour endurance event might cost you around £160 which means you can get 4 drivers in the team at a cost of £40 each making it pretty affordable.

Your strategy is pretty much up to you too, although the event organiser might impose a fixed number of pit stops during the race that you have to take into account. A fun way to run these races (though not the optimum if you want to win) is for each driver to do 15 minutes and then change over. This way you get a good run early on and then can come back, relax (well try to), talk to fellow racers and maybe discuss different techniques and approaches before going out again to really show everyone how it's done.

Endurance racing is still very full on but you also have to consider when to really push and taking care of your kart. If you keep going over high kerbs, it won't be long before you do some damage and maybe even rip a wheel off. And you're not going to win races like that now are you.