Apart from casual go-karting, kart racing is also considered one of the most common ways to get into the motorsports scene and make a name.
Whether you are just a novice or an expert driver, the inner driver within yourself always wants to win when you step into the racing track. You have come to the right place if you want to know how to be good a go-kart racing and get the checkered flag all by yourself.
Over a decade of experience in the go-karting scene, I have compiled a list of tips for go-kart racing to leave your competition in the dust. So, without further ado, let’s begin.
6 Important Tips for Go-Kart Racing
Before getting into the advanced tips, you should fix the basics first. So in this part, I have shared quite a few essential tips that can make you faster on the track. You might be familiar with some of the things I’ll talk about, but these tips will be a great help for other beginners.
- Research on track and the kart
If you go in without any research, a particular track or kart may come as a surprise for you. Instead, you can research the type of kart and the length of the tracks and try to gather some knowledge about the turns and braking points.
None of these factors are related to your driving skill, but doing the homework on them can give you an upper hand over the competitors you’ll have on the race track. Check here to get the best go kart for adults.
- Handling the turns
Turns are the trickiest part of a race track. The driver who will handle the turns better is most likely to win the race. So, learning how to take turns is an important part of go-kart racing. Without getting into detail, I’ll talk about the basics.
Properly timed braking is a crucial aspect of making turns. Try to brake just before making the turn, not while making it when you are at it. It’ll help you make the turn with a minimum speed loss. Then, as soon as you are done, hit the gas again to regain the speed.
- Consistent speed
Like any other competition, go-kart racing is also about being consistent. Instead of blasting past everyone and then falling at the bottom next, maintaining a constant speed can easily win you a race. Unfortunately, many beginners seem not to get the idea.
We love to fly straight, forgetting about the turns ahead whenever we see the straight track ahead. Then when the turns come up, we brake hard, losing all the momentum.
Doing these stuff can significantly reduce the average speed throughout the race. To improve that, you have to stop focusing on just the top speed and focus more on turns ahead to get a faster acceleration when required.
- Staying relaxed and enjoying the fun
Go-kart racing doesn’t always mean just jumping onto the kart with all your muscle and joints locked in. Remember how we are advised to stay relaxed before any competition or exam? A go-karting race is just like that, and you can get the best results without being too tense about the race or its outcome.
Unless you are a professional, your goal when you step into the track has to be enjoying yourself without overthinking the result or your driving skill. Obviously, you can’t learn and follow all the tips at once, and that’s absolutely fine as long as you are enjoying yourself.
Once you learn to keep your head clear, you’ll be making smart decisions on the tracks that will put you ahead of everyone else.
- Practice will win you races.
Practice makes a man perfect, and it can’t get truer when it comes to go-karting. You won’t be familiar with every tip I have shared in this article. But, to master it all, you have to practice them and understand the benefits.
You might get some tips right away, but other advanced ones like overtaking or leaning out in turns properly will take time to learn. Additionally, you might fail to pick a line initially. But just keep practicing, and you’ll have a good grip on these in no time.
- Avoid bumping
In go-kart tracks, especially fun ones where people race casually for fun, bumping into each other is pretty normal. Go-karts are also built with special bumpers to withstand these types of collisions. However, if you are serious about winning the race, you must avoid colliding with others.
There are quite a few disadvantages of bumping. Let’s start with the lap time. Collision with others will naturally decrease the speed of your go-kart, therefore, affecting your lap time. Then comes the risk of getting into an accident.
Whether intentional or unintentional, the collisions can toss both go-karts out of the track, causing severe injury. Lastly, in tracks with high traffic of go-karts, one collision can start a chain reaction, resulting in a catastrophic outcome. That’s why you should avoid colliding with other races on the track.
3 Advanced Go-karting Tips
Now that we are done with the basics, let’s get into some advanced tips for go-kart racing that can improve your overall performance on the track
- Leaning out of corners
I’ve already talked about handling turns previously. But this is sort of another hidden trick to make the best turns possible. To understand this tip, you need to know a little about the mechanics and go-kart build.
Go-karts are built to go smoother through the corners if you lean on the outside of corners. However, leaning towards the apex puts your weight on the inside wheel, creating some braking effect. So while aiming turns, lean out of corners, or even you can just sit square to pass through the corners at maximum speed.
- Pick a line
Unlike any other race, the fastest ones don’t always win the race in go-karting. It’s race-based adequately on positioning, momentum, and timing. Let me explain. Suppose you are going at the very top speed leading the race by a considerable margin.
But when it comes to a tight turn, you’ll have to brake hard, only to lose the top speed and start accelerating from the beginning. So, that’s what you should try to avoid. Instead, pick a line for yourself so that you can go as far as possible without braking.
- Know your limit
Go-kart racing can be pretty demanding for something that’s fun and doesn’t require any official license. It takes physical capability as well as driving skills to shine on race tracks. Racing on go-kart for a long time can take a toll on your back.
Additionally, some tracks can be harder to drive than others with challenging corners. So before you try any tips, you have to consider how much your body and skill can handle. This is something I can’t teach you, and you have to make the decision yourself.
If you’re uncomfortable, don’t race longer at once, and don’t compromise the control to increase the speed.
3 Karting Tips for Heavy Drivers
As a lightweight vehicle, the weight of the driver can vastly affect the balance of a go-kart. So there are a few things you should be aware of as a heavy driver to avoid impact from your weight.
- Understanding the handling
As a heavy driver, the handling you’ll experience will differ from a lighter driver. Because of a heavier load, the weight distribution will be somewhat different, and the go-kart will have better traction on the track.
Now, traction has its benefits as well as disadvantages. On slippery tracks, this extra traction will help you a lot. But typically, too much traction can cause a massive problem as it’ll create a braking effect and make the steering challenging for you.
So, if you are racing on your own kart, you can fine-tune your kart chaise to lose some traction.
- Avoid sliding
As cool as it looks, I think everyone will agree that sliding isn’t a good call when it comes to racing. Now sometimes, the sliding is not in our control, and lighter drivers can afford to slide.
But as a heavier driver, you should always avoid that because it’ll be much harder for your kart to gain speed again with heavier loads.
- Proper seating position
It might not seem important at first, but a comfortable and straight seating position can make a huge difference. It can hurt your back on longer tracks if you don’t know how to position yourself on the go-kart.
Whichever seat you go-kart has, seat with your back and rear pressed against the seat. Many of us, including myself, sometimes hunch forward in excitement at some points, but we shouldn’t do that as it’ll be bad for our back.
For the steering wheel, hold it with bent hands at symmetrical points to maximize your control over the steering wheel.
How to Overtake in Go-Karting
Overtaking your opponent properly is another crucial factor to improve driving at go-kart tracks. Especially if you have a slow driver in front of you, every second you stay behind him will reduce your chance of winning.
But overtaking is not as simple as it sounds on a race track. It involves timing, reading the driver’s pattern in front of you, and where you will overtake.
Usually, turns are the best place to surpass your competition. Try to make the turn as tight as possible, and just when you are through, hit the acceleration at full speed. Additionally, analyze the pattern of karts surrounding you and overtake accordingly.
Any rush attempt of overtaking can end up spinning both you and the diver in front out. Every driver tends to have a weak point, whether at making turns or overtaking others. Try to take advantage of that too.
How to Cheat in Go-Kart Racing?
This is kind of the fun part of this article. I’ll share a personal experience of mine about how you can tamper the result of a go-kart race with friends in a fun way. Typically, most go-kart tracks have their rules and provide their own go-karts.
Because of that, there is no way someone can cheat in go-kart racing. But what I did and you can do is contact the track crew to tamper the go-kart your friend will be driving specifically. Mostly the tampering involves reducing the acceleration.
As soon as the race starts, your friend will notice something wrong with his go-kart. In the meantime, you can get the lead you need over your friend. In group races with friends, I think most track crews will agree to arrange something for you to cheat.
FAQ
Q: How do you always win at Go-kart racing?
Ans: Winning go-kart races every time requires perfect execution of different aspects at the same time. There is no simple answer to this question of how to win a go-kart race. Then again, if you can learn to implement all the tips I mentioned above, it’ll be hard to beat you at go-kart racing.
As I mentioned previously, every driver has their strengths and weakness, and, normally, you’ll have them too. So what you should do is try to cover up the weaknesses with your strong suits. You may not win your first few races, but as time goes by and your experience and practice increases, you’ll figure out yourself where you lack and how to overcome that issue.
Q: When should you brake on a go-kart?
Ans: When you should break on a go-kart is similar to braking on other vehicles. Braking is an important aspect of driving any vehicle. The timing and how hard or soft you are braking on your go-kart can affect your lap time.
Usually, you’ll need to brake on your go-kart either before making a turn or to avoid collision with a fellow racer. But, apart from these two scenarios, you won’t usually need to press the brake on your go-kart.
Last Word
Now that we are at the end, I hope my tips for go-kart racing come in handy to plan the strategies to win your next go-kart race. Some of the tips can be hard to follow at first, but with time you’ll be able to gear a good grasp on them and gain an advantage over your competition.
Lastly, I want to mention that go-karting racing is fun, and you should keep it that way. Sometimes, you can get carried away by the competition and just forget about the safety issues. Just enjoy yourself, drive safe and keep the tips in mind. Over time it’ll get easier to implement the tips into your driving.
