1. Move your weight to the outside of the kart
Sounds illogical and many drivers in the spot will be inclined to hang “inwards” on curves. Error, do not! G-forces automatically push you out when cornering and that’s exactly where you want to put pressure if you want to go fast, because the tires ensure cornering in curves. That is why you see professional kart drivers often sitting upright in their seats and not hanging on the wheel like half a wild. And they can know.
2. Use the entire job
By this we do not mean that you, as a drunken car, have to wander the road from left to right. What we mean is that you position your kart for taking a turn on the outside of the track. Next, around the middle of the bend, pick up the apex on the inside and let your kart run nicely to the outside again. This way you can take the most speed into a turn and (more importantly, see point 10) you get the fastest out of it. In fact, these are the basics for any form of racing, but we still mention it.
3. Explore the borders of your kart, drive a few laps full-throttle
Before you know what you can do, it does not hurt to break the limits of the grip a few times. One of the most effective ways to do this is by throwing your kart around the track a few laps and throwing it. Absolutely not fast and you will have to know what you are doing to prevent chunks. Nevertheless, in this way you can easily get to grips with the limits of the grip and how you can play with it. This helps you build a frame of reference and more or less calibrate your brain so that you know better what can and can not be done.
4. Be light!
Everyone who visits a go-kart track knows: the fastest times are driven by small, light males of less than 60 kg. A kart is (relatively) light and has little power. Every extra kilo is ballast (duh). If you drive at Zandvoort with a passenger or racing car, this is not such a big handicap. A little rent card is good for a horsepower or six and such a thing so reveals weight differences mercilessly.
Incidentally, this does not mean that you can not set up fast times if you are more built, but a light (er) driver with the same skills will basically be faster. So take a sauna visit for the race or sabotage the kart of that small object from the group of friends.
5. Drive smoothly
A tip that obviously does not only apply to karts. Those things sometimes send a bit heavier, the power is limited and the rear axle wants to break out (see tip 7). So do not send more than necessary, because every correction costs you a lot of speed. Think, for example, of American races on ovals. The men steer as little as possible because they scrub speed at every steering movement. Works exactly like that with other cars and also with carts.
Incidentally, you as a spectator can see and hear if someone is on the move. If you hear a lot of tire pounding and differences in speed, you can say that it is not a top time. In real fast men you do not hear such sounds or hardly.
6. Only brake if necessary
Logical, but truth like a cow. With a handful of horsepower it takes a while before you build up speed, so you want to hold it for as long as possible. With many turns on indoor courts, it is enough to release gas and often you only have to brake on a few points. So do that too.
The undersigned worked as a high school student for a long time at a go-kart track and it turned out that especially the ladies (sorry ladies, it really is) are inclined to press the brake pedal lightly while driving. Do not do that. It costs a lot of speed and the kart does not like it.
7. Use the missing differential
See also points 5 and 9. As soon as you sell a nice stamp on speed, you will notice that the back of your kart is inclined to lead a life of your own. This has to do with the missing differential. Make use of it! Many indoor courts consist largely of tight 180 degree bends. If you give a short stamp on the brake pedal when sending in these curves while you send in briefly and abruptly, you use this upset moment to get more speed out of your kart in a short (er) time. Make sure that immediately after braking you push your gas again to pull the kart “straight” and take a lot of speed along the bend.
8. Work on your viewing behavior
Here we have already spent a separate article. You drive to the point you are looking at. If you look at the boarding, which is right next to the asphalt at many indoor courts, then you have a good chance that you will have to brake / unload to avoid the same boarding. Instead, you look through the bend, so that you exit the bend much faster and smoother. See also point 5.
9. Deepen yourself in the job beforehand
A little (professional) driver knows the road on any circuit within a few laps. However, he / she will also look in advance at how a circulation works, after all, good preparation can never hurt. Ask the commissioners how to get through certain sections the easiest and where the braking points are. With a bit of indoor karting track you usually do not have to pound more than two or three times per lap, the more convenient it is if you know in advance where that is exactly.
10. Slow in, fast out
Another very basic tip, but on the twisty sections of an indoor track it can save you a lot of time. How you enter a tortuous section does not matter, if only you get out as quickly as possible. Often this means that you take a bit less speed along the curve (combination), so that you can go on the gas sooner. Focus therefore on leaving the last bend in such a pendulum as quickly as possible.
11. Get the fastest kart
Sometimes there is quite a difference between the (engines of) different rental karts. Check out which kart in the heat was the fastest for you. Of course is also the driver, but it can be an indication that that kart just a blow faster than the rest.
12. Look at the faster men
Nothing as instructive as a few laps behind a faster driver to tuff! Especially finding the right race line goes a lot faster when someone is doing it, so with this tip you can take a lot of advantage. Make sure of course that the person is not too fast for you, because then you only have half a round of fun.