Same this was my first season luckily I had people who have been doing it a long time to help me out and I came in second before my family member did that has been racing longer than me
One bad habit that I had to break myself from is looking ahead. I would keep my sight line so close to the front of the kart. Looking ahead to the next braking point, apex, and corner exit has helped me a ton. Thanks for the video, will be taking a few of these to the track next time. Always something new to learn everytime you get in a kart.
I found the one about steering with your outside hand very interesting. I'm not really sure if I naturally do that or not, so I look forward to trying it out on track soon.
Another thing that happens, when you use your outside hand to push, is that your weight distribution also moves to the outside, lifting the inside rear wheel. This will turn the kart better as there is no differential but straight axle.
I don't think it's natural at all, you need to be conscious of it and eventually, it becomes second nature. All professional drivers do this (I'm not referring to karting).
Super interesting vid man! Being somewhat tall (185cm/6ft), I fall into categories 2 and 3, 3 I am working on but still lean towards the inside on some corners. Really useful info, keep this up:)
I'm not a racer but I do ĺove the fun I get from my kart. I added a kx100 dìrt bike engine and disc brakes to the front. I dont run on public streets.private drive ways and parking lots not to anger anyone. At 65 yaers old , the fun IGet out of this is incredible.
At number four: body position, instead of saying keep still! Maybe you should say shift your weight slowly and before the corner. This is how you do it to not upset the kart. Summary: teach how to be that “1%” instead of saying you can't handle it don't do it. In reality, it is very simple as long as you are familiar with basic physics.
Thanks for this video Ryan. Saw it when new and finally went out today. Worked on hand positioning and pushing the wheel and it made a huge difference. 1st day beating my 2 friends (I started a few months ago, they had more prior experience).
Hey dude, I have a question about your tip about not shifting your weight in the seat. I've always thought that by pre-loading your weight to the outside edge of the seat before a turn (shifting right for a left hander, etc), this makes the weight transfer more seamless. As in, once the weight loads onto the tire and you get that peak lateral force, if you didn't pre-load the outside of your seat, your body will slide a bit and result in a secondary surge of lateral force on the tire, which could potentially upset the kart if you're already at the limit. As a side note, I've always been renting a kart for my races instead of owning, so my seat isn't as snug as I'm sure it should be lol. But yeah, just wondering how you think about pre-loading the seat in this scenario. I've been coaching for a bit now and pre-loading is something I've taught regularly (although it's in the crappy rental karts at my local track with giant fat man seats lol), just want to make sure I'm not teaching the wrong thing. Cheers
Most seats when they fit correctly there isn’t any space to shift your weight in the seat. Preloading the kart is the only way to transfer the weight but even then sitting up straight is the best way to drive.
Super specific and super helpful! Thanks Ryan Edit: Your final tip about people not listening to their kart- I find this to be true about other things that require practice. I golfed competitively and had lots of opportunities to teach others. It always bewildered me that people couldn't stop themselves to make a new plan after they kept struggling with the same plan. Practicing with a purpose is the only way to practice.
I reckon point 6 could be always looking ahead to the apex as you approach a corner and point 7 could be steering the least amount possible for a full lap. What do you think?
Thanks Ryan as a rookie just starting out and having passed my Lo206 course and moved up to a Rotax. These are great tips and number (4) I found using my knees on the gas tank like the dirt bike helped me keep from moving around. I can't wait to try the push on outside of steering wheel. Cheers,
Think that your video will be helpful for a French driver like me who is listening you from France 😂 , thx for the tips Ryan, I like to learn from you, I hope you’ll understand me ! 😂
Appreciate the tips! I feel that i am much stronger and apply the throttle in high speed corners better than low speed. In the high speed i can feel the steering get super light through the corner which lets me know im near the limit but at hair pins and slower corners you aren’t going as fast and it’s kinda tough for me to know if i’m on the limit or if i’m applying the throttle too early/too late. Any tips on that?
It’s much harder to feel the kart wanting to step out in slow speed corners because you are not really on the edge. But try and listen to the sound of the engine, if you hear the engine bog down, you are scrubbing speed. Also, try and see if you are running out of track on exit. If you are you probably accelerated too soon.
my son holds steering wheel with one high and one low at 7:00 and 2:00... he hasn't lost a race in 3 years.. Jean Alesi use to hold at 12:00 and 9:00... Senna use to push and Prost use to pull.... sometimes some general rules cant be in stone but these were days when F-1 cars had wheels as go karts still do...
Thanks for the great video! Sincere question? I’m a big guy that races heavy and legends classes and being my first yr, I’m trying to ingrain the fundamentals. Question is, what is the proper way to turn the kart into corners? The push/pull method the most effective? I come off a 12 lap race now, just GASSED!! My shoulders and elbows are killing me! I feel like everyone else is out for a Sunday stroll and I’m fightin the piss out of my kart! Recently was told to perform more of a “flick” into the corners? Any guidance is appreciated! Great vid man!
For the first point, I have short arms, and unfortunately for rental karts, the seats can only go forward so much. Even at the closest point, if I hold the wheel at the widest point (10 & 3) my arms would be almost fully extended. So I have to hold the wheel where it would be closer to me without fully extending my arms, which is the bottom part of the wheel.
A smaller steering wheel needs less input than a bigger one, but it is harder to turn. Holding a wide grip makes it easier to turn than holding a narrow grip.
Great video but you are a bit backwards in what you said with the 1st bad habit (widest grip which is good but the way and reasons why were explained wrong). A smaller wheel for one gives faster inputs, not slower than a bigger wheel for the same given angular change (i.e., you have to turn less, not more with a smaller wheel in a circumferential travel distance)... Think circumference!!! Using two extremes here, an 8" diameter wheel and a 15" diameter wheel, an 8" wheel has a circumference of 25.13" where as a 15" wheel has a circumference of 47.12", so lets say that you need to turn the steering wheel 90° to get the correct front wheels angle for a particular corner, your hands have to travel just 6.28" of circumferential distance where as the same 90° steering wheel angle on the 15" wheel is 11.78" (i.e., nearly double that of the 8" wheel) so while slower (or have to physically move faster to get the same 90° in the same time), the advantage is more precise control for small corrections in steering angle because it take more circumferential travel to equal the same angular change. Its easier for a person to accurately judge say 1" of movement than it is 1/4" of movement, especially when these movements often have to be very rapid (more rapid the fast your are going). So if you needed to correct say 5°, with the 8" wheel, that is only 0.35" of circumferential movement. That same 5° correction on the 15" wheel is 0.65" of circumferential movement. A lot of it has to do with your natural reduced ability to perform fine motor skills when there is adrenaline and cortisol in your blood stream. Another reason kind of goes with the #2 bad habit (pushing rather than pulling) and your pushing hand/arm having to cross your body more in large angular inputs. By gripping high and / or low, you are used different and often weaker deltoid muscles during larger angular inputs and your arms at just more extended so different muscle groups there too are being used which all goes back to harder to be precise in your inputs. The last reason is simply more mechanical advantage if the wheel is no perfectly round. This is why back in the day before power steering was common place in regular cars, not only did they have much lower ratio steering gearboxes but cars also had much larger diameter steering wheels than they do today with modern P/S systems to give the driver more mechanical advantage (i.e., less force to generate a given torque on the steer column shaft).
i lost all my remaining braincells after hearing that people do other things rather than these, however i disagree with 4 bc u need max exit speed and by only going on the gas when u are going straight, you gon be in a tractor, agree with 5, but most people use rentals andeach rental is different and each session might be short, so hard for those which this vid is directed towards to improve
My bad habit is coming in too fast at a corner and braking late and not coming in wide instead coming in tight also I still make it through the corners but it’s just my dumb little habit that I need to break and my last bad habit is my hand position which falls into 10 to 2 on the steering wheel which is I know not ideal I believe 9 to 3 is the ideal but it’s not very comfortable and the 10 to 2 feels more natural to me tho makes it harder to turn in corners so I’m looking forward to fixing those mistakes and start doing things the right way tho i am a newer karter so I’ve probably have done almost every single mistake you mentioned tho the one I never made is leaning I looked through the footage and I was upright tho the rest was pure disappointment and just me looking what could I’ve done differently
@@ezzuan1593 You probably need to change your carburetion. The only thing on the driving side that I can suggest is being as smooth as possible with the throttle application. The ROK's are really sensitive to aggressive acceleration so the smoother the better.
I don't race anymore but will get back into it in a couple years when I'm an adult, I used to have the worst habits, accelerate too early and used to drive hunched over instead of sitting back into the seat, very good tips
On the leaning part. If u r turning left your body should be leaning to an opposite of that which is right. This makes your inner back wheel lift from the ground making your go kart exit faster into the corner but on the straight well it’s obvious keep your body still but pretty much on every corner I recommend your go kart racers get in a habit of what I said some of you might already knew that but this is useful for newer racers
Holding RU-vid hand at the sidest plate om the steering wheel can risk breaking you thumbs. I know a guy that bruke his thumbs because them where around the wheel when he crashed and the weight of his body was all on his thumbs. Personalet i like holding it lover because you Get tiere in you arms a lot slower
Yes it does. #4 is a little different for low horsepower classes because you need to apply the throttle earlier, but you still have to be pointed around the direction you want to go.
@@NorbergNation I was wondering about point number 4, in my rental league I find I have to be on the power super early mid hairpin otherwise I'm left behind. Otherwise great video, I'll be taking these tips to the track!
@@stevenballard7580 yes that’s normal. I would challenge you to maybe try driving in deeper and getting on the throttle later. But depending on the layout of some tracks, early throttle is needed.
One of my friends holds his wheel SUPER low like bad habit 1. My one friend and I always give him crap for it, but he's the fastest out of us three lol
Having a look behind too often, or for the wrong reasons is another bad habit. I had issues with it at a young age and would completely lose focus on hitting my marks, thinking too much about what the others would do instead of just doing my stuff. Newcomers: look in front of you and focus! Great video again Ryan!
hey dude, I'm coming down to the charlotte area to visit some family for thanksgiving and my LO206 is coming with me for open practice. Can I ask what sprocket combo you guys run at GoPro? I live in Pgh and race at Pitt Race BTW..
Tip 5 is my current issue (admittedly I only race electric in door karts but they’re starting a league and host monthly endurance races) I drive the same no matter the kart and my last endurance race really showed me how damaging that really is. I dropped from 3 to 7th because of it
Is it bad to ride super close to someone’s bumper? I accidentally hit someone in the back pretty hard on a hairpin and sent them into the side wall. I wasn’t expecting they would just roll off the gas completely without breaking miles away from when you should actually just break. I feel awful and I feel like it’s my fault and that it could have been avoided if I wasn’t so close to them. I said sorry on the way by but I doubt they heard me(this was indoor electric)
Local guys have been advising me to get on the gas before turning in to make the kart turn better, your third point seems to refute this. (I race 4 stroke on road courses), that advice apply mainly to 2 strokes on kart specific tracks?
I am sorry Ryan, but tip #4 makes no sense. Imagine drivers doing a giant oval. It appears you are saying they shouldn't accelerate until the karts are going straight? What does the driver do in giant horseshoe or carousel turns? Coast through them? If I don't start accelerating when doing a sharp U-turn, my kart will come to a dead stop. Time to breathe? I help it to breathe by opening the throttle fully. No one has ever won any race by not stepping on the throttle to let the engine breathe. Watching any of your GoPro footage, anyone can see you are accelerating before the car is going straight? If the exhaust temp is going up, that means you are making power! If the temp shows a too lean condition, you need to add more fuel, not less throttle! Time to fix your jetting.
In the racing community when you say “straight” you don’t actually mean straight. It means when the kart is pointed the direction you want to go. Straight means You don’t have to ad input to the steering wheel on exit. There are always exceptions to rules. There are some corners where you don’t but for the most part waiting until the kart is pointed the correct direction is always correct. Big ovals are different. And regarding the engine breathing I am correct. When you accelerate too early you are taking fuel away from the engine unnecessarily. And when the kart is “straight” and want to actually accelerate you will not have enough fuel and it will starve the engine. You can actually see this on engine data. If the exhaust temp goes up that does not mean you are making power. The exhaust temp is reading temperature. If the exhaust temp is too high in the middle of a corner you are running it too lean and starving the engine. That’s why a good engine builder will look at the min and max egt.
You missed looking behind and also tge throttle thing idk about okj, ok and x30 but with rotax you need to be on the gas after breaking not step on it but just few mm so when coming out the rpms havent fallen so much
To an extent yes. If you look at most forms of auto sports, the steering wheels are flat and wide because that’s the best place to hold the wheel. They don’t allow the drivers to hold it somewhere else. Some people are a little higher and some lower on the wheel but generally you should aim to be in the center.
Pulling pushing of the wheel was a huge thing for me. When ever I see my footage I see I'm pulling rather than pushing. Going karting in a few days and hopefully I'll get faster
One of the worst habits I had to break was looking behind my shoulder you just gotta stay head on in the game and just keep going no looking behind because it’s gonna stress you out. You’re gonna miss your breaking points. You’re also gonna miss one to Apex and one to get back on the throttle it took me a long time to know this out of my entire career and I realize it’s kind of easy by the way this was meant to be posted on my first channel, but I forgot that I was on my second
"Your engine needs time to breathe, time to cool off during cornering so that it has more power to accelerate in the straight" what the f ? Is this a real thing lmao ?
yes. if you race you'd understand that if you do not lift completely off for a corner you raise the exhaust temp. When the exhaust temperature is raised it means that the engine is running lean. You need fuel to accelerate. If the engine runs lean then you do not have enough fuel to accelerate. Not having acceleration will then hurt your run onto a straight. Obviously the engine doesn't need to "Breath" but I thought its a good word to use for people to more easily understand the relation between accelerating too quickly and the exhaust temp.
@@miner4236 Lift until the kart is pointed in the direction that you want to go. If you apply the throttle early and the kart isn't pointed the correct direction, you will be stealing the fuel from when you need it.
@@NorbergNation after apex you get back on throttle progressively........I understand what you mean with engine breathing but I really don't understand how that knowledge would ever be applicable to improve my driving, if you know what I mean. Also know I'm not arguing at all, I'm genuinely curious how I can apply this lol
@@NorbergNation Like, of course you get off throttle before apex, and ofc you get back on after....basic stuff....I don't get how this engine breathing knowledge would change that 🤔 Also, some corners you can get through without lifting by keeping minimal throttle pressure on......Does this engine breathing mean it might be better to release throttle completely for a tiny amount of time instead of keeping minimal throttle ?
Push is better than pull because when you push, you have your seat to react against your push whereas when you pull, you will be pulling your body towards the steering wheel which makes it harder to be accurate and precise with your steering inputs then.
I'm coming out of retirement after 15 years of not racing. I'm definitely trying to watch as many videos as I possibly can. I wish somebody could go to the track with me and work with me like this to get me back like I used to be.
One big thing to kart setup is, if you can't unload the inside rear tyre off the ground mid corner, you're not rotating through the apex perfectly. This just slows you down.
This is such good advice thank you so much. I do have a question related to 4, is it okay to hit the gas at the apex of the corner. I generally brake heavy and lift my brake until the apex then apply gas steadily and only stomp down once I feel the kart feels it could handle it
Hey Ryan if you have time, it would be really cool if you could do a video about basic karting gear, like what brand of helmet, ect..., is good and budget friendly? Nice video too!
@@NorbergNationI’ve watched it and you have really Nice gear btw. I kinda didnt write what I intentionally wanted to say. What I tried to say was if could do a video for the beginners at karting. Something like what you would recommend buying as a first helmet, gloves or boots, that are relatively budget friendly.
Great video as always Ryan! i have improved a lot by just watching your onboards, in my last race i even had the pace to win but i got taken out, ive been involved in incidents in the past 3 races, any tips for that?
Thanks for this. As a former biker and speedway rider I almost automatically use my weight on the kart especially when i get into a slide to help controle sometimes it works especially on a slippy track but maybe I am doing this too much 🤙🤙
Yea bikers often lean the wrong way, because with a bike you obviously lean into the corner while with a kart you lean outwards to put more weight on the outer tires.
