Racing lines

[tbourner]

There are a few racers on here I think, have a look at these and tell me what you think is best.

 

It's a Kart track in Gosport, we're going there next week, me and an experienced karter at work have drawn our racing lines on the map. I've re-drawn both of these in MSPaint trying my best to copy the drawings.

 

Route 1 leaves the braking later, goes in slow and comes out fast.

Route 2 smoothes the corners more, making a straighter track overall.

 

Peoples opinions? Either one better for karting or better for other racing?

 

NB: The drawings aren't the best, and are slightly emphasised (especially Route 1) to show the difference, I hope you get the idea.

[AJI]

karting depends a lot on your weight and the power of the karts....

 

unless you are 5 stone weight I would suggest the line that carries most speed through the corner. (2nd image)

[Gerry]

See:

http://www.driversdomainuk.com/motorsport/racing_line.php

 

Looks sensible to me

[grahamc]

See:

http://www.driversdomainuk.com/motorsport/racing_line.php

 

Looks sensible to me

 

Looking that, yellow is more aggressive, green could be for passing and red is fubar'd

[Chris Wilson]

All these "perfect" lines go right out of the door when you have karts to the left, right, and climbing your back bumper They do if it's a bit wet too.

[tbourner]

So route 1 good if you're lightweight and preferably before a straight, route 2 better for other corners and chicanes and if you're too heavy to make use of the early throttle?

 

CW, it's indoor karts and we're on a 75 min endurance race with only 7 teams, there's not likely to be a lot of karts on track.

[Chris Wilson]

Route 1 as the things will be grossly underpowered. Corner exit speed is all, as is a good late braking technique. if someone is a stone lighter than you, and an equal driver in an equal machine he'll be at the bar drinking a pint before you finish

[tbourner]

I'm about middleweight and a pretty good driver, got the fastest lap out of 16 people last time! Other bloke who's good is 5 stone heavier than me, so I should do OK. I've also got one of the lower ability drivers on my team though, wanted to talk to him about racing lines and stuff.

[AJI]

i would tend to argue route 2 ...as with underpowered karts you really need to keep the momentum up. A tighter turn line means less speed.... and gaining back that speed in a kart is always a mission.

(If it were not karts then I would say route 1).

[Dragonlady]

Be brave, don't brake. Sideways is the way forward;)

[tbourner]

A lot of people have said drifting is quicker in karts, how come? Surely losing grip is never faster, you want to be at the chirp point but not beyond it same as cars don't you?

 

I've never drifted a kart, done under an hour karting and never lost the back, but I know it'd be 'twitchy' and I'd probably not be able to correct it!!

[Alex]

Lifting is enough - brakes are for wimps

[tbourner]

I also thought you weren't supposed to be lifted off at any point in an ideal race, you should always be either on throttle or on brakes, never on nothing?

[Chris Wilson]

You need to drift karts as they have a live rear axle with no differential, so tend to push in corners unless "thrown in". they compensate by having a huge amount of front castor angle that jacks weight across the chassis on lock, and removes weight off a rear tyre to help unload it and kill the inherent understeer. A proper race kart has enough power to slide, indoor karts rarely do.

[juanchan]

I've been to Thruxton outdoor circuit a couple of times now. In 2006 it was pretty heavy rain and the only way to get round the corners in slicks was drifting. So much fun! As the track dried out (doing a 2.5 hour endurance race...), lap times fell from 1 min 40 seconds to 1 min 3 seconds

 

And with those outdoor karts, you HAVE to brake, or you'll be eating yellow flags all afternoon for "breaking the kart" by going off-road!

[Chris Wilson]

If you have a death wish you could buy a 250 gearbox kart and try this:

 

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=g6H2HvsiTjo

 

I spent years karting, but always thought full circuit stuff was a mugs game.

[Nick]

Stop nancying around and get yourself an 1100

 

http://www.truveo.com/Kart-1100-GSXR/id/2891426394