I know that there are many people that race and/or have raced, professionally/amateur leagues, etc. Next week im going to be trying out for a race drive for my club's team . I'm not really sure the kind of people that i will be going against, but they will probably be mostly amateur. but of course im going to expect that they are all professionals. The way we are going to try out is by taking a bunch of people go-karting(not shifter karts, just the regular kind) to see who is the fastest. I have noticed that when i drive them my forearms muscles are the ones that get the most workout. so I know i dont have a lot of time, but anybody got any pointers on how to train, the kind of exercise that i should do. before the race, what should i eat, drink (redbull)? during the race: -when you approach a corner, how do you usually follow it with your eyes, do you just look to the exit point, or do you follow the whole corner with you eyes? -braking into the corner, do you brake before it, or do you brake while turning? - cornering, since this cars dont have a lot of grip, do you slightly drift or do you try to just stick to the inside wall. how much speed do you want to carry to the corner? William H? Rob Lay? i know you guys race any input? thank you George.
Not to sound like a downer, but if you're asking questions like these a week before the tryout, I would recommend that you just try to have fun and enjoy the afternoon. What kind of racing is this a tryout for? The info you want pertains to skills that racing drivers spend years honing, so...maybe the best bet for you is "Grip it and rip it".
A little confused about what you're trying out for. What will you be racing for your "club"? And what kind of club is this? I've never been in a club where I got to try out to drive their vehicles...! Going to a karting center (I hope this means Euro-style and not concession karts at the putt-putt course) for a tryout seems odd unless you're going to be racing karts. Driving a kart has a lot of differences from driving a car. Not to mention variability between karts and the impact of driver weight! Certainly not the venue I'd want to be evaluated on for driving anything other than karts. Since it sounds like you're lacking in kart experience, I'd suggest going to the kart facility and practicing a lot between now & then! Talk to the folks that work there, they know how to make the karts go fast. You'll be spending some money at it, but it's the best way to get fast in the karts. You are pretty late for physical training, but all that time you should spend practicing at the kart track will help with that! Take a couple of days off before the tryout to heal. As for eating, it's a bit of a stretch to worry about for something like this. You can carb load the night before if you really want to. Red Bull... ugh. I have been known to slam a mouthful of honey out of a honeybear before an autocross run, but I think a lot of that was just psychological... Your other questions do address pretty fundamental skills for racing. You should always be looking AHEAD. FURTHER AHEAD! For braking into corners in a kart, brake in a straight line, slow in fast out, (you should be familiar with this term already) because you only have rear brakes. So banzai late braking moves require that you use the guy you're outbraking to add lateral stability to your kart as the rear brake locks up so you don't spin out.. Basically the questions you're asking are addressed in any basic high performance driving book from Bob Bondurant, Skip Barber, etc. But the track guys will be able to give you specific info on how to make a kart work on that track better than trying to apply the basic principles of performance driving to that kart on that track now.
Jack, I was thinking the same and I have lots of experience here. Well said. George, drink lots of water, carb up the night before and let it rip. I could give you a ten page instruction sheet on driving, but without seat time it will do you virtually no good. I will say this, observation is your friend. Watch and learn from the fast guys and look well ahead while driving. You can do nothing with what is right in front of you, but you can look ahead and plan your lines. In other words, don't be playing catch up with the car, when you should be commanding it based on foresight and planning. At racing speeds, you need to be looking down the track because you're going to be there in the next second. Make sense? Unfortunately for you, you don't seem to have the experience to visualize your plan of attack. Most if not all successful drivers prepare themselves mentally by running perfect laps in their head long before they take the track. Truly experienced ones can do it by simply looking at a track map. That way once in the car, the driving is automatic and you can concentrate on set-up and dancing at the limit lap after lap. Without prior knowledge, at best you have nothing to visualize. Ever notice how drivers tend to be way faster at a track they have run before, even if only once?? Good luck, John
thanks guys! yeah i dont have a lot of seat time, i guess i should have just asked that me and some friends are going go-karting and how can i be faster? to answer some questions: me and my friends are making a race car(nothing fancy), none have racing experience, but we have good mechanical experience... i know it seems odd that we are first trying out the driver before we have the car, but i know how its going ot end up, we prolly wont build the car all (hope not).... so its pretty much might be for braggin rights... this is not for profesional racing nor am i asking if i will be the next schumacher, or the next boris said... this just for weekend racing and like some of you said for FUN.... but its more fun in the race seat thanks again George.
In one week, there isn't really anything you can do or should worry about that will improve your strength or stamina significantly. Just do some stretches before the time on the track, and make sure you have had a good night's sleep and are relaxed. Skip the caffeine and alcohol. Try sports drinks like Gatorade or just plain old water, and plenty of it. Sports drinks are better because they also replenish minerals that you lose due to sweating. As mentioned earlier in the thread, good drivers will plan ahead. With your level of experience, just try to look 'through' the corner - don't stare at the braking point or apex. If you look through the corners, you will visualise where the kart is going to end up way before it actually happens, and so your inputs will be preemptive, rather than reactionary. Imagine the corner is a hairpin at the end of a straight and you're approaching it at 150kmph. That should answer your question. Your braking depends on what is needed for the corner. What doesn't have alot of grip? Karts? Karts have much more grip than cars... What does drifting have to do with anything? Firstly, non-gearbox karts don't have enough power to drift, and secondly drifting slows you down. How does sticking to the inside wall and drifting have any relation to one another? Take the racing line, and try to straight line the corners as much as possible, because you need to keep your momentum and revs up in a non-gearbox kart.
Well, you guys can still have fun with it. Since this isn't a "now or never" situation, that means if you are really interested you can begin to learn more about racing and grow your skills gradually. Even if one of your friends is quicker at first, that doesn't mean someone else wouldn't develop into a better racer. Plus, if it's all in fun, do what Pete suggested and share the car. No reason one guy should get all the seat time.
well, i guess u just gotta chill..believe me, this things will just come 2 u naturally...as more laps u do...just relax man, and i must agree...lotsa water, carbs..and dun forget to stretch b4 the race..good luck man!
<I have noticed that when i drive them my forearms muscles are the ones that get the most workout.> Pros are in excellent shape. Neck muscles are critical since the helmet gets heavy in high G turns. Have a strong neck. <before the race, what should i eat, drink (redbull)?> Be well hydrated. <during the race: -when you approach a corner, how do you usually follow it with your eyes, do you just look to the exit point, or do you follow the whole corner with you eyes?> You're racing to a spot in the entry of the corner. If you get there first you have the best line over your competition. You need experience to deterime where that spot is, and the balls to take it away from the other guy. <-braking into the corner, do you brake before it, or do you brake while turning? > Brakes??? LOL In general, slow in and fast out is best; pros are fast in and faster out. If you can slow by downshifting, that's best. If it's sharper and you need brakes, apply them earlier as opposed to later if you're unsure. <- cornering, since this cars dont have a lot of grip, do you slightly drift or do you try to just stick to the inside wall. how much speed do you want to carry to the corner?> You want to carry the speed OUT of the corner, not in. You're going to get smoked, sorry to say. Non shifter carts are not a good test; the agressive will do better but the cart itself is the biggest factor. You'll do better with them than a real race car. In a race car or shifter cart, the correct gear at correct RPMs, with heel/toe technique will take chunks of seconds off your times. Dealing with tight in and loose out of corners takes experience to go fast. It takes lots of seat time to develop theses skills. Racing schools are wonderful to learn the basics of them. Good luck! Ken
This discussion is unbelievably inane. A week's preparation is going to do nothing for you. Sorry! If you're serious, at least read the Ross Bentley book noted above. Unless the advice in this thread is coming from a race driver, believe none of what you read here. The good Admiral is on track, but this isn't the right forum to learn to drive, let alone race.
You'll just have to hope you have more natural talent than your friends and if you do then you'll be just fine. If not well "OSB". You Barber grads know what i'm talking about.
Good advice so far but as for braking don't try and turn and brake at the same time. It will only help you if you have lots of practice. One mistake while doing that and you could end up beached. Brake in a straight line, turn in, hit the apex and accelerate out of the turn while using the width of the track. ie: coming out of a right hand turn drift left as you are accelerating out of the turn all the way over to the other side because you can carry more speed and pick up more speed if the wheels aren't turned so much. And you can't learn how to race in a few hours, so just use your head, have fun and stay on track.
Sorry we wasted your time and bandwidth, b-mak. Please turn away, it's not right for you to socialize with we the great unwashed masses that aren't professional racing drivers. I couldn't imagine that someone that does something as merely a hobby rather than a profession could teach anyone anything about it. Regards, Haywood P.S.-since driving at the limit is PART of my job, but not all of it, does my opinion count? You know there's also a lot of paperwork BS in my job, too. Regrettably, it's not racing, but product development for a vehicle that you and/or your family may drive TOMORROW, so hope my evaluation and tuning skills are a little more evolved than your respect for your fellow posters. P.P.S.-I still say that with 1 week to get fast in a kart you can do a lot by spending time (and money) at the karting center. Even if you don't have b-mak there to coach you.
There was no need for this inflammatory post. All b-mak was saying was not to expect a miracle improvement in driving within one week.
I probably shouldn't add any more, but I'm a bit tipsy tonight... I just don't agree with b-mak that you can't learn from someone unless they're a "race driver". I guess it depends on what one defines "race driver" as. I consider myself semi-retired from racing, most recently a shifter kart pilot, but don't view myself as a "race driver", I've only ever made $40 racing, so I'm hardly a pro... Now if "race driver" means no more than someone that participates in sanctioned racing competitions as a way of separating those that take the skill seriously rather than an armchair expert, then perhaps I am (and there's probably an element of feeling dissed, so I might change my perspective... there's that alcohol thing working!). But regardless, I think there are plenty of people that aren't "race drivers" by either definition, out there, that can offer advice on how to drive fast, especially in rental karts! What a different world they are than door slammers! I think of a few autocrossers I saw that showed up at their first event and were stupid fast. They knew what to do even though they'd never "raced" before! The guy I'm thinking of that's still in the autocross world just finished 5th at Nationals. We used to call him "Cole Trickle" (i.e. Tom Cruise in Days of Thunder) because he was fast and could tell you how he went fast, but was hardly some highly-studied, booksmart student, he just went fast. He didn't sound like he knew anything when he talked, but he sure knew a lot about going fast when it counted! OK, so my point was that you don't have to be a "race driver" to tell someone that's looking for a lot of advice on how to drive a kart fast a few things that will help them. Good night all!
I think there's not enough thinking and too much drinking going on somewhere. A web forum isn't the place for someone new to the sport to pick up random notions about race driving. That's why I seconded the recommendation for the Bentley book. It's presented in such a way that any enthusuiast can understand, internalize and apply. An experienced race driver should be able to present the theory of driving and racing techniques in a cohesive way to a new student. Better yet, an experienced coach discovers how a student learns best and builds his methods for the student from there. On the other hand, could you imagine trying to learn from someone spouting random ideas about physics, driving theory and racing techniques? This is exactly what's going on in this thread. If I were someone new to the sport, I'd be totally confused at this point. Perhaps I was spoiled or simply fortunate, but I have never been instructed or coached by amateurs. By the way, George asked about racing and just in case I have to spell it out for you: Driving ≠ Racing Racing = Racing Then again, if you disagree, just put me on ignore, big guy!
wow dood I almost forgot about this thread... sorry guys. I read most of all the advice, skipping some of the flame. Thank you everyone. I went to try out and got one of the top times, some we are looking at 2-3 drivers. so they said that I will most likely get it. I can now breath a sight of relief since pretty much I have showed my performace, and now it's all about building the car, showing that I have the technical/theoretical background, and getting through the politics to finalize my seat. thank you again, cheers George. Ps: you guys were right, you can give me a book in racing techniques.... but when i got there i forgot about everything, i was having way too much fun!!!.... so like gilless27 said.. "I gripped it and surely ripped it a new one" hehehe
Well, for those of us not as blessed as you, we (that would refer to me, of course) can and do learn from lots of people that aren't paid, but rather offer tutoring out of friendship and kindness. To each his own, I suppose. Perhaps you're already so good (you sure make it sound like it) that you can't learn from someone that doesn't have a world championship in their closet. I still can, so it's much cheaper for me to learn. BTW, the fast line through a corner, or how to brake for a corner is the same in driving as racing. Isn't it? I think I'll look into that ignore thing, your head barely fits onto my monitor! Regards, Heywould
