7 Signs of Driving Perfection in Karting: When It All Just Clicks

What does driving perfection look like - I know it when I see it...

This week, I'm going to talk about kart driving perfection and what it looks like when I see it.

The Mysterious Nature of Perfect Driving

Last weekend, I watched my driver, who's been going through a lot of improvement recently, suddenly drop into a mode of driving where everything just clicked. You could feel it more than you could discern it or describe it - he started to fly, really strangely fast, and in terms of what it looked like - perfect.

This kind of perfection is mysterious. It's not something I can tell you how to get, but rather something to paint a picture of, so you have a target to aim for. It's a personal thing, and it happens when things just line up in a driver's mind, and all the knowledge they've gained gets out of the way, allowing their instincts for driving to take over using that knowledge, without thinking.

When I see it I really do say stuff like ‘ ooooh f*** here we go’. There isn’t much else to comment on!

To learn we break karting techniques down so we can explain, practice, and get a feel for them, but the aim is for all that knowledge to find its place, to become subordinate, like an operating system that just works.

When it all clicks, all the separate techniques integrate and the driver puts it all together into one harmonious movement.

It becomes natural - like how you don't need to think to walk - you just decide where you're going, and your legs take you there, operating on intrinsic information and knowledge without you being aware of it.

The Role of Kart Setup - Make it Edgy

The way you set up the kart plays a part in accessing this perfect driving state. If the setup is twitchy enough, you have to switch off your thinking and let your instincts take over; otherwise, you don’t have the fast and perfectly judged inputs to control the kart.

It's common for really quick drivers to want a highly responsive kart, one that's touch-sensitive. A good example is Max Verstappen - the way he sets up his car, other drivers say they can't drive it.

If you set up your kart to be comfortable when you're thinking your way around, that's cool, but if you set it up to be very edgy and responsive, where any mistakes will destroy your lap time, this sort of perfect driving is more likely to emerge - out of necessity.

The skills and confidence have to be in you for this to work, and you have to be really feeling it on the day… But it is a good habit to get into.

7 Signs that I’m Witnessing Perfect Kart Driving

1. Braking - Hard But I Can’t See When it Started or Ended

When a driver is in this perfect zone, their braking becomes really hard to break down into stages. If you watch the rear tyre closely, you can see it rolling slower than the road speed of the vehicle - you might even see the print on the side of the tyre. This shows they are braking hard, but you can't hear it hat much or see them get on the brake. There's no initial bite point; the tyre just starts rotating slower.

Getting off the brake is equally smooth. Normally, I can hear or see when a driver comes off the brake, and I might say they're off it too early, not carefully enough, too suddenly, or with too much brake still on as they turn in. But when they're in this perfect state, I can't say where they got off the brake. It's like they're emerging from the braking phase and blending it perfectly with their turn-in.

2. Turning - Are they Even Turing the Wheel???