How to Steal Time Over Drivers Using the Exact Same Marks

How come I brake in the same place as the fast drivers, but my kart WILL NOT go around the corner like theirs!?!

Or

I take exactly the same line as everyone else, but no way will my kart do it as fast!

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Fair enough actually, this does happen. You can brake the same place using good braking technique and use the same line with good steering technique, but still not be able to make the corner in the same way. All in an identical kart.

That can materialise in a bit of a sideways moment where the kart lets go, or you bog the exit…

If you read last week’s article, you can come to me and say ‘Terence, you told me to copy those drivers exactly, but damn you my kart just won’t do it!’

So what’s missing? What’s the secret ingredient that makes one driver able to glide perfectly through a corner doing everything the same as you, but you drop 2 tenths.

The answer is the micro-adjustments and preparations they make that are all about feel. And sadly, you can’t really see feel, you can only, well, feeeeel it!

From Dot-to-Dot to Loading and Feel

The way we talk about driving and corners is necessarily in fragments. We say:

• Brake here, get off the brake there

• Turn in at the gap in the white line

• Apex just after the 3rd red block

• Hit the rumble strip on the exit, just past that tuft of grass

So, that’s all very dot-to-dot. Hit one point, then hit another. Hit the brake, release the brake. It’s described as a series of actions performed at exact locations.

That’s fine for description, but actually driving on the limit isn’t quite like that. All those points are not really points, all the actions are blended. They overlap and flow into each other.

On a mega-lap the blending of all your actions like releasing braking, and where you actually turn into a corner are very hard to locate exactly.

What you do instead is feel for how to keep the highest speed and maximum load in the kart for as long as you can. Everything you do is about keeping the kart in a condition that it can deliver the maximum load when you need it.

All I mean by ‘load’ is the force the tyres can deliver through the chassis to get you around a corner as fast as possible.

Sudden Changes Kill Load - You Need to Sneakily Build it

So let’s say you are doing things by dot-to-dot, and doing them very well by hitting your marks just right. I reckon in a typical high quality club race that will get you knocking on the door of the top 5.

When you hit your turn in point, before your kart actually turns in the chassis and the tyres need to take up their flex. If you do that suddenly by going straight then turning in, the kart will indeed turn in!

But, because you take up the slack in the tyre and chassis suddenly there will be a slight rebound as the tyre hits maximum load. That slight rebound will give you a tiny amount of instability.

You might need to correct a slide, or add a bit of steering. Tiny adjustments to stay on line, and that will cost a bit of grip.

That’s where your tenth goes!

How to Sneak Load into Tyres to Eliminate the Rebound

I’ve had to make a video so you can get a feel for how to sneak load into your tyres. You can keep your braking point, apex and exit and go faster.

I’ll show you:

• The pre-loading line to sneak load into the tyres

• Why the normal approach creates little slides and adjustments that slow you down

• What the kart does when you preload instead of surprising the tyres

• How you get a single steering angle to guide you through the whole corner

Do watch it - it makes much more sense!