Kerbs in Karting - All or Nothing

Welcome to a free episode, don’t forget the audio version is not just me reading, I’m freestyling and there’s always more there than I write!

Karts ain’t supposed to fly, but you can make them, in fact sometimes you have to.

Taking kerbs is where karting goes from a 2d activity to 3d, the machinery hates it and very often so do drivers.

But it can be glorious when you get it right, because you have to commit to going airborne, trusting in your skills to get the take off perfect - then wait in suspended animation until you land.

Sticking the landing means landing on the correct piece of track, and managing the way you land so you get immediate traction.

You might be four wheels in the air, or maybe just two, but whatever, you as the driver personally gained altitude!

Kerbs are a Perfect Test of the Driver’s Bottle

A clue about how kerbs are treated by drivers is in the way we talk about them. I have greatly toned down the language here, but you’ll get the picture from these examples.

• Go and have that kerb, I mean proper HAVE it!

• Monster that kerb, launch over that kerb,

• destroy those kerbs,

• smash the shit out of those kerbs!

Super aggressive language right? It means we understand that taking kerbs are a real test of courage and strength, physical and mental. Here’s why:

1. You can’t half-arse kerb strikes, when you do you get spat off. Super high stakes… all or nothing

2. The kart hates it, the kart is screaming no no no.

3. Kerbs look impossible, in fact they are designed as deterrents, they scream don’t tread on me!

4. The more indestructible you feel the better you are at it

So the proper use of kerbs requires a lot of faith, courage and strength combined with technique and knowledge of how to address them

BUT

The first time you have a go at them, you won’t have all of those - you just have to do the ‘smash the shit of the kerb’ part, and hopefully you have enough awareness to be able to process what happened and make some course corrections for the next time.

One thing you can’t do, which is why I love a bit of kerbage, is go in small steps.

If you try to go one small step at a time, the kerb will kick your teeth in!

Kerbs do not respect a gentle shy approach, you either hammer the kerb, or steer clear.

The shape of kerbs mean that if you don’t hit them with enough purpose and power, you will be bounced off them and thrown off line, or off the track.

Fortunately you don’t have to be a kerb pioneer, you can easily watch other drivers so at least you know which kerbs (despite looking impossible) will work.

How to Approach Kerbs

Watch this video a hundred times, it’s Jarno Trulli in 1991 lifting his kart over a kerb deliberately. It’s an incredible overtaking move.

He hasn’t prepared the kart much at all, so its even more remarkable because the kart is loaded all wrong on the approach, but he still manages to quickly shift the weight onto the right side of the kart and lift the thing over the kerb with a quick steering input.

The point is to show you how a kart will lift itself when forced to over a massive obstacle.

Load the Kart so it Lifts Easily

When you approach a kerb keep in mind that the more cornering force you can generate the better. You want to curve the approach line to the kerb so you can really feel the forces transferring to the outside tyres, and especially away from the inside tyres that are about to crest over the kerb.

Shape Your Line to Peak the Loads With Perfect Timing

Most use of kerbs is to make a combination corner more of a straight line than if you navigate the long way around like a civilised driver. Using kerbs is like cheating, you are trying to turn two corners like a chicane or an ‘s’ into a straight.

This usually means shaping your line to tighten slightly as you make your final approach to a kerb.

This does two things

1. Gives you a more advantageous angle of attack AT the kerb, rather than a shallow angle that can create a glancing blow that spits you off the kerb into a disaster.

2. As you tighten your line on your final approach just before you strike, you peak the load on the outside tyre by asking it to turn just that bit tighter. This takes load off the tyre about to hit the kerb and helps lift it over the kerb.

A very well timed lift, or semi-lift can accentuate the load transfer if done sweetly. Too much of a lift can load both the front tyres and make the kerb strike a real jaw rattler though. This has to be done with sublime feel.

Put Strength and Determination into the Steering Wheel

When you hit a kerb, the frame has to absorb the impact, not you. This means that a kerb strike must not, by the force of the strike, move the steering angle of the wheels. the better you lift the kart, the less force there is to do that, but even so, be ready not to allow the steering angle to be determined by the forces of the kerb hit.

You are the one who decides the steering angle. Of course, you’ll feel that the steering wheel is being torn from your hands at first, so you need a bit of fitness ready to cope.

Be Exact About the Strike Point and Landing Point

Kerb strikes aren’t a hit and hope thing. You need to know where exactly to hit a kerb, what you want to float over and why, then where and how you want to land.

The objective of most use of kerbs is the landing point. That’s usually to get an advantageous approach angle to the next corner, from a wider approach. Hitting kerbs isn’t about knowing you should hit a kerb then doing it like a robot.

If you know the real why and have determination to achieve that objective you’ll guide the kart much more successfully instead of just driving by rote.

A wet line approach, BUT the important thing is where to land to get the run into the second apex

Takeaways

1. You can’t half-arse kerb strikes.
   When you do, you get spat off. Kerbs don’t respect a gentle, shy approach — you either hammer the kerb or steer clear.

2. Commit to going airborne.
   Shape the line, load the kart, get the lift — then wait in suspended animation and stick the landing.

3. Kerb strikes aren’t a hit and hope thing.
   You need to know where you’re hitting, what you want to float over, and exactly where and how you want to land.

Thanks for reading

Terence