Pushing Beyond Karting Smoothness

Smooth IS fast - but at some point you need to go FASTER!

This week's FREE article directly contradicts much of what I've said before about smoothness and control in karting.

Mario Andretti said:

"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."

This seems obvious, but it contradicts much of what I preach: it seems to advocate for over-driving, which kills performance in a kart.

So what Andretti says here is a frown-inducing statement for racers who know that lack of self-control means slow laps.

But the fundamental truth remains - if you are in perfect control then you can push harder.

Even if you might crash or slow down, the potential is there, and that's what we're exploring.

The Limitations of Pure Smoothness in High-Level Karting

Smoothness, especially in steering, is the easiest way to get fast in karting. I write about it constantly, because karts love it and its essential to understand.

Smooth Steering Excellence - Weird Techniques that Produce Extraordinary Smoothness

But this article is about going beyond smoothness. For high-level drivers, smoothness can become a limiting factor. Just being smooth isn't enough to push beyond the best.

This is typical of my approach. I take drivers through a process of reaching a high level with a technique, then I tell them its wrong!

Here’s some examples:

With braking, I'll say, "Brake harder, harder, harder." They find new levels of control and speed. Then, "Now you're braking too hard." Then we work on refining it back down and they go faster again.

With wet techniques, I'll encourage going mad - using full steering lock, heavy braking, going way offline. Once they've mastered and gained confidence in the and they’ve found seconds lap, I'll tell them they're overdoing it and need to smooth it out again. They go faster again.

the idea is to master techniques that help you grab tons of confidence and speed (seconds gained), then refining it all back down (to find tenths).

Then if you want performance that nobody else can match, you’ve got to go beyond ordinary.

Learn from the Freaks: Senna's Defiance of Smooth is Fast

One of the biggest inspirations for challenging racing doctrine is Ayrton Senna. If you look at Senna's throttle technique, it's ridiculous. It's absolutely bananas.

There's a video of Senna driving the Honda NSX where you can see his feet. His right foot is a blur. People say it's how he spooled the turbo, but if you study his kart driving from the 70s, he's at it there too.

Senna's throttle inputs are the exact opposite of being smooth. You can't criticise his driving style because he is practically a driving god. But if you were doing that in front of a coach in a kart, they'd say, "Cut that out for a start. You're upsetting the kart." It goes against the most basic fundamentals of driving fast.

Senna was doing something that goes against really good advice.

The message here is clear: everything in racing that's set in stone isn't really set in stone. Even steering smoothness in karting, which I have claimed before is a non-negotiable, isn't immune.

You can challenge steering smoothness in karting as the top priority, and even though you’ll find you are still pretty damn smooth, there will be more going on at the wheel than before.

Breaking Through the Steering Smoothness Barrier

I see drivers being too deliberately smooth. They're excellent drivers, but when they need to step up, they're locked into smoothness, and it's hard for them to break out. If you're really getting on top of your steering smoothness, this is the point where I'd say, "Let's try and break that down. Let's push through smoothness and go to a new level."

It's about challenging discipline, pushing control to its limits, and tapping into your instincts. Be open to making mistakes, because there's a chance of finding something different that takes you to another level.

The Process of Evolving Your Technique: From Smooth to Super-freak

First of all, to go beyond smooth you need to get smooth. You need to master driving on the limit in a stable way first. That's where you build the skill, awareness, and spare concentration to be relaxed at the limit.

Remind yourself of the basics:

1. Introduce the kart into a corner with the slightest turn. Give the kart the idea you're going to turn before you actually turn.

2. Gently weight the wheel, starting to put load into the tyre.

3. Add a bit more pressure and begin the real turn into the corner.

4. Aim for the apex, holding the steering angle constant to lock the kart into a trajectory and a ‘set’ for maximum grip and stability.

5. As you reach the apex, come off the brake and onto the power, driving through with a touch of oversteer.

How to get super accurate with your steering

Once you have that sweet then you push yourself again, dancing on the limit where it gets precarious. Your skills keep you from going over the edge and falling off the limit.

Micro-Adjustments: The Key to Finding Extra Speed

To reach a new level beyond normal smoothness, we need to challenge the discipline you've developed and let something else take over. Look at Max Verstappen's karting footage - it's rare, but there's some from a KF event at PF.

When you zoom in and slow it down, you can see he's not quite as perfectly smooth at the wheel. There are micro-adjustments going on. Zoom out again, and he looks perfect - zero movement on the wheel, perfect lines.

This is what we're after - dancing on the limit. Rather than being absolutely stable on the limit, we're looking to find where you're teetering on the edge of the kart letting go and have to make tiny corrections, almost all the time.

The kart grips, but it's always just on the verge of breaking away. You make micro-adjustments to keep it on the limit and just above, but it's recoverable. These tiny moments are where you'll find those fractions of time that add up to make you weirdly fast.

Two Strategies for Stepping Beyond Basic Smoothness: Look Ahead and Push!

I've got two recommendations to help you get there:

1. Look Ahead: Shift Your Focus to Break Smooth Habits

Instead of concentrating on your current steering inputs, force yourself to look further down the track. As you approach a corner, don't fixate on the apex or your immediate actions. Push your vision and attention to the corner exit.

This shift in focus is crucial because it detaches your conscious attention from maintaining perfect smoothness in the here and now. By looking ahead, you're forcing your brain to prioritize getting to the next point on the track quickly, rather than obsessing over steering smoothness.

When you do this, something important happens: the job of maintaining smooth inputs doesn't disappear, but it gets handed over to your instincts. Your subconscious, honed by practice, takes over the immediate steering control. Meanwhile, your conscious mind is already working on the next phase of driving - how to get to that exit point or the next corner as fast as possible.

This often results in faster, more dynamic driving because you're no longer limited by conscious, deliberate smoothness. You're tapping into a more intuitive, reactive style of driving that can unlock new levels of speed. Smoothness doesn't vanish - it's still there, handled by your instincts - but it drops down the priority list as your brain focuses more on raw speed.

It might feel uncomfortable at first, like you're less "in control". But that's exactly the point. You're pushing beyond the limitations of conscious, perfectionist smoothness and allowing a faster, more instinctive driving style to emerge.

Commanding your eyes in karting: The Worrier vs. The Warrior

2. Push Harder: Allow Mistakes to Find New Limits

Give yourself the order to push harder and forgive mistakes. This challenges the habit of "I must not push" which is key to being very fast, but we need to break it to go beyond smooth, beyond the fear of overdriving. You will make mistakes - forgive them and let them go. Get into letting the kart dance.

These two factors can work together to unlock moments where you realise, "I'm dancing, and it's quicker." The kart's alive, not locked into grip. Keep your attention forward and don't react - just let it happen.

This is where you get moments where you go beyond smoothness, and you’ll realise there is a new level of speed you didn’t realise was possible.

Constant Evolution: Never Settling for Your Current Performance

When you achieve this state, it won't look any different to observers. You'll appear just as smooth as before, but you'll know there are micro-adjustments happening. So it’s still kind of smooth, but for you it’s not smoothness as first priority, you’re prepared to lose some smoothness to discover new speed.

You're holding the kart above where it was before, dancing with it, flirting with going beyond the limit. Sometimes you'll go too far and get caught out. Let that go - you're discovering new areas where the kart goes a little faster.

As you get used to this, you can impose a bit of discipline on it. You've stepped up a skill level, and you can say, "Right, where I'm dancing, I can be just as quick but smooth that out."

You've reached a new plateau. Enjoy it, be quick. But later on, someone like me would say, "That's good. You can go quicker than that." And you challenge it all again.

This is why racing never ends. There are always new levels. It's the process of improvement - overcoming yourself, challenging rules, finding new speed, discovering new ways to go faster, creating rules from that, enjoying the new success, and then pushing beyond it all again to reinvent yourself. Each time you step up, you become something new, something different, something faster.

I've done this with a few drivers. I do their heads in, and it's difficult, because everybody gets comfortable. They like being recognised for where they are. But that's not very racing driver-like. You have to push on.

Thanks for listening.