Smooth Steering Masterclass
Karting minimal steering inputs supremacy - just copy this!
Welcome to a free edition - No audio this week because it’s all on the video!
Occasionally I watch a kart onboard video and exclaim expletives at the skills on display.
Here’s an example of one such video - it’s that good I’ll spend two articles examining it so you can use it as a target for excellence in a kart.
Today we can go into the steering inputs, next week the braking into the hairpin.
The driver behind the wheel is Nathan Chafer. I know him because I coached him as a cadet almost 20 years ago. He was good then, now he’s a master craftsman - quite a big one! He enjoys life and so runs in Rotax 177, with the higher weight limit.
Is he quick? Yes, I’d put him up against anyone in the world and expect a result. He’s my kind of driver, if he doesn’t win, he probably won’t finish! That means he’s a bit controversial, but Christ can he drive a kart!
Here’s the lap clean so you can just watch without any commentary:
Here’s my video analysis, all about how he’s guiding the steering whilst being fully lit. If you absorb what I talk about you are going to be fast!:
What I want you to take away from the video:
The absolute angles - how little he turns the wheel. Very simple, he uses very little steering input to get through very tight corners
Holding steering steady through gnarly corners. Nathan is bloody strong so it looks effortless, but target to hold steering as steady as Nathan even through very uneven parts of the track (remember dropping off the bridge especially)
Transition corners and rotation. He will let the kart rotate a bit further than usual, because the counter steering angle becomes the turn in steering angle for the next part. For a left then right ‘s’ bend, Nathan allows the kart to slide out a little at the rear. The counter-steering angle to hold that tiny slide becomes the correct turn in angle for the right hand part of the track. Therefore he doesn’t have to add a steering input to go through the second part of the ‘s’ - the kart is prepped in advance.
Hairpins - rotate then straight wheel. Focus on the second of the hairpins, once the kart jacks and rotates, the steering is straight ahead in a neutral setting, and it’s a matter of guiding the kart out of the corner with as little steering angle as possible.
Find more about Nathan and his team, and the Kali Kart.
Thanks for watching!
Terence