Go Karting For the first time.

psd99 said:
what advice do you have for me?
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Listen Properly to the Dude that walks you around the track & drive to the Cones.
There should be cones to indicate breaking markers & where to point the kart on exit, Listen to the talk prior to racing.
Once in the kart then concentrate on Smooth lines, Sweeping into the Apex & drifting out to the cone marker.
Remember that the person who moves the Steering wheel the least will go the quickest.

Side note I hope you are Not the Porker. :p
 
Watch your breaking as others have said.

And watch where you put your hands once your in the kart, I've burn't my had before which wasn't nice.
 
Make sure you make the most of the warm up laps! Get used to the track and try and learn which corners you can do with little to no braking and which you need to take it a bit easier on.

Also as already said learn the racing line of each corner!
 
peterattheboro said:
When you compare it to other driving experiences, it's damn cheap. You could pay £200 for 15 minutes in a Lambo being heavily restricted.... or you could pay £40 to have an hours Go Karting in a proper race with proper battles.
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Very true although I admit I wasn't thinking of it in those terms as I'm not convinced that is the market it is meant to be up against. However this is rather getting away from the original topic so I'm happy to acknowledge that in comparison to other driving experiences it's remarkably cheap.
 
semi-pro waster said:
Not really sure how you'd avoid it but maybe try walking around outside between laps. I assume it is better on outside tracks than inside ones or at least I didn't feel ill when I went at an outside track and I have felt sick at an inside track - although I was already feeling pretty dodgy due to a cold so that might have had something to do with it.
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Should clarify, I've been twice - first time was a team endurance race so I was doing relatively short stints (because I'm slow and got pitted early :p ), no problems there. The second time was an individual race that lasted 30-45 minutes, that's the one I couldn't complete. This was at an outdoor track, though I could smell the fumes when the cars overtook me, which they frequently did (I absolutely dominated some of the Indians who had never driven a car before in their lives though ;) ).

I thought the sickness was down to going round corners quickly rather than fumes actually, similar to getting car sick when I was a kid.
 
p4radox said:
Are you tall? I've been a few times to different circuits and I always end up with a massive blister at the base of my back. The cars don't really fit anyone taller than 6 foot (as if the weight disadvantage isn't bad enough...)
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I'm not 6 foot, a good few inches of it in fact, and I had this too.
Although not a blister, it completely destroyed the skin over my spine. Was not fun in the car on the way home, trying to sit forwards so as to not touch my bleeding spine. Left with a bit of a scar over that part of my back now. :( Ah well.


The actual GoKarting was excellent though. :D:cool: Just make sure your back is protected!
 
I tried wearing my back protector that I use on my bike but ummm kind of helped, stopped the bruising but because your still moving around a lot it just grazed my back instead :p
 
I think it all depends on how you plan on driving, and I think depends on the size of the Karts and your heigh etc.
If your not going for it then I doubt your will be muscling the kart around a lot.
 
Hire karts are very underpowered so the key is good corner exit speed. You carry that speed along the whole next straight so the advantage adds up.

Most people have a tendancy to carry too much speed into the corner. Often they brake early, but still don't actually slow enough. As a result the kart slides or runs wide, causing the kart to bog down.
It may feel quick if you go flying into the corner, slide around the outside etc ... but the guy who smoothly takes the corner using the racing line with a nice tight apex will just drive right past you!

Simply by being smooth, consistent and focusing on getting back on the throttle as early as possible you will beat 90% of the people there. You'll have a hard time against the 8stone midgets though regardless as weight is not your friend in an underpowered hire kart! Plenty of people will waste laps stuck in the barriers or facing the wrong way too - so if you build up to your limits and don't spin, again you'll probably beat most people even if they can turn a one off faster lap than you!

Anyway good luck and enjoy :)

If you enjoy it why not look at doing the real thing? An indoor hire kart has 5hp and is HEAVY .... a real kart has 35bhp very sticky tyres and weighs 50kg less! Until you try one it's hard to appreciate just how quick a kart can be :)

Marc
 
16th out of 20

pretty poor performance

I thought I did well but obviously not! The guy who finished 1st was very smooth and controlled
I did 4 heats I thought I was all over the place in 1 and 2
but in 3 and 4 I got better the key was not to accelerate on corners and also breaking at the right time

good fun though
thanks guys
 
Advice for a first timer? Don't get scared and go really slowly, sure you can crash but you can't really have any serious injuries. Just go for it.
 
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