You rush to the track on a weeknight after your EOD wrap up at your day job. You've planned to meet the boys/girls at 8PM. It's already half past six. It's ok, they'll wait.
For a Kasual, this would be a familiar scenario. Weekends are family time, plus the track usually gets too crowded with pubs; trying to set a hotlap turns into a nightmare. These are the not-so-fundamentals of rental karting.
Fret not though. For all you busy individuals who struggle to find spare time to trade for seat time, get the most of your sessions by remembering these simple pillars. No no, none of that slow in, fast out basics. Brought to you by your friendly multi-time local SWS winners.
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Rotation, rotation, rotation.
Every corner on the circuit is made or broken depending on when you can get your rotation done. Rotation done after apex? Too late, your exit's ruined. Rotation done before apex? Wonderful, full gas for that beautiful run down the straight. Of course, don't sacrifice all your entry speed just to achieve pre-apex rotation - the key is always balance and threading that fine line between being over and under the limit.
How then, do you achieve this rotation? Well, it's entirely up to you, but we've found that its usually one of the following (you don't have a choice).
- Using the fronts.
This is the more intuitive way to do it. When you steer with your steering wheel, you're using your front tyres to turn. Front grip is usually at its highest on grippy, epoxy indoor tracks, where you can throw the kart in with sharp and hard steering. We found out the hard way at the World Finals in Italy (ugh). Turn the wheel until the fronts give way (understeer) and you've found your steering limit.
Sometimes though, you can turn all the way with a full lock and still be missing your apexes. This usually rings true for outdoor tracks with hard rental tires, so watch out. That brings us to our next method of achieving rotation.
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Using the rears.
Ah, the not so intuitive way. It's easier than it sounds though. You either lift to induce some weight transfer to the front, loosening your rear so it "swings" around, or squeeze the brakes to get some of that mini-lock of the rears to slow down and swing around at the same time. The key to using the rears is not to OVER rotate, because then say goodbye to all your momentum.
Yeah, that's really all there is to it. I guess the title should have been the fundamental (singular) of rental karting.
