First time driving a kart? What to do!

So you've watched Formula 1 or Supercars and wondered how those racing drivers got started in their career? Well 98% of those drivers first got involved in motorsport through kart racing, where they can hone their skills and learn the fundamentals.

On this podcast episode, we look at driving a go kart for the first time. What drivers should look out for, how to approach the first session or two and how they can improve their driving from the side lines.

This is a must for anyone looking to get started in their motor racing journey!

If you've enjoyed this episode of Kart Class, be sure to click subscribe and leave us a review.

Kart Class offers karting drivers advanced digital training programs of all skill levels. Be sure to check out the Kart Class website to find what program is best suited for you & follow our Instagram for tips & techniques.

Thanks to On Audio Post for the production of this episode.

To learn more about what Home – Kart Class has to offer be sure to visit our site.

Want to watch the podcast episode instead? Follow us on Youtube here

You can join us at Instagram here to see the latest tips.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome to cart class brought to you by 18 times Australian champion David Sarah car class drives to give cart racing drivers, the fundamental driving skills cart setup, and the mindset required to take you from beginner to winner your host. David Sarah has over 25 years experiencing cart racing and is the most successful driver in Australian history.

Speaker 2: 0:26

Good day guys. And welcome back to the episode of our cart class podcasts. I'm your host adding Tom Australian champion, David, Sarah, and today's, discussion's gonna be how to drive a go-kart for the first time. So when we look at cart racing, especially if you're in younger year, so if you're sort of age between six and even 15 years of age, you've never experienced driving because your license yet, uh, you may been sitting as a passenger for your parents, but it's totally different. One shows you behind the wheel of a car yourself. You're controlling the steering wheel. You're controlling the pedals and also you've got no seat belts and in a car you're also sitting so low to the ground. So no matter if you interviewing like 50 Ks an hour, when you're starting out, it's gonna feel extremely fast. Now, the other thing to take into context is if you have driven a car and you're having go a cup for the first time, you's gonna be sitting in the center of the vehicle. So normally with your motor vehicle, you either sit in the left hand side, if you're hand drive on the right hand side in some countries, but with the cart, you're literally sitting smack bang in the middle. So getting perception of the cart width compared to the track width and knowing where to place the cart is quite big as well. So the first thing we wanna try and do is when we drive a cart for the first time is you don't wanna try and impress anyone. Now, what I mean by that is it's your first time. You're not expected to go out there and set the wood on fire and look realistically whether you do or you don't set the wood on fire after you first go, there's no F1 Scouts. There's no one from super cars there going, you know what? I wanna pick up this driver because he's done an amazing first drive. Now we've all gonna start somewhere. Now when I was a, a kid starting out, I think I was about five or maybe even six years of age when I first started carting. And I was like, you know, 30 or 40 seconds off the pace. So when we're talking that the quickest kids doing like 48 seconds for a lap time, and I'm 40 seconds behind him, they're literally doing two laps to my one. And so my dad would be out there and literally he could almost walk past me. And so the first thing that would be happening is I'd be failing plugs because I was going too slow and I was too nervous. It, it, even though I was going, I know I'm only guessing, you know, 10 Ks an hour, for example, it feels fast. The noise it's loud, you know, you're in control of the car. There's nothing strapping you in. So it's all about just starting off, slow getting the basics, right? You know, learning how much you can hit the acceleration before it starts to, to slide out or how hard to hit the brakes before they start to, to lock up. It's not like a car you're only turning in very small increments. So from like, if you're looking at a clock, for example, it's like 12 to, just to one o'clock, that's all you need to turn to turn a corner in a road car. You might go from 12 to like four o'clock. So there's a lot more steering angle required for a motor vehicle than a reason, a car. So just get used to those things first and then start to build up. Now, the second thing we wanna try and look at is just take it easy. So this tip goes hand down with the first one. You can't accelerate too fast or break too hard. If you just go from no acceleration to a hundred percent acceleration, the chances are you're gonna have a little bit of a slide. And when you new, uh, you might be able to, you know, you might have a few spins now having spins, actually all apart of learning. We want drivers to, to make small mistakes so you can and learn. But when you're starting out to try and build that conference, it's just squeezing on acceleration, squeezing on the break, turning a lot less than what you think, doing everything in slower increments and building up will, will help you out quite a lot as well. So on the straits, obviously you can give everybody acceleration then, but around the corners for now just E using on the acceleration will help you out a lot more to get that car control and build your confidence. The third tip is to, to build up slowly. So what's gonna happen is you're gonna go there for the first couple laps. And I'd probably recommend in the first session that you do doing a few less laps, but just trying to get your head around because muscle memory and the speed that you're going, your brain's gonna have to, I process at all. So if you go there and just do a couple of slower laps, then bit up a little bit and have a little bit of a, a breath that you come in, take your helmet off and actually go, okay. Now I know which corners go left, which corners go, right? Which corners you have to break on how long the straits are, where the bumps are in the circuit, where the in and the a is. So where I enter the circuit, where I leave the circuit, finish on a good note, leave it for, you know, for 10 or 15 minutes, start to digest what actually happened and then go back out again. Now, when you go for the second session, you're already gonna have some sort of idea on which way the corners go, how much, uh, you have to turn the steering wheel to get around these apexes and things like that. So just build up slowly, you know, on straight, if you're backing off half down the straight, for example, or you're backing off quite early, just count your head for one more second. And all of a sudden you're dropping one, one to two seconds per lap, just because you're holding the acceleration down for a little bit longer. So that's what I'd recommend do build up slowly. I see so many drivers that think, oh, I've gotta go and impress, you know, myself or someone else at the track. And they're outta control and they're silos and they're spinning out and you're like, mate, it's your first time out here. Don't you don't need to impress anyone. Just relax, bring it back 10%, get the basics, right? And then you can actually go a lot faster down the track. Our fourth tip is to, to take a break. If you need one now driving a car might seem easy, but once you're actually in there, it's what a physical sport. Now the G forces that you get around the corners it's and the muscles that, uh, are sort of activated when you're cornering. They're a lot different to what you use in your everyday life. So things like your neck muscles get a real, real strong working out your forearm muscles, your ribs, copper battering. Sometimes if the track's quite bumpy, you don't have any rib protectors on. So these are things that you're not normally accustomed to experiencing from your day to day life. And then when you drive a cart and you're gripping the wheel so tight, cause you hold on for dear life. Once you get more accustomed to the speeds of it, you start to relax. And all of a sudden your hand grips are getting a lot better. Your forearm pump is not, uh, not there. Your neck muscles are starting to, um, get used to the G forces of when you're cornering. So you're better off doing less laps in the session and being with it as such, you know, concentration and things like that, rather than trying to do 25 laps in the first session. And your neck's almost about to fourth by of it. And you can't really do any laps after that because you physically can't hold your head up. The other thing is, if you're looking at sort of, uh, race events, they normally lap, you know, laps between sort of eight and 15 laps, for example, for a final. So there's no real need to go there and go and do 25 laps because you're never gonna experience that in a racing situation as well. Our next tip is to stay focused. So I would say that when I drive I'm look, I'm not the fit of bloke out there, but I get more mentally drained than I do physically. And what I mean by that is I'm trying to concentrate so much on apexes where certain cracks are on the track that let me know that each lap I've gotta break at that certain point, which paint, um, markings on the curbing that I've can run over. So that's my apex is each lap or where I'm gonna accelerate or analyzing other drivers while I'm, you know, following them to try and make out where I'm gonna pass'em. So I'm constantly thinking about how I can go fast or how I can beat the other guys around me. And then that SAPs a lot of energy. And when you're thinking you might only be driving four, say six to 15 minutes, her session, and some sessions are longer. You might have some endurance races or longer finals or things like that. But as a general rule, you know, between that sort of six to 15 minutes is, is pretty safe to think that most races will finish in that time. And you are seriously gonna be burnt out by the end of it because you're breaking markers, you're turning points, your apex points, you're accelerating markers. We are gonna pass someone. If there's a green light for a race start checker flags, yellow flags, cuz there's a caution in front of you. Someone's brought some dust or some stones onto the track. There's a lot of things to take into account once you're driving your car and it's not like you're just driving around in circles. It's not that easy. So stay focused where you can on the straights. I recommend to have a bit of a deep breath because that's probably the, the most amount of time you're gonna have to, to get your thoughts and to try and get some energy back into your system as well. Now our final tip for how to drive a cart for the first time is to watch other drivers. Now, when you get to the track for the first time, look at where they place the cart on the track and getting a mental reference on when they're backing off at certain corners and you might pinpoint there's a tree or a pole and you can hear that car going flood out into that certain point and then they're having to lift. So it's all about just trying to get those mental markers and that visualization going so that when you do drive yourself, you go, okay, I can hold it flood out until that certain tree or that certain pole, because I know it's safe. I've seen other cart been able to achieve that. And that's what we're saying about starting off slowly and knowing that that's the end goal, that's the end point that you, your cart can get to now things like racing lines, breaking points, apexes, they're the little things that you can start to establish even before you've set in the cart yourself and, and start the engine up. So that's, what's important to watch other drivers when you're out there, just get some mental references on, on what's going on and that should help you out as well. So concluding, uh, this episode of car class, it's just about learning how to drive a car for the first time and it can be intimidating and difficult. If you are 4, 5, 10 seconds of the pace, that's totally normal and it's fine. Everyone has to start somewhere. Louis Hamilton, max for Tappin, you know, Jamie win car in Supercars, willpower and IndyCar all these guys at the very beginning, they started in cart racing and they would've started off slower than other competitors. Now not to say they may have been a bit closer than what you are on day one, but the chances are they would've making the basic Mr. Aches that all drivers gonna make when they first get into a car as well. So it's all about getting your mindset, right? Trying to learn about drivers, where you can watching them and then trying to put it into action as well. Be confident as well, be confident in yourself and your abilities and try and back yourself in where you can start slower once you're that confidence. And then start to push the balance a little bit more mistakes are totally normal and they're good to make as well. So don't be afraid to, to go out there and push the limit, have a spin and okay, next lap. I'm gonna bring it back. Um, just a little bit as well. So I hope you've enjoyed this episode about car class podcast on how to drive a go car for the first time. Be sure to check out our social media channels, which are, which are flying through at the moment on Instagram, at car cloud, us and also at Facebook and David, Sarah, thanks much for tuning in to another episode and look forward to him for you guys soon. Cheers.

Speaker 1: 10:42

If you've enjoyed today's episode and wanna learn more about your cart racing, be sure to check out cart, class.com AU for driving courses catered to all skill levels.