Indoor Karting Tips

Indoor karting is popular as a recreational hobby and a serious sport. While many tracks are designed for families and friends out for a relaxing night out, there are also circuits designed for serious racing. In fact, karting can be the first step in a driver's professional racing career. No matter what the level of racing, everyone wants to go faster, and a few basic lessons can give you a competitive edge.

  1. Body Posture and Grip

    • Many of the decisions a driver makes before the race even starts can impact the performance of their kart. One decision is how to grip the steering wheel. A proper grip involves placing the hands in the "10 and 2 o'clock" position--placing the hands in the same place on the steering wheel as the 10 and 2 places on a clock face. This position not only makes it easiest to quickly turn the wheel, but it also gives you better feel for the car by transferring weight through the car to your body through your arms.

      Sitting upright with good posture in the car also improves performance -- it helps to transfer weight across the entire car, increasing the ease of handling. Positioning the seat so that your right leg is fully extended when the gas and brake pedals are fully depressed will also make you more comfortable -- and help your driving.

    Cornering

    • The key to successful cornering is hitting the right entry, apex and exit points for the turn. An ideal line would involve being as wide as possible while entering and exiting the turn, while being as close to the inside as possible at the middle of the turn. This allows drivers to shorten the length of the corner without sacrificing speed.

      Achieving the perfect line through a corner means braking -- too little brakes will pull your car wide, while too much will slow you down unnecessarily. There is only so much traction that the rear wheels of a kart can supply, and in a corner it can either be used for braking or turning. Doing both at the same time makes the total traction distributed less effective, so drivers should attempt to slow down in a straight line, corner, and then accelerate once they reach the apex and are going at the right angle to exit the corner.

    Passing

    • Novice drivers frequently get "tunnel vision" when coming behind a slower driver. This means that instead of driving their line, they begin following the line of the driver ahead of them. If the driver ahead brakes too late, they will do the same thing. It's important to avoid doing this by concentrating on your line (and the gap between the cars) until you are ready to pass.

      But you will want to pay some attention to the car in front of you, particularly any sections of the track where they struggle. It is always easier to pass cars on the inside of a track through a corner, so turns where a driver drifts wide are good spots to pass.