Went to this tiny kart circuit in Saitama called Miyazawa Lake with some guys from my work. We signed up for an endurance race which was 7000 yen for 5 mins qualification and a 40 laps race. The kart was capable of 60kmph. It was the fastest kart I've ever tried as the few times I've gone before I have been only doing about 20 to 30kmph. So this was quite cool.
Qualification turned out to be wet as we had a small shower. That was fantastic fun as it was next to impossible to drive around a corner without opposite lock. In a kart this turned into pure fun and I forgot about getting a fast lap so I ended up 3rd on the grid. Not that I would have gone faster anyway but sliding was huge fun.
We did a reverse grid at the race start which was also good. I spun out on the last corner the first two laps and got stuck in the corner on my second lap. Damn. Already 1 lap behind. When will I learn?! After that I just drove faster every lap. I had a lot of problems with the last corner though as I'd either drift it and lose speed or I'd go too slowly and lose speed. Funnily enough going slower lost less speed than drifting though. Interesting.
I was going rather well when I was passing a friend on the outside when he bumped me off the track. That hurt. Still have the bruises! Took 85seconds to complete that lap as I had to get out of the kart to get it back onto the track. Those things are quite heavy when you are trying to push them!
Finally lost the race and finished in 3rd place, 2 laps behind our perfect leader and 1.8s behind 2nd place. Just shows if you are consistent, you don't have to be fast sometimes to do well. One of the guys put up this cool web site of the results
So - why do I bring up karts... Well it dawned on me when I was driving them just how much they have to offer in terms of learning about the basics of being smooth and using your tires properly. It's so easy to think you are going fast when you are drifting around the last corner but then someone goes and passes you on the inside... Huh?! Yes that just happened. Makes you think more about what you are doing wrong.
The other nice thing about karts is they are small, speed is less than a car and you feel everything so you are really aware of what is going on. The kart had no diff for example, so when taking a wider line around a corner vs taking a narrow line kept the engine running better, it dawned on me that my inside tire was slowing the engine down. I always knew what a diff did in general but experiencing this made them really make sense.
Another thing you learn is brake bias. Brakes are only on the back so its hard to brake when you are turning. Even more so in the wet. Back just comes right around unless you have a fine touch. Amazing. Its useful for adjusting mid corner though if required.
I was only really figuring out all this towards the end of 40 laps. It was really worth going though and I'm going to try go again and perhaps apply some of what I learn to my circuit driving.
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