This is Part 2 (due to size restrictions) of an article that documents our learnings from the first 6 months in Cadet go karting in the IAME Mini Swift Class in and around Texas.
Find Part 1 of the article
Find Part 3
This second part completes our learnings from Practice/helping Jack go faster and learnings about Kart Maintenance. Enjoy!
Learning #9 — There are karting fundamentals, learn them
Another nuance on the seat time mantra is that there are karting fundamentals that can and should be learned to form the building blocks of future improvements.
These fundamentals include:
- Using the whole track — being right on the white line on the outside of a corner, turning in and then going right to the outside after the corner
- Braking — avoiding coasting, experimenting with braking techniques and zones, trail braking
- Working the track — using curbs, finding visual indicators, looking ahead
It was in our fourth month when we entered a large regional race and tagged along with a well-known team over the weekend. As part of that each driver has a post-session review. Other drivers were getting into real specifics and chasing 1/10ths of a second, but for us after reviewing Jack’s video we were mainly told to get right over to the white line, and to not coast! We were trying to run before we could walk.
It was after that race we had our first coaching session and I felt that we’d definitely left it too late since we’d probably done 40–50 sessions by that point. The reason is that after than initial period when the lap times fall away, and Jack was simply getting used to the kart, he had been “rinse and repeat” for quite a long time, doing the “wrong” thing again and again, and plateauing as a result. I’m fairly sure that if he had constantly been on track with young drivers of varying abilities, and also racing regularly that he would have picked up these basics by osmosis, by just copying other drivers naturally.
Since that was not us, Jack wasn’t regularly on track with other young drivers, coaching would have been, in retrospect, something we should have done much earlier, perhaps as early as 2–4 weeks rather than four months into it as we did.
We found our coach at the track since we saw them coaching others, and jumped on the opportunity since the price was right as well, and we liked their approach. Prices and quality can vary, I’ve heard, so I guess like anything it’s buyer beware.
It is important to ask around to find someone reputable, and that has the right style for what your driver wants and needs at the time. Some coaches are more “hothouse” style like an old-school football coach, and others more nurturing, if that’s the right word. Both can work well in different situations. That is my view and our experience since we’ve tried both, and matches the anecdotes of others that have been through both. Some parents have said that the “tough love” approach doesn’t work for their driver at all since they close up, others say it was key to their success.
If pushed I’d probably say that discipline is something so important to build early on for race situations, and supportive works well in building skills and confidence away from the race weekend. Both important. Find what works for you.
Learning #10 — Improve your driver’s rest and fitness
Our practice schedule is to go to the track 1–2 times during the week and the same at the weekend. I discovered early on that often Jack did the best at the weekends (also since others were on track), and the weekday practice sessions were heavily dependent on how much sleep he’d had and how awake he was. We’d also have the problem that Jack was hungry after school and there was only junk food at the track, that we’d dip into before having dinner later on.
This worked up to a point, and sometimes I was surprised to see Jack pull out some good laps after eating his preferred candy option (Sour Patch kids if you’re interested) but this was obviously not sustainable given how often we were going to the track.
I’ve now made a process to try other healthier and importantly more “effective” food and snacks so he is performing at his best. He’ll eat baby carrots and turkey rollups with flour tortillas, a mandarin, sometimes some grapes, cheese, nuts and so on. He’ll eat those energy bars for kids sometimes, and likes the energy “chunks” even more, although they are not super healthy, I believe.
There is much further to go and more to learn here and we’re only at the start, the average race weekend still involving a few too many fast-food sessions, many more than we’d have if we were at home.
It’s not good for me either! The fumes and the junk food, not seeming like a recipe for health.
I’ve found that trying new things at home first can work, offering them a couple of times if he (and my daughter) are not keen the first time. If I can get one eating the healthier option, it can also help to get the other to try. Then bingo, we can bring them to the track. Regardless, I also bought some stuff for me like dried apricots and nuts, that seem to work really well to keep hunger at bay, and keep me moving at track.
Even though Jack is old enough to ride without it, I’ve found that having a high-backed booster seat in the car encouraged Jack to sleep on the drive to the track. I also made it a rule that he couldn’t have any electronic devices on the way to the track.
On fitness, we’ve started working on pushups from time to time, which seem to be the standard currency workout for young drivers. We are definitely looking for other opportunities for cardio and endurance, letting him stay and play basketball or other playground sports after school, cycling which he likes, and swimming.
Learning #11 — Use data and camera footage to analyze and improve track performance
Although our kart came with a data logger, and I was able to quickly come to grips with pulling the data and analyzing it, we didn’t have a camera for the first 3 months as we were trying to manage our karting expenses. As it turned out, camera footage from the kart was the standard option for working with Jack to improve his performance, and useful for social media efforts too!
The bigger challenge came in getting the data and onboard footage into our workflow. At the start Jack wasn’t really interested in reviewing stuff, he only wanted to drive the kart. I tried to give him feedback, but although I might have been right, his view was that I wasn’t a driver. Really, he also didn’t want his Dad trying to tell him what to do in his domain at track I think.
He would however listen to those same suggestions from a coach, that’s life, but it is slowly changing now we are getting our ways of working and working relationship established!
We were fortunate to be able to the get data for a fast lap from another kart at our track, and this is something you might look into as well. Getting the lap data file or onboard footage from a parent whose driver is much further along, if possible.
This data provided a good baseline, but it and 99% of my data analysis showed the same things: Jack needed to brake later, and carry more speed through the corners. This was linked to fundamentals rather than that specific corner.
The few times we’ve used a coach, they’ve focused on the camera footage and the fundamentals, and that is what we’ve tried to do also after the coaching session finishes.
Jack has heard enough times to stay near the white line, hit the apex and so on, and that is something we are still working on 1-on-1. I do still pull the data though and I feel that now we’re slowly getting closer to a second off competitive laptime, and the obvious opportunities highlighted by the camera become potentially less, that the data will be even more important in getting those final tenths or couple of tenths here and there.
For now, we are still working with the onboard footage, and I’ve tried to get creative in getting Jack to watch it, putting it on his iPad or even as a private video on his YouTube channel so we can watch at home on the big screen. We’ve also got some good onboards from races and practice sessions, with other faster drivers, and I try to go back to those believing that Jack will begin to notice more and more things now that he is getting more experienced. A tip to always record sessions with the camera, even if you end up deleting them later, you never know when something interesting or useful will happen.
These videos can also help Jack remember what he was doing when he got a personal best that he is trying to repeat or better.
Learning #12 — Watch live and recorded races, practices
Early on, we were given the advice to watch live races from different positions on the track to pick up tips and tricks, overtaking areas and so on.
To be honest at the start, Jack wanted to race, and didn’t want to watch others at all. He definitely didn’t want to do what seemed like “homework” while he was karting.
The idea was to walk around the track and perhaps find high vantage points to view the action. There will be certain corners, such as those before coming onto a straightaway or technical corners that you’ll just need to see with your own eyes and listen (for throttle changes and braking) to really understand what the leaders are doing. When I’ve done this it seems plain as day for me the difference between leaders and others back in the pack. Sometimes, I’ll try to grab a quick video with my phone, but it has been 50/50 whether Jack will really watch and absorb!
For example, Jack would often be coasting through a high-speed corner into a technical turn. When we watched others, they would be going flat with perhaps a 0.5 second lift. You could see and hear the difference. Now I recognize it, I’ve seen the same type of turn at both of the tracks in Houston. I’ve also seen that Jack is doing the same thing in a part of our track that is the same shape when running in reverse direction. If we solve it once we get the benefit three times!
Although we always scramble to be on track with other drivers in our class. I’ve often thought that it might be more valuable to instead let Jack miss part of an open practice session and see with his own eyes what I’ve seen, what other faster drivers are doing. This is something I might experiment with, and we might get much of that value too if Jack was now prepared to watch other cadets/juniors on track in different classes and not have sacrifice our session. The challenge with watching other classes is it might still be easy for Jack to dismiss that as not being the way our kart should be driven.
Watching other drivers and classes is also more useful to us now to find overtaking and defending points on track, which are often common across different classes, and we can literally mark them down on the track map and talk about them. Jack has often made positions at the start but given them back not defending, or frankly in being too much slower. Now that he’s getting faster defending is more important, overtaking too as he gets faster, but also in practice sessions.
Apart from doing this homework live, it’s possible and I’d say something we plan to work on to analyze past race videos or streaming at tracks we have or will compete at. It might also be worth asking your local expert what they look for in these videos, something I plan to do!
Learning #13 — Practice and race on other tracks
Jack seems to more consistently improve after he’s been practicing and racing at other tracks.
Tracks vary all the way from fast and flowing, to small and technical. Our track is probably somewhere in the middle.
It is a generally held view that if you can master more technical tracks, you can be fast anywhere. In my own casual analysis this seems to be true, with leading drivers typically spending a lot of time at one or both of the more technical tracks in Texas.
For us, this is one of the reasons we’ve joined those other tracks and even gotten coaching there since they simply contain technical features that we don’t have at our track. I think Jack has improved after being on those tracks and racing at others since he’s working different “muscles” because of these different track shapes and technical features and the combinations of them. Also, those fast young drivers are often out on track there, particularly when we race so that is a double bonus, we get the benefits of learning the track and from other drivers. Going to other tracks also helps keep practice fresh, even if there are not other young drivers there, and is a way we’re trying to avoid plateauing.
I’ve seen that while drivers at technical tracks have a homefield advantage, our track is one where home track advantage, at least in my experience, is fairly low in terms of pure lap times. Drivers from other tracks can master ours and progress quite quickly from what I’ve seen, but our track has other features that make it a good and exciting place to race, with solid overtaking points.
It actually takes more time, effort and money to visit other tracks, rather than just staying at our home track, but I feel it is well worth it, and is an example of the proactivity and creativity I talked about earlier. Find what works for you, and experiment with different ways to go quicker, faster.
Learning #14 — Understand the significance of big-ticket kart configuration options
The data above seems to show, some quantitative correlation and verification of, what is commonly understood: that a small number of configuration options can make a material difference to lap times, and even get your driver off a plateau in performance.
I’ve talked about new tires already. To say more, I think leaving Jack on old tires too long reinforced bad habits in getting him to slide the back end out around corners rather than learn to control his speed and braking and get used to feeling what doing things the right way felt like on tires that weren’t worn out.
You’ll also want to understand some good tire pressure ranges for each track you drive on, and you can ask the track or other drivers for their recommended starting point. The wrong pressures can easily cost 0.2 seconds per lap or much more in a race situation, and this is something we’re still learning about through trial and error. To actually learn though you have to actively measure and record the cold and hot pressures and keep notes of how changes affect performance. It is something we’re now, after 6 months, paying a lot more attention to, and I’ve started doing the work to record and analyze this, as do all the leading parents/drivers I’ve seen.
Another key configuration item is gearing. You’ll see from the data that when we adjusted the rear sprocket (the “gear” attached to the back axle that the chain goes over) from 80 to 78 for a race at another track, which was right for there and our ability, that potentially worsened Jack’s lap times at our home track when we left that same sprocket on. There are ways to use your logger data to help determine the right sprocket for your track and driver, and can also ask your local expert. In general drivers start higher, and work lower in gearing, on the same track, with added experience and being able to maintain good minimum speed through corners. Higher gearing is better for extra torque / power / acceleration out of corners, while lower gearing generally allows a higher top speed. This also means that, even on the same track, gearing is not set-and-forget, you might need to adjust the gearing down as your driver is improving to unlock the next lowest lap times.
Another complicating factor is that the track never stays the same, even on the same day! The weather has been quite bad in terms of lots of thunderstorms this year so the track often hasn’t been at its best, and lap times for everyone have been slower. It’s possible that your config is right, but you’re not seeing the benefits because of changes in the track and conditions at the time.
You don’t have to understand all of this on day one, but it is good to perhaps show a photo of your data logger session summary screen to others and your local experts and get advice on what rear sprocket should be fitted for where you are right now.
Recently we’ve also adjusted Jack’s brake pedal to make it easier for him to apply full brakes. He’s always braked too lightly so far, and that is an experience thing. We hope this might help him to begin to use full braking more often and get used to that, and early indications show it looks to have helped him, so that is something to bear in mind.
Lastly, the throttle cable can stretch, or the pedal limiter bolt can be too far forward and that can mean the throttle is not fully open when the pedal is fully pushed down. Worth checking as I’d forgotten that our bolt had been adjusted quickly by someone a long while back to stop the engine from cutting out when Jack was flooring it at race starts. We adjusted it back, and told Jack not to slam the pedal but apply it a bit more gradually, and that also seems to have helped our average max RPM straight away.
Although I’ll talk about kart maintenance more in the next section, I wanted to bring up these points here since they can directly affect lap times negatively or positively, might help you get through a plateau, and will certainly keep the driver in their most productive zone, not doubting whether the kart is set up correctly. Then there are no excuses not to focus on the driving and getting better.
Learning #15 — Joining a team might help you go quicker, faster
For most of our time we’ve gone it alone in the sense that Jack and I are the entire team for practice and race weekends. Over time, we’ve found out and seen that it is possible to join a team that provides various services and coaching, which you pay for, and that this can help your driver go quicker, faster.
At the most basic level the team might be a mechanically knowledgeable person who services several drivers under a literal tent (canopy that can have sides). The tent is the place where everyone hangs out and works on their karts, gets ready to race, exchanges information. At the other end of the spectrum, you have professional race teams that have a much bigger staff, and tent, and perhaps even a semi to transport equipment around, and dedicated mechanics for each driver. The tent often provides some sort of coaching and information sharing to between drivers too, as well as acting as a social hub to pass the time on long race weekends.
Our home track doesn’t seem to be as regularly team-centric as other tracks we’ve visited, and is more on an individual basis. Part of that is that our track has a mechanical workshop, spares, kart storage, and store built in whereas at other member-run tracks, often the teams probably sprung up out of necessity since there were few or no services onsite.
Our first experience of a team was tagging along with a well-known and successful one to our first regional race. The first thing I noticed was the performance culture, the drive and focus to win at all levels. There was also a competitive racer in our class within the tent too, so we had the potential to do what others were doing, spurring each other on, sharing knowledge, providing support of all kinds and so on.
The team environment was great for taking what could have been a totally overwhelming experience, and making it manageable yet still full-on, walking us through step by step.
Jack, in hindsight, was too early in his karting experience to take full advantage of the performance improvement aspects. The team also organized meals and we had a dedicated mechanic who not only took care of the kart, but ensured that we were in the right place at the right time, that we met the tech requirements and correctly filled the paperwork for the race, as well as looking at things like tire pressures, gearing and so on.
After that positive experience I nevertheless realized that we were probably not ready to get the benefits of such a professional and performance-oriented team, since Jack was still learning the fundamentals.
Since then, we’ve gone without a team, which means that I’ve had to pick up the mechanical and organizational elements, and we’ve mostly been doing ok with that approach. The caveat of course is that you have to be confident and competent enough on the basic mechanical side for this to work, and of course your (our) race weekend is at risk if something goes wrong mechanically that you can’t fix.
I’m sure we’re also missing out the coaching through the weekend and the motivation that comes from being in a good team. It’s hard to quantify that while he is still on the initial learning curve to clicking, but I know it is something we could really benefit from in future.
Of course, many successful drivers are not part of a team and their parent does the required jobs. If there is one thing I’ve found most with this approach, is that you are the one that has to set everything up and be on the ball with every single aspect of the weekend. This is tiring and sometimes stressful, and I’m sure I’m not optimizing everything and still making lots of mistakes since I’m still learning as well.
The other aspect is that it can be a bit lonely if that’s the right word. Kart races have a lot of down time, and although I’m pretty much an introvert (but professional extrovert) I think I’d value the camaraderie aspect of the team. I compensate for that by chatting to my neighbors at the track and now we are getting to meet and know more people, so we can walk around and not feel too isolated. Other parents of drivers we are most competitively nearest to often drop by and vice versa, we go visit them for a chat, and perhaps some tips.
Over time, I’ve also now seen different types of teams in operation and there is something at really every level from basic to advanced, with cost structures to match.
I feel that we might have gone quicker, faster if our home track had been more team-centric, and/or there had been more young drivers in our class, which those two things probably go hand in hand a little too, and we’d been able to do group practices and the like.
As we think about planning for next year, and our first national races it’s now a job to find out more likely which team, rather than if we’ll be working with one.
Learning #16 — Get creative look at cross training and skill accelerators from other fields
This learning is more of an emerging one. I’ve recognized that it should be an opportunity but haven’t yet explored and experimented with cross-training and skill accelerators much.
I know from my original career as a management consultant that there are significant benefits in looking at what other companies are doing, perhaps even in other industries, and then selectively applying that to your organization’s situation, generating new ideas and real value. Sometimes it’s easy, and the default, to do what you’ve always done even if there are better options and approaches out there.
Obviously, this idea of cross training and sharing ideas also applies in sports too, as the popularity of sports autobiographies and content shows. You can and should learn from the best, even if in a different sport, or even if you’re not a sportsperson at all.
We’ve looked at karting videos and these have been quite useful and as I’ve tried to come up with new ideas for us. For example, we’ve tried techniques like one-handed driving, and also doing practice sessions that are twice race distance to build endurance.
I’ve also thought about things like cross training and accelerated learning.
I recently read champion tennis player John McEnroe’s autobiography and in it he describes living through a transition period where tennis players used to train physically only by playing a lot of tennis, to when players started going to the gym and cross-training to help them on court. It has never gone back to the old way. This cardio and endurance training is also quite common in karting, recognizing that karting time alone is not enough to develop the levels of fitness and endurance required so this is something we’re investigating at the moment.
Another form of cross-training is sim racing, and something we’ve started working on, focusing on improving Jack’s racecraft, specifically overtaking, instead of the physical aspects of karting, which sims can’t really replicate.
We’re only at the start of this learning journey. I know that learning itself is a key foundation of creativity down the track. We’ll invest time now to learn and work out the principles of why and what drives performance on track.
Most accelerated learning techniques seem to involve learning or deriving these principles of what you’re doing, and also learning how to self-correct. This self-correction is something we’re starting to see when Jack looks back at his own videos, he knows some of what he should be doing differently (using the whole track, and not coasting), so the gap is just then applying that knowledge to what he actually does on track
To add to this, I’d also say that we are beginning to work on experimentation to support how to look for opportunities and learn on track. This first seemed like a revelation, when a coach first suggested that Jack himself had to work out the best braking zones and feel the control through the corner by trying different things, when before a coach would put a cone down at the suggested braking point, which is probably the right way at the start.
I’ve tried to remind him about and reinforce this experimentation approach, and help Jack break out of simply repeating the same thing, he’s good with consistency, but one that is sub-optimal. He’ll learn that there are different ways of approaching things and it’s his job to experiment, find out and learn.
Another random factoid, our track had a table tennis table in the members room for a while, apparently a great way to build better reaction times. I wonder whether perhaps playing some computer games (not only driving games) that also require fast reactions might help Jack’s driving?
Section 3. Kart maintenance — find the Zen and do it anyway
It would be fair to say that I was a bit intimidated the first time I visited the pit and paddock areas of a karting track on race day.
Jack and I had been used to the cool hum of air conditioning at the indoor electric rentals track, and not having any mechanical stuff to mess with. Then we jumped into the blaring Texas Summer heat, with gas engines revving at ear splitting volumes, and adults busily tinkering with and wrenching karts on stands.
For some, what I just described might sound like heaven, but without any type of mechanical or motorsports background it seemed like a million miles away from my comfort zone. What’s more it probably revealed that long ago, although I had a job programming computers and that type of engineering, I didn’t see myself as mechanical at all.
Would I ever be one of those dads with a wrench in one hand and an impact gun in the other?
I was more than dubious at the time, but six months later, yes is the answer, and it happened, like most changes, step by step and because I had to.
First, I had to decide it was important to do it, then I started small, recognized the inevitability of needing basic mechanical skills, and found the Zen in that. Instead of being an observer I was part of the process, and perhaps more importantly, a more central part of the team.
Learning #17 — Find the Zen and get stuck in
One of the limiting factors when we began karting was my blocker of not seeing myself as mechanical. I was even probably a little intimidated by the kart and engine. Worried the wheels would literally fall off or I’d break something.
This is natural in the short term, but not helpful or I’d say sustainable even in the long term even if later you get a team and/or mechanic to help you. If you want to get better results then you need to learn more about what you’re doing, and the kart is a key part of that. I can say from experience that it is totally learnable too, most of what you do is only a few key things. And if you have a small set of the right tools, this is totally doable. Of course I can and do go to the mechanics at our track for help and advice, but I no longer want them to do it for me, if possible I want to take control and be empowered to do it myself.
The first ever mechanical advice I got from an experienced hand at our first regional race was to keep the kart clean! Initially I put that down to some neat-freak tendencies but quickly learned when I was covered in stains and they weren’t that it’s better to have the grease on a cloth than yourself.
It’s also true that if you want anyone to help with your kart it better be clean. Don’t worry they will tell you as well, and also good-naturedly guilt you into cleaning it through peer pressure.
It was only later that I came to understand that cleaning is a maintenance technique.
Going over every aspect of the kart lets you see what things are supposed to look like when they’re right, and importantly by contrast to notice when they’re not.
Bits get loose and even fall off through normal racing vibration and the like, and definitely in situations where your driver has gone off track or been involved in an incident with another driver.
Instead of rushing through cleaning, a slower more deliberate and methodical approach works best, you can finger test bolts and re-tighten as necessary, and check that safety clips and fasteners are present. More than just performance and safety, and we shouldn’t need other reasons, there are “tech” inspections in racing that sometimes might find these issues and might cause a problem for your race, so better to go over the kart in practice, and as you go through the weekend.
More than just all the benefits of checking the kart, and there are many, I’ve come to understand the so-called Zen aspects of kart maintenance. That you train your mind to be present and unhurried, that you feel at one with the kart, rather than intimidated by it.
This is really key as I began to do basic maintenance on the kart, beginning with changing tires and moving on to changing the gearing. If you rush then you’ll make mistakes and that can cause an issue. Having your tools organized and a certain routine for where you put bolts, washers and nuts you take off the kart is key too otherwise you’ll lose those bits (have spares anyway). Tip: look out for hidden washers!
Knowing what tools to use when is important, even whether to use a wrench or impact driver for a certain task. For example, finger tightening wheel nuts then using a socket can be more effective, although slower, than using the impact driver because there is less risk of damaging the wheel hub.
Although images of Pat Norita (Mr Miyagi) in the original Karate Kid movie come to mind when I talk about Zen, or even bald-headed monks, Zen, at least in my interpretation of being present and deliberate and trying to minimize your own ego, does have a place in Karting, especially in the hectic rough and tumble environment of the track.
Learning #18 — Acquire a minimal set of the right tools
For the first three months, the only tools I needed were a small Phillips head screwdriver to remove the data logger battery for charging, a hex multi-tool from my road bike, to adjust the onboard camera arm, and a drip charger for the kart battery. Since we were at our home track, I was able to use the combined air inflator/gauge there, and the workshop changed the tires for me, that was pretty much that, apart from a regular squirt of chain lube before we put the kart away.
It was not until the end of April this year, about 4–5 months in, and ahead of our fifth race, that I first bought some tools. For that race I decided that I’d do the basic mechanical stuff myself, rather than hire a mechanic or join a team.
The first thing to keep in mind, that I hadn’t thought about initially, was that given our kart and engine were made in Italy/Europe, as many are, all the tools for it would be metric sizes, rather than the standard (SAE) in the US. But then things like the bolts used to attach weights and various other things are inches!
My minimal shopping list was:
- A quality and reasonably priced, but not top end, digital tire gauge with a bleed button from a reputable manufacturer. Note that our portable inflator and ones at tracks all read slightly differently so this gauge was our source of truth
- Portable rechargeable tire inflator
- Cordless ¼” hex impact driver. To change wheels etc. There are other bigger, heavier and more expensive sizes but this was more than enough. I bought 3/8 sockets and used an adapter, which stays in the driver
- Impact grade socket adaptor set (mainly use ¼ to 3/8 adaptor)
- 10mm rachet wrench
- 10mm deep sockets (3/8” drive to match impact driver w adaptor)
- Various sized hex bits metric to use with driver (only use 2–3 of these)
- Various metric wrench set (only use 2–3 of these)
- T-handle hex set metric (only use 2–3 of these)
- An electric liquid (fuel) transfer pump
- Backup fuel funnel in case electric one breaks
- Permanent white “paint” pen to mark kart number on tires, batteries etc as per tech
- Black heavy duty disposable mechanics gloves 8mm
- Spark plug socket (also needed for tech)
- Spring puller tool for removing exhaust (also needed for tech)
You’ll find that you only use a small subset of tools for most of the common tasks. I discovered this, and was putting this small subset of tools in a reusable grocery bag, then putting that in a cheap widely available tool bag. Now I’ve evolved to put the commonly used tools, and frequently used spares, in a karting toolbox that opens at the top and has drawers, then putting the bigger items in the tool bag. I didn’t invent the idea but: a place for everything and everything in its place, rather than a jumbled mess and spending half my time finding where I put that wrench.
I also use foldable camping/party table as my work surface, which is critical to keep everything organized. We’ve also gotten a 10x10ft portable pop-up canopy/tent, which is essential for working in the hot Texas summer, and occasional rains.
Just to finish off on gear we’ve also got two inexpensive steel auto jacks/stands, and a trailer jack with double wheel, which we use with rental trailers, so we can use the trailer as a base and store what we don’t need at the time. Plus, to wheel the kart on its stand in there overnight on race weekends, without having to have the towing vehicle attached.
If it’s not obvious, my approach to karting has been to postpone buying something, where possible, until we’ve proven we need it, and not having it is holding us back.
So it has been with trailers. We don’t have a truck, so we’ve fitted a trailer hitch to our SUV, and rented trailers so far. This is also since we don’t have anywhere to store a trailer at our house, except on the street overnight.
This has worked ok as most of our time we store our kart at the home track, but with ever more races it has become a real time-sink getting and returning the trailer, not always having one with a ramp, forgetting to load something in the trailer, and having to completely unload the trailer each time we use it.
Learning #19 — Learning basic maintenance tasks empowers your racing
I’ve already mentioned how some big-ticket setup adjustments are often necessary to unlock lap times, particularly as you go to different tracks, and your driver gets more experienced.
While you could pay someone to do these changes or rely on the kindness of others, I believe there is a bigger topic here about self-reliance and education, that supports why you should learn how to make these setup changes yourself, even if you eventually do get a mechanic and/or join a team.
For me personally, I couldn’t justify the cost of travelling with a mechanic to local races, and I sensed that if we really wanted to spread our wings and go racing at different tracks then without basic knowledge, we’d be much less likely to. It would hold us back.
We’d probably have found excuses for why practice or racing at different tracks wasn’t necessary, and done much less or none of that to our detriment.
For member-run tracks, as compared with business run ones, we’ve found that often there might not be anybody there at all when you are at track.
This is often seen as a selling point since you can often come earlier and stay later, but at the same time even something as simple a problem as flooding the engine can end your session before you start. It happened to us, but luckily we were able to call the shop at our home track and have them talk us through it. Now I’ve learned some techniques to deal with that.
The real tipping point for me, to have to learn more mechanical stuff, was that after 4–5 months we were about to enter our first regional race weekend without a mechanic and the forecast was for rain.
I knew that I couldn’t just bring our dry setup there and hope for the best as we had at a citywide race at the same track a few weeks earlier. It had gone great and we’d had fun, and it was only later that I found out that we had too high a sprocket on and that likely cost us lap times and places.
Rain means changing tires at a minimum, and also different gearing. The fact that the conditions would be changeable would mean that I wouldn’t only need to do the setup changes once, but over and over, if we hoped to be competitive. I got a mechanic at our local track to show me how to do the changes and I performed the steps myself with them watching, and then I was off and running, and did the steps at least 4–5 times by myself over the weekend!
I felt so proud of myself, nothing wrong with that, except I probably let my newly minted ego get ahead of my ability and shearing off a stud on Jack’s wheel through overtightening the following week brought me quickly back to earth!
Here are some basic tasks I picked up:
· Fuel. Checking you have the right type given the tech regulations for the race. Mixing the fuel as applicable (our engine requires fuel and oil mix). Remembering to fuel the kart to the right amount, not too much or little. Ensuring that I had a process/habit to check the gas cap was screwed back on properly after each fill! Also have a spare gas cap
· Tire pressure and changing. Monitor and check/set through day based on conditions. Tire Pressure is one area where there are many many opinions, get a trusted opinion for each track and type of conditions. Expand your knowledge and experience over time based on trial and error and what your driver requires. Learn how to change the wheels having new or different tires already fitted, and as a more advanced topic how to fit and change tires on the wheels using the special tool, or as I’ve seen, other wheels as levers
· Cleaning the kart. As discussed earlier. Also learn how to wash the kart off with a hose properly when driver went off track in rain, for example, without shooting water into the wrong places
· Warming the kart on the stand safely before going to grid. A cold engine might not start correctly on grid, and your driver risks flooding the engine trying to start it, and them getting flustered and perhaps missing part or all of a session
· Dealing with a flooded carburetor or starting issue. There are at least 3 or more different things to try if engine doesn’t start on the stand or grid. Learn those!
· Picking the right gearing and making changes. Learn how to change back and/or front sprockets (also depending on your type of kart/engine)
· Checking the weights. Kart races set minimum weight for kart and driver by class. Need to be able to adjust that balance, according to specific scale and requirements at that track, while still leaving a safety buffer so not underweight (and potentially penalty or DQ) when you’ve used up fuel to lowest levels
· Tech sheet. Be able to understand and walk through tech sheet, or at least get some help to fix kart for minimum tech standards: washers, bolts, zip ties, labelling, locking pins etc.
· Know default carburetor settings and how to set. Know how to reset engine carburetor “dials” back to default and/or preferred settings. These can get knocked or a common approach is to close these in case of flooded engine. A more advanced topic is how to optimize these for different conditions and performance based on data from kart data logger and other principles
· How to prepare for rain. Including shielding air filter, drying air filter etc. Also it’s worth having a rain suit, changes of clothes and spare gloves and even shoes for your driver, and for yourself
This is a basic list of what I’ve covered off in the first six months. Other tasks include adjusting or fixing the rear axle, and also adjusting the width of the front which we haven’t gotten to yet! There is always something new to learn, and to be honest I’m looking forward to the learning, especially if we don’t have to first learn from a mistake we’ve made!
Lastly, our engine package the IAME Mini Swift 2-stroke engine needs to be rebuilt on a regular interval based on the number of hours you use it, and that can take time so you’ll need to plan if that applies to you. We recently got caught out when our engine took longer to be finished and we missed valuable practice time. Many racers have one or more other engines for this, and other reasons. Some run a spare engine as a practice engine, and have a newly refreshed other as a race engine. This also gives them a spare at a race weekend in case they encounter a larger problem. Some, have other classes of engines that let them practice and race in those classes and in other series. All things to think about.
Other parents have offered to sell us their spares when their kids move up classes, so that might be an option for you to ask around about also. Either way we’re at the stage of needing to acquire a backup engine if we’re to keep moving up in our racing.
Learning #20 — Having basic spares will keep you racing
This is fairly self-explanatory, but since the kart doesn’t usually come with spares (ours didn’t at all), I guess unless you buy a used complete package with your kart with spares (possible), you’ll have to acquire a basic set over time, including:
- Wheel nuts
- Wheel hub, studs etc.
- Rear sprockets and front drivers of common sizes for different tracks you race, and to take into account improved driver skills
- Chain
- The various washers, particularly those that often drop on the ground when you’re working
- Fuel cap, and the bolt that attaches fuel tank to chassis
- Steering rods
- Steering column
- Any spare washers or bits for camera mount
- Rain tires
- Fuel and oil. Might needs different types if compete across locations or series
- Weights
- “C”/angel clips and other fasteners required for tech inspection
- Spark plugs of the right types for summer and winter. Also worth trying replacing the spark plug, we’ve heard, if getting strange readings from your data logger, or driver reports engine “funny”
There are many many others, and people will often carry multiple spares of each, you can ask a mechanic or other knowledgeable person what spares you’ll need for your particular kart. More advanced drivers might also have multiple chassis in their stock too.
In addition, you’ll need to stay on top of tire wear and requirements around new tires for race weekends.
Often it is mandated, we’ve found, that you’ll have to use a single brand-new set of tires from qualifying onwards in a race weekend. These will often be scanned and registered earlier in the race weekend, and checked when you come off track. Many drivers and teams use multiple new sets of tires in the weekend, so the driver can dial in to that specific level of grip, rather than adjusting their style to worn out tires, then have to adjust again for new ones and not quite getting there soon enough.
Obviously, the cost of tires really adds up and we’ve been mostly trying to run two sets of wheels, one with practice tires and one with new or newer ones. We look ahead and see if we can keep the newer tires for a few smaller races’ qualifying and main events, and really use the practice ones up, Then the old practice ones become new, and the former race tires are practice, and so on. Despite this, knowing the difference new rubber often makes, it has become tempting for me to replace tires more frequently, at a cost.
Learning #21 — Deepening technical knowledge will take you further
Your kart and engine will likely have a user manual and it’s worth taking at least a quick flick through these as they will contain useful information e.g. default carburetor settings, and the proper names for engine parts. These names helped in communicating with mechanics and others, and learning them shows a bit of effort. I don’t know perhaps it’s like when they say if you travel to a foreign country, you should at least learn a few words of the local language. Even if it’s not enough for a whole conversation it will help get you where you need to get to, and it shows a positive intent that you’ve made an effort, and people will help you.
On my list at the moment is to dig into a lot more on how temperature, humidity and other conditions affect tire pressures and carburetor settings, for example. There are also other more advanced setup changes like changing the front and rear width, camber and castor which I want to look into as well.
This is not just learning for learnings sake, which I do enjoy actually, but because I believe it will help us go quicker, faster. If we learn more, and work harder we should be able to close the gap to the leaders, and at the moment that is our focus.