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How
to Become a Karting Rain Master.
How to learn to love karting in the wet and
whoop everyone else.
Karting in the wet is the ultimate way to learn how
a kart works, and how to become a super-sensitive kart driver.
The other great thing about the wet karting is that it will magnify
any driving problems you have, so you can spot them easily and
nail them straight away.
When you get the hang of these techniques you will be laughing,
because the first rule about wet karting is that nobody else knows
what the hell is going on. Half the karters on the grid won't
have a clue where to brake, so you'll be out-braking all of them.
Ok, let's get into the details of karting in the wet. A little focus, a little patience, and you'll get there. Like with most sports and video, computer, board or bingo games - if you put in the practice and apply yourself, you'll be a champion in no time. No one will want to challenge you!
First off, driving in the wet is completely different to driving
in the dry. Pretty much at every circuit the fastest racing line
is different, and frankly quite weird and counter-intuitive. Why?
Two reasons.
1) Similar to most circuit racing, the dry line is covered in
rubber which is a bit greasy when wet- therefore the less used
parts of the track which are cleaner have more grip.
2) The way karts work requires you to take a very late entry into
a corner.
I am going to talk about high speed corners, mid speed corners
and low speed corners separately.
Low speed corners
Braking
Let's say the first corner you encounter is at the end of the
straight, and it's pretty tight. First thing you need to do is
brake, and you need to learn the latest braking point the same
as you would in the dry. You may even find it isn't much different
to the dry braking point. So you already have an advantage over
all the fools who won't practice karting in the wet.
The key to braking in the wet is getting the tyre to bite without
locking, you need to be super-sensitive and you need to be quick
to release braking pressure when you feel the wheels about to
lock.
Turning in
Karts don't like to go round corners in the wet. And to get them
to turn you need to get the inside rear tyre off the ground, or
the damn kart will just run straight on.
Here's the technique:
Brake a little later than usual, and plan to run wide and deep
into the corner. Turn the wheel to full lock in a really purposeful
aggressive way. You want to almost surprise the kart, in a split
second you go from a straight wheel to full lock. The kart will
almost ignore you, then when you lose enough speed it will bite
and turn sharply. Normally to encourage the kart to turn you can
lean forward to the outside front wheel. By now you are so deep
in the corner you will be on the cleaner more grippy part of the
circuit, and have better traction to accelerate away. Once the
kart has turned you need to sit back to get weight over those
back tyres for traction. Carefully feed in the throttle to avoid
wheelspin.
High speed corners. karting in the wet is about traction....lose
the wheelspin
Understeer in fast corners in the wet is quite nice, so just
drive the kart through the corner nice and smooth. You shouldn't
need to lean forward or do anything drastic with the wheel. Just
make sure you get all your power down and avoid wheelspin. The
line shouldn't be a lot different to that in the dry.
Mid Speed Cornering
This is where you will need to use a mixture of techniques. Usually
there will be a different racing line for the wet, normally a
wide line is preferable. You will probably need to be aggressive
on turn in, but a faster corner may need a less aggressive approach.
You may need to lean to the outside front wheel, but maybe not.
I know, I'm being vague. This is why you need to get out on a
wet track and I would strongly advise that you get a driver coach
to watch you in the wet.
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