Regulations

When it comes to go kart races organised by official governing bodies, safety is paramount and never compromised. This is especially pertinent as the competition at such events is fierce.

Thus, when purchasing equipment, you have to bear in mind what purpose you need your apparel for. For this reason, most people will have a set of overalls, shoes, gloves, etc for practise purposes, and another set for competition purposes. Repeated use will wear down the fabric, especially around the crotch and joints.

So, let us take a look at the regulations:

SMSA events
- Flame Resistant Clothing
1) All participants must wear racing overalls homologated to FIA, FIA/CIK or SFI.
Thus it is very important to check the apparel provider with the list of approved companies. The list can be obtained from the FIA website. Many retailers profess FIA certification when they really just mean that they conform to the regulations but ARE NOT certified. The onus is upon yourself to check or you will be barred from taking part in events
Furthermore certification will expire, and this to you will have to check with the certification body. I.e. FIA/ CIK / SFI

2) Gloves must be homologated to FIA 8856-2000

3) Shoes must be homologated to FIA 8856-2000

4) Helmets must be homologated to FIA8860-2004 or SNELL SA 2005 / SNELL SA 2000, or SFI31.1A / SFI31.2A or BS6658-85 type A/FR


For your reference always check the certification bodies:

SFI Foundation Inc. - http://www.sfifoundation.com/
Federation Internationale de l'Automobile – http://www.fia.com
CIK/FIA - http://www.cikfia.com
Snell Memorial Foundation - http://www.smf.org/
SMSA – http://www.smsa.org.sg/
www.obracing.sg

Safe Overtaking

Here is an introduction to overtaking techniques around the circuit.
When attempting to overtake, you can either outbreak a driver into a corner or you can pass a driver around the outside.

However, attempting to outbreak a driver into a corner, poses some danger. Many accidents involving colisions with other vehicles occur in this scenario; especialy when the driver attempting to outbreak the driver misjudges his opponent's speed or if he/ she is trying to " force" his/her way in which, is really very unethical and inconsiderate driving.

Always be mindful of the driver infront of you and how he/ she would react. You have to remember that go karts have no side mirrors and so the driver in front of you cannot see you coming up behind.

The rule of thumb is that when coming down a straightaway side by side, you must go along side the driver that you are passing, so the driver alongside you can see you before he actually starts to turn in to the corner, so get along side and that then becomes your corner before coming in to the apex.

When going into the apex, if you intend to step on the break, do it while in a straight line. Once you have begun your turn and if you then brake, the kart mght spin out. If you don't brake and you don't reduce your speed on entering that corner on a very tight angle then there is the risk that you will understeer, run out of circuit and collide with the tyre wall on the other side.

Just to reiterate, always about the driver in front of you, give them ample space to react allow for the fact they don't know you're there.

Safe Cornering

Cornering is THE area where a good racer distinguishes himself/ herself from a great one.
Here are some techniques that will assist you in clocking in some lap times and doing it safely.

When cornering, always remember to keep the engine revs as quick as possible. This means using the entire width of the circuit to get your kart through. When entering the corner, keep to the far side of the track until you see the apex. When you see your turning point, gently turn the kart across the whole idth of the turn and maintain a smooth acceleration. This keeps the kart at maximum speed as well as helping you get a better grip on the circuit for better control.

Before setting yourself up for the next corner, always remember that the shortest route in to the corner is not necessarily the fastest route out. It's imperative that you maintain a smooth a drive as possible and if you're going to use the brake at all, brake before entering the corner and turning otherwise the kart will spin and you will be out of control and valuable time will be lost.

Forming your own training program

Once you have your own kart what do you do?
You could drive it in circles on weekends.
You could just mess around with it in your spare time.
OR, you could seriously think about how you want to improve your skills at the sport and embark on a training program.

There are two aspects to this; knowing your kart, fitness and driving skills.

Driving skills will allow you to perform as close to perfection as is possible to how you visualise your drive on the circuit to be.

That said, before embarking on a training session, you should walk the track, and even get a map of the circuit to better envision how you would drive the circuit. This will help you to picture the "perfect" lap and how to tackle challenges and the corners in a circuit.

Racing lines: The ideal line is the route which your vehicle must take to minimise the time spent to complete a lap. Corners are the features to take note of, as it is because of these that the racer has to consider how to minimise the time spent in the corner and how to maximise the speed of your vehicle. The shortest distance however, does not translate into the faster time.

When cornering, maintaining the faster speed will more than make up for a longer distance travelled. Thus, fitting the turn with the wider radius into the corner and maintaining a higher speed will make for a faster lap than trying to fit a turn with the smallest radius. This is because a tighter turn will require a lower speed to retain control or risk spinning out.

A driver can choose a early or late apex, or the ideal line. An early apex is to turn into a corner before reaching the apex of a turn, and vice versa. Whatever the approach, whether drifting into a turn, or whatever, the objective is to hit the apex, in order to minimise the distance and maximise the speed taken for the route that you have chosen. Hitting the apex means to go close on the inside lane of the tightest part of a turn.

In order to attain the optimal line, the vehicle will be positioned on the outside of the track prior to the corner and head towards the apex when embarking on the turn. After the turn, the vehicle is positioned towards the outside of the track, allowing for the straightest line upon exit.

A late apex takes advantage of greater speed coming into the turn while an early apex takes advantage of the longer approaching straight to accelerate. Choosing which is dependent on what obstacles lay ahead or before the turn.

Other considerations like tyre compounds and weight also have to be taken into consideration.

Steering: This is one of the main inputs the driver gives to the kart, and the way in which you handle the steering wheel has a direct effect on how the kart behaves. For example, under wet conditions, you have to be aggressive with the steering wheel to induce the kart into a proper turn. Also, situations such as drifting also requires an ability to read situations and react with the proper input to the steering wheel.

Braking: Braking is another fundamental part of driving a kart, especially when turning into corners. As with racing lines, there is an optimum line to take when braking, and this varies according to the track that you're driving on. Generally, braking should be done early, and be completed upon entry into a turn.

However, in a technique such as trail braking, a continuous light brake is applied at a point after your normal braking point when going into a turn. This braking action is maintained throughout the turn up until the apex. This will increase traction to the front wheels but decrease traction to the rear wheels, and also reduces understeer. It may also be used to induce oversteer, to take a tighter turn. In any case, this technique it used to enable a vehicle to enter a corner at a higher speed while maintaining control.

The brake drift is a technique where a momentary full on application of the brake causes the vehicle to lose rear traction and oversteer. The objective again, is to shift weight to the front wheels and enable the vehicle to enter a corner with a higher speed while maintaining control.

Kart Like Uncle Lewis

Here is a pretty good concise video highlighting some of the things to take note of to practise to improve your go karting skills. It's always useful to have these points repeated and drummed into you.

Auto Racing:How To Go Kart Like Lewis Hamilton

SEATS

The seat is not just a plastic bucket in which to place your bottom.
It is an integral part of the go kart. Aside from holding your ass and preventing it from being scraped against the ground at 60km/h, it is one of the main turning components on the main chasis.

The go kart has no suspension. It is a rigid metal frame with some ability to flex. This flexing is crutial to controlling your kart, or else the only direction you can go is straight ahead. The chasis must flex for the kart to turn into corners; this flexing also impacts the seat and it flexes too.

I.e. if the seat is too still, it restricts the chasis from flexing properly. This will cause the chasis to "bind up" and slow you down.

Some seats allow more flex, and it all goes down into what it is made of. One of the more advanced seats i have seen is a brand called Ribtect, which optimises the flex of the seat with a special layering of materials. The layering of materials used to construct the seat allows it to flex along two diagonal axies, like a letter X. 6 uni directional carbon fiber strips are used to connect the seat from all corners and then the seat is layered with a composite fiberglass, to enhance the cross-flex ability.

What one would ideally want a seat to do is to flex with the kart when the vehicle turns and the inside rear tyre must lift off. This will allow a better feel into the corner and a better launch out of the corner, and thus imporving lap times.

Happy new year

During the new year, OBR car decal was seen around Krabi!

It took a 12 hour drive to give you this picture.