Here’s a question posted by a serious kart racer who developed a problem with making clean overtaking moves

Hey Terence,

I’ve got a serious problem that I hope that you can help me with. I’ve got the butterfiles after I attempted a big time outbraking move and ended up flipping my kart over onto my head! Now that I am thinking about it, I have had more than one incident where I have been overtaking someone by braking very late and I end up making contact with the other kart.

Now I got so many jitters that I can’t even make any good passes on anyone. So far, we have been really quick, but the accident has my mind all screwed up and I need some help overtaking so I don’t end up making contact with someone on bold moves again! Possibly I didn’t leave enough space? Apparently, I haven’t been giving enough room to make the passes safe, but what do you say?

Thanks

My first reply:-

Sounds interesting….. Can you describe what goes through your mind when you know you can pass someone? Do you think about making a move or do you just go for it? Sometimes just going for it can be a problem and sometimes thinking too much can be the problem….so paint me a picture of how it all happens from your point of view in the seat….then maybe we can figure out how the jitters work and so on, and maybe you can get close to fixing it.

Hey again,

When I make a pass, I usually look for the easiest ways around at first. I try to get a good run out of the corners by driving smoothly and hitting the apexes/powering up early and such. Then if I have enough momentum, I dive to the inside while we are accelerating down the straightaway (or outside if they are blocking).

Then I brake as late as possible to complete the pass. IF that doesn’t work, I either

A. Wait for them to make a mistake
or
B. Dive bomb, pulling to the inside from behind the other kart as soon as possible and braking really late, advancing my kart a few feet into position.

Option B is very risky and when I want the pass, I will do it at any cost, however, B is what got me on my head in the last race, and nobody was making mistakes so A wasn’t working too well. Usually, when I pass, I try to assert myself strong enough so that they can see me. The only thing I worry about is if they can see me.

If I know I’m in a strong position, then I know they can see me and I feel that I can make the pass well. The only thing is that when I do make these dive bombs, I seem to get too close to the other kart, so I need to be able to find a way to get more space without running into the other kart. Should I work on my corner exits more to open up more passing opportunities, because I think if I can do that, it may make passing a little easier.

By the way, I was a strong 3-4 tenths faster than the driver in front of me when I had the accident, so I was really impatient to get held back by him. Any Ideas so that I can pass better? I think maybe I don’t think about the move before I make it and I think that is my main problem. What do you think?

Thanks.
My second reply

This is a little bit tricky because you can make the problem yourself, just by thinking about it too much…..the biggest help I can think of is to look into the gap that you want to drive into when passing, and not the driver you are passing…. and maybe choose a favourite passing place that you reserve for making 100% certain passes on each track, and if you find yourself feeling compromised then be patient and plan to make the pass at your favourite corner.

I understand you may already be thinking that you do all that already, and that the problem is more detailed. Here’s another tip – gentle braking

I know it doesnt sound like my usual braking advice, but it can help you make passes especially if you might need to turn the wheel whilst braking. For example, if you want to pass a guy into a hairpin, but you can’t get alongside him and have to make a lunge at him, the temptation is to wait longer to brake and jump on the pedal, which is fine but sometimes ends in tears.

So instead, brake around the usual time but gently so that you carry more speed in the braking zone, which could be enough to get you alongside the other guy, you may also be able to turn the wheel gently to make an early turn into the corner….. its hard to explain but can you get an idea of what i mean? Using this method means you can pass the guy during braking, but requires that you have a super sensitive feel, because you need to gently turn the kart into the corner whilst braking on a very tight line.

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