Surveying and analysing the track needn’t take long, and the pay off can be huge when it comes to your race performance. Whether you choose to get hold of and study a track map or walk around the track yourself, be sure to incorporate an analysis of the track into your pre-race routine. A track map is a fairly simple document, offering a bird’s eye view of the race track and documenting the shape and details of the track, including its straights, corners, start and the direction of travel. Many track maps also give a short description of the track’s defining qualities and difficulty level. Average lap time, track length and track capacity are also usually noted. If you can, be sure to get hold of a track map. Do this as far in advance of the race as possible. Take a look at the racing centre’s website, as many companies post track maps online. Some even host videos, taken from a kart, of a driver completing a lap of the track. If such a video is available, make sure to view it several times until you get a feel for the track.

Studying a track map will enable you to make strategic decisions in advance of the race. During a qualifying or practice session on the track, be sure to concentrate fully and be as conscious of your actions as possible. Where are you breaking? Where are you changing gears? What will you do differently when it comes to the big race? What have you learnt about the track? Practice and qualifying sessions are also ideal for staking out the best spots to pass other karts. Where are the areas of opportunity? Imagine the line you would drive in an overtaking situation and practice it a few times.

After a one-hour classroom training session, your group of just four drivers is given a multiple-choice test. The test will measure your understanding of the various signal flags that can be shown during a race and assess your appreciation of the safety aspects of racing.

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Change Your Attitude

It’s rare that someone can win all of the time so don’t automatically think of yourself as a failure if you were soundly beaten in a particular qualifying session or race. It’s how you deal with these defeats that determines whether you will become successful or not. Don’t beat yourself for having ‘failed’ and instead accept that you are only human and are bound to have a bad day every so often.

Believe in Yourself

Having a few ‘off’ days over the course of a season doesn’t make you any less of a karter. After a bad race weekend, it’s tempting to see it as a sign that you’re not cut out for serious karting and your self belief may well start to disintegrate. This can happen to the best of sportsmen, but they maintain enough self belief to move on from the setback without it being any more than a temporary blip in confidence.

Work Out What Went Wrong

If you had a poor result because of a personal error (as opposed to a mistake by your team or another competitor), chalk this up as a costly mistake and learn from it. In many situations, you’ll learn more from your mistakes than your successes. Although it’s obviously disappointing not to win, a loss gives you a greater chance to look objectively at your strengths and weaknesses and work on any areas that are currently weaker than others. As it’s highly likely that you won’t do this when you’re on a winning streak or claiming podiums, you can look on it as an opportunity to help yourself develop as a karter.

Don’t Dwell on the Disappointment

For some people, disappointment can be a feeling that lasts for more than a day or two but you need to overcome it more quickly than that if you’re going to pick yourself up and move on. Once you’ve analysed what went wrong over the race weekend, it’s important that you don’t continuously think about the shortcomings as this will encourage the disappointment to linger on. You can’t go back and alter what happened in that particular race or qualifying session, but you can affect the outcome of future race weekends – and your attitude can play just as bigger part in this as your actual karting.

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You will also have to think about how to modify your driving style and strategy to suit the track’s surface and to make allowance for the current weather conditions. Race strategy is not simply a matter of tackling each hurdle as you come to it. For this reason, it can be particularly helpful to create and note down a strategic race plan. How can you best achieve an effective start? At which points on a track are you most skilled at overtaking others? These are the sorts of questions that can help you to formulate a successful plan.

This generic plan should be relatively flexible, enabling you to modify it for a variety of race scenarios. Be sure to practise your strategic plan as frequently as possible. This is a sure-fire way to minimise race day stress. If you arrive at the track in the pouring rain, for example, it need not spell disaster for your nerves. Simply adapt your plan to accommodate the wet track surface. You will also be able to fine tune your strategic plan on race day, when it comes to assessing the track. Have your plan clearly in mind when analysing the track map and tailor it to your needs. Whilst a well-practiced race plan can prove invaluable, it is important to use your intuition too. Visualisation can be a go kart driver’s best friend.

Before hitting the tarmac, it is important to have a critical overview of the track in question and to imagine and feel yourself racing it, deciding on and carrying out all necessary manoeuvres. Take every opportunity to drive or race in different conditions and to experience a variety of race situations. Familiarise yourself with the process of thinking ahead, making decisions and implementing them. For example, learn what it feels like to drive on a wet surface, until wet driving becomes almost instinctive.

Those who achieve the most success as a result of race strategy usually call upon their brain and their gut in equal measure. Always be prepared to race and have a clear idea of how to tackle the track but do not be afraid to deviate from your plans now and then.

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Experts, however, contest this quick fix and highlight the gradual nature of the process of learning to overtake. We take a look at the recommended steps to success.

What Prevents a Driver From Overtaking?

First of all, it is important to understand the common factors that stop drivers from overtaking. Fear is the main culprit. It can consume a driver’s concentration throughout the race and fill their mind with ‘what ifs’. Drivers imagine colliding, spinning and going wide. This sense of fear is compounded when it comes to overtaking. Inhabiting an alien part of the track puts the driver on alert and they enter survival mode. This frame of mind often means that drivers opt for safety and self preservation over risk and forego opportunities to overtake. Sheer force and bravery, though, are not the answer. In fact, attempting to be more aggressive can often scare the driver even more and inhibit their enjoyment of driving and racing, making them increasingly wary. It can also raise the frequency of arguments and promote bad feeling amongst drivers, decreasing morale damaging sportsmanship.

Practice Makes Perfect

Finding yourself on the inside of a driver and ready to overtake, your breaking point may not be visible or it may feel dangerous to brake late. Experts advise practicing using an ‘overtaking line’. Drivers should near the corner as if overtaking and identify new spots on the track to use as braking points. With time, you are sure to learn at what point you are able to brake and still conquer the corner. This knowledge can then be applied in overtaking situations.

A Final Overtaking Tip

Karting experts are quick to point out that drivers drive where they look. When overtaking, looking at your target kart can trick you into keeping your distance. You may find yourself concentrating on the kart so as not to hit it. The key is to look at the space between the kerb and your target driver. Focus on the gap, aim at it and drive into it.

Success rarely arrives overnight, as the need to nurture overtaking skills demonstrates. When it comes to passing your opponents, practice is key. You will gradually learn to overtake with ease.

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