How to Kart in the Rain

Today we're going to be discussing how to go-kart in the rain. Now, for most of us, we tend to want to drive as it’s easier. When you drive in the rain, things are going to wear out quicker; engines, tires, cleaning the kart, that takes more time. The chances of spinning out are more evident with the wet weather, but let's face it, motor racing is driven in all conditions. So, we need to learn how to drive in all conditions so that we can be prepared for all weather conditions.

When it comes to driving in the wet, we want to choose the right tires and kart set up for the conditions. What we find sometimes is that if it's only a little bit wet, the fastest tire is still a slick tire. It's still a dry tire but you might have to adjust your driving style or your kart setup because there's just not enough water for the treaded wet tires to have enough grip. If there's not enough water on the track, they're going to wear out quickly, so we've got to make sure that we're choosing the right tires for the right conditions. As a rule, I would say that if you're on slick tires and the track is 10 seconds or more off, then usa a wet weather tire. Anything under 10 seconds, then it's probably going to still be a slick tire in the slippery conditions.

Some of the quicker adjustments you can make on the grid or at the last moment, can be to widen the front track by spacing your front wheels out. That increases your front steer which helps in the slippery wet conditions. The other thing is to increase your tire pressures. It might mean if you're normally using 15 PSI, and there's a little bit of drizzle, you might run 20 PSI, so an extra 5 PSI, that might be sufficient to get temperature in the tire. With extra heat, hopefully you can get more grip. Another thing you might want to do is put an air box cover on so that your engine doesn't suck in too much water. If that's the case, then you might find that you have a mechanical.

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Transcript

Today we're going to be discussing how to go-kart in the rain. Now, for most of us, we tend to want to drive as it’s easier. When you drive in the rain, things are going to wear out quicker; engines, tires, cleaning the kart, that takes more time. The chances of spinning out are more evident with the wet weather, but let's face it, motor racing is driven in all conditions. So, we need to learn how to drive in all conditions so that we can be prepared for all weather conditions.

When it comes to driving in the wet, we want to choose the right tires and kart set up for the conditions. What we find sometimes is that if it's only a little bit wet, the fastest tire is still a slick tire. It's still a dry tire but you might have to adjust your driving style or your kart setup because there's just not enough water for the treaded wet tires to have enough grip. If there's not enough water on the track, they're going to wear out quickly, so we've got to make sure that we're choosing the right tires for the right conditions. As a rule, I would say that if you're on slick tires and the track is 10 seconds or more off, then usa a wet weather tire. Anything under 10 seconds, then it's probably going to still be a slick tire in the slippery conditions.

Some of the quicker adjustments you can make on the grid or at the last moment, can be to widen the front track by spacing your front wheels out. That increases your front steer which helps in the slippery wet conditions. The other thing is to increase your tire pressures. It might mean if you're normally using 15 PSI, and there's a little bit of drizzle, you might run 20 PSI, so an extra 5 PSI, that might be sufficient to get temperature in the tire. With extra heat, hopefully you can get more grip. Another thing you might want to do is put an air box cover on so that your engine doesn't suck in too much water. If that's the case, then you might find that you have a mechanical.

If you can put a bucket, or a proper air box cover, that can be a pretty quick and easy thing to do. For our smaller drivers, we can put in padding underneath their bum to increase their center of gravity. That will help with grip in these conditions. These are some quick and easy kart setup ideas if you're in a rush, that you can quickly adjust to get more performance.

We need to adjust our driving style for the rain, by limiting the wheel spin, how aggressive we are on our steering inputs, how hard we hit the brakes, there's three elements that we want to concentrate on.

When it's wet, we're going to have more sliding taking place, and that's controlled by the acceleration. If you just go from zero to 100% on the throttle, the chances are the rear wheel is going to lose traction very quickly and increase the wheel spin. Wheel spin is always going to happen in the wet but exaggerating that wheel spin means we're not really going any faster, we're sitting on the same spot, spinning the tires. Also, the more wheel spins that you have, the higher chance you're going to have of spinning out. Drivers need to have throttle control where possible to try and limit the wheel spin.

If you have smooth steering inputs in the rain, the chances are you'll experience more under steer. Having a slightly sharper input, that might just switch on the front tires quicker and give you more front steer. In the braking zone, if you tend to lock up the brakes in most corners, if you do that in the wet the chances are you're going to lose the rear very quickly. Just be mindful that you might have to hit the brakes more gently and, same as throttle control, exercising more brake control will help. You can lock the brakes if you are in control of the kart and if you have confidence.

The last thing we want to concentrate on is the racing line. It depends on how much water is on the track and what tires you elect to use. But if you find yourself on a slick tire, on a wet track, try to stay off the traditional racing line. Look ahead for the shiny part on the track and keep your four tires off the shiny line for more traction. You want to start towards the edge of the track on the outside and then start to make your way in until you find the ultimate amount of grip in those conditions.

There are some quick and basic setup adjustments and driving techniques that you can try next time it rains. As I said, it's more difficult compared to the dry, and we see a lot bigger time variance between the front and the back of the field in the wet conditions because there's more elements to it.

I hope these tips have given you some advice for the next time it rains on track. If you guys need to know more about your kart racing needs, then be sure to visit our kart setup and driving programs to help your racing needs.