One challenge is having to learn some engineering skills with just a racing kart for a couple years. It has plenty of opportunity for a while, but with fewer components to modify or play with, I think I will outgrow it to some extent, given I do have a background with racing vehicles (albeit a long time ago).
There is a remarkable amount you can learn from karts. Not least because they are so simple.
4 ways you can use your kart to learn engineering:
- Can you adjust your chassis flex? If not, could you?
- What about tyre pressures? Have you played with these much? Like taking them outside your normal window, not necessarily to go faster but to learn how it feels when you have, say, extremes at either end.
- If you can get a data system on your kart, again this forms the fundamentals. The AiM kit is popular and that would seamlessly translates into cars. You end up looking at similar things, and with the data, even on a kart, that is a whole rabbit hole you can disappear down!
- How are you dealing with ambient weather changes and even wet weather conditions?
For all these ask yourself:
What can you do differently both with the setup and with your driving approach and what effect does that have? I’m thinking lines, aggressiveness / or not of your control inputs, again all the playing with pressures and chassis stiffness, gearing, tyre warm up, old tyres…
Plus it is a lot easier and cheaper to get out in a kart than a car. So you’ve got a head start!
