RULES & TIPS
MARSHAL
The first rule is to observe and obey the marshals. They work hard to keep things running smoothly and their intention is to help you enjoy clean racing.
BLUE FLAG
If you receive a blue flag or the "Give Way" sign, move towards the flag and allow the faster driver to pass you. Once they have overtaken you the trick is to try and follow that driver and work out what they are doing differently to you to make them faster. You then copy them in order to bring down your own lap times.
ORANGE LIGHT
Whenever the Orange light comes on around the track you MUST slow down to a walking pace around the whole track and proceed with extreme caution and be ready to stop at any time.
NO BUMPING, NO CRASHING
These karts are serious racing machines capable of up to 80km/h, this means they are not dodgem karts, always give your fellow driver racing room and respect and do not hit each other or the barriers, the barriers are there for your safety, not to help you navigate the track.
USE YOUR BRAKES
Use your brakes before the corners. The fastest way around our track is to be smooth, the more you slide the slower you will go.
SIGNAL FOR HELP
If you crash or break down on the track put one hand in the air to indicate your inability to proceed. This will alert a marshal to your problem as well as warn other drivers that you are now a stationary obstacle. Never get out of your kart and always remain seated whilst awaiting one of our track marshals to help you.
DRIVING TIPS
TIP #1 – CORNERING - SLOW ENTRY, HIGH SPEED EXIT
The best tip on driving our go karts is to try and get a high exit speed. Brake before the corner. Entering a corner is important to race craft and your competitive position however for pure speed it’s the exit of the corner you should worry about. If you exit a corner at 5 km/h faster than your opponent, by the end of the next section you will be proportionally faster than him. So that 5 km/h advantage leaving the corner turns into 10km/h advantage by the next corner. Try entering a corner more slowly and smoothly, concentrate on looking around the corner and down the road rather than just at the curb in front of you.
TIP #2 – DON’T POWER SLIDE(DRIFT)
Don’t confuse this with power-sliding (oversteering) which is also a common technique in a go kart. While it is exciting to watch (in and out of the kart) this technique of sliding (drifting) the rear end is the slowest way to drive a go kart around this track.
TIP #3 – LINING UP THE OPTIMAL LAP
Putting down a hot lap involves optimising the time you need to get around the whole of the track. To do this one must consider how to advantage oneself in specific corners, transitions between corners and planning ahead. If you set yourself the goal of perfecting one corner this is a great start. You will feel a gradual improvement and eventually you will feel like you weren’t really trying and you flew through faster than when you were working hard.
TIP #4 – PUTTING CORNERS TOGETHER
Next you should try to string two fast corners together. You will see that the fastest line through one corner is not necessarily the best for overall speed. You need to consider the transitions between all corners on the track you will begin to develop a true ‘racing line’ for the whole of the circuit. This is the only way to get race winning speed around a race track.