Thread: Am I really bad at karting?

22 seconds is a very short lap sounds like an indoor track to me, am i right? Whilst many people start off indoors to make a career out of motorsport you have to progress through to outdoor 2stroke racing quickly. Its a whole different world at that level. As for your time, 3 seconds is alot but if you've only done 2 runs and you're not sure whether the kart was up to it then go back or go back somewhere different there's always a bad kart somewhere. And it depends on the track layout and surface, many circuits will still list the original lap record even though they've changed the course layout and resurfaced with some new anti-grip material. As a rule of thumb though I'd expect to be within a second of an indoor lap record before i consider myself better than average

Originally Posted by kedhar

Hi guys , im a 17 year old and i weigh 220 lbs ... i just tried out karting for the first time and im planning to take up motorsports as a career .. but first i wanted to know if i have any talent at all ? i did my first two runs and im like 3 secs off the annual lap record .. i wanted to know whether i can improve on it ... and one more thing (i dont know whether im assuming or not) i feel that my kart didnt have the straight line speed compared to others around me , this maybe because of my weight .. do u think that would affect it ?



the lap record was around 22secs .. my best was a 24.9 !

please review my performance thank you very much !


also please tell me if that lap time is pretty good or not? this is the first time im karting

thank you

Yes the weight would have dramactic impact on overall acceleration. Given the total weight of both Kart and driver, a driver who weighs 150 compared to a driver who weighs 220 is probably adding a total weight disadvantage of 30%, depending upon weight of the kart

If you are serrious about it, you must lose weight, lots of it as 220 lbs (if correct) is a good 50 to 80 lbs of excess weight and if you took 50 lbs off (if possible), the lap times would increase greatly without you doing anything different. Extra weight, even in a corner (and not merely from accelerating out of a corner) also adds to the g-force that the kart must overcome in order to turn in and keep turning, resulting in slower cornering speed

yea guys im on my to lose weight ... but do you think that 17 is a bit too late to start racing ?

Originally Posted by kedhar

yea guys im on my to lose weight ... but do you think that 17 is a bit too late to start racing ?

If you want a full time professional career (as in getting paid) then you are probably too old. Lewis Hamilton is only about 23 and driver's in F1 are getting younger and younger. That's not to say that you won't manage, just the younger guys are more likely to get the breaks.

Also, depending on where you live, there aren't that many paid drives out there. Most people in motorsport run their own car and are usually linked to a showroom or garage which provides sponsorship.

Just because you won't be the next F1 star doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it. Me and my Dad started competing for the first time this year (I'm 23 he's 58!!) and it's great fun, even if it costs a bit of money. There are scales of motorsport to cater for most budgets but the most important thing is to enjoy yourself

Originally Posted by kedhar

yea guys im on my to lose weight ... but do you think that 17 is a bit too late to start racing ?

Robert Doornbos didn't start until 17. Bruno Senna didn't race between the age of 10 and 20. It's not impossible, but the odds would be heavily against.

I used to dabble with karts (Honda 4 stroke Prokarts) a bit in my mid-20s and I wasn't bad, but was unexceptional, and in no way did I think "if only I'd started earlier, I could have been a pro"

Originally Posted by kedhar

yea guys im on my to lose weight ... but do you think that 17 is a bit too late to start racing ?

Mate i used to be in exactly the same boat, weight wise. Its actually surprising how much difference it can make loosing a decent amount of weight.

Since im in Australia, i had to convert it to kgs lol (approx 100kgs). If you lost 10 kg's, it would be like taking 5 milk cartons off yourself, and as you can imagine it would do alot of good.

Not that im any physics master, but i reckon it could cut at least a second off a good lap.

Originally Posted by kedhar

yea guys im on my to lose weight ... but do you think that 17 is a bit too late to start racing ?

Only if you believe it is.

Mark Webber started karting at Queanbeyan at the age of 16...and Queanbeyan is woop woop as far as talent scouts are concerned. And he made it into F1 because of his talent and determination.

Takuma Sato started racing at the age of 20.


But you're going to have to lose a lot of weight in order to get competitive. It'd make a lot of difference in karts.

Originally Posted by kedhar

Hi guys , im a 17 year old and i weigh 220 lbs ... i just tried out karting for the first time and im planning to take up motorsports as a career .. but first i wanted to know if i have any talent at all ? i did my first two runs and im like 3 secs off the annual lap record .. i wanted to know whether i can improve on it ... and one more thing (i dont know whether im assuming or not) i feel that my kart didnt have the straight line speed compared to others around me , this maybe because of my weight .. do u think that would affect it ?



the lap record was around 22secs .. my best was a 24.9 !

please review my performance thank you very much !


also please tell me if that lap time is pretty good or not? this is the first time im karting

thank you

I started karting last year in the British university Karting championships and started the year about 2.5 -3 seconds off the pace at Rye House but when I got the final round in Llandow, I wasn't more than 1.5seconds off the pace. This was against some decent karters:

Jamie Harvey
Jordan Hill
David Tan
James and Callum Davis

and a lot more with a lot more experience. On top of this, In bitz karts, I can easily keep pace and beat some of them. That does nopt make me any great karter by a long stretch but you have to be able to learn how to drive a kart. I started driving like a normal car but got my friend (who did FPalmer Audi, FJedi and EuroBOSS) down to one of the test sessions and she helped me alot in my style and I gain about a second that day. It's all about learning and knowing how hard or not to push! Practise always helps

Originally Posted by kedhar

Hi guys , im a 17 year old and i weigh 220 lbs ... i just tried out karting for the first time and im planning to take up motorsports as a career .. but first i wanted to know if i have any talent at all ? i did my first two runs and im like 3 secs off the annual lap record .. i wanted to know whether i can improve on it ... and one more thing (i dont know whether im assuming or not) i feel that my kart didnt have the straight line speed compared to others around me , this maybe because of my weight .. do u think that would affect it ?



the lap record was around 22secs .. my best was a 24.9 !

please review my performance thank you very much !


also please tell me if that lap time is pretty good or not? this is the first time im karting

thank you

2 or 3 rounds isn't going to tell you anything.. just practice practice practice and try to follow the other guys and follow their line. Sometimes you have to go over the limit to know the limit so try using less brake in some of the corners and if you spin out then you know your limit!