You mentioned in a previous question you look at the drivers "Vibes" while driving. I'm assuming you mean posture, and comfort in the car? What conclusions do you typically draw from this observation?

It's difficult to quantify - that's why I had to resort to a vague term like vibe. I think it would be a combination of how relaxed a driver looks, how determined, how accurate... and I gues you pick tose up from body language.

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Hi Terence, I'm planning to buy a kart, what kart do you think is good to start with? And which one make more successful driver?

It depends on your class, location and budget.

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formspring.me

Hi Terence, i have recently purchased an E-box for my Mychron 4 after reading an article of yours regarding data collection. Which speed sensor would you recommend we purchase with it, i.e. front or rear, and whats the difference. Cheers James

Hi James,

I find the rear speed sensor is perfectly adequate, but the front wheel speed sensor can be better because it eliminates the effects of locking the rear brake.

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formspring.me

Hi Terence, what is the rule for increasing grip generally on both ends of the kart? do i increase or decrease the width between the tires?

The genearl rule would be to increase the width at the front, and decrease it at the rear. Its never so simple as that so go out and try lots of settings.

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formspring.me

Hi Terence, I started karting a year ago and keep hurting my ribs. How can I avoid rib damage? I was now advised to drive without protectors, claiming that they push the driver out of the seat and reducing the feel for the kart causing part of the trouble

Not to wear a rib protector to me is pretty crazy!

There is a new one designed so that you can maintain your feel for the kart by Iztech. Write to kevin@iztechkartseats.com

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formspring.me

Hi Terence, when do you know that you are driving as fast as it is possible? or is it that there are no limits? Because whenever I drive, I have a tendency to look for new ways to drive faster, but it will affect my consistency.

There are definately no limits, but when you feel you are close to the limit you should be looking for small improvements. It's when you start looking for too much improvement that you make mistakes and get inconsistent lap times

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Starting karting Question

Hi i'm currently looking into getting into karting. Which series TKM Senior or ROTAX Senior do you think has the higher standard of driver ie. which one is easier?

At the moment I think it's fair to say that Rotax is attracting more drivers with a trac record of success.

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Nyck de Vries to Mclaren

Another hot shot karter has been picked up by mclaren according to Karting1.
Nyck de Vries to Mclaren

Nyck has been totally dominant in European KF3 in partnership with karting guru Dino Chiesa running the Zanardi kart.

endurance karting question

I do a lot of endurance racing and I find it very difficult to stay focused unless I'm involved in a battle with someone.Sometimes it feels worse than others. Could it be related to the type of food/drink I consume on race day?

It could be, I have seen drivers improve a great deal by changing what they eat. They have gone for dried fruit and nuts, pasta and eat with a little and often approach. Also drink loads of water and only use isotonic type drinks if its hot and you need to replace salts

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Question on driving a kart loose

hi terence ive always set my kart up loose to drift through corners i'm about 2/3 tenth's off the leaders but a top five runner .the team i'm with now set the kart up with as mutch grip as pos and very twitchy and told me to brake later turn in later????

OK, sounds like they want you to make the most of your corner exits. perhaps they can see you losing out to other drivers on your exits and they want you to quit sliding, and get maximum traction on exit. Maybe that is where the 2 tenths are

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Kart Set Up Question

Hi Terrance,What is the effect of adjusting the karts ride height (Front and Rear)?I saw the setup recently from the Australian Rotax Nationals where the winner was running a medium front setting, and a high rear on a grippy track. Thanks!

The idea is the higher the ride height the greater the weight transfer across the kart to the outside tyre, so a high ride hight might sound strange for high grip. But I'm guessing that they were looking for a nicely balancd kart and thats how they hit the sweet spot. The problem with kart set ups is that the effects arent always predictable, strange things happen. keep an open mind and try everything!

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Mytach GPS question

Beside price, how do you rate the quality of (GPS) data acquisition obtained from smartycam, GPS Module with antenna and the MyTach watch? What are the pros and cons of each? and which system offers the best capability when analysed on the RS2

I think the smartycam has the highest quality receiver, followed by the mytach and then the gps module. the gps module works better with RS2 than the mytach, but smartycam is best. It is very nice to have the Smartycam along with your data because its so good to be able to look at the important laps and important corners, especially when the video displays the lap number, laptimes and split times. the downside with the smartycam is finding a placement on the kart where it is safe i suppose!

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Hopping kart question

Hey T! Thanks for the site!Could you explain "hopping". What is the kart really doing when it hops thru a corner, besides beating my ribs?

It can be where the front of the kart is too soft compared to the rear, so the kart flexes too quickly, lifts the inside rear tyre too fast and then the outside rear can lose grip suddenly (from the steep angle its forced to). then the inside rear drops again... this process repeats and you put the kart into a horrible oscillation.

You can also get this from too high seat position, too much front castor or over aggressive steering input. Sometimes a very weak driver who cannot hold steering angle can get into one of these oscillations.

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Braking question

Hi terence, a question that have made me sleepless many times,, :-). Why do grip level in corners, especially thight ones, increase if you slightly "left brake" while adding throttle ? have experienced this with both shifter karts and "only rear brake`s"

If you haven't got superb throttle control, then using the brake to hold the kart back is a much better way to keep the kart settled through the corner. For example, I coach some drivers to power brake rather than lift because when they lift without enough finesse and lose grip.

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Kart Simulator question

Hi Terence, thanks for your time helping us out, great :-) !!Wich racing game for console, (PS 3), and PC du you recommend for training ?Thanks,H from Norway.

Pc games to go for are Live for Speed, Rfactor and Iracer. Hopefully soon there will be kartsim too!

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Nervous karting dad question

hi terrence, happy new year. My lad is 9yrs old and wanting to race but not sure if MY nerves will let him!! seen some pretty bad cadet crashes that havnt helped me to let go!! any advice for dads nerves!!!

I don't have any halpful advice there, so far as I can tell you will have to suffer along with many other parents!! Perhaps if you find a Team who can take care of his racing, who you feel are professional and responsible you might cope better.

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Hard tyres question

Hi New harder compound tyres tyres are being introduced. What would the major implications be on chassis set up be as Sodi say the current chassis is no good, hence wants us all to buy new ones. Can current chassis be adapted to suit harder compound?xTk

I'm not familiar with the Sodi chassis, but yes you can adapt to harder tyres, and it will make for an interesting challenge. Or you could go to Sodi and say, I will either keep my current Sodi or buy a new Tony kart to adapt to the harder tyres.. see what they say to that!!lol

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Tony Kart question

Hi, I have just got my first Tonykart and have found the kart seems to lack rear grip compared to my old (BRM)coming off corners - but has better brakes.I have been told to move the seat back. Is that the correct thing to do?

Well with a new kart you shold be trying all the set up changes you have time for to get usedt o the effects. So yes, try moving the seat and go out and find out what happens. I think you should try everything. You can't go wrong because for every change you make you will learn something!

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kart braking question

Hi Terence. I have a problem with using 100% of grip on braking. Could you give me a couple of exercises. Firstly, It's braking on a straight and then on a arc.Best regards, Yuliy.

Yes, practice braking in a straight line. Brake early for a sharp bend, make sure you lock your wheels and then most importnat you need to control when you unlock them by releasing the brake pressure. Do this over and over so that you develop the feel necessary to gradually bringing the wheels to lock, and gradually unlock. Soon enough you will have the skill to control exactly how close to locking the wheels are, and you will find the optimum level of braking required for the grip available on any given day. Sometimes you will need to almost lock the wheels, other times no lock will be fastest....

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Leaning in your kart question

Hi Terence i have noticed alo of the top karters lean into the corners, in particular high and medium sped corners. would you say this is a good technique and if so what is this doing?

Quite often they do this unconciously. Rather than a special technique, it is often as a result of them looking further round corners which means they naturally lean into corners, lead by where their head wants to take them. Also, high grip karts require a great deal of strength, and some drivers like you use the strength in their shoulders to turn the wheel which means they push their body in the direction the wheel is turning.

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Floating disk carrier question

Hi Terrence. I was wondering what's the difference between a floating disk and a fixed disk in brake systems. I also know that there are double rear disk systems. Which one's the best?

Floating disks are good because you don't have to keep re-adjusting the pad clearance, and in theory there is less chance of drag when the axle is under flex. I'm not sure which is best because people win on fixed disk and floating at the highest levels.

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Mixing pedals question

What do you think of mixing pedals technique for Rotax. As you approach a corner & brake, you keep some throttle maybe 15% while braking, then increase as you let off the brake. It means braking longer, but never coasting.

If you want to use that technique it's better to release the throttle completely when you initially hit the brake, and then start mixing the pedals after that. That way you shouldn't have to brake early. Mini max drivers use it a lot, and I hear it was all the rage back when clutches had more slip!!

Personally I don't coach drivers to use the technique much.

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Rental kart to rotax question

Hi, I would like to hear what you know about moving from rental karts to rotax senior. I drove rotax a few time. Obviously the speed difference and a lot of throttle control involved, but can you tell me anything else to watch out for?

Stay smooth like with rental karts, and work hard on your fitness. A really good rental kart driving style works well in rotax, so if you are good in rentals you'll be fine. good luck

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TKM regulations question

Terence - what is your expected outcome of the new TKM regulations? Will we be competitive with our existing chassis or are we all going to need to buy a new one to stand any chance of a trophy? Does the same answer apply for Junior and Extreme?

the expectation is that the new designed chassis from DR, Tecno and Paul Carr will be best for TKM, followed by regular CIK chassis and then the old TKM chassis. What the gap will be I don't know but as soon as we get some half sensible weather conditions we'll be doing some video tests for karting1 to see if we can find out.

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Tyre wear question

Hi terence,we are currently running kf2 and have a problem with front near side front tyre wear do you think changing from a 32mm frame to a 30mm make any difference or should we be moving to skf and a harder tyre cheers asam

I would imagine that a 30mm frame would make a difference in many different areas. Do you regularly have your chassis checked for perfect alignment - not just with hangers but with a proper rig and an experienced technician?

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