Should you BRAKE in Karting? (experiment)

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Should you BRAKE in Karting? (experiment)
In today's video we compare a lap with braking and a lap without braking. Which lap will be faster?
Background music credits:
/ sympathy

[@Pshady]

I let my gf drive a two seater kart, and she went into a hairpin flat out like it was mariokart. I pulled hard on the steering wheel to slide the kart sideways and it stopped before the barriers. It is very common that people turn up and rent karts and expect to be able to drive full throttle the whole time.

[@Hennerz_]

yeah man seen that first hand, scary stuff 😂😂

[@de4ds1ghtcsgo94]

Every corner gas that throttle sweet spot😂

[@noomade]

Is full throttle the same thing as not braking?

[@richardbradley3684]

Maybe you just wasted her lap?

[@mulletbubbles9909]

You don't have to brake in rental karts only tight corners

[@thiagoXXXmarinho]

Braking can also provide some oversteer that helps making some tight corners, specially on indoor tracks

[@Christophe_L]

My uncle raced karts. I was an impressionable kid back then, and when he told me he had lost the brakes during a race and then proceeded to win said race, I thought he must be the best driver in the world. Thank you for this 😂

[@mattschm5486]

I saw an short interview with a former racedriver called Walther Rhöhrl and they asked about the most ignored driving skill nowadays. He answered finding the right entrance speed for a given corner. People carry too much speed at the entrance of the corner. So I guess braking helps

[@raffaeledivora9517]

"A" racedriver? Just one of the greatest driver of all time 😂

[@mattschm5486]

@@raffaeledivora9517 i agree but probably not everyone knows him. Back then they even had some decent female drivers in the world rally championship. I’ve seen his old teammate stig blomquist driving a Quattro S1 E2 ones

[@Traumglanz]

Another Quote from Röhrl is: “When you see the tree you’re driving into you have understeer, but if you can heer it you have oversteer.” and “Driving starts when you steer your car with the gaspedal not with the steering wheel.” He certainly is great to quote and a legendary driver.

[@Genervilz]

ex professional go-kart driver here (10+ years of experience), braking is the most important part of this sport, braking becomes even more important in the wet, and the way it has to be done can earn you tenths at every corner. However, in rental go-karts the brake is way less important, and with a little practice the difference between braking/not braking is zero.

[@vaibhavmugulavalli3366]

Just stumbled across you channel and actually really good tips on driving karts. Surprised to learn many new techniques

[@kartingtips]

I appreciate your feedback!

[@matevo7745]

Just found your channel and i love it.

[@CHRISTAFJONESDVK]

You do a good job showing the difference between these and it showed by the end how much you were able to find the optimal entry speed to carry exit speed, I'm trying pushing and find the right limts and track knowledge by repeat visits, any tips?

[@scionkai]

this course and the skies look so beautiful

[@gripp9k]

This is the result I would have expected but the analysis was cool. I really just use the brakes to turn the car; you can really control the rotation with trail braking in karts.

[@Max_Snellink]

You'd use way more of the stop pedal if in a two stroke kart. Great video and narration.

[@zakumi19]

The sky was beautiful

[@lissettearroyo4939]

Well done video

[@cv1ra]

You see. When driving with my coach, at leats with the tracks i'm used to race - breaking is the key ofr being fast - specially when you have a hard turn before a long straight.

[@exfkinley1406]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate that sky🤩

[@Eruption1O2]

Brakes transfer weight to the front tires increasing their maximum grip

[@elliotcowell3139]

if i tried not braking at my local track i would probably die lmfao

[@SenneMeuleman]

in mine you dont have to brake bruuh... the slowest corner is only a small lift hahahaha

[@elliotcowell3139]

@@SenneMeuleman I've been to outdoor go kart tracks where it's nice and wide and yeah, but mine is a very tight and twisty indoor track with a sneaky little big braking zone at the end of the lap lmao

[@SenneMeuleman]

@@elliotcowell3139 ye mine is outdoor with long, fast corners. It gets a bit borig after going too much and not a lot of space to improve unless its raining, one of the most fun things i have done, with slicks in the rain, 0 grip its like ice

[@elliotcowell3139]

@@SenneMeuleman I used to live in the north of england so I've done some rain karting haha, sideways constantly

[@jean-baptistedelbos8050]

Be specific, there may be a question with 4 stroke "public" karting. With competition karting, if you d'ont brake.....your race ends just after the first corner ;)

[@scooble]

I also used brakes to control wheelspin instead of lifting off. It hooks up much quicker

[@FoxM]

How much is body weight a factor in karting? i weigh a little over 200lb and was a couple seconds behind smaller guy, im thinking maybe my weight was a factor rather than ability?

[@BrianSu]

Braking transfers weight to the front axle, hence more grip and less understeer

[@caesar485]

To be fair, there are tracks where you don't even have to lift, but can just go full throttle all the way. I've found that even there, lifting usually works, but it's not like this track where there are actual braking zones

[@rafaelzenieris7463]

So true. Went go karting last weekend. We had 3 stints. First 2 i was always trying to brake as less as possible and ended up drifting like crazy. At the end of the 2nd stint one of the responsibile guys told me to take the corners with easier cause im drifting and then i can go way faster. 3rd stint from 10th on quali I went 2nd with only a tenth down the first guy. Improved by 7tenths it was insane. My friends asked me wtf happened in the last stint haha

[@pasztorferenc6741]

When I'd go karting for the first time towards the end I also tried it and suprised how fast can I without braking

[@josedaniel1988]

What if you invert the experiment order, fist 6 laps breaking. Tyres will be warmer when trying no braking

[@Hannib4lBarca]

The real question is should you turn the wheel or not?

[@oscar750]

Can it depend on the cart? For example when I go carting at my local track with renting carts I notice that the engine is much slower and accelerates slower after I brake than after I just lift into the corner. Is this a thing or am I just imagining things? I really need to know! Thanks!

[@SenneMeuleman]

electric carts accelerate faster, can compare the lines you have to take and the braking to f1, normal karts accelerate slower so you take the karting line, a wider line so you can keep your minimum speed higher and dont lose too much speed, so if your local karting track does not have electric karts you should indeed brake a lot less and take wider lines

[@KomeBaja]

If u pay for 2 pedal, then used both of that

[@ibraheem128]

I wish Lusail had a membership scheme, 12 mins for more than 100qr is crazy 😭

[@kartingtips]

Soon, hopefully!

[@xhang98]

Please make a video talk about trail braking is useful in karting or not.

[@kartingtips]

Stay tuned! It will be uploaded this weekend :)

[@akev2794]

I think it depends on the track as well. Some indoor tracks e.g., Teamsports are grippy enough than you can almost entirely avoid braking.

[@danielgomessilva8966]

Nice graphics thou

[@josephcote7702]

why'd you compare one lap that wasn't affected by traffic to one lap that was? the lap without brakes was influenced heavily by that kart on the inside at @1:52. it put you way out of position, and that's what made you loose going into that next right hander.

[@iconiccfs]

Mate if you look at the end he showed a list of all the 14 laps he did and just took the fastest of both with and without breaks so try setting aside your bias and look at data and watch the full thing before jugdeing… don’t judge a book by its cover you know 🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿💀💀💀💀

[@josephcote7702]

@@iconiccfs Yea, I saw that. I figured the two laps he did the side by side comparison were of those two fastest laps, no? And in that fastest no brakes lap, it showed he was compromised heavily in a couple positions. One, specifically, being @1:52, and then he incorrectly attributed him being out of position as "lifting unsettled the kart", when in reality, it was because he was out of position entering that complex. No bias here, I'm simply pointing out that he put forward flawed information. Were we even watching the same video?

[@santoskartracing]

top

[@AbcdEfgh-sq2tf]

What if you drive like Alonso? Turning the steering wheel a lot earlier and a lot more than usual?

[@recarsion]

Won't work in a kart, you lose a lot of speed that way. That driving style worked very well with the Renault F1 cars that Alonso drove because those cars had very stable rear ends which is the exact opposite of what a gokart normally does. Even Alonso changed his style with other cars that handled differently.

[@justinmeade2327]

Wouldn’t really help here. Also Alonso only did that back in his first stint with Renault when they used the Michelin tyres. They had a more square profile and took a lot to get temp into them. He would purposefully induced under steer to heat up the fronts for better grip. It was a technique really specific to that car and those types of the time.

[@richardbradley3684]

Maybe this is why raacing cars have brakes.

[@Nepyragas]

Usually first 5 laps are slower. Need to warm up tires and get yourself more aggressive. It would be fair to make such test with two sessions. Also different tracks react different. On some no breaking could be even faster than with breaking.

[@joaomachado4359]

Lol, first 5 laps are the quickest ones. Then the tracks starts to overheat and gets slower…. If you see in every race, the fastest lap is usually done in the first 5-10m

[@Nepyragas]

@@joaomachado4359 No, maybe with KZ2 or smth. But with ocasional 13 hp carts tires gets warm only in 3-4 laps. And then only you get faster and faster. And your fastest laps are in the end of the session.

[@joaomachado4359]

@@Nepyragas no! You just need 1 or 1,5 laps to warm up your tires! Im assuming that there are at least more 10-15 guys racing against you. Test it! Because i did! After 10m the times goes up at least 0,5seconds per lap

[@stephent2243]

Yeah don't try this in a proper race kart or superkart. You'll be upside down in the barriers.

[@Denverian]

in a go karting one should learn that brakes are used to set the car & rotate the car before entering a corner. Other than that brake is only used to bring the car to a stop.

[@anabolicznyjanusz8425]

I have 7 years racing experience. I remember I always have problem with brake in chasis . Even I can not stop on the start line xD and I must brake on the start line with my legs on the tire xD . But this shity chassis give me experience with sliding breaking. It's funny because without brakes I can overtaking another drive on the breaking.

[@user-kb8gh5jv9t]

I don’t understand why todays younger generation thinks that they are having to reinvent the wheel!? We knew all this long ago…🤔

[@kartingtips]

You’d be surprised at how many comments there on my braking videos saying ‘you don’t need to brake in karting’ hence the reason I created this video 😄

[@user-kb8gh5jv9t]

@@kartingtips , if that’s the case than we are in even more trouble in the World than I originally thought!😳

[@SeraphsWitness]

As they say, you don't use brakes to slow the car down into a turn, but to speed the car up out of a turn.

[@annaovezova1638]

Where is this beautiful track located? Looks like perfect spot for my husbands bd 😍

[@kartingtips]

This is the Lusail Karting Track in Qatar :)

[@TheSnaveeelPlaysGames]

Because braking isn’t designed to slow you down; it’s designed to keep you fast