Much to Do About Braking

23 Apr

I am somewhat obsessed now with how to brake better and
hence get around a corner faster.

I will assume that everyone will know how to go fast on a straight
line... if you don't,it is just stretch your right foot all the way on the
gas pedal !

Getting the braking point and the braking pressure nicely for a
corner is an art by itself. I am still learning in hope that I will get
to master it soon.

Here is another article from appm.co.uk, which I reckon will be
very useful.

Enjoy!


Braking Pressure

In our previous email we discussed how we calculate our braking point and in this email we will be looking at the pressure we use on the brake pedal when we initially brake and how that affects our late braking performance.

Many drivers don't understand the finesse that is required to brake absolutely on the limit and this lack of understanding prevents them from maximising the braking capability of their kart and consequently they lose time.

How To Brake Late

1. Develop finesse / sensitivity in your braking foot - This is the key to being able to brake on the limit of adhesion. The way that you apply the brake pressure and modulate it throughout the braking area is down to your judgement and 'feel' for the kart. To develop your sensitivity start by:

- Being more relaxed - take the tension out of your body so that you have more feel for the car and what you are doing with the brake pedal

- 'Think Soft' when you come to brake - soft does not mean 'slow' or gentle; come onto the pedal as quickly as you can but do it softly and slightly less hard than you would normally, (for a split second only) and then hard (but smoothly)

- Build up to it slowly - 'feel' what is happening


2. Understand where you need to brake late - Not all corners need maximum braking but they all need finesse. The pressure that we use to brake for slow, medium and fast corners is different. If we brake too late and too hard for fast and medium speed corners we can upset the balance of the car so it is rare in these corners to brake to the maximum capability of the kart. It is in slow speed corners that we really need to develop our late braking skills and utilise the brakes to their maximum capacity to gain time.

3. Understand that there is only a finite amount of grip - Braking on the limit for a slow corner requires you to use 100% of the grip available from your tyres - not 1% too much or 1% too little, it's like balancing on a tightrope. Think about it, this will require 'finesse' and 'feel' not brute force.

Late braking is not about bravery or brute force it's all about matching your braking technique to the requirements of your car's suspension and tyres.

Singapore Karting Blast Off!

19 Apr

The national karting championship sponsored by Nescafe kicked
off here in Singapore last weekend.

Although there will be much more that the organizers can make it
better for the racers, teams, and spectators (like myself), I reckon it
was a good start to the long awaited event.

Since I was in Plentong on Saturday, I went to look see look see the
races on Sunday, 18 Apr.

I had never seen this place so packed! I was lucky to have a car park lot
when I reached about 10.30am. By noon, I think the road alongside the
venue was littered with cars!

Managed to see many familiar faces there, and was like a huge gathering
of many speed demons there.

Really happy to see James Lee's son, Jon, finished 1st in his race,
and he was featured in the Straits Times on Monday.
Also delighted that Thaddeus, and Paul (father and son) who both
came home with 2nd finish in their respective class.

Although towards the end, there was some serious altercations happening
at the 2nd floor viewing gallery because I think (i'm really unsure who is it)
a boy dad is so angry with some of the Axle Sports personnel launching a
protest against his son Final result. Axle Sports had claimed that this man's
driver had crossed the pit exit white line 3 times during the Final race.
According to the rules there should be some form of penalty, but there
is none apparently taken or issued.

Bearing in mind this is the 1st race after a long while here in Singapore,
so I guess by the second race here we will and really hope we see better
officials here.

A new era

17 Apr


New Engine on the Blue GP10 kart.... finally!!


And contrary to the very popular belief, that new or better engine
will just make one go faster.... Please think again!

Obviously I am not going any slower, but the lap times had been fairly
the same as previously.
There are of course, much setting and testing to be done on this new
engine. I am currently just using the previously setting from the old
engine as a base.

But just happy that I can have one good trouble free session with the
guys on saturday in my own kart with the new unit.

New era implies that I can now look forward to some times with my
kart!! And more work to be done as well!

Joy Ride

12 Apr

Been about 2-3 weeks since I had much fun.
That is thanks to Ivan!! His kart, #99:

Although, his seat is quite small for me which make
me very afraid about pushing it to the limits at the start.
After some squeezing exercise, I still managed to make
myself comfortable and did some good laps times with it.

At the start, the first few laps out was really uncomfortable.
Beside the seat being small (or me being Fat!!), his brakes feel
is different from what I am already very used to on my own
kart.
Some adjustments to it was made, and off I went again.

Amazingly, it managed to do one lap of 45.99s and the rest
in the low 46s like 46.1s and 46.2s

Had some good track time together with Graeme.

There was once he wanted me to spot his kart, as to where and
how much it was lifting. That would means I will have to follow
him around. I did. Somehow after a lap or so doing that, I forgotten
about 'the mission' I went all out and promptly overtook him after
the spoon before the pits in a race like maneuver. It was crazy!
Though I must admit it was mighty fun... maybe not for him

Anyway, I should say Ivan's kart is great joy to drive.
Even as I had some slight rib ache because of the seat size, I am
delighted I took his offer to try it.

ah... he is now considering or will be selling his kart.
So, if anyone is interested do drop me a mail and will point you to
him.

New structure at Plentong track:

Formula BMW, Richard Bradley, and Singapore Karting

9 Apr

Last weekend, beside the F1 race that happened over the weekends,
there are other supporting races at the same time.

One that is of interest to me is the Formula BMW.
Why?
Because of Richard Bradley, who I had met once at Kartright when
he drove the kart from AmTwin.

Boy, did he drive well or what last weekend??
He won! Got pole position, then just win the race from the
start. Setting the lap record somewhere along the way too.
Great stuff!

From my understanding is that he will be racing in the karting
championship Apr 17/18 here in Singapore.
So it will be quite interesting to see him in action again.

However, something hit me...

Although Richard is still very much a 'driver-in-progress' before
he will be consider as one of the top level driver, he is now already
deemed as one of the best we have here on Singapore soil.

Yes, the Singapore national anthem was played last week at Sepang
when he stood at the top step. If I was here, I would have been
absolutely delighted by that. No doubt.

Coming to my 'BUT', his early development which lead him to where
he is now does not stem from Singapore. It was with Wright Karting
in UK, where he is from.
As mentioned previously, Wright Karting also had a hand in developing
Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, and David Coulthard.

Hence, I will be much more ecstatic if I can see a driver on the top step
who actually had his/her trainings and development locally.
It will definitely be something to be very proud of.

Instead of just trying to sell more and more, I hope at the coming kart
championship at Kartright, "teams" and/or business operators will have
some chances to boost the very fact that they are also developing some
young guns to the mold of Richard.
Teaching/ training drivers as their one of their main objective.

I also hope that Kartright will be true to its vision of
"Don't just kart, Kart right" or something along the lines
(although it does sound darn cheesy, if you ask me)

Seriously, now that we had one reasonable kart track and facilities
here, I sincerely hope that in time to come we will have some good
drivers coming through.
It will be too much to, say, have someone here to drive in the F1,
but that will be something good to dream of!
And be really really cheering about!

the Wait

6 Apr

I had been falling slightly ill these past week.
The weather had been blamed... as you can imagine heavy
showers and very strong sun don't bode too well with our
body.

And my Good Friday was much spent trying to recover from
laryngitis. SIANzzz

Beside the weather, I had also been trying to do too much
in whatever amount of time I can for some training.
Running, doing resistance trainings, and some anaerobic stuffs.
All these with inadequte rest probably one of the causes that had
me feeling not 100% recently, even now.

However, I had been thinking that one of the utmost important
reason is that I had not been karting!
So far since I had my rib injury last year, I had been a very healthy.
Not a day of being ill. And it does seems once I have this stoppages
in my beloved kart, I go awry internally!

Anyway, a good news: the new Rotax Max engine is here, and it
will be deliver to Plentong sometime next week.
I can't wait.

Oh, get this while watching Criminal Minds (my new fav),
and I find it very apt for some of us thinking of writing/ blogging:
Better to write for yourself and have no public,
than to write for the public and have no self.
from Cyril Connolly

The next entry will be about my experience with the new engine,
I hope. Fingers crossed!

Before I signed off, my good friend, Ivan, had agreed to have me
using his kart in Plentong for practice. I think I will take up his
offer this weekend, and pray to God that nothing bad will befall
on it while I'm driving it!