g-mac

I live in Utah, Miller's track is the closed but has limited track days. They have a very nice karting track that is much more accessible.

I don't have much experience on road courses, been to Spring Mountain but would like to increase my skills to do more track days with my C6Z06.

Wondering what your thoughts are on how karting would help with driving skills for this. I realize its very different but would it help? and how much over all.

Thanks and look forward to your responses.

G

trackboss

I have a shifter kart and it is a great learning tool. Way faster than any sedan can be. A kart has so much more grip than a sedan that it definately requires a different style to go fast. Just don't expect to get into a car and approach corners the way you can in a kart. Be prepared to not only have a blast, but it will wear you out really fast.

-V

AU N EGL

Karting is a blast. Go for it.

jpasterjak

On some level, sports is sports. Just as the concept of cross training is valid in stick, ball and glove sports, it's valid id driving sports as well. Any activity that rewards smoothness, consistency, muscle memory, "feel", vision, concentration and calmness will improve your driving on some level.

So, to give you a more direct answer:Yes, karting is an excellent way to improve your track day skills. Believe it or not, MX riding is also an excellent way to improve your track skills (it's an intensive course in the effects of weight transfer and managing traction). But, honestly, lessons in how to go fast and be smooth can be gleaned from a variety of sources. I learned a lot about track work from competitive swimming (it's a constant lesson in managing drag and friction, and as soon as your form and smoothness goes away, you slow down), and every time I butcher a golf course I find that I use lot of the same mental approaches I do behind the wheel (although, to call what I do on a golf course "playing golf" is an insult to the sport).

So, yeah, cross train. It pays off.

J.G. Pasterjak
Grassroots Motorsports
Classic Motorsports

parkerracing

While a kart is nothing dynamiclly like a Corvette, it will improve your hand/eye co-ordination and help educate your butt and thus driving by the "seat of your pants".

I find myself at a certain indoor kart facility during the winter to feed my jones. /:\

Carl Johansson

Karting is fun, I have run a few of the endurance events on the East Coast, but the driving style is so different I don't think there was much transfer learning - lines were different, cornering was different - It was much more physical - weight transsfer - shifting around leaning etc I even ended up holding my head in a different way to give me better track perpective sitting so low to the track. I found it to be really fun - but don't think it helped my times in the corvette!

Carl Johansson

meldog21

Carl,

I disagree, not with your personal opinion but with your assumption. You might not have noticed an improvement in your car driving after running karts, but I do not think that is the same for most people. Anyone that has experience racing karts, motorcycles, atvs, or even watercraft is going to be faster than a car only guy with the same amount of car time. Like jpasterjak said, even dirt bike racing will make you faster.

I'm sure that once you reach a certain level, only more time in the exact vehicle you're racing will make you faster in that vehicle. Until you're a top level professional racer every bit of speed training you can get will help you be faster. Karts are a great option for that speed training.

Dog

spankythegator

Get one! I got into rotax (for the low maintenance) and it helped my driving tremendously...you experience some serious G's and things happen much faster so when your brain & body get used to that it makes taking the vette to the limit much easier...plus its relatively cheap racing and fun as hell.....do it, you won't regret it

Tintin

If you can win racing karts ,then you can win anything. Every serious pro racing competitor started in karts, guys like Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, JP Montoya, Alonso, Senna, me . It will teach you more in a month then you will learn in a year in a sedan car like the Corvette. They are super sophisticated race machines and as a nifty byproduct they go like hell. You will lap Miller a lot faster in a 250cc kart than you will in your Corvette, like probably 15 seconds quicker. You can run a full season of racing for peanuts, say $10K and really improve. I will say that they are pretty tough on old guys like me physically though.

95jersey

If you really learn to drive the KART, you will be disapointed by the performance of a Z06. KART's are increadible...especially shifter KART. Those things ARE NOT for the faint of heart.

A good idea would be a single gear spec KART. It will keep the speeds down and be easier to drive with less maintenance.

0Randy@DRM

This man knows!!! Everything you do in life will have some affect on other parts of your life. I know I learned something very important in a kart. DONT GO OUT ON COLD TIRES and try to set the track on fire. I crashed very hard and broke a few ribs. But it was better then writing off a nice Corvette.

Randy
PS I shot a 53 on the front nine on saturday

g-mac

Thanks for all the input.
I think i will do it next summer. I need to decide what class to go. Seems the biggest is the 125 shifter, which might be a little fast to start with. The track is open all year, depending on weather so maybe sooner to get some seat time.

G

sothpaw2

?Where's a good track in the Mid-atlantic area of the east coast? All I have found in MD are kiddie carts. It's fun inducing oversteer just to get around a corner in them but they got old in 5 minutes.

ghoffman

All seat time is good!

Tintin

Shifter karts can be 250cc but they are a little on the frightening side. To find real karting go here:

http://www.worldkarting.com/

They are great racers..

67 fastback

JG, This is Jim Bremner, the former owner of the '67 fastback that was in one of your issues a few years ago (yes I went over to the dark side)

To all, Karting IS the best training tool. I raced 5 + years in Rotax. you'll learn more in 1 kart race than 10 days of hpde.

Make sure that you wear ALL the safty gear. don't skip on the ribvest.

I miss my Kart.

CrossedFlags77

I would highly recommend you not get into shifter kart racing as your first experience with karting. They don't teach you proper technique as you can always just downshift if you mess up on a corner. Get into a single speed "TAG" type kart for your first one. They require far less maintenance and teach better technique. I race Rotax International which has been a very good class for me. And if you want to autocross it you can as well, I set FTD last time I was out.

0Randy@DRM

Shifters can give you bad habbits. Because you will spend the hole race hanging on for dear life. The shifters are fast and very powerfull little machines that take a ton of time to get going fast in one. My first day on a shifter I was turning worse lap times then my 100cc single speed.

Randy

CrossedFlags77

Yea I have been out to the track practicing numerous times with other karts. I have passed shifters all over the track in my single speed kart. A good single speed driver will beat a crappy shifter driver any day.

Zpeedstr

My Vette seems like slo-mo compared to my shifter.