Karting tips post: Braking, Slowing down to going quicker ("Braking for dummies")

OK, so even I was confused writing that title, but fear not, I know what I speak off... kinda?? regardless I shall try and share what knowledge I think I have and here comes some braking and karting tips flying at yo faces! For all you advanced folk keep your faces in the WandiSport direction for some tips on Trail braking.

So you wanna look all fly and shizz locking your brakes just before you turn? and you may have seen me do it at hooton in my latest vid, if not make sure to check it out, if not for the karting then do it for pendulum's TARANTULA (the music in the background) 

Truth is it aint all about lookin' fly. in fact locking up is a very unefficent form of braking. I could explain the physics behind it but id much rather you took my word for it, later on in your racing adventures you will learn "Trail braking" which includes a little bit of locking up.

Karting Tips post: Direct Drive vs TAG/Clutch (Part 2 TaG/Clutch))

Part 2, TaG/Clutch
Just need to quickly clarify that which engine you use is dictated by the regulations of the championship you wish to run in, if you wish to do open races or the TKM series you can choose what to run.
So same as before ill try and give a brief simplified explanation of what they are. First lets talk about the clutch, most kart clutches (shifter karts aside) are Centrifugal, to explain centrifugal force try to imagine a conker at the end of a string and as you spin the other end faster and faster the conker becomes further and further away from you. That in mind, lets move on how the rear axle is connected to the engine. this time its not connected directly to the crank, it is connected to a clutch drum that spins on the crank freely.

Inside this drum we have a TAB/HUB this has parts that expand under that centrifugal force we talked about, it has big metal conkers inside that expand and hold on to the drum (Labeled below). thus we have a connection between the crank and the rear axle and therefore POWER. We get the centrifugal force by spinning the crank (just like spinning the conker) and increase/reduce the amount by increasing/reducing throttle.

Karting Tips post: Direct Drive vs TAG/Clutch (Part 1 Direct Drive)

So you've worked your butts off either doing actual work or persuading your parents into buying you a racing kart, but which one do you go for? Here's a little karting tip.

Allow me to give you a quick brief of what Direct drive (often called DD) and Touch and Go (TAG) karts are, first off is DD, this is where the the rear axle is directly connected to the crank shaft of the engine, Confused? don't worry ill clarify with a picture

Picture from Karting1.co.uk posted by Joe Higham

The Crankshaft is the Shaft (duh! right?) that spins because the pistons in the engine move up and down and thus we get POWER, or acceleration would be more accurate. now when this shaft is connected to the the rear axle via that big golden thing called a sprocket it means as you spin the rear wheels you spin the pistons in the engine. And if you haven't figured it out yet that is how you start a direct drive engine, you push it until you gather momentum and the engine should start, (you also need to block the air intake (missing from the picture) so the engine can fill with fuel and you remove your hand when the engine turns over. so lets make a list of Good and bad stuff about such and engine.

So my clutch exploded and stuff

As posted before i went to hooton park with my kart and have uploaded the pictures onto Flickr to check them out the links is:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/77033868@N03/   Racing karts are not toys! yup i learned to hard and rather expensive way, A friend of mine is rather handy with a camera (being a photography student and all) and having never driven a kart before i thought what's the worst that could happen if he was to give it a few laps. Just a quick side note and over the next few days i will be throwing some tasty new fitness and diet posts towards your computer screens so keep an eye out for that.   Now back to the main story and unfortunately the worst did happen, after a spin out our photographer was riding the throttle and brake at the same time (not knowingly of the damage it could cause ofcourse) generating a lot of heat in the clutch and eventually causing it to explode, blowing off the the blue thingy dangling off (which i later learned it to be an ignition coil) in the process. so 2 lessons 1, NEVER press the brake and throttle at the same time 2, Indoor karts and Racing karts are different animals, not everyone can drive a racing kart on the first go,   That shouldn't push anyone away from racing but try to practice on a slow kart first such as a single engined prokart or a direct drive engine. If you decide to jump right into a fancy racing kart then just remember to never push both pedals at once and don't be put off if you spin off I want to make it very clear that i do think ANYONE can drive and race a go kart and do so very well, but like any other sport you will struggle if you jump and skip a few stages, or put in a metaphor, you will struggle later on if you run before you walk. Now unfortunatly this all happened before i got a chance to shoot the video i promised you all so more delays on that but i shall keep you up to date on the karts recovery. and also in my next post ill upload some pictures of the remains on my clutch Be Well ----------------------- Mustafa S. Wandi

Delays, delays delays

I'm afraid due to poor weather write to you from my home rather than hooton, and the videos regarding kart set up will be arriving on a screen in front of you a little later im afraid, and whilst i hold you captive i wanna say ive had a change in heart about karthakain, he recently made a mature statement saying that he and sebastian must move on, vettel who indirectly called him an idiot and a cucomber (a common german insult regarding driving, has not responded so i no longer dislike the HRT driver, i now have no emotion of feeling towards him, i nothing him.
Be Well ----------------------- Mustafa S. Wandi

Formula 1 begins!

Albert park was harassed recently by the revs and screams of 22 formula 1 cars a few hours ago, yup 22 not 24, i hate to sound cocky... wait , i love sounding cocky, but i predicted the failure of HRT in preseason testing, but they still impressed me, i assumed they would be embarrassing, but no they failed to even quilify (didn't meet 107% rule).

 

McLaren seem to have a clear advantage in straight lines and the MercedesGP looks amazingly steady and stable, Red bull seem to be in Mclarens shoes last year because the car doesn't seem to have pace in qualy but race pace was good and Vettel gave Jenson a good run for his money...
 

Sporting Personalities (The "dip")

Whilst this blog is made to share my jurney of motorsport, along the way i will share some of my opinion on sport. mainly on motorsport and F1 but these can vary to all sports.

I like to think I watch a lot of sport from football to Formula 1 to Karting, and I have noticed a very broad variety in sports personalities. Many professional athletes are commonly judged on how they react to certain scenarios.

Formula 1 shows my point here as drivers go on to win their first championship, you often see drivers slipping under the radar mid-season, for example Jenson Button in 2009 made a records matching start to the season winning six of seven raced, a record only achieve before by Michael Schumacher and someone else (dunno who).

However after that, Jenson only managed to average 6^th throughout the rest of the season, (though double diffusers may have had something to do with it) Jenson claimed he wasn’t happy with how unpredictable the cars handling had become. But commentators and analyst seemed to think Jenson wasn’t coping with the stress of leading the championship too well. Though he did comeback with an amazing storm through the grid at Brazil to take the championship, it’s this mid-season dip in performance I wish to talk about.....