Motor racing is in need of organisation. Without order there is chaos and we do not want chaos in motorsport (except at the demolition derby maybe). This keeps everybody safe and allows everybody to enjoy the racing (and go faster).
The way we set and maintain the order is by agreeing on rules and good manners (known as racing etiquette).

RULES

The first rule is to observe and obey the marshals. They work hard to keep things running smoothly and their intention is to help you enjoy clean racing. The rules the track marshals’ will enforce are very basic they are as follows:

BLUE FLAG

If you receive a blue flag moves towards the flag (which is always your left) and allow the faster driver past you. Once they have overtaken you the trick is to try and follow that driver and work out what they are doing different to you to make them faster. You then copy them in order to bring down your own lap times.

ORANGE LIGHT

Whenever the Orange light comes on around the track you MUST slow down to a walking pace around the whole track and proceed with extreme caution and be ready to stop at any time.

NO BUMPING, NO CRASHING

These karts are serious racing machines capable of up to 70km/h this means they are not dodgem karts, always give your fellow driver racing room and respect and do not hit each other or the walls.

USE YOUR BRAKES

Use your brakes before the corners excessive sliding and you will be asked to stop. The fastest way around our track is to be smooth, the more you slide the slower you will go.

Safety First

Always have safety in the front of your mind. You have a duty to preserve the wellbeing of everyone nearby and the equipment you’re using.

Don’t cut people off

When jostling for position it can be tempting to speed into a corner to block your opponent out. If your opponent has a clear path and the intention to follow the normal path through a corner (known as a racing line) you may not cut him off and cause him to slow abruptly.

SIGNAL FOR HELP

If you crash or break down put one hand in the air to indicate your inability to proceed. This will alert a marshal to you problem as well as warn other drivers that you are now a stationary obstacle. Wait in your Kart for one of our track marshals’ to help you out.

This is where you will find advice on how to improve your driving and your lap times.

Tip #1 – Aim for High Speed Exit

The biggest tip on driving our go karts is to try and get a high exit speed. Entering a corner is important to race craft and your competitive position however for pure speed it’s the exit of the corner you should worry about. If you exit a corner at 5 km/h faster than your opponent, by the end of the next section you will be proportionally faster than him. So that 5 km/h advantage leaving the corner turns into 20km/h advantage by the next corner. Try entering a corner more slowly and smoothly, concentrate on looking around the corner and down the road rather than just at the curb in front of you.

Tip #2 – Don’t Power Slide

Don’t confuse this with power-sliding (oversteering) which is also a common technique in a go kart. While it is exciting to watch (in and out of the kart) this technique of sliding (drifting) the rear end is the slowest way to drive a go kart around this track.

Tip #3 – Lining up the optimal lap 

Putting down a hot lap involves optimising the time you need to get around the whole of the circuit. To do this one must consider how to advantage oneself in specific corners, transitions between corners and planning ahead. If you set yourself the goal of perfecting one corner this is a great start. You will feel a gradual improvement (if you can remain focused) and eventually you will feel like you weren’t really trying and you flew through faster than when you were working hard.

Tip #4 – Putting corners together

Next you should try to string two fast corners together. You will see that the fastest line through one corner is not necessarily the best for overall speed. You need to consider the transitions between all corners on the track you will begin to develop a true ‘racing line’ for the whole of the circuit. This is the only way to get race winning speed around a race track.

Remember, Slow in = Fast out.