Practice makes Permanent

Kart Class

Let’s discuss how some drivers can dominate on a practice day, but then can't translate that onto a race day. We see in practice sometimes, kids setting the fastest laps they've ever set. Two days later, or a couple of weeks later, get to race day and suddenly, they're 0.4, maybe even up to one second off the pace they were driving the weekend before.

How's that possible and what changes sometimes from a practice day to a race day? The first thing we're going to be discussing is pressure. On a practice day, generally there might be other karts on track, but there's possibly you just racing your lap time. You might be doing a 46-second lap time and really, you're just racing yourself. You're trying to brake later than you normally do. You might be trying a slightly different line. You might be trying to take a little bit more curb than you're used to or you're trying to accelerate earlier. But realistically, you're just racing the clock on a practice day.

And so, if you do make a mistake, that's totally fine because most karts have a clutch these days. If you do spin off or you run wide, it doesn't matter because you can just get back into it on the following lap. When it comes to a race day, you might be a little bit more tentative because if you do run wide or spin out, that could jeopardize your race result. Straightaway, you might be only driving at 90 or 95% of your full potential, and that could be a reason why you are half a second off the pace of what you're doing during the week.

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