Hehehehe.... and it was a great time to Go-Kart as well, Autumn always brings freezing rain... and today was no exception...
I mentioned in the previous post about my previous Go-Kart experience here in the dry, and the Go-Kart grip level was not very much desirable... good for drifting, but hard for time attack...
And now in the rain.... the day before one of my friend played the Go-Kart in the rain and he warn how low the grip level can be... he was literally spinning all around the circuit, and they make us wear funny Pentium like clothes xD
So I was cautious... the day was freezing and when the Go-Kart officials started our Karts I noticed that they tune up the instructors Kart... probably to make sure he wins... or probably just my negative suspicion xD
Anyway, during the familiarization of the track... I was the only one to spun since everyone was driving slowly while I was just trying to assess the grip limit of the Kart... and its low... very low :(
And when they released us for the qualifying laps I was trying to push and assess the limits of the Kart... experimenting on lines and braking & throttle techniques... and I found that the Kart understeer badly at the entry and oversteer happy at the exits....
The tyres locks too easily and spin out of grip too fast... the grip level was really bad... I even spun at straightaways after a hard braking... a 360 spin but was able to recover without running off track...
Before the end of the qualifying times I was able to make a clean lap and scored myself a pole position... 3 seconds faster than my instructor who is 2nd^^
hehehe... in the rain it's more about skills xD
I found out that I need to be gentle on the brake at the entry and progressively braking hard until the entry where I let the back end locks for a moment to make a quick turn and initiate a drift... and stabbing the throttle to control my grip level and make sure my drift angle is small and neutral counter steer for maximum exit speed....
I need to constantly stab the throttle because the Go-Kart Throttle paddle setting is to put power immediately or none at all... it was hard to progressively control the throttle like Micheal Schumacher xD
Anyway, when the race started I got off to a clean start and slowly building up a healthy lead... until the last series of corners where I notice everyone behind me spun at the corners because before it was a long straightaway and everyone seem to have misjudge the braking point and miss the late apex xD
After that it was safe cruising for me... I was a healthy 30 seconds ahead even up to the point I almost lost concentration and accidentally drift the Kart... luckily I was able to catch it and it was the wake up call for me...
I started to push hard and started to catch up to the back enders^^ hehehehe.... with some fancy overtaking maneuver and avoiding spinning Karters xD I was able to lap everyone on the track up to the no.3rd guy^^
There was this one moment where I was about to lap 2 back enders battling for position.... I was able to exit the corner faster and caught up to them on the straights.... as I positioned myself on the outside to take the next corner I noticed I have just miss the braking point.... SHIT!!! I started to brake while trying to maneuver to the inside.... I had to avoid the apex to avoid hitting the guy in front of me... and ended up understeering into the corner... I started to lock the brakes to make the car turn and catch the back before I spun... a couple of locks and catches and I was able to make through the corner and pass the 2 back enders^^
In the end I ended the race with my 2 instructors 2nd and 3rd respectively^^ Although it was quite a haphazard to race in the rain with almost everyone spinning in the circuit but all in all it was entertaining and it thought me a lot about adapting to the grip limit of the Kart^^ lalalalala~~~~
Below is the time result of our race^^ I was number 25 ;)
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