While I wouldn't contradict Ian, there's one thing to remember about 'late' braking particularly if you have no racing experience yourself.
The kart is roughly twice as stable under acceleration as it is under braking.
When you turn into a corner, you need to be on the accelerator, not on the brake, because the kart will still stick to the road under acceleration when it will skid or spin out when under braking.
The other thing to learn is how much turning the wheel will act as a brake for the kart. A good exercise is to drive the kart without using the brake at all, gradually building up the speed. It does two things, one being to show you how little you need to use the brakes, how the right line allows you to carry speed into the corner, whereas learning to brake from the start means that you have to unlearn braking in order to become smooth.
The other thing it teaches is how the right line isn't necessarily the obvious one. To keep a high speed without brakes you have to leave each corner in the right place to enter the next corner. Sometimes that means not taking the corner 'as fast as you can' which will put you off line. What you lose in being a little slower in will be more than gained back by being faster out and in the right place.
As a novice it is very tempting to hammer into a corner absolutely flat out, lock the brakes and smoke into the apex and think that by braking later and later and later you are getting faster because it feels that way. The thing is that it is very difficult to judge speed and revs when you are braking heavily. Drop a thousand revs below teh powerband and it will take you a sec to two seconds to get them back, while being more in control means you don't lose those revs.
|
|