The point that Paul is making is that you cannot test anything if you cannot lap consistently, because the variations may be down to driver rather than equipment conditions.
A second point is that contrary to many people's thoughts, you don't have to be able to lap consistently 'flat out'. So if you drive at 80% of your current ability, even if that is a lot slower than the class average or ARKS pace, you should be able to lap consistently within half a second. It may seem very slow to you but persevere. What you will find is that not only will you get faster but you will get more consistent.
Improvements come in three kinds. First is trackcraft, second are improvement of driving features,the third is faster equipment.
Trackcraft is the appreciation of racing and driving line, awareness of other drivers and knowing what happens to the kart under certain conditions.
So you might try driving without touching the brakes, for example. Most people find that they can drive to about 90% of their maximum speed, without using the brakes. Start off really slow and try to build up speed round teh corners and learning how turning the wheel will shed speed without touching the brakes. You will have to get the driving lines round the corners right, be consistent and learn how to use the throttle to steer as well as accelerate.
Under the improvement of driving comes stuff like kart set-up. Weight distribution, track, caster, camber and stiffness. Test the full range of your kart, create a programme of trials and run through them regardless of whether you are practising or competing on a raceday. Write down the settings and the results (eg: laptimes) and your evaluation (ie: this felt easier turning in, but was slower or harder work to keep on line, whatever). Also note the weather. For example, things are different on a hot track than a cold track.
Faster equipment is where you compare, say, the performance of two carbs, or differing gear ratios.
But all of it, notice at that 80% ability, where holding to a time is 'easy'. We know it isn't going to be 'the fastest you can', but when you are going flat-out, you will make driving errors that are much more significant that any equipment or set-up improvements.
The point is: if the difference between two carbs is, say, 0.3 of a second a lap, but the difference between two caster settings is 2 seconds a lap, is it worth testing carbs when you haven't finished testing caster?
And by the time you have finished testing trackcraft and driving features, then you may be in a position where the difference between the carbs will make a difference in the positions.
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TKM Carbs by 'WWKarter' (02 Jan 2015 @ 11:53)
