General Aggression, Contact, ABCs

[DarrenT]

What’s your opinion on the appropriate level of aggression and contact when driving as different tracks seem to have massive differences in what is acceptable? At the moment its junior rental karting but we are working towards owner karting.

 

[LE#99]

Junior is by far the age group that suffers from the most contact and aggression. Be assertive and hold your line or go for the gap but loading out of the way (front to rear contact) is just a cop out and out of order, aggressive sideswipes (podding) is the same.

Unfortunately it's something you have to get used to and learn how to take to try and not get sent.

 

[Team13Karting]

Short answer is that as it's Rental Karting, the driving standards are generally lower. The company don't want to lose your business, even if you drive like a complete twonk. It's only if you're going to kill someone (The paperwork is terrible) or you're going to break a kart (That affects the profit margin) that they'll probably do something about it...

 

[DarrenT]

Trying to encourage the correct driving style but one track has regular aggressive contact and ABCs and the other has very minimal contact and the rules are heavily enforced. Obviously you don't want to damage your own kart so better driving would be sensible, but just how aggressive is something like Junior Super One. We want to prepare with the correct level of assertiveness.

 

[LE#99]

Short answer is that as it's Rental Karting, the driving standards are generally lower. The company don't want to lose your business, even if you drive like a complete twonk. It's only if you're going to kill someone (The paperwork is terrible) or you're going to break a kart (That affects the profit margin) that they'll probably do something about it...

You'll find exactly the same in owner driver and msuk unfortunately

 

[GPchris98]

Karting is labelled a none contact sport however like all motorsport it's not always quite the case.
Owner driver you now have drop down nose cones with a 5sec penalty if your nose cone is dislodged all to stop deliberate ramming.
My son races senior rotax and has done the British championship.. the aggression levels are high...but so are the skill of the drivers... being loaded off the starts into corners is the norm...seasoned drivers not only know how to do it they also know how to control there kart when it's done to them... close wheel to wheel and sometimes making contact with side pods it's all part of very close racing... the best drivers read the situations and have the skills to control there karts on the attack or defence and its very much a art in itself.
Iv always said track craft is the racing line being where you need to be for the best lap time.... but race craft is all together a different animal.

 

[Adam]

Karting is labelled a none contact sport however like all motorsport it's not always quite the case.
Owner driver you now have drop down nose cones with a 5sec penalty if your nose cone is dislodged all to stop deliberate ramming.
My son races senior rotax and has done the British championship.. the aggression levels are high...but so are the skill of the drivers... being loaded off the starts into corners is the norm...seasoned drivers not only know how to do it they also know how to control there kart when it's done to them... close wheel to wheel and sometimes making contact with side pods it's all part of very close racing... the best drivers read the situations and have the skills to control there karts on the attack or defence and its very much a art in itself.
Iv always said track craft is the racing line being where you need to be for the best lap time.... but race craft is all together a different animal.

I like that Chris

 

[Team13Karting]

You'll find exactly the same in owner driver and msuk unfortunately

I'll be honest, the standard of driving has steadily got worse from when I first started in 1987. Back then there were no pods, and no front bumpers either. Respect was far higher as the consequences of contact were very much higher.

These days you can plough into someone with very little consequence. The fact that there is an obscene amount of money doing the rounds in MSUK karting at the moment as well doesn't help. If daddy is buying little Johnny a £10k motor so he can win, and replacing his chassis every 2 or 3 meetings, then he's not going to care if he's punting someone off.

Funnily enough, I've found some of the best close, fair "owner driver" racing to be found at IKR level. Most people there are competing at what used to be considered "Club" level, so budgets are smaller, and people don't want to cause damage to theirs, or anyone else's kit.

Arguably, IKR should be where most people start out, and let MSUK get on with making a hash of "governing" the sport. They should be running the major championships, and nothing else, as they appear to have lost all idea of what grassroots actually is...

 

[LE#99]

I'll be honest, the standard of driving has steadily got worse from when I first started in 1987. Back then there were no pods, and no front bumpers either. Respect was far higher as the consequences of contact were very much higher.

These days you can plough into someone with very little consequence. The fact that there is an obscene amount of money doing the rounds in MSUK karting at the moment as well doesn't help. If daddy is buying little Johnny a £10k motor so he can win, and replacing his chassis every 2 or 3 meetings, then he's not going to care if he's punting someone off.

Funnily enough, I've found some of the best close, fair "owner driver" racing to be found at IKR level. Most people there are competing at what used to be considered "Club" level, so budgets are smaller, and people don't want to cause damage to theirs, or anyone else's kit.

Arguably, IKR should be where most people start out, and let MSUK get on with making a hash of "governing" the sport. They should be running the major championships, and nothing else, as they appear to have lost all idea of what grassroots actually is...

I don't think the money directly influences whether the driver will smash you off but it's got to help being able to put a new chassis down whenever needed. As you say, the majority go for OTK or a derivative and if you're doing that, to be at the front at higher levels you need to be replacing frames very regularly.
IKR racing is fun but IMHO it can be just as energetic as any MSUK you'd pick and then you also have the question over the legality of the equipment being used lol.

I agree about where to start and I think this has affected the whole karting scene in the UK. Rather than work your way up, gain the skills and progress there's been an unflux of money men who have bought their way to the front and the paddock has just mushroomed ($s wise) out of control. Yes, if you're working in there it's good and why not earn while you can but there are so many kids missing out on the fun part of winning, especially at a friendly small IKR event.

Got to remember there are some teams and individuals working in the MSUK paddock who are genuinely reasonable guys who strike a realistic balance between earning a living, providing a service, getting the best for their clients and trying to keep karting an accessible sport for as many as possible.