We have a real nice karting place here and was hoping someone could give me a tip or two on getting fast...

www.cincykarting.com

About all I can think of that helps me is to throw your weight into the corners as much as the seatbelts will allow. On some corners where I slide too much, say a right hander, I'll slide my butt right in the seat and lean as hard as I can to the right. Kind of like riding quads to get them to turn better.

Once you know the course never lift off the gas. A small push on the brake pedal will usually slow you enough without losing too much momentum. On the fast indoor carts I've driven at a place like your link in Utah, once I lift on the gas it takes what seems like forever (even though it's only a second or two) to get back to speed.

That's about all I can think of. Most of the time I'm just smiling ear to ear when on fast Karts.

Well, i help coach youngsters at karting tracks over here in the UK, not sure how good i actually am at it but the parents are always happy with what i do when im there, so maybe i can offer some help? not sure how much use iwill be though lol those karts on the sight are alot different from the ones we use over here, the ones i use and the competitors use dont have belts over here or them roll bar things behind the seat.

Thing about Karts is you can throw them about, great little bits of kit tbh, and very fun!

I'll find one of my write ups and put it up mate, when are you planning on Racing btw?

http://www.fastkartspeedway.com/

While I was at Hill AFB in Layton Utah five times in 2010 I hit up this place almost every time. I still have my license and balaklava.

Mr. Hill, these are fast and fun Karts, but designed for anybody to drive. They host leagues as well as parties and just the guy off the street who wants to do some racing. Probably not the same type of real racing kart you may be thinking. No shifting...just firewall the gas pedal and go! I'm sure a lot of your experience would still help though. They are fun to slide and throw around in the corners...and they do hurt a bit if you slam into the tires.

ah yeah, theres a few karts with auto gears we use over here where you just flaw them :D, im still trying to find where i stored all my write ups lol ive got them on an external hard drive, but ive got 6 externals and since they are all the same i dunno which one they are on lol i may just put something together off the top of my head but the write ups i have are very simply laid out in easy steps. Your spot on about body weight though, helps keep the kart centered well

Okay well while i have time i'll just put together what i remember and add to it as i go along lol cant find which HD the things are on (yay me for being organized!)

Okay well the first things i tell the kids, is usually to always look at the layout of the course before actually taking to it in anyform, usally each track has the track layout mapped out either in leaflets or up on a big sign (the course people usually will point out major areas on the track etc anyway)

If you have the chance walk the track its always helpful, if not don't worry!

So these karts are most likely auto gears (thats good saves the hassle of potentially burning out gears :P ) which means right pedal = go, left pedal = brake. Nice and simple!

Now when you get in them, you will be told how to mount your steed (kart :P) so take notice, also its a good thing to listen to everything the course instructors marshals say, never believe you know it all cos as always in any form of motorsport anything can happen!

Once your in your Kart, what i suggest is just take the first few laps easy, pick out points to use as visual braking markers (if you need to brake of course) and also try out a few different lines through the corners, just from looking at the pics of the track theres a few corners i would "Late Apex" to get a better run through and out the corner.

Don't be afraid to push the limits either, the Karts are amazingly sturdy things so you can be firm with them! Just don't come right off the power if you think your going to fast through a corner unbalances the kart.

Always be looking ahead "sighting the corner", this is a technique used by almost all racing drivers, which helps them through the corner as they are already pre-planning where they want to put themselves.

Over here i got told off a few times when mucking around in auto karts for using the Brake and Accelerator at the same time, even though it was very very briefly on one corner, apparently it burns out the clutch etc, so just be wary of that, they will hold up a sign just warning you of things like that if they notice it.

When defending your position, pick a line and stick with it, sudden changes can cause accidents and possible injury, dont want to be flipping these things now lol

Try to be smooth with your inputs, obviously these are fast little things so by smooth its probably going to be more ragged than anything but just try and keep any inputs smooth, caress it

Also shifting your weight going through corners does help, it keeps the balance of the kart just so and you end up doing it naturally anyway so dont over think it all!

Once you start putting in the laps just push a little deeper and further each time, if you run wide or spin then you have found the limit nothing to be ashamed off just find that sweet spot

its all well and good me typing this but its alot easier when im able to go out on track and demonstrate it via helmet cams! some may disagree with what ive put there, but its had a decent effect on youngsters and well thats not everything there is loads more i could do but would be easier to be there to demonstrate as said. If you wanna know anything specific then just feel free to shout it out and i'll do my best to answer/advise on it

I've often wondered if the rocking you see some people do, when they accelerate from a slow corner actually does anything?

the rocking not so much, but the leaning forwards you see them do when they are going down a straight, thats to try and increase their speed, because by sitting back, the air hits more of you therefore theres more resistance so they lean in towards their steering wheel sort of like a motorbike rider does when they tuck in down the straights.