Secrets of Racing Mastery: Terminology

Let's delve into some physics and terminology to ensure we're all speaking the same language in our karting discussions!

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In the future, we'll use many different terms, and to avoid confusion and ensure a full understanding of all theory, let's review some important racing terms:

Ackermann Steering Geometry: The inside wheel of a kart going into a turn travels a smaller radius than the outside wheel. Therefore, the inside front wheel needs to turn more sharply to avoid dragging. This is what Ackermann steering geometry is for.

Balanced: When a kart is neither accelerating, decelerating, nor turning, it is balanced. Why? Because the kart's weight is evenly distributed across all four wheels, as it is in its static weight distribution. Whenever you brake, steer, or accelerate, the kart will not be perfectly balanced due to weight transfer.

Contact Patch: When driving on the track, only a small portion of each tire is in contact with the track surface at any one time. If you look at your tires when your kart is stationary, you'll see that the area of contact is relatively small. This area is called the "contact patch."

Obviously, if you have a wider tire, it will have a larger contact patch (rear tires vs. front tires). But if you press harder on the tire by adding more weight, its contact patch will also increase (like pressing a balloon onto a table surface—the harder you press, the larger the contact area). Generally, the larger the contact patch, the more grip the tire has on the track surface. However, the greater the friction, the harder it is for the engine to accelerate the kart. There must be a balance in everything.

Entry: If you divide a corner into thirds, the entry is the first phase; it begins at the turn-in point.

Exit: This is the third and final phase of a turn, including the point at which you exit the turn.

Cornering Speed Limit: A tire has relatively equal grip limits in every direction—braking, cornering, or accelerating. For instance, a kart and tire can brake with an acceleration of 1.0 g, corner with 1.0 g, and accelerate with 1.0 g before the tires start to break traction and slide. If you exceed the tire's grip limit, they will start to slide, slowing you down or causing a spin if not controlled. On the other hand, if you don't use all the available grip, you'll be slower.

Front-End Hook: This phrase describes when a kart turns well into a corner but then feels like it suddenly grips at the front and loses grip at the rear, causing oversteer. This specific oversteer is due to the "front-end hook."

Mid-Corner: This is the second phase of a corner if divided into thirds. Typically, the apex is in this phase, as well as the part of the turn where braking ends and acceleration begins.

Nervous: You'll hear this term used to describe a kart with oversteer on corner entry. When the driver turns, the rear end wants to step out, making the driver unsure whether they will spin or not. Unsurprisingly, the term "nervous" is used, isn't it? If the kart starts oversteering immediately after turn-in, it can be described as having a "nervous entry."

Neutral: This term describes a kart with neither understeer nor oversteer. If the kart slides equally forward and backward when slightly exceeding the limit, it is considered "neutral" in terms of handling balance. This is usually what we aim for when setting up handling.

Oversteer: Oversteer occurs when the rear tires have less grip than the front tires, causing the kart to turn more than intended—this is oversteer. The rear end swings out, causing the kart to slide. If not controlled by the driver, the kart can spin out (seen beginners or remember yourself in the rain?). The rear tires have a larger slip angle than the front ones. This must be remembered and known!

Push (understeer can be on enter or exit): The term "push" is used to describe understeer. With understeer, the kart drives straight forward. This most often happens when the kart lacks front-end grip or has chassis design issues preventing it from turning. There can be many causes, and an experienced driver can always feel and understand why the kart isn't turning well and how to adjust their driving style to minimize losses.

Driver-Induced Oversteer: If the driver aggressively presses the throttle, causing the rear tires to lose grip and slide, it reduces the tires' ability to corner. This also causes the kart's rear end to have a larger slip angle than the front. In this case, however, it's caused by the power delivered to the wheels (actually caused by the driver!), hence "driver-induced oversteer."

Side Note from Karting: Note that you cannot create oversteer in a front-wheel-drive car; it may be possible in some all-wheel-drive cars, depending on how power is distributed between the front and rear wheels.

Push Center-Off: This phrase describes a kart with understeer when accelerating out of a corner, mainly from the center of the corner to the exit. It describes not only what the kart does (understeer) but also where it occurs, making it very useful.

Toe: Toe can either be "toe-in" or "toe-out." This is the angle between the two front or rear wheels when viewed from above. Toe-in is when the front parts of the tires are closer together than the rear; toe-out is the opposite, where the front parts of the tires are farther apart than the rear. Toe can always be adjusted at the front, but only at the rear in cars with independent rear suspension.

Toe plays a significant role in straight-line stability and the car's transitional handling characteristics—how quickly it responds to initial steering input. Generally, toe-in on the front wheels leads to initial understeer; toe-out leads to initial oversteer or makes the car more responsive to steering input (but not always!).

Rear-wheel toe, which can cause instability and unpredictable oversteer, is rarely used on the road.

Trail Braking: Late braking till apex of the corner

Jumping (hopping): When the kart starts jumping in a certain phase of the corner.