K1Speed vs other rental karts, touchy brakes; tips?

I'd never done electric karts 'til Saturday. I had a lot of fun, but I found both karts I got assigned to have absolutely berzerkeley sensitive brakes, and I had trouble not getting the kart way more sideways than I wanted to.

The only other karts I'd driven much were a fairly local place called Sykart that does gas karts, though I'd been to one other local place. Both of those seemed to have brakes you could modulate pretty intuitively (for someone who doesn't normally left-foot brake), and I got to where I could get the cart to hold a good attitude and rotate nicely around the hairpins without undue scrubbing or sidewaysness, but after two races at K1Speed I was still either being ridiculously conservative as I tried to brake so little it was barely better than just lifting, or continuing to snap the kart sideways with the attendant loss of momentum.

Being (I think) a bigger franchise, I thought GRM might have some insights into these particular karts. I'm stoked that the mostly-not-too-gearhead group of friends I went with are interested in going back, and while I did respectablyish, there's obviously so much time in those bobbles... I'm about 8%(oof!) off the lap record, and at least want to get on the "fastest adults this week" list (which I missed by a tenth this time). It's more like getting your initials in Pac Man at the pizza parlor than an AX Nats trophy, but I'm apparently more in competition withdrawals than I realized... (Gotta tuck this away as motivation to get the BGT ready for the '24 season...)

I did a kart league a couple years ago, and I really liked it. I talked about it here

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/time-to-mod-the-nut-behind-the-wheel/188691/page1/

I might try and do it again this winter/spring. 

There are ways to drive without using the brakes at all, but my immediate feedback is you are probably using them too frequently. See if you can use the turn in scrubbing to reduce speed in all but the fastest entry corners. 

Yeah based on the K1 speed we have locally with electric karts most of us never need to use the brakes in regular lapping at all. The old gas kart place would need them a couple points in the lap. For those we'd be fastest by lifting just enough to not trip the auto engine cut off (would cut power when brakes activated) but slightly on the gas too.

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

There are ways to drive without using the brakes at all, but my immediate feedback is you are probably using them too frequently. See if you can use the turn in scrubbing to reduce speed in all but the fastest entry corners. 

I was going to say this. The last time I drove electric karts, the less I used the brakes in all but one corner, the more my lap times dropped. 

concurring on just lifting with K1 karts. I remember the attendant at K1 said that if the brake and accelerator pedals were simultaneous pressed the kart would die and take a second to reactivate. Last time I did it was years ago, may not be the same now.

K1 is fun, but IME not a great place for trying to be maximally competitive.  As with all kart rental places the karts are not the same, with the most obvious differences being the age of the tires currently installed and the charge/condition of the batteries.  Unique to electric karts (AFAIK), the corner workers have the ability to remotely dial the power up/down at whim, and will sometimes do that just to slow down a driver who is catching/passing too many other people.  Driver weight is also a very significant factor.

Agreed on not using the brakes, at least with the tracks at our local facility.

In reply to Robbie (Forum Supporter) :

I'm planning on jumping back into a league this winter as well.  It's a great way to stave off the winter blues.  

For my local K1 place, the last time I was there I only ever had to hit the brakes when coming upon another racer. 

Thanks, all! Definitely will have to spend a stint trying to get the kart turned in the tight stuff without the brakes and see how else I can avoid understeer. With only two heats done so far, I know there's a lot I haven't figured out about these karts, and thanks to you guys I now know it's likely that trying to refine the techniques I was using on different karts might not be the way to go.

Between this and Robbie's other thread, there's quite a bit to digest.

Also, between this and Superfast Matt's latest kart video, I've already checked CL for karts (we have a couple of tracks locally)... But really, I've got too many projects and the ability to do something like driving with no more preparation than going out to lunch is compelling. Especially given that this allows it in comfort in a (fairly) cold, (rather) wet PNW Winter.

My local K1 (same as johndej above, we're both central VA if memory serves), there is no point during a lap where brakes are needed unless you catch traffic, or in the case of the monthly league nights, the thunderdome that is lap 1. At least for my not-exactly-horse-jockey-self, most of the karts there seem to reward lifting sharply at essentially the same time as turn-in, navigating the front axle of the kart down to the apex, let the back do whatever it's going to, then power out. for the second hairpin, I lift slightly after turn-in, which helps slow and rotate the kart without overdoing either, and helps keep the line tight to the inside of the corner and keeps from opening a door for folks to try to find their way through, which is admittedly more of a league night mentality than normal arrive-and-drive

The steering wheel is also the brake.  I've taken my work team to K1 a couple times for team building.  We had 3 people drop out after the second qualifying stint.  I whipped everyones butts and as I was pulling in, the kart attendant said "not bad, you're only 1.5 seconds off the staff pace."  I thought I was doing something, but nah.

Don't be fat. 
 

I could be a better driver than anybody, but at 375#, that's not going to translate to super fast laps. 

Never been to K1, but I get out to another electric kart place at least once a year (trying to up that) for a while now, and yeah, mostly I've found that just lifting a bit and turning the wheel at basically the same time get you going where you want to go. 

I don't know what K1's hours are, but for me going early afternoon midweek means a near empty track most of the time.  Great for tinkering around with your driving. 

Last time I had a kart with about 20-30* play in the steering column.  That was less than ideal.  But it's hard to beat the seat time per $ ratio.