Go-Karting isn’t just a fun day out for the family, it’s one of the best driving schools this planet has to offer.
From looking down the road to plan ahead, making split second decisions to avoid a crash, learning the raw seat of your pants feel of driving, and driving in slick tyres in the wet, Go-Karting teaches you everything you need to know to be a brilliant driver, no matter how old you are.
Go-Karting teaches you that anything that can happen
Whether it’s the road, or the racetrack, you have to be ready for anything to happen at any time. The moment you relax and take everything for granted, is the time that a wheel flies off a competitiors kart in front of your eyes, and you have to make a split second dive to stay out of the way. (It has happened to me, several times)
As much as it’s great for self preservation, keeping your insurance premiums down by not hitting anything, and your body intact, it teaches you to stay alert for life’s fun little opportunities, as they tend to present themselves at the most random of times. Stay alert, for the good, and the bad.
Go-Karting teaches you how to drive in the rain
As I watch people fly past me as they’re driving 123mph on the M1 travelling from St Albans to Bedford, in torrential rain, I realise that very few people actually realise how rain affects their car, and the tyres attached to said car. Go-Karting in the rain, on slicks, provides a wonderful educational example. Drive through a puddle, turn the wheel, and absolutely nothing happens, until it does, and at that point the barrier is getting a bit too close for comfort.
Karting provides a wonderful tactile example of how tyres drive through water and on the road, when they lose grip in different conditions, and how to fight nature to stay on the tarmac the right way up. It’s unfortunate that most road drivers only begin to learn about oversteer and understeer, mere seconds before they crash into something.
Go-Karting teaches you that crashing actually hurts
A brilliant lesson that many should learn about driving, but never do until it’s too late, is that having a crash is actually quite uncomfortable. I learned this lesson in 2012 on a hot summers day, at the fabulous Rye House kart track, when on an owner drivers test day, a large man in a Rotax Senior Max kart decided they would like to be on top of my head. A new radiator, and some manly tears (from me) later, an expensive but worthwhile lesson had been learned. Don’t hit anything.
Go-Karting teaches you that driving is expensive, actually
As a child, money tends to be this ethereal force that you beg your parents for, perhaps to provide you with Runescape, or Club Penguin membership if you grew up like myself in the 90s to early 2000s.
You find out in Go-Karting that money is very real, and that Motorsport, and cars in general, are bloody expensive. From the price of track time, fuel, tyres, and even just a good old rental karting session at your local TeamSport, the Pounds (or Dollars), add up seriously fast. Budgeting, then, is a skill that gets acquired in karting quick, or you’ll be back to the drawing board with an empty wallet very fast indeed, and no Runescape membership to boot.
Go-Karting teaches you how to deal with road rage
On the Go-Kart track you find out very quickly that actions against other humans have very real consequences. Most incidents can be forgiven with a quick “sorry” hand wave, the equivalent of an indicator hazard flash on the road that you see a lot. But if you punt someone off the track, there is a very real consequence of having a very angry person waiting for you once you finish the session. If it was genuinely your fault, you will have to get good at apologies, or excuses, and if you want to stand up for yourself, well now that’s a whole other skill in itself.
Go-Karting teaches you about Oversteer, and Understeer
It sounds basic, Oversteer and Understeer in driving are things most people don’t learn until they’re about to crash into a hedge. Karting teaches you when your vehicle is approaching its limit, and from which axle. This innate seat of your pants feeling is what begins to craft truly great drivers, and it’s something that has to be felt yourself for you to understand.
Go-Karting teaches you about the limits of your own body, and brain
Most people don’t consider that driving can actually be quite a physically, and mentally taxing ordeal. From constant scanning, planning, and discerning, to being on the track and actually being physically involved with the Kart. 3 hours down the Motorway can leave you feeling quite tired, let alone 3 hours in an endurance racing stint, in the rain, whilst your ribs and neck are being battered by a slightly sketchy rental Go-Kart (flashbacks to Daytona Milton Keynes Karting, brilliant track by the way). You quickly find out what you’re capable of, and how to push your own limits.
Go-Karting teaches you that people can be VERY unpredictable
The general public, especially on the roads, must be treated with caution. Yes, I know, we are the general public. It only takes watching a dashcam video or two to realise that humans do crazy things, and must be treated as if they will do something crazy at any moment. Be wary for sharp braking, swerving, not paying attention, and just general hazards resulting in not paying attention the road in front of them.
Keep your distance, await your opportunity to escape (overtake) safely, and do not trust the drivers around you for a second, even if they have the best intentions at heart.
Go-Karting teaches you that you that you can do anything if you put your mind to it
Yes it’s cheesy, but Karting teaches you to push your own limits, mind and body, about fair competition between friends and enemies. It teaches you that even in the pouring rain, when you’re cold and wet, and uncomfortable, you can find an inner fire within yourself to keep going.
That was cheesy.
Karting teaches you so much before you even step foot in a real car, and continues to teach you after you’ve been driving for years. If you want to become a genuinely better driver, safer, sharper, calmer, get yourself to your local kart track.
