Today we are going to analyse which kind of technical training is better to maximize children and early teenagers performances in karting
FIRST OF ALL: NO PERFORMANCE OBSESSION
Pity I have seen frequetly parents putting too much pressure on their child about karting performance, trying to push his carreer to F1 or professionalism at every cost. Excellent performance can attract sponsors reducing economical efforts in climbing motorsport categories and this is another reason that pushes young karter's relatives to maximize their child driving performance.
But every child has his own maturation time and if he's not extremely fast at 8 years old it doesn't mean that he'll never be a champion in future. Let him take time to grow, accumulating experience and training hours. But first of all make sure your child is having fun with this sport and is enjoying it!
And maybe most important, don't see him as a revenge of your broken dream of being a racing driver, he is a different person which his own dreams and passions.
BUT WHAT IS TECHNICAL TRAINING?
After this important introduction, let's go to the core topic of this article. What is technical training? Technical training is specific training for the sport that an athlete is practicing, for example bike riding for a cyclist.
In our case, technical training is kart driving and driving skills in general, practiced even with simracing.
SIMRACING AS TRAINING
If you already follow our Instagram page, maybe you know that i'm a fan of simracing as a training method for real drivers. I just think that his training potential and its transfer on real driving is still underrated.
You can train with simracing paying much less than a track day. The only expenses are for an entry level steering wheel with force feedback - such as a Logitech G29 - and a console such as a PS4. You don't need expensive setup which are useful only if you want to follow a carreer in simracing and you have a lot of experience about this world.
Even games wich are not considered "100% simulators" such as F1 game or Gran Turismo can be ok.
The main goal of this training method is to improve mental concentration which is foundamental for a driver.
Trying real life tracks a driver can also practice racing lines and braking points with an advantage when, in future, maybe he'll race on it, because he'll already know the "secrets" of that track!
LESS IS MORE
You don't need to spend hours every day driving on simulator but is better 30 minutes circa a day, 4 - 5 days a week. Try always to be as fast as you can, learning tracks and cars driving style quickly.
Make sure that your child likes it, you can use it as a videogame, maybe battling online with friends.
It's not a mandatory training habit and if your child doesn't like it there are no problems, he can train on track.
TRACK DAY STILL BETTER
Please don't misunderstand my words, track days are still better to improve laptimes because they are more specific than simracing. Racing lines, braking and overtaking points of a track can only be practiced properly with a track day using kart.
Simracing can be useful for various reasons:
logistic benefits: you don't have to go at the track preparing all the equipment etc.
cheaper: no expenses for gasoline, tyres consumption, etc.
safer: no injury risk while training being sure to be at 100% during race day
mental focus training
on the other hand, as sayd before, is less effective for improvement of karting skills.
HOW TO TRAIN AT TOP
So how is the best technical training method for a young kart driver child with big dreams for being a F1 driver?
In my opinion, combine kart driving in track days - 2 or 3 sessions of training a week - with simracing at home - 30 min circa 4 or 5 days a week.
With this method parents can save a lot of money and keep some training advantages of a track day.
But don't forget to rest before racing: too much simracing or real driving on track before a race day can fatigue your brain and reduce concentration ability. So be sure to have 1 -2 days of rest or low training volume before competing!
Written by
Enrico Repossi
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