How to LEAN in Karting (tutorial)

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[sidecarbod]

I tried the 'lean out' method on my motorbike, it didn't work out too well!

[speeddemon]

This is crazy - I've done a fair bit of karting and even won a league championship several years ago, but I've honestly never considered leaning in vs. leaning out. I'm fairly quick, so I'd like to think that I've been leaning out without thinking about, but even if that's the case, it's never been deliberate. What you're suggesting makes so much sense. Now I can't wait to get back to the track to test it out! Thanks for posting this!!

[carsunlimited]

advice from a guy driving in world championship, lean inside if there is too much grip to avoid the kart to bump, lean outside if the track is slippery to add more grip, sometimes you have to lean inside at the entry to slide the kart in, and once you exit you lean outside to create better traction. it really depends on the track, the kart, the situation. But most of the time, world class kart driver i compete against lean inside or straight, because in big world championship, there is so much grip on the ideal line that you have to lean inside otherwise the kart jump like crazy because of the grip, when you lean outside you can almost break your ribs because of the insane grip, it happened to me. so you mostly lean inside in big championship.

[ameen]

Depends if a guy is next to me and I need to shove him I'll lean to the inside so the understeer will smoothly push him aside😊

[anthoslykos]

I will try this technique next time I'm at the track! I'm quick but I'm also a heavier driver so shifting my weight is key to being fast. After watching this I realized I've been thinking about my weight shifting all wrong and definitely lean in a lot more than I should. I'm eager to work on this now and see how I improve, thank you!

[CaptainAwesomeness]

Depending on the situation, lean out or neutral in my case. Human DRS is common in my class, so I'm all for it! It's effective as heck! It also helps when two competitors team up to create a bigger DRS to catch up to the lead and begin to compete once the ones in the lead have been "taken down".

[macca]

Great vid, really quite a counter intuitive concept, but as soon as you explained the lack of a diff it made sense! You taught an old man with a reasonable amount of mechanical knowledge (but very limited karting experience) something new, thank you!

[Rob-vvyn]

i hadn’t Karted for like a decade, but beat all the other company reps, being the oldest nearing retirement it was a great feeling beating all the young bucks now I have some great tips to go even faster at this years meeting.

[RyuKyu]

Thanks just tried it yesterday and helped me corner faster than everyone else. Did not know this was that effective. Will credit you in my video.

[vampire]

Had this discussion years ago when I was regularly driving on a local karttrack with some friends.
After some thoughts and experimentation we came to the same conclusion: Leaning out is the shit - it's faster and "easier" (you don't have to fight G-forces so much, just "go with the flow") - but it's a bit counterintuitive, people just tend to lean into curves naturally.

[tonygt]

A video about karting in the rain would be cool. I rarely drive in these conditions but I'm curious how you should drive in the rain, leaning is pretty important when the track is wet! Oh and human DRS is really cool, it works very well in outdoor karting!

[alejmc]

Fantastic video, I knew about how lack of differential hampers turning ability (i.e. if both tires were directly powered that kart will mostly go straight), but never thought about lifting weight from the inner side. The quick jabs vs constant turning was mind blowing :O
Subbed.

[MachoMandem]

This is gold! Never thought of that! More in depth analyses like this and the channel will be above 100k before the end of the year! And then the 1M mark will be around the corner!

[MrRaco]

0:25 It is worth to mention that it is not gravity that pushes you to the outside. Instead it is the centrifugal force. When being leaned outside though, it is the gravitational force which adds extra pressure to the outer tyres by redistributing the drivers weight, which for reasons not known to me allows the kart to go faster through corners.

[jamesamore]

Living in a town with an extremely competitive go-karting scene this was very informative and a weirdly surprising recommendation from YT seeing as I've looked nothing up about this subject but never the less this is a great video, cheers 👍

[I_Like__bananas]

I can't wait to get back on the track. I leaned totally wrong the whole time. I was aware how weight transfers work in a car but never knew how to influence them in a kart

[MaxOxx]

For most corners and situations I totally agree.
On a few occasions, I found it better to lean forward and into the corner to create maximum traction on the front tires.
This is the case on very sharp and slow corners and wright after braking. The second the go-kart pulls you, you need to lay back to add weight to the rear tire.

[andrewstambaugh]

I don't even cart, but i enjoy driving and riding, and this was interesting to learn.

My 92 Corolla was very easy to pick up the inside rear wheel around turns. That was always fun.

[TheDrAkira]

I was racing a lot in an amateur league of rental karts, and i just learnt the lean out technique naturally. It's just like you said, its all about the flow. Plus you really feel the steering wheel doing it, it's just natural! Also the "Human DRS" hahhahha, that was another thing that came out naturally after several races. Good ol' times before the pandemic... Now i'm to fat to race again, and also I moved to another country. Great tips, I wish I had these videos back then, I could save a lot of time!

[prescottwhynot]

This confirmed a suspicion I've had for a while! Thanks for this awesome and thorough analysis