How Parents Can Read Karting Like Pros

In this episode, 18-time Australian Champion David Sera gives practical tips on how parents can read their kids driving like a pro.

Minimise arguments at the track with minimal coaching critique, so your child can understand how they can improve!

Stop guessing from the fence and start coaching with confidence. We break down a clear, repeatable cornering sequence any kart parent can spot: a clean throttle-to-brake transition on entry, a smooth release as steering begins, and a single, committed squeeze of throttle at the apex for maximum exit speed. No jargon. Just practical cues you can hear and see from trackside.

We start by fixing the most common rookie habit: lifting before braking. That dead zone doesn’t slow the kart or settle it, it just delays everything and invites a late, steering-plus-brake stab that kicks the rear loose. You’ll learn how to listen for a crisp throttle-to-brake “click,” why today’s sticky tires change brake modulation, and how a brief chirp signals the limit before a controlled release. Then we unlock the apex: why early throttle pokes force mid-corner lifts, how weight transfer punishes on-off inputs, and the simple rule that transforms lap time—accelerate once, not three times.

Finally, we coach the exit like the pros: eyes to the edge, minimal steering, and full track width so the tiny engine isn’t fighting scrub. We explain how a calm wheel and a freer exit create speed that carries down the straight, and how to build these habits corner by corner. Start with the toughest hairpins, use sound as your guide, and only then edge the limits by half a kart length on braking and throttle pick-up. The result is consistency, confidence, and real gains in crowded fields—without needing constant paid coaching.

If this helped you or your driver, share it with another kart parent and help lift the whole paddock. Subscribe for more practical racecraft, leave a quick review, and tell us which corner your driver wants to conquer next.

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Chapters

• 0:07 Welcome And Episode Focus
• 0:42 Cornering Framework: Entry, Apex, Exit
• 0:54 Entry Basics: No Lift-Then-Brake
• 1:54 Brake Modulation And Release
• 2:57 Apex Rule: Accelerate Once
• 5:16 Why Early Throttle Hurts Exit
• 6:56 Exit: Use All The Track
• 8:36 Do The Basics Well, Then Stretch
• 9:36 Final Tips And Community Share

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:07

Hey guys, and welcome back to Method Center Car Class podcast. I'm your host, Adding Tom Australian Champion David Cedarer, and today we're going to be discussing how to read your child's driving. So a lot of parents out there, some of them have a racing background, so they can sort of see things that other parents who are new to the sport they can't see. We're trying to help the people that are new parents to the sport to carting. The kids are really invested, they're really excited to get into the track. And we want to try and help you guys, the parents, help your kids so that you don't necessarily need coaching all the time. Now, what are we looking for when it comes to coaching? Now the biggest things are how we're entering the corner, how we're going around the corner, so the apex point, and how well we're exiting. When it comes to the entry to a corner, we're looking at how well we're using the brakes. Now, some of the things we're looking for is we don't want to hear if it can't accelerating, like we don't want to hear a lifting moment and then a braking moment. We're just trying to minimize that nothing time. Now, this generally happens with a lot of newcomers. So what happens is they go flat out on a straight, approaching a corner, they lift off. That lift off moment is when the more experienced drivers are starting to use the brakes. And now what happens is as they start turning into the corner, the experienced driver is starting to release that brake. Where the newcomer is doing it the opposite way around, so they're lifting. As they start turning the corner, they're thinking, uh-oh, I've got too much speed. And it's at that point that they use the brakes. Now the problem is steering input with a decent amount of brake, that's what really kicks the back end around. It could spin out, it might slide. But once we start to reverse that around, so you want to hear the acceleration, and if it's a breaking corner, you want to hear it, it's literally like a light switch moment. So it's acceleration straight to the brake. As we're starting to turn, that's when we start to release the brake modulation. And then once we get into the middle of the corner, the apex, we're starting to apply that acceleration again. So if you do notice that your son or daughter is doing that, all you're trying to say is, from a coaching perspective, again, I know that a lot of kids don't really want to listen to their parents, but you're just trying to obviously you know minimize the amount of uh words that you know could get into an argument basically with these kids, is that you're saying on certain corners, now it might be just two corners per track, or it might be three or four, depending on the track layout. On these particular corners, once you're releasing that brake pedal, that's the time that you hit the brakes. Once you've brought the speed down, start to release the brake as you're turning in and accelerate at the middle of the corner. That should hopefully clear things up. With a lot of tires being quite soft and sticky or grippy these days, we don't need to overuse the brakes too much. So, what we used to coach is you know a light lock of the brakes, and then obviously that brings your speed down pretty quickly. Nowadays, with a super sticky tire, we're trying to hear less locking of the brakes, we don't want to over slow the cart. So, all I'm trying to get at is if you hear the brakes locking, that's it's not a bad thing, it's okay. But as soon as your kid is hearing the brakes starting to lock, that's when you want to let them know that's the point to release. So you don't want to hear like a constant locking of for like you know, a second or half a second, you want to hear a little err, and as soon as it locks, that's the point to get off the brakes and then carry that momentum through the actual apex of the corner. So I hope that's something you can look at in regards to how the braking looks into a corner. Now, when it comes to the apex, uh the middle of the turn, what I'm trying to concentrate on is when I'm coaching, is are the drivers accelerating once? Now, typically, again, a newcomer, because they're not confident or they're not committed, they tend to accelerate. So they start to pick up the gas potentially, you know, before the middle of the apex, they're doing it a little bit early, and they have to lift off again and go, and maybe lift even a second time and go again. So that constant release of the acceleration is just gonna hurt you on the on the way out of the corners. But what it's also doing is it's unsettling the go-kart, so the cart starts to accelerate, it starts to try and put that weight on the rear of the cart. Then again, we're lifting, so then it's just it's taking that weight off the rear tires, and then you're putting it back down. And so the chances are when you're on and off the gas a few times, there's gonna be oversteering, and you're gonna start to see their hands start to have uh multiple corrections when going around the corner. So, what I'd try and uh coach from a parent's perspective is if you hear your uh driver again on and off the gas a couple of times, I'd rather you just say just wait until you get to the middle of the corner. So rather than even if you're breaking early for now, that's okay. Just a bit of patience, even going a little bit slower for one or two sessions is not a bad thing. Just accelerate in the right spot, do it once, our exit speed will come back. So we might be losing a little bit on the entry, but what's gonna happen is from the driver's perspective, they're gonna start to feel slow, and that's not a bad thing. So basically, what's gonna happen is we're gonna try and bring up that breaking zone further and further and further into the corner, but we're still gonna accelerate in the middle and once, so we're getting the exit the same as what every other driver is. The reason why this on and off the gas happens quite a bit is from we're breaking early, we're thinking as a driver, I'm going too slow, so I'm gonna get my speed back, so I'm gonna accelerate soon. Drum with that is we're accelerating too early, we can't hold that speed, lifting off, getting it around the corner now, and then reapplying it. So we're not really gaining anywhere, to be honest. We're sort of giving up speed on the entry, we've got speed for like a cart length that we've accelerated in the wrong zone. Then, as we're lifting again, that's when everyone else is back on the throttle and getting a good run out of the corners. So it's quite frustrating from a driver's point of view, and even when you're watching, you might now notice ah, that's actually what my son or daughter is doing. They're lifting early, they don't know that, they're trying to push harder in the wrong spot. You can't really gain time as you're approaching the apex with uh with accelerating too soon, and then that second lift is actually where it's all coming unstuck. So, from the sidelines, just try and listen to where the driver's placing the accelerator, if it's multiple times, wait an extra second and then just try and apply it in the middle of the corners for now, and that should be pretty safe. When it comes to the exit of a corner, depending on the sequence of corners that are about to happen, like just say we're exiting a hairpin and it's a decent straight, or you know, there's not a quick succession of corners, the exit is all about trying to utilize all the racetrack with minimal steering. So, again, we're talking about the middle of the apex, about having these corrections, we don't want to exit the cart, you know, half a cart or a cart width narrow because basically the extra steering lock is what's going to be acting as like a brake. So the more you turn the steering wheel, um, it's gonna be slowing the cart down, it's creating that extra drag and an extra force that your little engines just can't quite accelerate out of. So, really, the exit is all about just minimizing steering input, letting the cart flow, and setting yourself up for the following corners. Hopefully, if you've done point one, the braking zone or the entry to a corner pretty well, that sets you up for hitting the apex and also accelerating once. And if you've accelerated in the right point, again that middle, it should have enough speed to actually force your cart towards the outside of the track. But where a lot of the newcomers get unstuck is the speed's probably pretty good, they're just a little bit nervous to put the cart right towards the edge, so they actually are steering it more to keep it on the track, so actually working against where the cart wants to go, and that could create a little bit of an oversteering moment. But basically, once you're at the middle of the apex, again, look to the exits, look to the edge of the track, and your eyes should hopefully help drive the cart towards the edge of the track. It's basic stuff, but to be honest, basics are what we work on even at a national level, like it's literally just those little one percenters that are going to give you half a tenth to a tenth on a couple of corners. And when you're driving against you know 20, 25, even up to 40 carts on the grid, those little improvements could pick you up five or six spots pretty quickly. So it's not reinventing the wheel, it's just doing the basics pretty well. Once you're doing them pretty well, you can step it up, you know, that half a cart into the braking zone. Accelerate half a cart earlier, let the cart get to like literally a couple of mil from the edge of the track, and that's where you're gonna get towards the top half a dozen carts uh on the track. So hopefully, you guys, when you go to the track next time, have got a couple of key spots that you can look towards. So at least that way you're not going there blind from a parent's point of view. You sort of have a couple of things that you can just try and concentrate on. Look towards the hardest corners first, get the hair pins right, and then just try and relate that same method to the more fast and flowing corners. So, yeah, hopefully those three tips give you guys something to work with. And uh, yeah, we'll keep in touch over the next couple of podcasts where we try and give you guys some more insights into how you can help your son or daughter at the racetrack rather than needing a lot of coaching. So, hope you've enjoyed this episode. If you have learned something, try and pass on this podcast to other parents who could be stuck in their cart racing so we can try and help out some more people out there in the karting community. Until next time, thanks guys. We'll keep in touch. Cheers.