Power of SLIPSTREAM in karting!! 🏎💨🏎 Mariembourg/Karting des Fagnes/OKT-Racing 1-2022/05/22 Stint 23

Outdoor Karting @ Mariembourg, Belgium (Karting des Fagnes)
Onboard Action Cam 2022/05/22: 2x12H (=24h endurance race)
SODI RT8 / 390cc
Track layout: Grand Circuit, 1366m
Driver: #MichaVerboeket
Driver weight with gear (this stint 23 of 24): 81kg
Fastest lap stint 6: 01:13.570sec lap#42 (not in this video)
Fastest lap stint 11: 01:12.725sec lap#42 (not in this video)
Fastest lap stint 18: 01:14.124sec lap#95 (not in this video)
Fastest lap stint 20: 01:12.705sec lap#42 (not in this video)
Fastest lap stint 23: 01:14.426sec lap#95 (not in this video)
Qualified: p33 (p9 in class 75-95kg) / Finished p17 of 47 (p10 in class 75-85kg)
This was my most difficult stint where I received an older kart at the end of the race. The tyres were gone for this kart we got at the kart switch pitstop (plus there was an interesting mix of new karts and old fleet in this race; see an example of the blue guy @29:45 or the orange guy @39:50 and how they pull away compared to the 3 of us bumper to bumper for a long time), so through our radio communications we were calculating our chances and impact on our positions.
I seemed about 1.5s per lap slower compared to others and previous karts we had in this race (also my own stints of 1:12.725 and 1:12.705 previous quicker karts compared to FL 1:14.426 with this kart), so were thinking on doing an early pitstop in the first 15 minutes. But with some consistency and learning to adjust to the handling of this kart we managed to control the damage, especially with the long collaboration with the quicker kart that entered the track @19:42 and overtakes me 1 lap later @21:20. I could tuck in for the slipstream for the rest of my stint for the remaining hour, up to the point of my next pitstop!
My kart was quicker on the straights, but the grip and handling in the corners made me slower in a full lap. With the instant slipstream benefit of over 0.3/4 up to 0.6s of a double slipstream (see e.g. from @31:00) we were both quicker as I could give him a boost on the straights and he could tow me at the corner exits. I noticed this already at the first 1-2 laps (you can hear me communicating through the radio about this), so from that point on my intention was to stay behind him (not overtaking intentionally) and make the best out of it. Nice consistent flow for me :). Altough I was not sure that the driver in front of me had that much experience collaborating as he seemed a bit nervous in the beginning, probably worrying that I would overtake. But as you can see at the gestures and thumbs up after a while, we collaborated nicely.
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Video with statistics overlay created using "Race Render 3" software, based on GoPro Hero 7 Black Telemetry and the timings provided by the track if GPS was not available.

[@rosentodorov2008]

Really good example!

[@oostersam30]

4:25 Mar alle wa nen hond eigenlijk🤣🤣🤣

[@stijn_boss]

Hello! Is it just me or does it look like there’s a pretty big difference in kart performance? Sometimes you could see karts pull away on the straight with so much more top speed.

[@MichaVerboeket]

This stint was almost at the end of the race, so tyres etc were gone for a lot of karts and the differences became much bigger. And this race there were some newer karts also included in the pool together with olders karts. But with these kart switches, the top teams keep an eye in the pits on the top karts, and use them to their full potential in their stints, so differences become bigger and bigger for longer endurance races.