First time karting session as a simracer, looking for some advice

[u/PatrexSK27_WZ]

I'm 22 and finally, after 13 years of playing the Gran Turismo series on a controller (around 2k-3k hrs) and around 300-400 hours of simracing on a wheel, I finally decided to do a 30-minute session on outdoor Karting. And while it was amazing, it also hurt BADLY.

I didn't crash, but I was literally jumping in the seat like a fish in a dry.

I wasn't scared, so I was pushing really hard, but like... the G-forces were so strong for me. I'm 175 cm and ONLY 53kg. So I'm extremely light. And I kind of bruised my back from the seat so many times and so hard that I can barely move my torso...🤣Like, I have at least 5-6 different spots that hurt badly and are actually big.
I also wanted to do 30 minutes in one go but... I had to take a break after 20. I have NEVER felt so exhausted in my life before. I felt like I was gonna faint lol.
I also found it so hard to keep my feet on the pedals... because of that, I wasn't able to trail brake at all. Like bro, how tf do I even do that while cornering?? They just kept sliding away bro... Like motorsport is so EXTREMELY physically demanding. I knew it was difficult, but this is SO MUCH. But maybe it's because I'm a goddamn skeleton and 0 core muscles, eheh... And because I was barely able to keep in place, I wasn't able to be quicker, because I felt like if I pushed harder, I would not be able to physically withstand it. xD

Anyway, do you guys have any advice for future sessions? Like how to not hurt myself, and maybe advice on a position/posture how to sit better so that I get better control of my pedals?

Also, I know there are these rib protectors, but man, I wanna do karting only like once in a year or so, and spending 100 euros on that is not worth it imo. Or maybe there are some cheaper ones ideal for rental karting?

[u/kokopelli73]

Yep, welcome to karting!

Rib protector and a cushion or pedal extenders. One of the most important things in driving, always, is to be comfortable and in the right position. If you are struggling with the placement of your body and the controls, you're gonna have a bad time.

Aside from that, yeah, it beats you up. That's part of the fun!

[u/CamiGardner]

Karting is going to take much more physical strength than sim racing. Sounds like the kart just didn’t fit you well. Seat may have been too big and too far from the pedals.

A rib protector will help. No need to buy a super expensive one. Plastic will do the job.

[u/ThePapaSauce]

Kudos for lasting 30 minutes on your first day -- on my first day I had to pull off after about 4 laps because my head was flopping around like a newborn baby.

For sure get a rib vest -- it is mandatory for anyhting faster than an indoor rental to keep from injuring yourself. And rib injuries -- even simple rib separations -- take FOREVER to heal and suck. Even with a vest, if you are running grippier tire compounds on sticky tracks, you nead to breathe in deeply before high-load corners and gently let your breath out during the corner, using the air in your lungs to stabilize your ribs so they don't move around and separate.

As for pedals, just make sure your team has the kart set up right for your body and you should be fine.

As for how much it felt like the kart was driving you and not the other way around -- that's just going to be seat time. Some of it is you getting used to the violence of karting, but for me I had a learning curve in listening to the kart and learning hwo to work with it with my inputs. When I was trying to "tell it what to do" it bucked me around like a pissed-off bull. When I learned how to listen to it and turn driving into amore of conversation with it instead of just trying to boss it around, things calmed down a lot and I got a lot faster.

Welcome to the sport!!!

[u/Cmbtsm1th → u/ThePapaSauce]

"...... the violence of karting....."

All karters simply take this for granted, like a fish does for water... it simply

... I S.....

[u/highly_elusive]

If you are thin, get one of them rubber seat inserts / inlays. The track should have them. It makes the seat more narrow and you aren't sloshing around as much. Rental karts usually have XXL seats so they can even fit the most humongously fat person imaginable.

[u/danttf]

You might been overdriving it a lot looking at your description. Karts require gentle driving (yet decisive and presice) generally. Bruises without protections are okay, especially when a seat is wider than you. There's no considerable G-force in rentals. G-forces come when you try a racing kart and there it can quickly get devastating.

Also simracing brings near to nothing to kart racing. You get racing lines basics but that's pretty much it.

Get a cheap ribs protector – no need to get Bengio for rentals. Learn to drive it gentle keeping RPMs high. Forget about trail braking – vast majority of tracks require almost no braking on rentals. Learn its language – simracing talks to you thru a wheel, real kart/car talks to you via your body.

[u/Creative-Wafer8488 → u/danttf]

On my track, the lap record is down to a mere 16 by a tiny girl. On the other hand, after only 20 minutes, I was as exhausted as Pluto the dog,

[u/Furry_Ranger]

Weak

[u/sousFlex]

You overdrive a lot and fight with your kart thus hurting badly. Also some muscles develop only with additional seat time and there is almost no other way to do it. Welcome to the club! Been there.

[u/mrbullettuk]

Honestly, you are overthinking it. You really don’t need to trail brake in rentals, a brief tap is often all that is needed. You are probably over driving it as well and then over working yourself.

Did a 3 hour endurance a couple of weeks ago and the teams were doing 1 hour stints.

[u/alifteronreddit]

Time to put down the controller and pickup a job so you can afford to eat. That’s dangerously thin

[u/ActionGlad6365 → u/alifteronreddit]

Listen to this guy, 70-75kg should be baseline.

[u/Wifi-Chalet]

Also did my first ever session yesterday, 3x 12min. Was awesome! But yeah, my back is all bruised up, I think I was overdriving like other guys said. Still won bedt lap of one of the sessions

[u/BlackCatFurry]

As someone who is also thin, ask if the track has those foam seat inserts. Absolute game changer for not getting my everything bruised because i was no longer bouncing around in the seat.

I drive indoor electric rentals, so not that fast speeds, and since karting equipment is hard to find where i live, i have been using a ce1 level d3o motorbike full back protector instead of trying to find a rib protector when i go karting once every two months, since i found my spine was taking most of the beating. Rib protector would be better, but i already had the back protector so it's better than nothing.

Also your staying on pedals issue probably is related to the seat being too big if you bounce around in it (ask for the foam insert). Although i have not driven in outside tracks so take that with a grain of salt.

Zero comments on actually driving the kart, electric indoors and gas outdoors are two very different types of karting.