Champion Advice | How to learn a new track. The advice of Felice Tiene

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HOW TO LEARN A NEW TRACK: THE ADVICE OF FELICE TIENE

TKART Staff

22 August 2020

When tackling a new racetrack, surprising results can be obtained in a short time by using correct methods and techniques. We asked the Italian driver and coach, winner of the 2012 World Cup, to share his trade secrets

1
FIRST OF ALL, SAFETY!

“When tackling a new circuit, first of all identify the track’s entry and exit routes and try to understand how to handle them safely. For example, evaluate if the entrance to the track is in line and adjust accordingly when leaving the pits so as not to get in the way of the other drivers who are approaching. Then try to understand, or have someone indicate to you, where any bumpy asphalt sections or blind spots are”.

Felice Tiene

Felice Tiene, born in 1991, has been an international professional kart driver. He raced for various official teams including CRG, Birel ART and Kosmic. His most important victories include the Asia Pacific Championship – KF2 in 2009 at the Suzuka track and, in 2012, a historic victory of the KF2 World Cup ahead of Max Verstappen and Jordon Lennox-Lamb.

2
IDENTIFY “KEY” CURVES ON THE MAP

“To start studying a new circuit, one must start from the track map which can usually be downloaded from the circuit’s website. My advice is to do some homework on it which will come in handy in all of the following steps of learning the track. The work consists of identifying the most important curves and highlight them by taking notes. We are talking about curves that, if done incorrectly, can cause you to lose many tenths of a second. There are different types of them. I am going to try to point out the main ones, in general, and then it will be up to each of you to find them on the track that you are about to take on.

1. Curves in a sequence means more changes of trajectory, because if you set the first one wrong, usually the following ones will be done incorrectly too, and this multiplies exponentially the mistake initially made in the first turn.

2. Double curves. For example, two 90°curves to the left, one after the other are critical curves because often in these type of curves it is absolutely detrimental to destabilize the kart with more swerving and with ‘acceleration-release-acceleration’ sequences. These curves should be generally made with a single trajectory, not in two stages, and accelerating at the right time and in the correct way only once. In-between is not acceptable. If you get this wrong, you lose several tenths of a second.

1/4 An example of track stretch with curves in a sequence (clockwise circuit). Making a mistake in exiting the first one compromises the entry in the second one and so on in the following curves.

1/4 An example of track stretch with curves in a sequence (clockwise circuit). Making a mistake in exiting the first one compromises the entry in the second one and so on in the following curves.

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2/4 Here is an example of a double left curve (anticlockwise circuit). In this specific case, remember to enter the first curve with a lot of speed as, entering slowly would then lead you to make the mistake of accelerating between the first and second curve, something which destabilizes the kart. Better to enter fast and accelerate only once when exiting.

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3/4 In curves like these (clockwise circuit), which are followed by long straights, it is essential to favor a fast curve exit rather than gaining 1km/h when entering it, trying to be faster in that phase.

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4/4 In some chicanes, if the regulation does not prevent it by using bollards and if the shape of the track edging allows it, it is better to take short cuts using the edging. An operation which, if performed poorly and without the right tricks can waste a great deal of time. For this reason, it is good to pay close attention when you are at these track sections.

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3. All curves which are followed by long straights or by curves to be utilized in full. Driving these curves incorrectly penalizes in terms of speed for the entire next stretch. To clarify, if you exit a curve of this type driving 1 km/h less than you should, that 1 km/h will affect you for the entire next stretch of track, to be covered at full throttle with an inevitable and really amplified loss of time.
In this regard, it must be said that the curves which count are also chosen according to the gear ratio with which one drives. A long gear ratio, for example, will force you to pay particular attention to slower curves, because if you take them badly, the engine rpm will drop too much, thus not having enough speed when exiting.

4. All the sections where you can ‘cut on the track edging’. Not all tracks offer sections of this type, yet keep in mind that if they are present on the track that you are about to drive on, you must undoubtedly analyze these portions of the circuit well and work on them a lot during the learning phases of the circuit, something we are going to evaluate further in this article”.