Do young karters make better drivers?

[JasonL]

Carson is getting close to the age where he can soon get his learner's permit, and I'm curious as to what impact karting might have on his driving ability.

I'd guess that he'd be much more capable of controlling a vehicle - particularly in the event of a skid or emergency maneuver, but might he be a more aggressive driver as a result?

On a related note, I recently let him drive the car for a very short distance while we were off the beaten path, and he started to drive with his left foot on the brake. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised as this is the way he has always driven, as his experience so far has been from karting and sim racing, where this is the norm. I paused for a moment wondering whether I should instruct him to use his right foot for both - as I was taught and is the norm - wondering if right-foot-braking was better or just the convention. I decided to tell him to just plant his left foot on the dead pedal as I thought that left foot braking would lead to a greater chance of hitting the gas instead of the brake during some panic situation.

What say you?

[Tjfast]

Having started racing after I got my learners and drivers licence, I would stay with the regular right foot for both gas and brakes because as you say you eliminate the chances of gas and brake at the same time. Plus the way the pedals are setup in production cars I have found that if they are close together you could hit your feet etc. If you drive a standard then it becomes very hard to use left for brake and clutch (hence heel toe).

Having done autox and track days with a manual I have tried two foot driving for building boost under braking and various other things and it makes the driving very intricate. For city driving I like to keep it simple.

On the note of being a better driver. you definitely become better in panic situations and emergency manoeuvres as you react a lot quicker and have a better idea of how the car may react and where your escape may be. The best thing I ever did was driving training because they taught me various things that only apply for city driving, plus you get to make mistakes and people wont get mad and your insurance is cheaper.

I hope this can be of use to you.

Just me 0.02

[phil]

The things you will notice that are bad on the street are:

Following too closely
Leaving the braking very late
Accelerating aggressively from stop
Lack of attention to rear view mirror

[sophie]

i started driving a standard car a year and a half ago after i got my learners permit but never drove an automatic until a couple months ago for driver training. i started karting/sim racing before i started driving so when i used right foot for gas and left foot for brake my instructor that I had for driving training freaked out, also some other bad habits i had was going around corners too fast, following too closely, braking too late/too hard.
i would highly recommend getting driving training before doing the class 5 license because it fixed a lot of my bad habits and i would've definitely failed my driver's test if i did it without the training

[Jen and Don]

I personally think that a Driver Training Course should be mandatory.
The one huge tip i always remember from my course was to clear an intersection before entering if you were just sitting at a red light. Take a quick glance from each side to ensure no one is running their red light. You may be in the right, having a green light, but getting T-boned can be prevented. Even if the accident is not your fault, the potential for injury and dealing with both insurance companies can be avoided. Don

[Mark]

Alex was driving (karts) at 7 and racing at 8. he's definitely a "spirited" road driver (jack rabbit starts and late braking). In the summer, I d say there isn't much advantage beyond that I think he watches the "body language" of other cars better than others. In the winter however, when you can easily exceed the limits of traction, he has far better reactions and car control than someone else his age. That being said, his heavy right foot also puts him INTO those situations sometimes !

[newson48]

I have observed many kids and adults alike over the years and I have a couple of thoughts.

For the most part, what someone does on the street in their car will be determined greatly by their own personality and tendencies and many other factors.
For example, a calm and even-keeled person vs an impatient adrenaline junky will act very differently on the road, regardless of their skill level.
(think about two kids taking Martial Arts lessons, one is kind and gentle and one has anger management problems, or anything in-between. How will they each use their Martial Arts skills?) You can guess.

Karting enables any driver to have skills and awareness that will far exceed the other drivers around them on the road.
The thrill of racing a kart far exceeds anything that you can do on a road, so for many, they drive very calmly on the road because there is really just no point in trying to have a thrill, as it will pale in comparison to karting.

Teaching a junior all the right things is mandatory. I would tell them to keep their left foot off the pedals, unless it is needed for a clutch.
Professional driving training is always a good idea. (Learn good habits as soon as possible.)

About a month ago on the way to the track, I had to move into the ditch at just over 100kph to avoid a head-on collision with an impaired driver on a two-lane highway. (He came all the way onto our shoulder!)
Not panicking and keeping control just felt normal to me.
There is no doubt that a few years of kart racing in my past and other track time came in handy that day and perhaps helped avoid a pretty bad outcome.

Kart racing can be much more valuable than just fun and family time if the skills learned are put to good use.

Blake