Widening Corners

I've been to my local Kart track recently, two days ago, and came across a fast right hander that I know and love dearly.

What made it great was that you'd come up to it at high speed and have to dart right, making sure you don't overcook it and hit the raised curb inside. If you did that you'd get bouned into the air and would almost certainly go nose first into the nearby tyre wall. If you waited a little too long two things would happen. First, you go wide and crash. Second, you turn hard right and scrub your speed off, making yourself vulnerable to being overtaken at the next hairpin. It was a masterpiece of a corner, not to mention that the kart felt on edge going through it.

Now the corner has been widened by adding a load of tarmac on the inside of the corner. The effect is profound. The approach to the corner consists of two chicanes and as a result of the widening, the apex of the corner is just after the exit of the chicane. It comes up so fast you'll nearly always miss it. That's not a good thing because there's a little bump or two in the middle of the track. Hit them and it'll unsettle the Kart by just that much, you can't see my fingers but they are close together, meaning you have to back off.

What I find interesting about the change is that it was made because too many people went wide before. The corner was deemed too difficult. Oddly, I now find it more difficult than it was. I also wouldn't mind betting people will end up crashing fighting for an apex they didn't know was there.

It's just something that struck me as I was driving around, having a blast as I always do!