How to Take a Hairpin in a Kart: Braking and Rotation

By Alessio Lorandi, 2013 CIK-FIA World Champion, KF-Junior. What is in here comes from my own driving in single speed karts and in KZ, and from the laps I did around Lonato.

A hairpin looks like the easiest corner of the lap. It’s slow. So why is everybody losing time there?

Because most drivers brake early, come off the brakes as soon as they turn, and then wait. And a kart doesn’t like that. In this guide I walk you through how I drive a hairpin and a tight corner, from the brakes to the exit.

What makes a hairpin hard in a kart?

There’s one concept you have to remember. There is no differential in a kart.

In a car the differential lets the inside rear wheel travel slower than the outside one. In a kart the rear axle is fixed. So if you go slow into a tight corner, the rear picks up a lot more grip than the front and it pushes you. You get no rotation.

That’s why in karting you rarely have too much rotation in a slow corner. Most of the time you don’t have enough.

So the whole job in a hairpin is to make the kart rotate as fast as possible, so that you can straighten the steering and go on the throttle. Everything I explain below is there for that.

Do you drive every hairpin the same way?

No. And the best example I know is Lonato.

Lonato is famous for the last three corners. We call them the three hairpins. They are exactly the same in terms of radius and in terms of angle, two to the right and one to the left. But you have to approach them quite differently.

So before you ask “how do I take this hairpin”, ask two other questions. How fast am I arriving? And what comes after?

If you arrive from a long straight, you have a heavy braking zone and you have to stop. If you have another slow corner right before, the approaching speed is low, and you may only have to tap the brakes or make a lift.

And what comes after tells you how much the exit is worth. I go deeper on that in how to prioritize exits.

How do you brake for a hairpin?

When you arrive at high speed, you brake as late and as hard as you can, and you hold the brakes. A slow corner where you come from high speed is where you need to smash and hold the brakes.

The common mistake is this. The driver brakes on a straight line, and as soon as he turns he comes off the brakes.

What happens then? It unloads the front and puts the weight back onto the rear. The front doesn’t have the weight anymore and the rear has too much. You get push, understeer, and no rotation.

And there’s a second reason. If you come off the brakes as soon as you turn in, you can’t brake as late as the driver who holds them until the apex. Turning the wheel does slow the kart down a bit, but nowhere close to what you need.

So brake later. You’ll notice that the only way to stop for the apex is to keep holding the brakes while you turn in. That is trail braking, and when you brake late enough it happens almost automatically.

But pay attention. Late and hard doesn’t mean you throw the corner away. I hate the slow in, fast out technique, and I explain why in 3 reasons why I hate slow in, fast out. The goal is fast in, fast out. You stop really late on the brakes, but you make the apex so you can get a good exit too.

How long do you hold the brakes?

My rule of thumb, whatever class you drive: in a slow speed corner you trail the brakes a lot, and it almost has to feel like you’re trailing them until the apex. In a medium speed corner you come off quite a bit before the apex.

“Until the apex” is a rough estimate. If there’s a long straight after the corner and you want to go on the gas one or two meters before the apex, then you have to be off the brakes a bit earlier than that.

What you never do is hold them past the apex. By the apex you want to be off the brakes, because that’s where you go on the throttle.

And here is a simple check. If you get to the apex and you could have come off the brakes long before, you are probably not late enough on the brakes.

I can’t tell you “come off four meters before the apex”. How do you even measure four meters at that speed? It happens in a fraction of a second and you have to feel it. It’s more of an art than a science.

That is also why it helps to have somebody look at it from outside. Send me your onboard and I look at where you brake and when you come off the brakes, corner by corner, in an onboard review.

How do you get the kart to rotate in a hairpin?

You make the turn on three wheels. And which wheel has to lift? The inside rear.

When the inside rear lifts, even so slightly, the kart rotates. And when it rotates, your steering is straight sooner on the exit and you can go on the throttle sooner.

A slow corner with a very tight radius, like a hairpin, is exactly where you should chase that lift. You can’t chase it in a fast corner.

Now, where does the lift come from? Yes, the setup plays a part. But most of the effect comes from the driver.

Try lifting the inside rear wheel when you’re going slow into the corner. It’s impossible. The lift comes with weight transfer, and weight transfer comes when you’re pushing hard into the corner.

So two things from your side. You carry speed into the middle of the corner. And when you arrive from a long straight, you hold the brakes, so that you load the front and unload the rear. Then the inside rear lifts more easily.

That’s why in the hairpins you can make a massive difference just with the pedal. Brake later, brake harder, hold the brakes a bit longer, and you’ll see the kart rotates better.

I keep it short here, because the full explanation is in my guide on weight transfer and rotation.

How much rolling speed do you need in a hairpin?

Very little. But not zero.

In a hairpin where you arrive at high speed, you brake late, you hold the brakes, and then you have a very small transition before the throttle. Like 0.1, as I always say to my drivers. 0.2 max.

Why not zero? Because if you’re on the brakes and then right away on the gas, you don’t let the kart load laterally. The chassis doesn’t flex properly.

The way I feel it is this. I hold the brakes into the middle of the corner. Then I have that 0.1 where the kart loads, flexes, and springs me out.

And why not more? Because then you are in what I call the dead zone. No brake, no throttle, just rolling. The momentum dies, the kart feels stuck, and you won’t make the chassis flex and lift the inside rear.

That is how a beginner drives. He brakes early, comes off the brakes and rolls into the corner.

Of course it depends from corner to corner. At Franciacorta, turn 9 and 10 are kind of banked, and there you just tap the brakes and roll a lot of speed in using the banking. There the transition is more like one second. But a hairpin after a heavy braking zone is not that corner.

And be careful with the opposite mistake too. If you stop the kart too much, your minimum speed and your RPMs are too low. You get a worse exit, not a better one, and you’re tempted to go on the gas early to make up for it. When I say stop in a single speed kart, I mean stop enough to make the apex. I don’t mean kill the speed. There’s more on this in my guide on the mid corner phase.

When do you go back on the throttle?

When the kart has completed the rotation. That’s my rule of thumb.

As soon as you feel the kart has rotated nicely and you know it’s not going to push you out wide, you go on the gas. In a single corner that is normally at the apex, or one or two meters before it. I can’t really recall a corner where you go on the throttle after the apex, unless you overshot it.

What if you go on the gas too early? The lift is trying to happen, but the traction picks up and you put both rear wheels back down. With both rears on the ground you have, let’s say, double the grip at the rear, and it pushes you on the exit.

And what if you get to the apex and the kart hasn’t rotated yet? Maybe you turned in too early, or you had to stay tight because you overtook somebody. Then you can’t go on the gas before the apex, because it will push you out even more. You wait.

Everything goes hand in hand. Late braking held until the apex gives you more load on the front. More load gives you more rotation. And more rotation lets you go on the gas earlier.

What line do you take through a hairpin?

In a single speed kart you open up the entry and you open up the exit. You make the arc as wide as possible so you keep up the RPMs, and you get as close as possible to the apex.

A textbook 180 degrees hairpin has the geometric apex exactly at the mid corner. But the real track is not the textbook. If there’s banking on the inside of the corner, you may be better off turning in a bit earlier to catch it, and everything shifts.

For the apex, my rule of thumb is this: the faster the corner, the earlier the apex. The slower the corner, the later the apex. And if a long straight is coming up, you want it later again. I cover it in full in early vs late apex.

Then the kerbs. On the exit, I’d say 90% of the kerbs should be used. But not when the next corner is right there.

Lonato again. It makes no sense to use the exit kerb of the first and of the second hairpin, because it pushes you out and it’s too hard to bring the kart back for the next corner. In the third hairpin it makes sense, because it launches you onto the straight.

And the apex kerb? In a kart, most of the time you can’t use it. You bounce off it and you lose a lot of time, unless it’s a particularly flat one.

How should you steer in a tight corner?

Smooth. You want to be super aggressive with the brakes in the hairpins, and super smooth with the steering.

Most of the time drivers get it wrong. They’re very smooth with the brake pedal and very aggressive with their hands. That results in oversteer. It feels like the kart is sliding and it feels like the kart is set up badly. But most of the time it’s the driver who makes it slide.

In the middle of the corner, remember to push with the outside hand. Don’t pull with the inside one. If you pull with the inside hand, the rear overreacts.

How is a hairpin different in a KZ?

A KZ is a different animal. And the difference is pretty much all in the slow speed corners. In the fast corners you drive it almost the same as a single speed senior kart.

In a KZ you have front brakes, so in the hairpins you take more of a V line.

You start wide, and then you point the apex and go in a diagonal towards it, instead of a round line. Why? Because to take advantage of the front brakes you need the steering as straight as possible. You can’t brake straight if you open up the line.

The numbers are high. At Franciacorta, in the world championship, I pulled 1.8, 1.9 G on the brakes for turn 5 and for turn 13, which is the last hairpin. When the track and the tyres are not grippy you probably won’t get past 1.6, 1.7.

You hold the brakes pretty much until the apex. Not past it. Then the transition from brake to gas has to be really fast. A KZ doesn’t roll as much as a single speed kart, but you still need a tiny bit.

On the exit you do a diagonal as well. If you make the exit round like in a single speed kart, the torque gives you so much push that you get out wide onto the kerb, or you have to release the throttle. So you rotate, you get the kart straight, and then you go on the gas.

But don’t overdo the V. You still want to carry a decent minimum speed. And in a Mini, a Junior or a Senior, don’t copy it. They don’t have the gears to pull them out of the corner. With a V line they kill the momentum and they lose a lot of time.

How do you check a hairpin in the data?

Two things.

1. The shape of the speed trace. Look at the minimum speed in the hairpin. Is it a U or is it a V? In a single speed kart you want it more like a U. In a KZ it will be more of a V.
2. The overlap between the brake and the lateral G. If the brake trace and the lateral G overlap, you are braking and turning at the same time. That’s what you want. If there’s no overlap, you’re coming off the brakes as soon as you turn.

And if you have a team mate who is faster in that corner, compare. Is he holding the brakes a bit longer than you? Then you can brake a bit later and hold them a bit more. You’ll find the reading side in my karting telemetry guides.

Next time you’re at the track, pick one hairpin where you arrive fast. Brake a bit later every lap and hold the brakes into the corner. You’ll miss the apex a few times. No worries. That’s how you build the feeling.

Frequently asked questions

How do you take a hairpin in a go kart?

If you arrive at high speed, brake late and hard and hold the brakes into the corner, pretty much until the apex. Leave a very small transition of 0.1, let the kart rotate, and go on the throttle when the rotation is done. If you arrive slowly, a tap on the brakes or a lift can be enough.

Should you brake until the apex in a hairpin?

As a rule of thumb, in a slow corner where you arrive at high speed it has to feel like you trail the brakes until the apex. If the exit matters a lot you come off two, three or four meters before it. You don’t hold the brakes past the apex.

Why does my kart understeer in hairpins?

A kart has no differential, so at low speed the rear pushes. The usual causes from the driver are coming off the brakes as soon as you turn, which unloads the front, and going on the throttle too early, which puts both rear wheels back down and pushes you on the exit.

Should you use the kerbs in a hairpin?

The apex kerb, most of the time no, because in a kart you bounce off it. The exit kerb, yes in most corners, but not when another corner follows right away. At Lonato you don’t use the exit kerb of the first and second hairpin, and you do use it in the third.

Is a hairpin driven differently in a KZ?

Yes. With front brakes, gears and a lot of torque you take more of a V line. You go in a diagonal towards the apex with the steering as straight as possible, hold the brakes pretty much until the apex, rotate, and go on the gas with the kart straight. A single speed kart keeps a rounder line to keep up the momentum.