As part of my training for future professional racing, I visited the Jim Hall Kart Racing School for 5 days in October. I became immediately impressed with the professional instruction by Eric Schutte, the chief instructor at Jim Hall. Eric is the national champion in 80cc shifter karts, and it shows.
The program is setup very efficiently – first, all students (we had 8) are let loose on the track with little prior instruction, which concerned the very basics. Then, led by Eric, the students went on a track walk, with thorough explanation of every foot of the track – what line to take, throttle points, braking points, and any tough questions I tried to have him address (which he crisply answered with no hesitation). This process made the whole difference in the world! Every student quickly began to shave off seconds from his/her lap-times due to this instruction. The first day was spent on improving the driving of each student in the 100cc sprint karts. The second day of the program entailed altered lines and braking points for passing preparation, passing, gridding, practice, qualifying, and racing. Then we moved on to using Jim Hall’s 80cc shifter karts, which utilize a 6-speed sequential transmission. Just when I thought I could not possibly have any more fun, these shifter karts proved me wrong. The times kept on dropping throughout the school, especially because we got an incredible amount of track time each day. By the end of my stay there, I managed a top lap time of 0.3 seconds behind Eric’s on that day, about which I am still gloating about.
Although I am yet to visit any other kart racing school, I highly recommend Jim Hall as the program guarantees that you will not only have fun, but find the instruction, equipment, and track time of extreme benefit to your driving/racing skills. My findings are supported by many other third parties, such as Motor Trend, which named Jim Hall Kart Racing School one of “49 COOL CAR THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE”
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