A simple braking habit that dropped my lap times more than setup changes

[helendam]

Hi everyone,
I wanted to share one strategy that's been giving me more consistent laps lately. It's nothing revolutionary, but it helped me more than constantly tweaking kart setups. Instead of trying to brake as late as possible every lap, I pick a braking marker that feels about 90–95% aggressive. For example, if I can just barely make Turn 1 by braking at the 50 m board, I'll intentionally brake a few meters earlier. That small margin lets me hit the apex much more consistently, get back on the throttle sooner, and avoid sliding the rear. I also stopped chasing my personal best in every lap. During longer sessions, I focus on putting together 10 clean FNF laps within a tenth or two of each other. Once I can do that, I move my braking point slightly later and repeat the process. Surprisingly, this approach has improved my average race pace much more than spending hours adjusting tire pressures or gearing. My fastest lap isn't always dramatically quicker, but my mistakes are far less frequent, especially when the tires start to wear. Does anyone else practice consistency before outright speed? I'd be interested to hear if you've found a similar approach works better than constantly searching for the absolute limit.