What Building a Racing
Go Kart Taught Me About Software Development
Tyler Graf
Tree Team
Hobbies
- My Kids
- Golf
- Sim Racing
- Photography
- F1
- RC Cars
- Chess
No!
Danger!
Plus Kids!
Backstory
Sim Racing
Force Feedback
Pedals
Realistic Precision
Princess and Puppy
- Realistic Physics
- Grip
- Brake Balance
- Traction Control
- Race Craft
- Braking
- Cornering
- Focus
- Real-time Online Competitions
Max Verstappen
Formula One
Ambition vs Constraints
Why Build a Go Kart?
Building a Mental Model
function VideoList({ videos, emptyHeading }) {
const count = videos.length;
let heading = emptyHeading;
if (count > 0) {
const noun = count > 1 ? 'Videos' : 'Video';
heading = count + ' ' + noun;
}
return (
<section>
<h2>{heading}</h2>
{videos.map(video =>
<Video key={video.id} video={video} />
)}
</section>
);
}
Discovery
Welding
Go Kart Parts
Fabrication
Electronics
CAD
Failure
HUMILITY
TEACHABILITY
Welding
Feeder Wire
Welding Gas
Dials
Electronics
Voltage
Amperage
Amp Hours
Wattage
Other Learnings
Metal Tubing not a Pipe
Notching?
Practice
AI
New Library
New Project
What is your new mountain?
Prebuild vs Roll your own
Rule of Thumb
- complex
- error-prone
- non-core to your product (e.g., date/time, i18n, crypto)
- there’s a well-maintained, lightweight, secure library.
-
when the need is small
-
performance/bundle size matters
-
you want long-term control and stability without external dependency risk.
Roll your own
Prebuilt
Prebuilt
- Wheels
- Tires
- Tie Rods
- Axle
- Hubs
- Spindles
- Axle Hangers
- Seat
- Steering Wheel
- Battery
- Motor
- Controller
- Chain
- Sprockets
- Brake System
- Pedals
Tie Rods
Pedals
Spindle
Hydraulic Brake
Axle
Axle Hanger
Tyre
Brake Disc
Collars
Own-rolled
- Frame
- Floor
- Motor Mount
- Steering Column
- Steering Column Coupler (3d printed)
- Battery Box
- Seat Mounts
- Steering Mounts
Why roll my own?
Coupler
Steering Column
Frame
Steering Mount
Floor
Pedal Mounts
Pitman Arms
Chunking and MVPs
Frame
Not Welded
Welded
Magnets, how do they work?!
Wife first sees it at this point
Board Seat
No Brakes
Old Motor and Battery
Show shakedown video
Twist throttle
LEAN
MVP
Expose to users
Collect Feedback
Scope Creep & Configuration Costs
6' 5"
4' 3"
Person Component
Person Component Props
😳
Thinking Time and AI
Mess
Family Photo here
You don't know what will prepare you
Be methodical, though
Electric Motors
Batteries
Gears
3D Printing
Voltage/Amperage
Working with Metal
Chain Sizes
Chain Trains
Strength of PLA
Welds > Bolts
~600
Recipes
PHP (2008)
MySql
Rails (2009)
MySql, svn
Angular (2012)
node, mongodb, git
Polymer 1 (2015)
Firebase
Polymer 2 (2017)
PWA, node, mongodb
Lit (2019)
node, mongodb
React (2021)
Node, mongodb, CRA
Next.js (2023)
Next, RSC, AWS, mongodb, tailwind
What could prepare you?
- Agentic Coding/Tasks
Key Takeaways
- Start before you’re ready.
- Break problems into chunks.
- Choose tools deliberately — embrace
workarounds. - YAGNI: scope creep kills velocity.
- Test early in prod conditions.
- Leverage thinking time & AI.
- Buy vs Build: Prebuilt is leverage, roll-your-own is control.
- Build skills now — you never know which ones you’ll need.
Building is learning — whether
it’s code or steel.
Building is learning — whether
it’s code or steel.
Thank you!
What Building a Racing Go Kart Taught Me About Software Development
By Tyler Graf
