I agree. However,
for the follower the key is to open the gap a bit and use your (hopefully) extra impulse to overtake. The conundrum here is to "arrive" to the back of the leader right at the exit of the curve, hopefully with a few kph more than him.
It's the same thing you can do in a two lane road: you open a gap, instead of being right behind the truck.
Now, a few tens of meter before the curve you start to accelerate, to catch up the truck, and (if you make things well) you will "arrive" to the back of the truck right when the curve ends, so you can see the next straight ahead.
At that moment you are 10 or 15 kph faster than the truck, so you can use a shorter straight to overtake.
If there is someone on the opposite lane, you brake and wait for the next curve, when you again, open a gap before the curve, etc.
Indispensable in the Andes, if you ask me.
In racing, you have to keep yourself in the "wind shadow" of the car in front up to the last moment, so the slipstream also helps.
I've overtaken hundreds of karts (and thousands of trucks) this way, compensating a bit the fact that you can have less power on exit because you don't have a rich daddy (or a rich team).
The difference in speed you get is proportional to the gap you open. It's kind of tricky, because if you open a gap too wide then you'll lose what I called "wind shadow". It is also very important to callibrate the gap in terms of the extra speed you can actually carry through the curve.
I hope this is clear.
I have a way to
actually calculate the gap,
if someone is interested and gets my drift, I can show you how to do it (it's a very simple calculation).
I use a song to keep the timing, something that in my experience is VERY accurate (you wouldn't believe how a song helps to keep time to the second, with very little practice).
The opposite is also true: if the guy behind you is 5 centimeters behind you in the braking zone, you can be sure that with a judicious braking change, midbraking zone, he won't be able to overtake you in the straight.
All this is much more easier to understand when you actually see the maneuver. I find hard to explain it in words.
