---
title: "Derby: how to win a crash · Clash Karts"
description: "How crash damage works in Clash Karts' Derby mode, with the numbers: closing speed, who was driving into whom, side hits, Hot Sauce, the Bubble Bath and the Mega Burp."
image: "https://clashkarts.com/og.jpg"
---

# Derby: how to win a crash

Source: https://clashkarts.com/derby-crash-guide

Derby takes the guns away and leaves you the kart. Every crash is a sum, and once you know it you can make sure you are on the right side of it.

Published 12 October 2026.

## The sum behind every crash

When two karts touch in Derby, the game measures how fast they were closing on each other, along the line between their centres. Below 4 metres a second, nothing happens. Above it, the crash is worth 4 damage for every metre a second over 4: a crash closing at 14 metres a second is worth 40, and one closing at 24 is worth 80.

That damage is then split by who was doing the driving. Each kart deals its share of the crash in proportion to how fast it was driving into the other one. A kart sitting still deals nothing and takes all of it; a kart that was driving away when it was caught deals nothing either; and two karts meeting nose to nose at the same speed hurt each other equally.

Last comes the angle. A hit square into a kart's side does half as much again as the same hit on its nose or tail, and anything in between falls in between. A crash with enough of your speed behind it also spins the other kart out, which ends any Hot Sauce it was running on; a lighter one only makes it wobble.

| Crash | Damage |
| --- | --- |
| Full speed (17 m/s) into the side of a stopped kart | 78 to the stopped kart |
| Full speed into the back of a stopped kart | 52 to the stopped kart |
| Nose to nose, both at full speed | 60 to each |
| Nose to nose, you at 17 m/s and them at 8 | 57 to them, 27 to you |
| Hot Sauce speed (24 m/s) into the side of a stopped kart | 120: a wreck from full health |
| Full speed into the back of a kart driving away at 10 m/s | 12 to the kart in front |

## Hit sides, not bumpers

Line up so that your nose meets the middle of their kart. That half-again bonus for a side hit is the biggest free gain in the mode, and it is the difference between a hit that hurts and a hit that wrecks.

Chasing a kart from behind is the worst way to attack it. You close only at the difference between your speeds, so at your 17 metres a second against their 15, you hit at 2, and nothing happens at all. Cut across their path instead of following it.

Take head-on crashes only when you are the faster kart or the healthier one. At equal speeds they cost you exactly what they cost the other kart; at 17 against 8, you deal more than twice what you take.

## Never sit still

A stopped kart deals nothing and takes the whole of every crash. Keep rolling while you line up a hit, and never wait for a rival to come to you.

The best defence against a ram is to drive away from it. Running cuts the closing speed, and with it the whole crash: caught from behind at full speed while you are doing 10, you take a 7 metre-a-second crash worth 12, against 78 if you had been sitting side-on. If you cannot get away, turn so that the hit lands on your tail, not your side.

## Your three items

Derby's item boxes hold only three things, and each changes the sums.

- **Hot Sauce** takes you to 24 metres a second and drives the kart flat out by itself, so all you do is steer it into a side. A broadside at that speed wrecks a kart at full health. It gives no push while you are in the air and ends early if you are spun out, so keep it away from the ramps and away from karts aiming at you.
- **Bubble Bath** stops every point of crash damage you would take, and it does not stop you dealing yours. For five seconds you are a battering ram with nothing to lose. Other karts can still shove you about, so use it to charge into a group, not to sit still.
- **Mega Burp** is one of only two blasts in Derby: up to 40 damage close in, and every kart within about 7 metres spun out. Nobody has a gun in Derby, so a burp is also the only way to set off a fireworks crate. Burp next to one with a rival beside it, and the crate's blast counts as yours and cannot hurt you.

## The long game

Derby fights are slower than gun fights, so healing matters more. After six seconds without being hurt, a kart mends at 8 health a second: from half health back to full in a little over twelve seconds, counting the wait. Break off when you are hurt; the beach is big enough to lose a chaser.

The computer racers in Derby mostly ignore the item boxes and come straight for you, aiming a little ahead of where you are going. Change direction late and they ram the sand you would have been on.

Walls never hurt, though hitting one nose first above about 9.5 metres a second dazes you for a moment. And a kart that has just come back is safe for three seconds but can still hit you, so do not linger by the spawn points round the edge of the beach.

For the rules of every mode, see the [modes guide](https://clashkarts.com/modes), and for the arena itself, [the map guide to Big Wave Beach](https://clashkarts.com/big-wave-beach-guide). More strategy is on the [articles page](https://clashkarts.com/articles).

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