Block opponents' attacks!
If you hold the L BUTTON down when you have a Shell or a Banana Peel, it will act as a shield in your rear. If someone tries to hit you with a Shell from behind or something, it will be blocked by the item you are holding behind you. However, it will also destroy your item. While holding an item behind you, its considered using the item, so you can stock up and get another item before actually dropping that one. Computer players tend to hold the items behind them for a long time before actually using them, giving you a head-start to avoid them.

Lightning strikes; how to avoid!
A racer using a Star or a Boo will not be affected by the shocking bolt from the Lightning item. Keep this in mind before using it. Also, when struck by the bolt, you will come to a complete stop and shrink. So, try to nail people in the air so they will stop dead in their tracks and go plummeting down a cliff or drop down to an earlier part of the track.

Brake on Bananas!
You can actually avoid slipping on Banana Peels. As soon as you hit one, before you spin out, your racer will begin to lose control. If you immediately brake, a little musical note will appear over your racer's head and you will regain control without sliding. Some obstacles, like those little mice at Cheese Land, act just like Banana Peels and you can stop from spinning out using this technique.

Power-sliding; a must-know technique!
Power-sliding is much different from SMK and MK64. When going around a turn, hold the R BUTTON and you'll power-slide. This makes sharp turns easier to manuever around. If you do this on a very sharp turn (basically doing a U-turn) without hitting any obstacles or letting go of the R Button before lining back up, you will get a boost of speed. This takes a lot of practice to do, but its incredibly helpful.

Turning for the safer racer!
Some tracks, like Rainbow Road, require a lot of careful turning since they have no railing. Instead of power-sliding, which can throw you off track if used improperly, try letting off of the gas on a turn. Though not as effective, using the brakes also helps. Try braking while still holding the A BUTTON. It works quite well too. However, a lot of item usage will be required if you want to stay ahead of the other racers.

Turbo start!
Every MK game allows you to turbo start, but MKSC proves to be the hardest to do it on. I still haven't done it yet. At the start of a race, if you press A right before the light turns green, you'll get a huge burst of speed. Lightweight characters can easily do without this, but heavier characters really need this to get into the race. This is kind of risky when at the back of the line, since you'll probably hit other racers.

Jumping, use it well!
Press R to do a little hop. This can actually save your life! There are some obstacles like water puddles that make you spin out or potholes that you can avoid by jumping over them. Or you can jump to avoid falling off the side (takes practice). Doing repetitive jumping in the off-road terrain can decrease your slow-down, like in shallow water. Use it well!

Water, shallow and deep!
The lighter-colored water can be driven through. It is basically slow-down terrain. However, the darker-colored water is deep and dangerous. If you fall in, you'll be able to drive around underwater at a very slow speed for a few seconds. Then, Lakitu will fish you out, return you on the road, and steal 2 Coins. If you are going fast enough, you will actually drive across the surface of deep water for a few seconds. When driving through the water, you can try to get back on the track, but its best to stay out of deep water at all times. As soon as you fall into lava, Lakitu will rescue you. You can't drive around in lava.

Lakitu, get out of my way!
When you fall of the course and Lakitu rescues you, you can get a turbo start if you begin to drive as soon as you touch the track. This is just as difficult to do as the turbo start at the beginning of a race, but a very helpful technique indeed.

Zipping & bumping away!
You may see big arrows spread across courses. If you simply touch the arrow, which is called a zipper, you will get a boost of speed much like a Mushroom's. This is incredibly helpful and required to make it across jumps. Bumpers are yellow lines that make you, well, hop when you touch one. They make you hop higher than normal jumps. The faster you're going, the higher the hop. In that case, to make long jumps, you must hit the zippers before the bumper, which isn't hard to do. The zippers are lined up all across the back of the bumper. However, if you somehow miss the zipper (its happened), you'll either fall down a pit or end up at an earlier part of the stage, which really stinks. Sometimes, bumpers and zippers can lead to shortcuts, so use them wisely!

Learn these techniques well if you want to win!