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[jnr blue 91]

is it a standard thing to do to raise your whole chassis up to as high as it will go?
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the junior
the blue
the #91

[Andy]

Depends what you want to achieve, I run a high chassis height in the dry (easier to lift the rear wheels whilst cornering) and a low chassis height in the wet (more differcult to lift the rear wheels so I don't end up in the kitty litter)

[Aussie Bruce]

Interesting ......

I thought the reverse would apply because you need to raise the centre of gravity in the wet.

personally I leave the chassis at max low all the time (Swiss Hutless Toledo) but make other alterations for wet weather - raise the seat (or put a hefty special seat pad which does virtually the same thing), change the kingpin angles for more negative camber, widen the front track, narrow the rear track a little, fit rear torsion bar (flat upwards), tighten seat struts, and sometimes if it's really been raining and still is, reconnect side torsion bar. I also run my wets (Vega) at around .95 bars (14 psi) instead of what most people have at around 1.5 bars (22 psi).

Let's have some more discussion from others and hear their experiences.

Cheers

Aussie bruce
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C'mon Aussie, c'mon

[M.Smith]

We normally put fronts out as far as they go, to allow the rear wheel to lift. Put the backs in about 5mm each. Loosen the chassis right up, loosen all bolts on seat stays. Take out rear torsion. Bit of negative camber, toe out by .75mm, thats about it.

99 Gillard
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][\\//][ //-\\ ][~ T ][ ][\\][

...:::PAULMART RACING:::...

[Aussie Bruce]

Yeah - fronts right out no worries.

Have you tried the inverse setup - put in torsion bar ....... etc. and stiffen the chassis.

I need loose as possible for the dry but stiff as possible for the wet. That way it seems that I can drive almost as fast until braking, then hard steering initially into the corner and softly onto the accellerator to keep the kart balanced with trail braking.

Sure, the fronts are going to slip anyway because it needs a sudden shock into the turn to get the initial grip, and then VERY fast correction to be able to softly ease out of the corner.

But ................... sometimes everything hits the fan as well, especially if someone behind can't stop and doesn't blow the horn .....

Aussie brucee
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C'mon Aussie, c'mon

[Andy]

I have a wide front end and I always tighten everything in the wet, but having said that I leave the torsion bars in in the dry, if I take them out, which is what you are ment to do apparently, then it handles like a barge and spits me into the tyre wall when coming out of the corners and riding the kerbs a little to much (loads of damage, hurts lots ) One of the guys I go with removes all bars and he loves it and his times improve as a result

[Aussie Bruce]

A little more on chassis tuning -

It depends a lot on the make of chassis Andy.

Sodi, who claim to have the best results in Europe recently, have a chassis that is so difficult to adjust correctly you need a diploma in mechanical engineering. Adjust one little thing and that effects a couple of other things that also need to be adjusted in line. It goes on and on. Interesting to note that all the big winners have chassis suppiied free and direct from the factory, but when you buy one as a private driver, the engineering competances need to be honed to university level.

On the other hand, Swiss Hutless is a far easier chassis to adjust - maybe not as precise maybe in some conditions but basically stable and predictable and it's far easier for the pilot to adjust his/her capabilities to the handling rather than the other way around. Birel I don't know about 'cos I've never driven one, nor the others.

The basic experiences from my end indicate that once you have followed the general advice from the manufactuirers as to how they think best set up your kart, it is up to the pilot to then adjust his thinking and driving style to suit the handling characteristics at any given time, especially when each track is going to be a little different anyway coupled with the changes in temperature, humidity, ........

Boy ......... are we having fun yet or what ......... ?

Cheers

Aussie Bruce
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C'mon Aussie, c'mon

[wankel]

[Aussie Bruce]

HeyWankel,
I used to live on Alameda but did a lot of sailing up your end of the big pond and went past often on the way to Tahoe to do nose-plants at Alpine and Squaw ............. in fact, sold my old Kettenberg 32 ocean racer to a guy from Valejo - it used to be called "Vegemite Sandwich" but I guess he renamed it to something more local since then.

What track do you use mostly ? I've only been on the track at Reno and that's a track that needs careful planning, especially last time which was December last year when we had to walk around the track chipping the ice off with a shovel before we went out and drove off in all directions .... !

Have you tried opening the front track and leaving the 2 deg of camber the same ? Brake in a straight line as in the dry and the kart should turn a little quicker when provoked with a quick but sudden jerk of the steering. I find best to get the kart sliding a little first because it's gonna do that anyway and you might as well get used to it rather than having any sudden surprises, but you have to be really careful not to turn the wheel too much 'cos when it does grip, it grips fast and you can drive off the edge of the mountain really quickly.

Wet driving is fun and I prefer to go out with slicks (unless it's a course) because it's the best training one can get even if you do finish up a little dizzy and confused about which direction is home (but then, Australians are always a little confused about which direction home is which is probably why there are so many of us wandering around all over the world).

Cheers

AB
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C'mon Aussie, c'mon

[wankel]