cletterridge

Went indoor karting with some friends the other day, and was most upset to find that my mate (who weighs a good stone and a half less than me) was able to go consistently 0.2 seconds faster than me on pretty much every lap.

Naturally the post race debate revolved around my stance of "you're lighter so of course you'll go quicker" but his view was that there should be no advantage because my weight should help me stick the kart down to go round the corners faster.

So who's right!? Please put my mind at rest! Surely he can't be right.... having extra weight would mean more grip, but wouldn't that be offset by the fact that the kart then has to drag all that extra weight round the corner? And there was no doubt that in a straight line he was able to easily out accelerate me.

I refuse to admit he's a better driver than me!

TopBanana

Yep, the lighter the better in karting. Try racing against an eight year old if you want to be completely gutted

rr_ww

Recently a certain M Schumacher raced some young Karters, and he lost a huge amount of weight (cant remeber exactly) so he would stand a good chance. Still didn't win!

Hoppy

"M Schumacher raced some young karters"!!!

Well, it was a World Championship round and some of those guys were well into their twenties, and racing professionally for many years. I think he was incredibly brave to do that (what has he got to prove?) and coming second was a major result. And yes, he did lose weight before the race as you need to get as close to the minimum as possible. Every one of those karts/drivers will have been within a kilo or two. It's obviously critical.

But light weight isn't always an advantage. In the wet, you're desperate for grip, and a bit more weight can work for you. It's certainly not nearly so much of a disadvantage. It also helps if you're tall and can throw your shoulder into the seat around corners. This 'jacking effect' will lift the inside rear wheel off the ground, and while running on three wheels might not sound so clever, it actually produces a differential in the solid rear axle so you're not dragging that inside wheel around. Much faster.

See you at Milton Keynes on 14th

Richard.

boomer

...but more weight will also increase the centrifugal forces on the bends, which will more than offset any increased downward grip.

That is why racing cars use spoilers (rather than lead weights) to increase the downforce!!!

mb

P1Fanatic

Ive got into karting recently and weight is an advantage between two otherwise similar drivers. Its pays most coming out of slow corners whilst trying to pick the revs up. In social karting though I find the biggest factor is what kart you get - there are always good ones and band ones no matter what they try and tell you and Ive seen it make over 2 secs difference on a 400m track. The worst is when u get the car with no power, brakes or grip and then u cant even defend the racing line as your that slow.

Hoppy

But Boomer, cars and karts are not the same. It's that solid rear axle that is fundamentally different and a side effect of creating that artificial axle differential is that when the kart is jacked up on three wheels, that extra weight and centrifugal force is pushing down into the track surface, producing more grip. When grip levels are really low, raise the seat a couple of inches to emphasise the effect.

Using wings instead of weights on a car is an entirely different box of spanners

But at the end of the day, a lighter driver will always win. There is only a small window under very slippery conditions when a little extra weight helps, typically when it pi$$es down on a cororate kart event when everyone is on slicks with a kart basically set up for dry running (a wet set-up is completely different, and would be almost undriveable in the dry - massive understeer and hopelessly low geared).

In my experience, most corporate karts are more evenly matched than you'd perhaps think (ie they're all crap) and compared to a racing two-stroke, they're heavy great lumps, as well, so driver weight differences don't have an enormous effect. Between a really good 12 stone driver and an average 10 stone one, the heavier driver will win. That's on an outside circuit where speeds are higher, indoors where speeds are lower and corners tighter, it'll be very close.

Weight is a very valid factor, but when it comes to winning, the real skill is in overtaking and in not spinning. Ask Stef

Cheers,

Richard (sorry to waffle)

P1Fanatic

Indeed. Theres no point getting the fastest lap of the race if you spin the next and lose 15 seconds. Consistency is what counts and maximising your speed where you are fast on the track.

We went out in 290cc karts today on a 750m track and the first session (my first at this track and on decent powered karts) I got a respectable 40.17. Next session diff kart with terminal understeer meant I had to fight to keep the kart on the track and shat myself on the first corner when I turned left and carried straight on even though the tyres were pointing left Fastest lap was 41.27 when Im sure I would have been faster in the same kart as the 1st as I was learning the track. At the end of the session I checked my kart and rear tyre pressures were hopelessly low. Must be really annoying in a corporate event if your team gets lumbered with a duff kart (fingers crossed for MK in 2 weeks time).

CrisPDuk

Depends how much excss weight you are carrying. If you are a 15.5st lightweight like me, yes you can use the weight to hold the kart down, you can also use the extra momentum it provides to shove cocky little anorexics into the tyres when they try to get past you.

Obviously this technique demands stewards with the visual ability of Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles, but it is fun when you can get away with it.

CallumW

...there's always a way past



Callum

Katana

I'm not fat, I'm just big boned. [/cartman]