UK Karting - Notice Board (General Karting) : Re: New chassis or not new chassis????

Notice Board (General Karting)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis????
Posted by 'SammyB' on 17 Oct 2012 @ 09:45

| View Message Thread | Reply to this message |

SammyBJoined: March 2009
Total Posts: 0
[ View User Profile ]

We went through this 2 seasons ago and learnt some very interesting (and expensive) lessons!
Here are just a few things to consider - it's a huge subject........
Chassis are spring (magnetic) steel and every time you bend a piece of steel it becomes more flexible (softer) and it's effective life span reduces. So with use, this spells 2 key points. One - the chassis set up will need to change to accommadate the changes in the steel tubes properties and second, the overall lifespan will reduce - at some point the chassis will banana and/or refuse to return to it's original shape after a bend. Remember these chassis bend severall inches in many directions many times on every lap. Each manufacturer of chassis selects their steel tubing (top secret) to deliver performance in conjunction with their design - a balance between stiffness, consistency - and several other factors. So each make of chassis will likely require a different set up and more importantly, a different driving technique to optimise it's performance. If the driver is particularly heavy you are advised to select a stiff, solid chassis since this will give consistency and longevity with the weight giving the chassis flex required to get performance. Equally if a light driver, a softer steel chassis will allow the flex needed to get those lap times.
So if your current chassis is needing weld jobs frequently then in all honesty it's time to retire it - the steel has come to the end of it's effective life. If you have to make repeated changes when lasering up, it's indicative of the chassis not springing back to it's original shape which makes set up unpredictable and consistent performance difficult to achieve.
A new frame will give consistency with fewer and simpler changes needed from race to race, but it's a big price to pay if all that's needed is some structured testing with well recorded/documented data and results. Good luck!

Message Thread:

New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Venom' (16 Oct 2012 @ 16:13)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Danlee' (16 Oct 2012 @ 17:25)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Venom' (16 Oct 2012 @ 19:21)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Danlee' (16 Oct 2012 @ 20:33)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Rainman' (16 Oct 2012 @ 21:02)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Venom' (16 Oct 2012 @ 21:39)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'RSBW' (17 Oct 2012 @ 2:09)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Venom' (17 Oct 2012 @ 8:39)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'SammyB' << You are here!

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Danlee' (17 Oct 2012 @ 9:51)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'buzzinrussell' (17 Oct 2012 @ 10:01)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Venom' (17 Oct 2012 @ 10:38)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'BanzaiBoy' (17 Oct 2012 @ 17:36)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Racing393' (17 Oct 2012 @ 12:26)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Danlee' (17 Oct 2012 @ 12:39)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Josh77' (17 Oct 2012 @ 18:01)

Re: New chassis or not new chassis???? by 'Venom' (19 Oct 2012 @ 18:36)

Post a Reply:

You may post a direct reply to this message which will appear in this thread.
To post a new or unrelated message use This Form. Top of Page
Notice Board Index

[ UK Karting Main Index ]


News	Karts & Karting	Notice Board	Market Place	Companies Directory	Tracks Directory	Events Calendar	Race Results	Photo Gallery	Links