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Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight
Posted by 'SimonS' on 29 Apr 2014 @ 21:02


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SimonS
Joined: December 2004
Total Posts: 4
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I'll take your word for it that you need to bend the seat stays an inch,

Normally an engine weighs about 17kg and its CG is about 300mm from the centre line, a moment of 5100kgmm

Most karts have the seat offset about 30mm to the left of the centre line requiring a weight of 170kg to get a perfect balance. If you are an 85 kg driver, then you would need to move the seat about another 30mm to the left to get the balance, which is about what you are suggesting.

However, one has to recognise that the rear outside tyre deforms during cornering, allowing the axle to lift while the contact patch remains more or less intact. If the axle lifts too far, the outside tyre begins to lift too and the contact patch reduces.

So a valid way of preventing this is to shift one's weight towards the inside of the corner, reducing axle lift.

Most tracks run clockwise, so more righthand corners than left, so the imperfect offset gives most drivers an advantage when turning right, they have already 'shifted' their entire weight 30mm to the right effectively.

The imbalance is of negligible effect when running straight, the camber of the track and imperfections in the surface have more effect, but does have an adverse effect in lefthanders.

You have to ask yourself whether on a track like Clay Pigeon you would rather have a positive advantage on the 7 right hand corners or a bit of an advantage on the two and a half lefthanders?

Of course, only you know your weight, how much lead you may be carrying, where you can site the battery / radiator etc, but before committing myself to bending the chassis that much, I'd try using lead ballast to simulate the effect first.

After all, if it gave that much advantage, someone would be selling karts with greater left offset already built in.

Message Thread:

Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'hetherip'   (28 Apr 2014 @ 21:52)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'itpro'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 0:50)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'raceinstructor'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 7:28)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'hetherip'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 8:43)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'hetherip'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 8:07)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'PaulMRotax'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 9:06)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'hetherip'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 11:43)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'SimonS'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 10:12)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'hetherip'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 11:39)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'itpro'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 12:33)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'itpro'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 12:31)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'Liam'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 20:35)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'SimonS'  << You are here!
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'itpro'   (29 Apr 2014 @ 23:24)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'hetherip'   (30 Apr 2014 @ 8:27)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'BanzaiBoy'   (30 Apr 2014 @ 14:07)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'SimonS'   (01 May 2014 @ 17:56)
Re: Bending seat stays to adjust corner weight  by 'Liam'   (01 May 2014 @ 21:06)

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